Homily for the First Sunday After Pentecost, or Sunday of All Saints
On the Veneration of the Saints and the Angels
By St. Cleopa of Sihastria
"God is wondrous in His Saints, the God of Israel" (Psalm 67:35 LXX).
On the Veneration of the Saints and the Angels
By St. Cleopa of Sihastria
"God is wondrous in His Saints, the God of Israel" (Psalm 67:35 LXX).
Beloved faithful,
You have heard in the Holy and Divine Scriptures the words: "As for the saints who are upon His earth, the Lord has made all His desires wondrous in them" (Psalm 15:3 LXX). For this very reason we Orthodox Christians honor the saints of God, knowing that God accomplishes His will in a wondrous manner through them.
From the beginning I must tell you that the Orthodox Church distinguishes between worship, which is due to God alone, and veneration or honor, which we offer to His saints and angels who minister to the salvation of our souls. The Holy Apostle Paul teaches us this when he says: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation?" (Hebrews 1:14).
The purpose of the veneration of the saints is to glorify God through them, according to the testimony of Holy Scripture which exhorts us: "Praise God in His saints" (Psalm 150:1 LXX).
Therefore, we honor the saints and offer praise to God both directly and indirectly. Our Savior Jesus Christ shows us that whoever honors the saints honors Him, for He said: "He who receives you receives Me" (Matthew 10:40).
We venerate the saints because they are friends of God, according to the testimony of the Savior who said to His holy disciples: "You are My friends" (John 15:14). Elsewhere Holy Scripture shows that the saints are friends of God, saying: "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23; Romans 4:3; Genesis 15:6; Psalm 138:17; Isaiah 41:8).
We honor God's saints and ask God's help through them, because "the saints shall judge the world" (1 Corinthians 6:2). By saints we do not mean those who are called Christians only in name, but those who have been perfected through good works and have followed Christ completely.
For the Savior said only to the Apostles and those like them: "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28).
We honor the saints of God because, by the power of God, they perform great and glorious miracles, as did Moses, Elijah, Daniel, the Holy Apostles Peter, Paul, John the Evangelist, and all the other Apostles and saints, whose deeds and miracles are recorded in Holy Scripture and the Holy Tradition of Christ's Church.
We honor the saints and ask their help in our afflictions because they pray for us, and their prayers are accepted by God.
Hear what God said to Abimelech, King of Gerar, when, in ignorance, he intended to take Abraham's wife as his own: "Restore the man's wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours" (Genesis 20:7).
Hear also what God said to Eliphaz the Temanite and his two friends, who had grieved the holy and righteous Job: "Now therefore take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job shall pray for you; for him I will accept, lest I deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken rightly of Me as My servant Job has." And they did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer (Job 42:8–9).
See what the Holy Apostle Paul says: "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy" (Philippians 1:3–4).
At another time he says: "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith before God and our Father" (1 Thessalonians 1:2–3).
Elsewhere he says: "For this cause also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of His calling" (2 Thessalonians 1:11).
And again: "I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that God... may give unto you the spirit of wisdom" (Ephesians 1:16–17).
Or again: "This also we pray for, even your perfection" (2 Corinthians 13:9).
The same Apostle Paul writes to Timothy: "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience, that without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day" (2 Timothy 1:3).
Therefore, my brethren, how great is our obligation to honor and pray to the saints and angels, since they are friends of God (John 15:14), fellow citizens of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19), servants of God (2 Timothy 1:3; Psalms 102:21; 103:4; Luke 16:22; Hebrews 1:7), and have received power from God to perform great and awesome miracles (Exodus 7:10; Hebrews 11:29, 35; Luke 9:1–2).
The angels announced to mankind the conception and birth of the Savior (Matthew 1:20–21; Luke 1:30), the Resurrection of the Lord (Matthew 28:5–7), His Ascension and Second Coming (Acts 1:11), the conception of Saint John the Baptist (Luke 1:13–17), and countless other mysteries of God for the human race.
The saints and angels pray for us (Exodus 32:31–32); they hear our prayers (2 Peter 1:15; Daniel 10:11; Luke 16:27); they present our prayers before God on our behalf (Revelation 5:8–14).
The saints in heaven are able to minister before God for mankind and contribute to their salvation. Holy Scripture clearly shows this, saying:
"And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having harps and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints" (Revelation 5:8).
Therefore, my brethren, one must be exceedingly darkened in mind and blinded in understanding not to realize how great is our duty as Christians to pray to, honor, and call upon the saints and angels of God in our prayers which we offer day and night before Him.
