"What is required is a virtuous life of obvious holiness…"

Last updated on: September 30, 2016 at 5:36 pm by Deacon Greg Kandra

"What is required is a virtuous life of obvious holiness…" 2016-09-30T17:36:05-04:00 Deacon Greg Kandra

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As we mark All Saints Day, I was surprised to learn how our brothers and sisters in the East honor their saints — and how they decide who becomes one.

Among other things, they don’t celebrate this feast day; they have, instead, the Sunday of All Saints, the Sunday after Pentecost.

I posted something on this, from Fr. Joseph Frawley of the Orthodox Church of America, over at the CNEWA blog ONE-TO-ONE:

“While the glorification of a saint may be initiated because of miracles, it is not an absolute necessity for canonization. The Roman Catholic Church requires three verified miracles in order to recognize someone as a saint; the Orthodox Church does not require this. There are some saints, including Saint Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain (commemorated 14 July) and Saint Innocent of Moscow (commemorated 31 March), who have not performed any miracles, as far as we know. What is required is a virtuous life of obvious holiness. And a saint’s writings and preaching must be ‘fully Orthodox,’ in agreement with the pure faith that we have received from Christ and the apostles and taught by the fathers and the ecumenical councils.

“Can the church ‘make’ a saint? The answer is no. Only God can do that. We glorify those whom God himself has glorified, seeing in their lives true love for God and their neighbors. The church merely recognizes that such a person has cooperated with God’s grace to the extent that his or her holiness is beyond doubt.

“Are saints ‘elected’ by special panels or by majority vote? Again, the answer is no. Long before an official inquiry into a person’s life is made, that person is venerated by the people where he or she lived and died. His or her memory is kept alive by the people who pray for his or her soul or who ask him or her for intercession. Sometimes people will visit his or her grave or have icons painted through their love for the person. Then a request is made, usually through the diocesan bishop, for the church to recognize that person as a saint. A committee, such as the Orthodox Church in America’s Canonization Commission, is formed to research the life of the person who is being considered for glorification and to submit a report to the holy synod stating its reasons why the person should or should not be recognized as a saint. Then the holy synod decides to number that person among the saints and have icons painted and liturgical services composed.

There’s a lot more, with additional links. Check it out.

Hanging with the saints

All Saints

Orthodox Church

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