Questions About The Sunday of All Saints

Questions About The Sunday of All Saints

QUESTION 1

When is the Sunday of All Saints? Where is the service found (which service book)?

ANSWER 1

The Sunday of All Saints is celebrated the Sunday after Pentecost. The service is the last one in the "Pentecostarion", which has all the services from Pascha until the Sunday of All Saints, inclusive.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit enlightens mankind, and makes us able to attain the destiny God has predestined us to obtain. The Saints are those who have shown forth the fruits of the Spirit abundantly. Is it not appropriate that we should meditate upon the marvelous gift of the Holy Spirit by meditating upon His wondrous works - the Saints?

QUESTION 2

What is a "Saint"? What does the word literally mean?

ANSWER 2

The word "Saint" literally means "Holy One". We recognize the holiness of those who have struggled to live holy lives, above and beyond the average Christian, by calling them "Saints". All Christians are in some sense "saints", since the word also implies a setting apart. In our Liturgy, the priest exclaims "Holy things are for the Holy" shortly before he breaks the Lamb, and this phrase includes all true (Orthodox) Christians who struggle to be saved, and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But when we refer to the "Saints" we call to mind those who "fought the good fight and finished the course and kept the faith", (cf. 1 Tim 4:7) and in so doing, have "laboured more abundantly than they all" (1 Cor 15:10)

QUESTION 3

Why do Christians pray to the Saints?  Why is this prayer so misunderstood by non-Orthodox?

ANSWER 3

All who profess Christ, whether they be Orthodox or not, commonly ask one another to pray for them. It is a duty of Christians to pray for one another. Since Orthodox Christians live in the knowledge that those who have passed on are not dead or insensible, and since "God is the God of the living, and not the dead", they naturally turn to the Saints for intercession, and place more confidence in their prayers than those fellow Christians who have not completed their earthly sojourn.

A Christian has great reverence in approaching the Saints, since the Saints have been shown by God to be "more than conquerors". We are in awe of their exploits, and recognize the grace of God clearly in their witness and struggle. This is also natural, even in the world. Men honor others who have performed great deeds, such as a brave general, or wise statesman. Since we are in awe of the Saints, we render them honor when we ask their intercession, even more so than we would honor a great man in the flesh. In every communication with the Saints, we see the light of Christ, and rejoice in it, and do it honor.

We know that prayer to the Saints, (or put in a way that is less offensive to those who do not live fully in the knowledge of the resurrection and the Saints, "asking their intercession" ) is pleasing to God, because of the witness of the Scriptures and the abundant experience of the church. Because we are assured that such prayers are pleasing, and because we recognize the great grace that God has bestowed upon His Saints, we have great confidence when we ask their intercessions.

"In invoking the intercession of the saints, the Church believes that the saints, who interceded with the Lord for the peace of the world and for the stability of the holy churches of Christ while living, do not cease doing this in Christ's heavenly, triumphant Church, and listen to our entreaties in which we invoke them, and pray to the Lord, and become bearers of the grace and mercy of the Lord." St. Nectarios of Pentapolis, Modern Orthodox Saints, Vol. 7 by. Constantine Cavarnos

"We ought to have the most lively spiritual union with the heavenly inhabitants, with all the saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, prelates, venerable and righteous men, as they are all members of one single body, the Church of Christ, to which we sinners also belong, and the living Head of which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This is why we call upon them in prayer, converse with them, thank and praise them. It is urgently necessary for all Christians to be in union with them, if they desire to make Christian progress; for the saints are our friends, our guides to salvation, who pray and intercede for us." St. John of Kronstadt, My Life in Christ.

There are many who profess faith in Christ but have almost no knowledge of the intercession of the Saints, and even eschew this intimate knowledge and heavenly intercourse as blasphemy. There are several reasons for this, including prejudice, a lack of grounding in Christian Tradition, misunderstanding of Scripture, and the abuses of Rome, but the primary reason is that they do not fully understand the resurrection, and it's implications!

The Saints are not asleep or "dead". Our Lord Himself told us clearly that "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." (Mat 22:32). The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob (Cf. Mat 22:32) once appeared transfigured on a mountain, with two of his favored ones (Moses and Elias) appearing very much alive next to Him. This clearly shows that the "dead" are even more filled with knowledge and activity than the living, as the apostles Peter, James and John could not withstand the uncreated light which came forth from Christ, but Moses and Elisa basked in it. Therefore the departed Saints have greater vision and knowledge and their intercessory boldness is greater for them without their bodies, than when they were in the flesh. This important understanding is elementary knowledge for the Church, but has passed from many of those outside of her.

Partially because they do not understand that the Saints are alive, conscious and active, those who eschew prayer to the Saints misinterpret the reverence Orthodox show to the saints. Many get stuck on the word "pray", thinking that this word only applies to God, and any other use of it should make them rend their clothes. This is, of course, a misunderstanding, brought about by centuries of sectarianism and prejudice. "To pray" is merely "to ask". We ask the Saints to intercede for us, and any examination of our writings and liturgical texts shows that we understand that worship is for God alone.

The abuses of Rome also had a deleterious effect on the Protestant understanding of prayer to the Saints. Rome became very corrupt after the schism, both morally and theologically. A doctrine of "superogataory works" was invented, and "indulgences" were sold. This false doctrine, perhaps more than any other abuse of Rome, has poisoned the understanding of Protestants regarding the Saints. In very simple terms, this false doctrine is as follows:

A certain amount of "good works" are supposedly needed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us affix this as some arbitrary number, say 1000 points. The Saints far exceeded this number, and had "points to give". The poor sinners, such as you and me, who cannot attain to all these good works, may pay to be granted "indulgences", which increase our "point total". Although this explanation may seem silly and mocking, it is essentially the doctrine of Rome till this day. The original "Protestants" reacted quite rightly against this abuse, but they did not understand the correct view concerning the intercessions of the Saints, and over time, their disavowal of this Latin abuse became a caricature of itself, and most now spout almost mantra-like that a Christian "needs no mediator" save Jesus Christ, believing that the scripture they refer to ("For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5)) forbids prayer to the Saints.

It is ironic that those who refuse to ask the Saints to intercede for them on ideological grounds ask those who are still among the living, among their family and friends, to pray for them. This latter action is wholly correct, as fellow believers naturally want to pray for those they love. The prayer of the living, however, is not as powerful as the prayer of the Saints, as the Scripture tells us: "... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (James 5:16) Therefore, those who do not want to settle for "second best", and therefore pray "directly to God", actually DO settle for second best, when they ask their sinful companions, who are still struggling with their passions in the flesh, to pray for them, instead of asking those who have passed on and are more righteous.

TRUE OR FALSE - PENTECOST IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH

TRUE OR FALSE – PENTECOST IS THE BEGINNING OF THE CHURCH

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Pentecost.  The great tragedy of our day is that the feast day will hardly be mentioned if at all in most churches of contemporary Christianity.  Even when it is mentioned, it is only mentioned in passing, so to speak, and its meaning and significance for our salvation is hardly known or recognized.

Many think the New Testament Day of Pentecost was the birthday of the Church but this is not technically the case.  The Feast of Pentecost was, of course, a feast of the Old Testament instituted 50 days (Pentecost means 50^th day) after Pascha when the Paschal Lamb was slain and the people of God were delivered from Egyptian bondage. All of this, of course, is a picture of our salvation and the celebration of Pascha (Easter) each year and every Sunday in the Church.  Then on the 50^th day after Israel’s deliverance God gave the Law to Moses on Mt. Sinai and this day was celebrated and commemorated by the Israelites each year.   

After the Resurrection and at the Ascension of the Saviour on the 40^th day, the disciples were told to wait in prayer in Jerusalem for the fulfillment of Pentecost.  As God had given the Law to Moses to empower him to form and govern the Israelites into the promised kingdom, so now the Holy Spirit is given to the Apostles to empower them with “power from on high” to form and govern the New Israel into the Kingdom of God.

The Church is the assembly of the angles, the holy Fathers, Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Evangelists, and Martyrs who have been from the very beginning, to whom were added all the nations who believed with one accord. 

That which came to pass at Pentecost was the ordination of the Apostles, the commencement of the apostolic preaching to all the nations and the inauguration of the priesthood of the New Israel.  The old Israel with its Mosaic law had been left desolate with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.  On its ruins now rises the New Israel, Jew and Gentile, a new holy nation, a new royal priesthood, created by the Holy Spirit through the priesthood of the Apostles – the first bishops of the New Testament Church.  St. Gregory Palamas says, “Now, therefore…the Holy Spirit descended…showing the Disciples to be supernal luminaries…and the distributed grace of the Divine Spirit came through the ordination of the Apostles upon their successors”.  On this day commenced the celebration of the Holy Eucharist by which we become “partakers of the Divine Nature” (II Peter 1:4).  For before Pentecost, it is said of the Apostles and disciples only that they abode in “prayer and supplication” (Acts 1:14); it is only after the coming of the Holy Spirit and the priesthood that they "continued" in the “breaking of bread,” – that is, the communion of the Holy Mysteries – “and in prayers”.  (Acts 2:42)  [excerpt from the Pentecostarion]

On the Day of Pentecost there was formed one Church of all nations, holding one Faith, One Lord, one hope, one Baptism under one Divine Government of the Apostles – one holy Priesthood.  This is how the Church continues today as one Church with one Faith through the priesthood of the successors to the Apostles who, as conduits, pass on the same Faith by the same Holy Spirit as one unbroken Body of Christ from Pentecost to the present and unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

Why Do Some People Retain Faith While Others Lose it?

(copied from KANDILAKI Blog)

Let us return to the question of why some people retain in their hearts a constant and unshakeable faith until the end of their days, while others lose it, sometimes completely and sometimes returning to it with great difficulty and suffering?

What is the reason for such a phenomenon ? It seems to me that it depends on the direction which a person’s inner life takes in his early childhood. If a person, consciously or instinctively, is able to preserve a correct relationship between himself and God, he will not lose faith, but if his ego occupies an unseemly preeminent and dominant place in his soul, then his faith will be superseded. In early childhood a person’s nature does not yet occupy first place, does not yet become an object of worship. For this reason it is said: if you do not become like children, you will not enter the Heavenly Kingdom. As the years advance, our innate egoism grows more and more within us, becomes the center of our attention and the object of our gratification.

And this self-centered egoistic life usually runs along two channels - the channel of sensuality, gratification of the body, and the channel of pride, of strict trust in and worship of reason in general and one’s own in particular.

These two channels do not usually coexist within one and the same person. Some are dominated by the temptations of sensuality, while others by the temptations of reason. With age sensuality sometimes changes into unhealthy sexuality, from which those who are dominated by reason and pride are often free.

Sensuality and pride - two ways of serving one’s nature - are precisely those traits which, as we know, were manifested in the original sin of Adam and Eve, and created a barrier between them and God.

That which happened to our forebears, now happens to us.

The unhealthy direction of our inner life from childhood, which leads to the development within us of either sensuality or pride, pollutes the purity of our internal spiritual sight, deprives us of seeing God. We stray away from God, we remain alone in our egoistic life, with all the consequences of such a condition.

Such is the process of our abandonment of God.

In those, however, who succeed in keeping a correct relationship with God, the development of egoistic, sensual and proud attitudes is impeded by the memory of God; such people preserve their purity of heart and humbleness of mind; both their bodies and their minds are placed within a framework of religious consciousness and duty. They look upon all that springs up within their soul from the height of their religious consciousness, evaluate their feelings and passions properly, and do not allow them to take control. Despite all the temptations that come across their path, they do not lose the basic direction of their lives.

Thus the purpose and the difficulty of religious guidance lies in helping the child, and later the teenager, to preserve the right relationship between himself and God and to not allow the development within himself of the temptations of sensuality and pride, which pollute the clarity of internal spiritual sight.

Remembering my youth, I must admit that it was precisely through such an internal process that I lost my religious faith when I was 13-14 years old. The enticements of sensuality, the excessive trust in reason and the pride of rationality which were developing in me, deadened my soul. And I was not alone, the majority of my friends suffered the same fate.

Had an experienced spiritual instructor happened to be alongside us and peered into our souls, perhaps he would have found something good in them, but primarily he would have found idleness, gluttony, deceit, hypocrisy, self-assurance, inordinate belief in one’s powers and abilities, a critical and skeptical attitude towards the opinions of others, a tendency towards hasty and rash decisions, stubbornness, and a trusting attitude towards all kinds of negative theories, etc.

The only thing he would not have found in our souls would be the memory of God, and the inner quiet and humbleness which it engenders.