Should Our Prayers Be Offered to Jesus or to the Saints?

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Eli Kittim

The Communion of Saints

Intercession of the saints plays a crucial role in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches. This practice is derived from the Catholic creed of the Communion of saints. The said doctrine holds that dead saints pass instantly into the divine presence and therefore have a sort of fiduciary power in helping others to procure favors and blessings. This is not unlike Shinto, a Japanese religion that incorporates the worship of ancestors. In fact, the Christian patron saints that act as intermediaries between God and humans, interceding for trade, agriculture, health, and so on, are reminiscent of the Greek pantheon of demigods (The Twelve Olympians) in which each deity was responsible for a particular aspect of life. In this sense, the church adopted a form of pagan polytheism. The specific dedications and remembrances of saints in the Catholic, and especially in the Orthodox, churches have been highly developed to such an extent that the entire liturgical year is devoted to and structured around the so-called calendar of saints, in which each day pays homage to a particular saint(s) (i.e. feast day). Not to mention the ancient preoccupation with saints' relics and the lucrative pilgrimages that have been designed for such worship.

Do the Saints in Heaven Pray for the People on Earth?

Much to our dismay, saints in heaven don't pray on behalf of earthlings. Rather, these martyrs pray for God to avenge their blood (Rev. 6:9-10 NRSV):

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under
the altar the souls of those who had been
slaughtered for the word of God and for the
testimony they had given; they cried out
with a loud voice, 'Sovereign
Lord, holy and true, how long will it be
before you judge and avenge our blood on
the inhabitants of the earth?' "

Similarly, "the prayers of the saints" in Rev. 5:8-10 are solely directed to Jesus, praising him for his extraordinary feats. They're not about helping John Doe, back on earth, with his financial woes, or Jane Doe with her marital breakdown:

"When he had taken the scroll, the four living
creatures and the twenty-four elders fell
before the Lamb, each holding a harp and
golden bowls full of incense, which are the
prayers of the saints. They sing a new song:
'You are worthy to take the scroll and to
open its seals, for you were slaughtered and
by your blood you ransomed for God saints
from every tribe and language and people
and nation; you have made them to be a
kingdom and priests serving our God, and
they will reign on earth.' "

Incidentally, the so-called saints in Rev. 5:8 are not an elite, hierarchical class of people worthy of worship. That's a misnomer. On the contrary, all who are born-again in Christ are called "saints" (cf. Rom. 1:7). Remember, not even angels are allowed to be worshipped in God's kingdom (Rev. 19:10), let alone departed spirits.

Is Praying to Saints Biblical?

Over against the intercessory prayer of saints is Deut. 18:11 which explicitly forbids those who consult the dead (cf. Isa. 8:19). That's precisely why, in the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus (Lk. 16:19–31), the rich man's intercessory-prayer request is denied!

Sometimes Catholic and Orthodox writers will point to Old Testament accounts in which patriarchs or prophets enlisted the help of an angel (e.g. Gen. 48:16; Zech. 1:8-11). But they fail to mention that the said angel is typically associated with the angel of the Lord, which is traditionally viewed by Christian commentators as the Pre-Incarnate Son (cf. Gen. 16:7; Exod. 33:14; Jer. 1:4). Furthermore, conversing with an angel is not the same as praying to an angel. Yet in defense of intercessory prayer of heavenly beings, Catholic writers often point to the Annunciation as a case in point. But again, Mary's conversation with Gabriel does not involve an intercessory prayer request, nor an act of prostration or worship.

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⏰ Last updated: Aug 09, 2023 ⏰

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