|
Point
of Faith Nr.4 WHO
ARE THE SAINTS?
When sectarians ask the question, "Where do you get all these
saints from?" (as they often do), instead of being offended, we should
take it for granted that they are seeking information. We should be prepared to
supply that information to them. Our subject is not about icons, but a few words about the icons of
saints will help us to understand the meaning of the saints themselves. As you enter an Orthodox Church, you find yourself surrounded by icons
of the saints. There are many deep and meaningful explanaïtions for this, but
for our purposes here, let us look at the icons of the saints on the walls of
our churches as our family album. Among every family, every nation and peoïple, the biographies and
portraits of its greatïest heroes and most beloved, famous citizens are kept,
treasured and well known. In the case of Orthodox Christians, we are not simply members of the
same nation (the "New Israel"), but members in particular of the same
family, the household of the Living God. The saints whose icons surround us in
the church are our older brothers and sisters, our ancestors in the faith. It
matters not at all that they were from different earthly nations, for we are
speaking of scriptural concepts, of divine realities. As Apostle Paul says, "If
you are of Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the
promise" (Gal.3:29), for, "those who believe are the children
of Abraïham" (Gal.3:6-7). Thus, when we see the icons of the saints as our own family album, the
spiritual porïtraits of our most notable and perfected forebears, be they
Russian, Aleut, Serb, Greek or Chinese, we come to a full understanding of the
words of Christ that God is our Father. In this, once more, is proven the
faithfulness of the icon to Holy Scripïture, for the icons of the saints, seen
as our family album, clearly verify to us the words of the Apostle: "Consequently,
you are no longer strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members
of the household of God, built on the foundation of the aposïtles and prophets,
with Jesus Christ Himïself as the chief cornerstone" (Eph.2:19-20). The icons of saints are profoundly doctrinal. Many important dogmatic
concepts of Orthodox Christianity receive scriptural illumination in the icons
of saints: the dogma of redemption and the general resurrection; the doctrines
of theosis, of the nature of the human person and the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, are among those made clear in the icon. Moreover, clear
interpretations of sigïnificant, but difficult, passages of Scripture are provided
by canonical icons of the saints. Not only are the lives of the saints an extension of the Book of Acts,
but they are a clear expression of the ancient Christian underïstanding of the
way the life of Christ and His Gospel imïpacts on the human nature. Moreover,
they help reveal the true, Scriptural docrine of redemption, as opposed to the
Western pagan doctrine of Divine justice and the notion that Christ was a
sacrifice to pay off a "just death penalty" on our behalf. There are three questions which arise at once when we mention icons of
saints. Answering these questions will also help to explain who and what the
saints are: 1. What is the meaning of the word "saint?"; 2.
How does one become a "saint?"; 3. At what point does a picture
become an icon, or an icon become merely a picture? What does the word
"saint" mean? The word saint means holy (indeed, the words are interchangeïable).[1] In the New Testament, both words, saint and holy, are translations of
the Greek 'agios, which means "consecrated, set apart."[2]
It is, therefore, obvious that the word holy is used in more than one
sense in the Divine Scripïture. No one would imagine that the Scripture calls
God holy in the same sense as it calls the temple holy, nor that God is called
holy in the same sense as people and objects are called holy. Holy refers to God in this sense: holiness resides in Him, and objects
and people are called holy when they participate in Him or are consecrated to
His service. Thus, holiness as it is used for God is undefinïable, and is
simply a way of referring to God. Any person or thing that is consecrated to
His service or which, by Divine grace, participates in Him, is
"holy." Holiness does not consist, therefore, in "correct
behaviour" or "perfect morality." It consists in consecration to
God. Everything which is consecrated to the service of God is holy. The Holy
Scripture calls angels "holy" (Mk.8:38) and it calls the
faithful holy (the KJV occasionally uses the word "saint" as well,
but it means exactly the same thing). The word "saint" in the New
Testament invariably refers to those who are set apart and consecrated to God
(e.g., Acts 9:13, Rm.1:7, 2Cor.1:1; 8:4; 13: 13, Rev.5:8, etc). Everyone who truly believes in Christ and truly accepts His Gospel will
seek to be united to His Body, the Holy Church. In Baptism, one is consecrated
to God and joined to His Body. Thus, everyone who has been baptized into Christ
has put on Christ (Gal.3: 27), and is holy in the sense of having been
consecrated to Him, and become a participant in His Body and Blood in Holy Comïmunïion.
The Apostle calls them "holy," and the King James Version translates
this as "saint." Very well, then, what is the difference between the congregation of the
faithful who are "saints," and those specific individuals who are
portrayed in icons and called "saints" in a special manner? Who are those special
"saints" portrayed in icons? It should be evident that the degree of holiness
attributed to a person or thing signifies the degree to which that person or
thing is consecrated to God and His service ï that is, quite simply, the degree
to which the person participates in God and in His holiïness. We can also
easily underïstand that consecration means purifying. Scripture tells us that
man was created "in the image of God" but that this "image"
had become dimmed and perverted in man by sin, by the accumulaïtion of the
passions and the misuse of the body in which that "image" was to
abide. In short, the whole person, body and soul, became dedicated to sin and
carnality rather than to holiness (conseïcration to God), and thus lost its
original state of consecration. Christ became Incarnate in our flesh to reconsecrate it, our whole
person, body and soul, to renew in mankind the image and likeness of God.
Christ cleared the path and showed the way. By His Incarnation, life, death
resurrection and ascension, He made it possible. He comïmanded us to "be
perfect [complete] as God is perfect" (Mt.5:48); but how is
this possible? Man could not possibly possess the same perfection as God. Of
course not, but, because of Christ, man can participate in God's perfection. How, then, does someone become a saint in that special sense? By
following that path and that way which Christ has opened through His Holy
Church, by struggling to purify, and thus consecrate oneself, completely and
without reservation, to God. This means the conquest and weeding out of the
passions, and the acquisition of a completely selfless love ï for that is what
is meant by "God's likeness":ï
absolutely selfless love. Such a person beïcomes truly humble and thus
able to bear participaïtion in God, and the highest gifts of divine grace which
come with it. These are the very people of whom Christ said, "The works
that I do, he shall do also, and greater works than these shall he do"
(Jn.14:12). It is this comïpleteïness of purification and consecration to
God, this height of participaïtion in His perfecïtion and holiness which makes
a person a "saint" in that special way. And this sainthood is
verified by the fulfilment of the Gospel promise: "the things that I
do, he shall do, and greater than these." These people are
participants in Christ in that special way Apostle Paul describïed, "It
is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal.2:20). In relation to humanity, the fulfilment of the Old Testament promises is
shown forth in the icons of Christ, the Theotokos, the Twelve Great Feast Days
and the Mystical Supper, while icons of saints reveal the evidence of the
fulfilment of the New Testament promises. For just as the Old Testament promise
was fulfilled in Christ, so the New Testaïment promïises of Christ are
fulfilled in the faithful, according to the strength of each vessel. And the
strongest vessels, the saints, bear in themselves the complete fulfilment of
the promises given by Christ in the New Testament. Their icons reveal this
fact, for they testify that, in the words of the Scripture, "Whoïever
purifies himself from these [passions and ignoble things] will be a vessel
sanctified and meet for honourable use, consecrated and profitable unto the
Master..." (2Tm.2:21). The Saints and the Meaning of
Salvation "We
who, with unveiled faces, behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are
being transformed into His imïage, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the
Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18). "Whereby
is given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might
be partakers of the divine nature" (2Pet.1:4). ïï If salvation consisted only in a person beïing
juridically justified by the death of Christ ï saved by Christ having paid his
or her legal penalty in that persons behald, then Western huïmanistic paintings
would suffice, and we would not have icons of saints. At the same time, we
would not have a clear understanding of the nature of the saints and the reason
that we venerate them. ïï The ministry of Christ on earth was not,
however, a leïgal excursion. Christ's minisïtry was one of healing. He did not
come to earth as an atïtorney or a vicarïial sacriïfice to absorb a death
penalty owed by man, but as a physician. He came to reïdeem the whole fallen huïman
nature from bondage to the evil-one, to heal it and bring it to its intended
state as an image and likeïness of God, filled with His grace, a reflecïtion of
His glory. The icon is Scriptural: the saint portrayed in the icon attains his
position through the process of illumination and, finally, glorification. He is
not, however, alone in this, for those "ordinary" saints, the
congregation of the faithful, likewise attain their posiïtion by the same
process and that higher state of consecration is available to all through
Divine grace and the struggle of pure and true faith. The loss of this fundamental truth of Christian life, of the true nature
of redemption, has deprived Christianity of all power to transform the world as
it did in ancient times. If the words of the Apostle cited above seem enigmatic, symbolic or
beyond compreïhenïsion, it is only because the authentic apostolic revelation
has been buried under the effluïences of legalism and Gnosticism, and become
obscured by philosophical pollutants. Let us look at this verse in the light of
apostolic tradition, in the light of the holy and God-bearing fathers and
understand that those who have struggled to illumination behold the glory of
the Lord as in a mirïror. If one continues this struggle and ascent, he shall
become glorified, that is, transïformed into the same glory, from glory unto
glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. This is the purpose of the fasts, prescribed by the Holy Church, of the
prayers, the coming together for worship, the very liturgical cycle itself.
