Orthodox/Catholic a question on Saints?

Question

I am a little confused. My friend is Eastern Orthodox. And prays all day to saint people. I asked why Saint people? Why not a close relative? The answer was "that Saint people are closer to God. And that we should not pray to dead relatives, it is bad". But Saints are made by man, and are also people? Does the Orthodox or Catholic Church really think they have a direct link to God? To teach such things?

Answer 1

Catholics share the belief in the Communion of Saints with many other Christians, including the Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopal, and Methodist Churches.

The Communion of Saints is the belief where all saints are intimately related in the Body of Christ, a family. When you die and go to heaven, you do not leave this family.

Everyone in heaven or on their way to heaven are saints, you, me, my deceased grandmother, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Mother Teresa.

As part of this family, you may ask your family and friends living here on earth to pray for you. Or, you may also ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint Andrew, or your deceased grandmother living in heaven to pray for you.

Prayer to saints in heaven is simple communication, not worship.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

The Catholic Church teaches that our dead relatives, in heaven, are Saints. We become saints when we enter heaven. We are all a part of the Communion of Saints. The people on earth are called the Church militant; the people in purgatory are called the Church suffering and the people in heaven are called the Church Triumphant.
Prayer is talking to God or to the saints. There is nothing wrong is asking a deceased relative to pray for us or to help us. That is what saints do. They help with their support.
We all have a direct link to God. It is called prayer. The line is always open and we never get the busy signal.

Answer 3

In addition to the excellent responses above - we pray to canonized saints because we know that these individuals are in heaven, in God's presence. That's what canonization means. Canonization doesn't "make" someone a saint. Everyone in heaven is a saint simply by virtue of being there. Canonization is simply an official statement after thorough investigation of a certain person's Christian life, that the particular person is in fact in heaven. Whatsoever the Church binds upon earth is bound in heaven. We do not usually pray to non-canonized people, like our own deceased relatives and friends, because much as we hope and pray they are in heaven, we cannot know this for a fact.

Answer 4

in Ephesians 4:1-6 we are told IMO a pretty great example of how to live. there are saints - all of we baptised who try of so hard t live accordingly andthen there are Saints -- those who have set shining examples of how to full live in accordance with God's Will. in the catechism of the Rcc it tells us that we Worship Christ as God's Son; we love themartyrs as the Lord's disciples & imitators and rightlyso becuase of their matchless devotioon towards their King & Master. May we also be their companions & fellow disciples.
When we pray to the Saints, we're asking them to pray for us, to interceed on our behlaf just as we ask our friends and family to pray for us. the Saints also show us wonderful examples of how -- we can overcome the trappings of this world and live according to God's Holy Will.
look at the people around us daily who people talk about - anna nicole, brittney spears, various other "stars" who would you rather have as an example to your children, family, friends? Those that are choosen as "Saints" by the Rcc undergo very rigerous scrutiny. Do they think they have a direct link to God -- sure they do -- all people who are baptized in Christ have a direct link to God!

Answer 5

What we are doing is asking the Saints to pray for us. In the Bible it is clear that the prayers of righteous people are powerful. We believe these saints are already in Heaven with God. Yes we do also pray directly to God Himself. If i were sick and asked you to pray for me, it is ok correct? Well i also ask Mary to pray for me sometimes as well as Joseph or other saints. If you think it is ok to ask other people to pray for you then you should have no problem with asking saints to be your intercessors. This not the same thing as ancestor worship or idolatry.

Answer 6

Here's a great link that covers what the Catholic Church believes about saints:

http://catholic.com/library/mary_saints.asp

They present the beliefs of the Church, historical backgrounds, as well as the scriptural basis for Catholic teaching. I think you'll really like it.

God bless.

Answer 7

I think your friend is a little confused. We ask the saints to pray WITH us. We don't pray to them. It's the same as asking friends and family to pray with us. Plus they are great role models for us while we are living our lives on earth.

Answer 8

The Catholic Church is filled with dead men's bones. My bible tells me that without the spirit, there is dead men's bones. It is best not to pray to bones; they can never take the place of the sacred blood of our savior.