Let us ask a question: Is the number of the saints known? Or the number of the angels?
No one knows the number of the saints or of the angels.
Concerning their number, Holy Scripture says: "I will count them, and they shall be multiplied more than the sand" (Psalm 138:18 LXX). Speaking also of their power over the demons and the passions, it says: "Their dominion has been greatly strengthened."
The number of God's angels is likewise unknown, as Holy Scripture declares: "Can anyone number His armies?" (Job 25:3; Psalm 67:17; Daniel 7:10).
If "the fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much" (James 5:16), how much more powerful must be the prayers of millions of saints before God, those who confessed Him before men and laid down their lives for Him?
If Abraham alone, a friend of God, had such boldness before Him that he interceded for Lot his nephew and for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:30–33; 19:1–28), how much greater is the boldness before God of all the saints who loved Him, served Him, and laid down their lives for His sake?
Therefore blessed, and thrice blessed, are those Christians who honor the saints of God, ask their help in prayer, and make them their intercessors before God in this earthly life.
Likewise, woe to those Christians who have wandered from the true faith and neither honor the saints nor seek their intercessions, nor ask the angels to pray for them before the eternal and merciful God.
Such people will experience great shame and bitter sorrow when our Savior Jesus Christ comes, surrounded by all His angels and saints, to judge the living and the dead and to reward each person according to his works (Zechariah 14:5; Matthew 16:27; Psalm 61:11; Psalm 27:6; Proverbs 24:12; Romans 2:6; Jeremiah 17:10; 32:19; Sirach 17:18; Matthew 25:31).
Beloved faithful,
The Orthodox Church gives special honor to the saints and angels, assigning to them annual feast days in the calendar, special services in the church, prayers, and icons painted with their likenesses and names. The most renowned among the saints — such as the Mother of God, Saint John the Baptist, the Holy Apostles, the Three Holy Hierarchs Basil, Gregory, and John Chrysostom, the Holy Hierarchs Nicholas and Spyridon, great wonderworkers, the Holy Great Martyrs George and Demetrios, Barbara and Katherine, and many others — enjoy a particularly distinguished veneration. Their services are more elaborate, with vigils, processions, and akathists, and their feast days are celebrated with great devotion. Churches are built in the names of the great saints, who thereby become the patrons and protectors of those churches and local communities. Likewise, the majority of our faithful bear the names of saints, which they receive at baptism, and from childhood they are entrusted to the care of those saints, whose help they seek in all the trials of life.
But since a great number of saints and righteous ones have remained unknown, not having been recorded in the ancient synaxaria and Christian martyrologies, the Orthodox Church has ordained that once each year, on the first Sunday after Pentecost, honor should be given to all the saints, known and unknown, from the time of Christ until today. This common celebration of all the saints is observed on the present Sunday, called the Sunday of All Saints. Among them are honored many hundreds of Romanian saints and righteous ones, the majority of whom remain unknown.
Having shown at the beginning why we must honor the saints, let us now consider who may be honored as a saint. Since the saints are Christians perfected in prayer, humility, self-restraint, and above all in divine love, many of them received special spiritual gifts even during their earthly lives. Some possessed the gift of the prayer of the heart, the highest form of Christian prayer. Others possessed the gift of tears, of ascetic self-control, of spiritual silence, of humility, and of perfect love for all creation. Other saints were deemed worthy of visible miraculous gifts, such as the healing of diseases, knowledge of future events, discernment of thoughts, and the casting out of unclean spirits. Even after their departure from the body, their relics often remain whole and incorrupt and perform miraculous healings for the sick. Therefore the relics of the saints are venerated by the faithful, who receive health, blessing, and help through them.
Thus, saints are those who possess the Orthodox faith, who live entirely holy lives upon the earth, who love God and mankind perfectly, who pray unceasingly with profound humility, and who are ready even to lay down their lives for the Church. Signs of sanctity include the gifts of miracle-working.
The Holy Angels also enjoy this same honor in the Church and in the homes of our faithful. Especially the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel are greatly venerated. Throughout villages and cities there are many Christians who bear their names, as well as churches erected in their honor.