Indeed every discipline, every action, every manifestation of worship and love
which is prescribed is given to us, as St Seraphim of Sarov says, for the
acquisition of the Holy Spirit. It is all given so that we may "work out
our salvation with fear and trembling," so that those who have received
the seed of illumination, in holy baptism, may ascend to glorification. This
was testified to by the glory that encompassed St Seraphim as he spoke about
the acquisition of the Holy Spirit. If it were sufficient, as the Gnostics taught, to merely accept Christ
as your Saviour and believe, then the Apostle would not have found it necessary
to enjoin us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians
2:12). The saints teach us this profound scriptural truth, that salvation is
the result of a healing of the broken and fallen human nature, and its gradual
restoration to its original goal of illumination and glorification. While
Christ redeemed the whole nature of mankind by recapitulating that nature in
Himself, each person must bring about that restoration in himself through moral
struggle, with the help of the Holy Spirit. The canonical Orthodox icons of the saints reveal to us
the true nature of redempïtion, of salvation and the true destiny intended for
us by our creator: illumination, glorifiïcation, theosis. When is a portrait an icon;
when is one of the faithful a "saint?" When, then, does a painting of a saint become an icon?ï A painting is a holy icon when, consecratïed
by obedience to the Holy Church and the sacred form of the illustration, it
reveals the fulfilïment of the Gospel in the person being portrayed. It
accomplishes this in the very essence and nature of the portrayal itself,
rather in the essence and nature of the saint. Since the "person"
consists of both body and soul together, and not of a mere part of the person
(neither the soul alone, nor the body alone), the spiritual condiïtion of a
glorified person can be seen not only in the intangible, but in the physical
body, which is promised an equal glory with the soul.[3]
For, as Divine Scripture clearly says: "There are bodies celestial and
bodies terrestrial, and the glory of the celestial is one, while the glory of
the terrestrial is another....So also is the resurïrection: it is sown in
corruption, it is raised in incorrupïtion....If there is a sensuous body, there
is also a spiritual body..." (1Cor.15:39-44). Thus the holy icon shows
us not an ordinary person still waiting for the advent of Christ, but a person
who has already received Christ, followed Him, and been transfigured by Him. It
shows us a person who is already participating in the perfection and immortaliïty
of Christ our God, by means of divine grace. This means that the saint is no
ordinary person, nor even an ordinary member of the communiïty of the faithful.
When we look at the icon of a saint, we must see Christ, for the saint "no
longer lives, but Christ lives in Him..." The saint's personality has not
been swallowed up or dissolved, but reïgenerated, transfigured and fulfilled by
grace. Thus, for a painting to be an icon, it must proclaim that, in this
person, called "saint," the highest promises of the Gospel have been
fulfilled, and this person is able to testify from living experience to the
truth of the entire Gospel, and to the resurrecïtion of Christ. Here, in the
icon, we see that absolute faithfulness to the Scripture which declares: "We
who...behold the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are transformed into the
same image, from glory unto glory, by the Spirit of the Lord" (2Cor.3:18). The saint has become a participant in the fulness of grace so that real
miracles are worked in him or her, and a participant in the imïmortality of God
so that even before the resurrection, they can receive our prayers and help us. In the saints we see explained and fulfilled that
mysterious and troublïing statement "Is it not written in your law,
`I have said ye are gods'" (Jn.10:34). This is called "The
Doctrine of Theosis." It is a clear teaching of Holy Scripture, which
tells us: "The glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given unto them;
that they may be one even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they
may be perfected into one" (Jn.17:22-23). Moreover, Apostle Peter
says, "Whereby is given unto us exceeding great and precious promises:
that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature" (2Pet.1:4)
and both of these teachings must be seen in the icon. The icon must very
clearly comïmunicate the doctrine of theosis, it must proclaim that: in this perïson,
uniquely called a saint, and glorified by the conscience of the Holy Church,
the highest promises of the Gospel of Christ have been fulfilled. This person
is able to testify from living experience to the truth of the entire Gospel and
to the resurrection of Christ and the transforming power of divine grace.[4]
The saint himself proclaims the saving Incarnation of Christ and His redeeming
cosuffering with man, for it reveals what these acts have made possible for
man; it proclaims the reconciliation with God made possible by the God-man, for
it clearly shows that man can now participate in God's perfection and
immortality. The icon of the saint proclaims the resurrection and ascension,
for it shows that by grace man can become divine, because Jesus Christ Himself
