СВЯТЫЕ

1. They form one body and pray together for us I believe that the saints in Heaven are all one body. They all pray for us together, although we extend our prayers to one or the other. And the Mother of God with everyone stands before God for us. When you ask the saints to add their intercession before the Lord to the prayer of the Mother of God, you do nothing special. This is always the case in Heaven (1, p. 7). 2. Clarification that praying to saints is not idolatry You are embarrassed, as you write, by praying to the saints, and you are afraid that you might be condemned for idolatry. No, our prayer to the saints and their honoring has nothing idolatrous. It would be idolatry if we honored them as gods, but we honor them as servants of God and intercessors for us before God. Your inner feeling should tell you that you do not consider them God and do not consider them the primary reason for the benefits you ask for, but only an instrument for giving them. When we appeal to the saint, we say: “Holy One of God, pray for us, beg the Lord to give us this and that.” Take into account this: we, living here on earth, children of the Church, ask each other to pray for us... Everyone does this. And no one thinks that there is anything idolatrous here. You write to me: “Pray about this and that.” Are you afraid of being guilty of idolatry? I think that there was no one else in the world who thought so. How do you get the idea in your head that when the saints were here on earth, it was safe to ask them for prayer, but when they moved there, to the Kingdom of Heaven, it became impossible? Our departed fathers and brothers, despite this departure, remain in the Church of God just like we who remained here (3, p. 127). The essence of idolatry is that creatures appropriate Divine properties and, because of this, honor them... We do not attribute any Divine properties to the saints of God... but honor them as the most perfect of people, who have reached the measure of the age of the fulfillment of Christ... and through this, those who have come closer to God, more sincerely than others. Go inside yourself and consider: do you consider the saints to be gods... The feeling should tell you this. If it turns out that you consider them to be so, then stop counting, and if you don’t count, there is no need to embarrass yourself with the thought, lest you fall into idolatry (3, pp. 127–128). 3. Live communication with Angels and saints I have already written to you that internal suggestions come from the Guardian Angel and the saints of God, to whom you pray or pay homage. It always happens that just as our heartfelt prayers are immediately heard by the saints, so their word to us immediately responds in our soul, as happens on telegraphs. The communication between our world and the heavenly one is always alive. Take care to always maintain a holy mood - and you will always be in living communion with the saints of God. They see us and either rejoice when our hearts are in good order, or they are sad and mourn when things are bad (3, p. 218). Turn your eyes to the heavenly ones. Imagine that the top of your home is accepted, you openly see Heaven and the heavenly. The people there see you, and you see them. You speak to them, but they can come to you in spirit... and you are only allowed to visit them mentally... Then you will not want to see either those from St. Petersburg, or Moscow, or anyone else. But, in fact, it is possible to enter into tangible communication with the heavenly (4, p. 21). At the moment of your appeal, the hand of God threw the villain away from you - and while he was coming to his senses, you were given the freedom to run out into the corridor and call for help. And St. Barbara the Great Martyr was there. A minute before the cutting off of the head, she prayed that God would save everyone who would come to her in prayers from unexpected death. But you have a constant prayer for her. Here comes the help (8, p. 243)! 6. How saints hear our prayers You have probably heard the question of how the saints hear our prayers, or perhaps you yourself have asked it yourself. In response to it, they interpret and interpret, but the question remains a question. In my opinion, given the assumption of that element, it turns out: how can the saints not hear our prayers? Do you know how an electric telegraph works? In St. Petersburg, for example, they set up a well-known apparatus - at the same moment that action in St. Petersburg is reflected in Moscow in a similar apparatus and in the same meaning in which the movement takes place there. Why does this happen? Because the devices are homogeneous, and the wire connecting them is adjusted to them. So, the action of such a telegraph is our prayer. We and the saints are, as it were, two homogeneous apparatuses, and the environment in which the saints and with which our souls are surrounded is a wire. When true prayer - heartfelt - moves in the soul, then it, acting on that element, flies like a ray of light to the saints and tells them what we want and what we are praying for. There is no gap between our prayer and hearing, it is only necessary that the prayer come from the heart. We have it as a telegraph projectile for Heaven. The same prayers, which come not from the heart, but only from the head and from the tongue, do not give a ray ascending to Heaven, and are not heard there. Yes, this is not prayer, but only prayer techniques (9, p. 55). 7. Communication with the invisible world The believer is in living communication with the entire invisible world. How is this communication expressed? In addition to many things, this communication consisted of prayer on earth. The apostles asked to pray for themselves and commanded everyone to pray for each other. The same must be observed in relation to the departed Orthodox and in general to the entire invisible world, with which the union is just as valid as with the visible. So we ask the saints of God to pray for us... and for those for whom we are not sure that they are strong with God, we pray for them ourselves... In all this, as you see, we act not only in the spirit, but also in the letter of the apostolic teaching, and not to please the self-deeds of the hierarchs. Is it so? From this and other things understand (11, p. 138). 8. Intercession for us by all saints If God deigned that we would call upon the saints in prayer so that they would pray for us, then He thereby declared that He would listen to their prayers for us. Therefore, there is nothing contrary to Him in the words: “Through the prayers of the saints”... this means: You have deigned that we ask the saints to pray for us. Here we pray, save us through their prayers (6, p. 4). 9. About the different names of saints Are you asking what the different names of saints mean? These are names that are assigned to them according to their condition, rank and feat on earth, and not what degree of bliss is assigned to them in Heaven. Everything there is determined by the inner perfection of the heart. Some of these names you yourself identified as good. A saint is a bishop who has pleased God and been glorified. Sometimes living bishops who have earned respect are also called this way. A martyr is any Christian who suffered for the faith and was tortured to death. Martyred bishops and priests are called holy martyrs, monks and nuns - venerable martyrs and venerable martyrs. Someone who suffered for the faith, but was not tortured to death, is called a confessor. Martyrs who suffered excessively, with the manifestation of the special protection of God over them, are great martyrs and great martyrs. Venerable – saints of monks and nuns. Unmercenaries are Christian doctors who heal for free while preaching the faith. For Christ's sake, holy fools - who took on the appearance of being foolish and patiently endured everything they received for their senselessness. Archangel - Michael the Archangel - the first Angel after the fall of Satan... Ethereal forces are all Angels; but saints are not called that, for they have the ability to perceive flesh, but angels do not (6, pp. 16–17). You might be interested in: