A true friend prays to God for his friend. A true friend cares about the salvation of a friend’s soul. To draw a friend back from false ways and set him on the true path – that is precious friendship. The Saints of God are man’s greatest friends.
– St. Nikolai Velimirovic
Today (April 20/May 3) we remember the translation of the Relics of St. Nikolai (Velimirovic), Bishop of Ochrid and Zhicha, from America to Serbia. The quote above is one of my favorite quotes from the Blessed Serbian Saint. It calls us to remembrance that the Saints of the Church are alive, and they are truly our greatest friends.
Think of your closest friends now, if you would, and how you would help them in any way you possibly could. If they were stuck on the side of the road, you’d go and help them. If they needed a place to stay, you’d gladly open your home to them. If they were hungry, you’d happily feed them. And if they are having a hard time, you would pray fervently for them, as the scriptures say to do (Jms. 5:16). Why do we do all these things for our true friends? Because we care for them in every way.
Now, extend your thoughts to those other true friends of ours who are alive in Christ, and care for us just as much – the Saints! They encourage us, they enlighten us, and they pray to God for us continuously. They keep us from false ways and help our souls unto salvation. The Scriptures say that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective (Jms. 5:16), and the prayers of those who are glorified are certainly included therein. We are in communion with them as one Church though they are in Heaven and we are on Earth. On the close bond between the Saints and the Church, Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky wrote:
“And in actuality, the earth and the heavenly world are two separate forms of existence: there in heaven is bodilessness, here on earth are bodily life and physical death; there, those who have attained, here, those seeking to attain; here, faith, there, seeing the Lord face to face; here, hope, there, fulfillment.
“Nonetheless, one cannot represent the existence of these two regions, the heavenly and the earthly, as completely separate. If we do not reach as far as the saints in heaven, the saints do reach as far as us. As one who has studied the whole of a science has command also over its elementary parts, just as a general who has entered into a country has command also over its borderlands; so those who have reached heaven have in their command what they have gone through, and they do not cease to be participants in the life of the militant Church on earth.”1
To this, some people might ask, “How can he say that? The saints are in glory, and don’t see or care about us here on Earth.” This is a common remark of the evangelicals, but perhaps the people asking might even be Orthodox or Roman Catholic. We need to look no further than the words of our Lord Jesus Christ to see that the Saints are alive. Our Lord said to the Sadducees, “[H]ave ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living” (Mk. 12:27).
We need to look no further than the book of Revelation to see that the Saints both know and care about what’s happening with us on Earth: “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, Holy and True, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the Earth?” (Rev. 6:9-10).
In the Orthodox Church, we don’t exclude Traditions and Teachings of the Church Fathers as something extra or additional to Scripture. The Church wrote the Scriptures, formed the Canon, and instructs us to pass on Her Traditions (2 Thess. 2:15). In this vein, we turn to a quote from St. John of Kronstadt to finally solidify this edifying teaching:
“Acknowledge that all the saints are our elder brothers in the one House of the Heavenly Father, who have departed from earth to heaven, and they are always with us in God, and they constantly teach us and guide us to eternal life by means of the Church services, Mysteries, rites, instructions, and Church decrees, which they have composed – as for example, those concerning the fasts and feasts; so to speak, they serve together with us, they sing, they speak, they instruct, they help us in various temptations and sorrows. And call upon them as living with you under a single roof; glorify them, thank them, converse with them as with living people; and you will believe in the Church.”2
It’s firmly and roundly taught in the Orthodox Church, as shown above, that the Saints are alive, they intercede to God for us, they watch over and care for us, and are truly our friends, as St. Nikolai has said. With your daily prayers to our God, the Most Holy Trinity, don’t forget to pray to the Most Holy Theotokos, who defends us by her omophorion, pray to your Holy Guardian Angel, and pray to your Patron Saint. One iteration of this prayer to the Saint you’re named for is in the Jordanville Prayer book, and reads as follows: “Pray to God for me, O holy God-pleaser N., for I fervently flee unto Thee, the speedy helper and intercessor for my soul.” In addition to these, you may pray to any Saint who you need help from by their prayers, and on this day, we may cry out, St. Nikolai Velimirovic, pray to God for us!
Sources
- Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky, Orthodox Dogmatic Theology: A Concise Exposition, translated and edited by Hieromonk Seraphim Rose and the St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood. Third Edition, (Platina, CA: Saint Herman of Alaska Brotherhood, 1983), 237.
- St. John Kronstadt, as quoted in IBID., 238-239.