unitïed God and man, and invited the faithful to have the Holy Triniïty
dwelling in them spiritually. The best icons capture the spirit of cosuffering
love in the eyes of the saint, and cosuffering love is the essence of the
mystery of redemption and theosis. ïïïï Concerning The Glorification
of Saints Who Are Represented in Icons Let us briefly examine the meaning of the glorification of saints in the
Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Christian Church does not "canonize" saints; they
are glorified in the Church. The glorification of saints in the Orthodox Church
is a fulfilment of that holy love and sacred unity to which we are called by
Christ in His own words and through His Apostle. The Apostle explains to us
that we are all members of one Body of Christ (the Church), and if one member
of the body suffers, the entire body suffers with it, but if one member is
honoured, the entire body rejoices with it. Thus if God honours a certain memïber
of the Holy Church, visibly revealing this honour and bringing the conscience
of the whole Church to an awareness of this honour, either by working miracles
for those who ask that person for intercessions, or by the direct action of the
Holy Spirit upon the Church conïscience, then the whole Church honours that
person. The saint is glorified in the Church on earth because he or she has
already attained to glorification and been glorified by God. A holy person is
either a saint already in his or her own lifetime, or they never become a
saint. When a saint has reposed, he or she is receivïed into the heavenly
Church with the honour and glory befitting the moral grandeur and total
consecration to God of his or her earthly life. Thus, the glorification of saints in the Orthodox Church is a glorying
of the whole body of the Church in the highest atïtainment of the Holy Spirit by
one of the members of that body. As when the eye beholds beauty and the image
of that beauty is perceived by the mind of the entire body, and the sensaïtion
of that beauty affects every member of that body in proportion to the
sensitivity of that memïber, so also the glory of the saint is not his alone,
but it is perceived by the conscience of the whole body and each member of the
body glories in it according to the spiritual sensitivity of that member. The
spiritual attainïments of the saint uplift the entire Church, and each and all
Her members, and draws them closer to God. Moreover, the revelation by God of
the glory of the saint affirms and instills the revelation of theosis, and the
fact that salvation really consists in illumination and glorificaïtion through
repentance and moral struggle.
[1].ï It is only in
English that we have two different words for holy. One, "saint,"
comes to us from the French root of our language, while the other,
"holy," comes to us from the Germanic ancestry of English. In Greek
(as in Slavonic), there is only one word, 'agios. Thus, in Greek, Saint
Nektarïios is 'Agios Nektarios, while "Holy God" is "'agios o
Theos."
[2].ï The King
James Version translates more than one word "saint." However, in
nineteen instances, the word should be "pious," or "pious
ones," because it is translating the Hebrew word hasid. Hasid
often indicates not merely "pious," but also a "zealot for
piety." Hasid occurs, for examïple, at 2 Chron.6:41 and Prov.2:8.
The word "saint" at Mt.27:52 should probably also be understood in
the context of the Hebrew hasid. In Deuteronomy and in the books of the
Prophets, particularly Daniel, the Hebrew word being translated as
"saint" is kadosh or kaddish, or a variant of those
words. In those cases, the Hebrew word is properly translated into Greek as 'agios,
and into English as saint, because the word indicates "consecrated, set
apart."
[3].ï In this
context, it is important to recall the sequence of colour build up used when
painting an icon. This sequence, beginning with the base colour, and building
upon it toward the transfiguration and glorification revealed in the finished
icon, is theological and deeply spiritual. It teaches us that the person is
sanctified and glorified gradually, from the inside, beginning with the
"heart." This sanctificaïtion gradually grows and fills the whole
being, moving through the soul and mind of man, to encompass his body, and
unite his whole person __ body and soul __ with God.
[4].ï In this
context, it is important to note that the icons of saints, whenever possible,
are recognisable portraits of the original person. Thus, for example, icons of
St Nicholas are always recognizable because the icon presents an accurate
representation of the historical person. This is true of the icons of all the
more well known saints, although seldom for the ancient martyrs, who were
martyred in the tens of thousands, and whose actual appearances were seldom
known. It is important to remember this if one is to understand the fulness of
the message of transfiguration and theosis. It is not an idealized or
romanticised person who is being transformed by grace, nor is it only the inner
person, the soul, thus rendering the material body superfluous, or subject to
idealization. In the icon, the actual human being is shown, recognisable by
all, and thus we receive the message that such consecration, such holiness,
such transfiguration and theosis is the calling of all mankind, of all
the congregation of the faithful, and not a select few only.
|