In the Orthodox Church the saints are divided into several ranks: the rank of the Apostles, who proclaimed the gospel of Christ throughout the world; the rank of the Prophets and Righteous Ones of the Old Testament; the rank of the Hierarchs and Teachers of the whole world, who defended the Church and the dogmas of the Orthodox faith; the rank of the Martyrs, those who shed their blood for the true faith in Christ; the rank of the Venerable Fathers, that is, the holy monks and God-bearing hermits who struggled in monasteries, caves, and deserts through fasting and unceasing prayer. The final rank is that of the blessed and all the righteous, who pleased God upon the earth — orphans, widows, innocent children, devout monks and priests, Orthodox believers who courageously endured the sorrows, illnesses, and temptations of earthly life.
But the holiest in the Kingdom of God are the Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, who receives a unique veneration above all other saints, and Saint John the Baptist. According to Orthodox teaching and iconography, the Mother of God and Saint John the Baptist stand before the Most Holy Trinity, at the right and left of the Savior, interceding unceasingly for the salvation of the world.
All the saints in heaven, known and unknown, together with the ranks of the heavenly angels, constitute the Church Triumphant in heaven. The totality of Orthodox believers upon the earth, who struggle against the temptations that come from the devil, the world, and the flesh, constitute the so-called Church Militant.
The saints and angels in heaven have the mission of glorifying God unceasingly and of praying for the victory of the Church Militant upon earth, contributing above all to the salvation of human souls. According to the words of the Savior, “There is great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10), we must understand how greatly all the saints and angels rejoice for every sinner who repents.
But let us also say a few words about the Romanian saints who have flourished upon the soil of our country from the earliest Christian centuries until our own day.
Although it is often said that the Romanian Orthodox Church has officially canonized only a small number of local saints throughout its history because of the hardships of the ages, we should remember that among us it was first the people and the faithful who canonized the saints and honored them fittingly, while the Church later recognized them formally. We must know, however, that by the mercy of God we too have many saints: chosen priests, Christ-bearing hierarchs, rulers who defended Christianity — foremost among them Stephen the Great and many martyred soldiers who sacrificed themselves to defend the Orthodox faith on the soil of our homeland.
From the first holy bishops of Tomis in the fourth century, to the Holy Hierarchs Calinic of Cernica (†1868) and Joseph the New of Partoș (†1656), canonized in 1955–1956; from the holy martyrs Zoticus, Attalus, Camasius, and Philip of the fourth century, whose relics were discovered in 1971 at Niculițel in Dobrogea, to the great martyred ruler Constantine Brâncoveanu and his four sons, beheaded for Christ on August 15, 1714; from the first venerable monks of Dobrogea and the Buzău Mountains, beginning with Saint John Cassian (c. 360–c. 435), to Venerable Jacob of Hozeva (†1960), the anonymous hesychast discovered in May 1968 within the precincts of Neamț Monastery, and Venerable Paisius of Neamț (†1794), recently canonized — e see that we possess hundreds upon hundreds of native saints, many unknown to us, whose names are written in the heavenly calendar of the saints and who pray to God for us all.
Beloved faithful,
The Church of Christ is the Church of the saints and martyrs. It was founded upon the sacrifice of the Lord on the Cross, upon the teaching of the Apostles, and upon the blood of more than ten million martyrs. The Church has always brought forth saints and has always been served by saints. The Church today likewise needs saints — shepherds who are as holy as possible and faithful Christians who lead holy lives.
Among these we too must be counted. As children of God by grace and members of the Church Militant upon earth, we are called to be “followers of Christ,” to live spiritually in this world, and to make ourselves worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven.
As spiritual children of the saints who have begotten us in Christ, we are obliged to imitate their Orthodox faith, their holy lives, their love for God, their zeal for the gospel, and their devotion to holy prayer. We cannot be saved unless, according to our ability, we imitate the lives of the saints: the humility of the venerable ascetics, the courage of the martyrs, the prayer of the hermits, the holiness of the righteous, the steadfastness and firmness in faith of our forefathers, the patience of the fathers who begot us, and the gentleness of the mothers who raised us.
Let us strive earnestly for these saving Christian virtues. We do not consider ourselves saints, but we live and seek salvation in the Church of the saints. They are our fathers, our intercessors, our helpers in affliction, and our examples to follow. Let us abandon pride, malice, and unbelief, which destroy the soul, and let us seek the help of all the saints in heaven, headed by the Mother of God, whom we honor today. They kept everything pure and holy: their bodies, their minds, their speech, their senses, and their souls. For this reason they worked miracles; for this reason they cast out demons; for this reason their bodies remain incorrupt and bring healing to many who are sick.
Therefore, let us repent of our sins, imitate the saints, live pure lives, and always ask their help through this short prayer:
“All Saints, pray to God for us!” Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