Answer 9

Why do Catholics pray to the Virgin and the Saints? Is not Christ the One Mediator of God and men (1 Tim. ii. 5) and our One Advocate with the Father (1 John ii. 1)?

The Church's teaching on the invocation of the saints is thus defined by the Council of Trent. "The saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men. It is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and to have recourse to their prayers, aid and help for obtaining benefits from God, through His Son Jesus Christ, who alone is our Redeemer and Savior.
Those persons think impiously who deny that the saints, who enjoy eternal happiness in heaven, are to be invoked; who assert that they do not pray for men; who declare that asking them to pray for each of us in particular is idolatry, repugnant to the word of God, and opposed to the honor of the One Mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus'' (Sess. xxv.).

The Old and New Testament plainly teach the principle and the practice of asking the prayers of our brethren, especially of the just (James v. 16-18). God commanded Abimelech to ask Abraham's prayers: "He shall pray for thee and thou shalt live" (Gen. xx. 7, 17).
God had mercy on the sinful children of Israel in the desert because Moses interceded for them (Ps. xv. 23).
God said to the friends of Job: "My servant Job shall pray for you; his face I will accept" (Job xliii. 8).
St. Paul in his letters continually asked the brethren to pray for him (Rom. xv. 30; Eph. vi. 18, 19; 1 Thess. v. 25).

Is it reasonable to suppose that the Christian, who prayed for his brethren while upon earth, will lose all interest in them, once he reaches the kingdom of heaven?
Christian tradition from the beginning declares that the interest of the Saints in heaven will be increased a hundredfold, because they will realize then more fully our needs and necessities, and God's willingness to hearken to their intercession.
St. Jerome (340-420) is a striking witness to this fact. He writes: "If Apostles and martyrs, whilst still in the flesh and still needing to care for themselves, can pray for others, how much more will they pray for others after they have won their crowns, their victories, their triumphs.

Moses, one man, obtains God's pardon for six hundred thousand armed men, and Stephen prays for his persecutors. When they are with Christ will they be less powerful?
St. Paul says that two hundred and seventy-six souls were granted to his prayers, whilst they were in the ship with him. Shall he close his lips after death, and not mutter a syllable for those who throughout the world have believed in his gospel? (Adv. Vigil)

That the angels pray for men we learn from the vision of Zacharias (i. 12, 13), and from the words of the angel Raphael to Tobias: "When thou didst pray with tears ... I offered thy prayer to the Lord" (Tob. xii. 12).
Christ Himself tells us that they have an interest in us, for He says: "There shall be joy before the angels of God upon one sinner doing penance" (Luke xv. 10).
In another place He warns men not to scandalize little children, for they have angels to intercede for them in heaven (Matt, xviii. 10).
If the angels make intercession for us, certainly the saints, who are united to us by the bond of a common human nature, and by the supernatural bond of the Communion of Saints, have the same power and the same privilege.

The early Fathers unanimously teach the doctrine of the intercession of the saints.

St. Hilary (366) writes: "To those who would fain stand, neither the guardianship of the saints, nor the protection of the angels is wanting" {In Ps., cxxiv.).

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386) writes: "We then commemorate those who have fallen asleep before us, patriarchs, prophets, Apostles, and martyrs, in order that God, by their prayers and intercessions, may receive our petitions" (Myst., v., 9).

St. John Chrysostom (344-407) writes: "When thou per-ceivest that God is chastening thee, fly not to His enemies . . . but to His friends, the martyrs, the saints, and those who were pleasing to Him, and who have great power" (Orat., viii., Adv. Jus., 6).

Catholics firmly believe in the unique mediatorship of Jesus Christ (1 Tim. ii. 5), and the Council of Trent emphasizes this very doctrine when declaring her teaching on the invocation of saints.

Catholics believe that Jesus Christ alone redeemed us by His Death upon the Cross, thus reconciling us to God, and making us partakers of His grace here and His glory hereafter. No divine gift can reach us except through Christ and the merits of His Sacred Passion.
Therefore, every prayer we pray, and every prayer in heaven of the Blessed Virgin, the angels and the saints, have their efficacy only through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The saints simply add their prayers to ours, and, although specially pleasing to God because of their greater holiness, they aid us only through the merits of the One Mediator.