Praying to Saints is Christian

Praying to Saints is Christian and Biblical, and all Christians should do it. This video explains the logic, philosophy, and biblical principles behind praying to Saints and the Orthodox arguments surrounding it.

Many Protestants criticize praying to Saints, their main arguments are:

Praying to Saints is idolatry
Saints are dead
Just pray to God
Saints can't hear your prayers

And other such arguments, all of which are explained very clearly in this video.

The Orthodox Christian practice is also part of traditional and historical Christianity, but this video does not cover that aspect mainly because it's already very clearly there by the time of the 4th century and traces of it is evident starting from the time of the apostles and their students (See martyrdom of St. Polycarp for instance).

Although Roman Catholics and even Orientals believe in this practice as well, the theological explanation behind it due to the essence energy distinction is not present within those heresies, which is why praying to saints as an act of recognizing God's glory and grace in them is unique to Orthodoxy, since in Orthodoxy we believe that we partake of God's energies without mediation (and if there's such a mediation to speak of, it is the Word of God Himself, and not a separate uniquely created mediation).

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[evren.nikolaos]

This is a solid overview. It’s probably not super necessary, but it would be helpful to point to the long list of Patristic figures who not only assume the practice of invoking the Saints but also encourage it

[DMIsREAL]

Just in time, needed this for a friend who thinks praying to saints is necromancy 😢

[WDLR]

That some of us saw the blessed Ignatius suddenly standing by us and embracing us, while others beheld him again praying for us, and others still saw him dropping with sweat, as if he had just come from his great labour, and standing by the Lord. When, therefore, we had with great joy witnessed these things, and had compared our several visions together, we sang praise to God, the giver of all good things, and expressed our sense of the happiness of the holy [martyr]; and now we have made known to you both the day and the time [when these things happened], that, assembling ourselves together according to the time of his martyrdom, we may have fellowship with the champion and noble martyr of Christ, who trod under foot the devil, and perfected the course which, out of love to Christ, he had desired, in Christ Jesus our Lord; by whom, and with whom, be glory and power to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, for evermore! Amen.

- Martyrdom of Ignatius ch 7

[somerandomchannel]

2 Kings 5:26 (Brenton's Septuagint)

Whence comest thou, Giezi? and Giezi said, Thy servant has not been hither or thither. And Elisaie said to him, *Went not my heart with thee, when the man returned from his chariot to meet thee?* and now thou hast received silver, and now thou hast received raiment, and olive yards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants.

This verse shows that God does make His Saints capable of witnessing things that they otherwise would not be able to witness. So it adds up that the Saints in Paradise can listen to our prayers.

[Firebreath]

I love that you always bring up very important points that I don't hear in other places. Like how denying the intercession of Saints denies the working of God in His people, or how Saints performing miracles is a perfect proof of how we know God can share His power with His Saints to allow them to hear our prayers. Great stuff David!

[notgoddhoward]

Yet the same "churches" that say having an icon of a saint is heresy have garden gnomes, and dress up for halloween as marvel "superheroes"

[OrthoKarter]

“We dont Pray to the Saints, the Saints Pray FOR US!”
Prots: 🤯

[jimlamanna]

There is no coherent argument against intercession. Praying to the Saints is important. They make up the Body of Christ.

[lifestylemedicinals]

As a westerner, my upbringing was a sort of "pseudo-protestantism"(for lack of a better term), so all the paradigms that come with that made it very difficult to properly analyze the Orthodox position on Saint intercession.
But as I've let my guard down to study the depths of Church history and the church Fathers, I realize now that the western narrative on this is a strawman.
If a Protestant says praying to a Saint is idolatry on the basis of asking for prayer, then they shouldn't ask anyone for prayer period.
The saints in Heaven also aren't "dead", they have eternal life in Christ as extentions of His body.
So if the saints are technically Christ because they're directly in Him, then you're still mediating through the fullness of Christ through the inheritance of the saints.
The Bible says to lay aside every sin and weight that so easily ensares us BECAUSE we're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, namely, the Saints.
Why would our sins even matter to them? 🤔
Because they are an extention of Christ himself in the Heavenly family.
This is why we will be judging WITH Christ.
I feel at peace knowing we have an army and family in Heaven contending for us at all times 😊 🙏

[SaintNicholasFan]

Thank you for not using that stupid “We don’t pray to the Saints, we just ask them to pray for us” line. It’s completely backwards because it’s basically conceding the protestants false definition of the English word “pray” which simply means to ask someone for something. We shouldn’t throw away our common verbiage in order to make it compatible with protestant delusions. We DO pray to the Saints, but they don’t know what “prayer” actually means.

[TheMhouk]

I think there's a deeper deficit in protestant anthropology, stemming from faulty Christology which really limits them seeing Christ in others - which then has a flow on effect of not seeing Christ in his Saints to the extent that in him, they're here with us in the now and act as types of Christ, which means intercession.

Great video btw

[slowboywhiteboardv]

4:48 I've heard people talk about soul sleep. If protestants get all their doctrines from different interpretations of the scriptures, does anyone know where they're getting soul sleep theory from?

[FuzzyMutt]

Christos Anesti!! Really well put together, it was actually a Protestant friend of mine that shared this with me. He found it to be the best/most palatable explanation he’s heard yet regarding the veneration of saints. And though I’m orthodox, I too found it very helpful as a tool in sharing my faith. Thank you; Glory be to God!!

[Victoriousandbrave]

I’m still learning, but educating myself on Martyrs and Saints has only increased and deepened my Faith.

[PracticalBibleStudies]

I'm not sure if I'm on board with using the word "prayer" for intercession.

[AlphaOmega]

Thank you Brother we are waiting more videos .May the grace of God be with you 🙏

[Kassandra_Troy]

David, can you crank up the volume somewhat?

[WizardKing-Official]

Best explanation my Orthodox friend. Im Catholic and needed a biblically explained example of why we and I pray to our Saints and brothers/sisters of Christ. Amen. ❤

[naikhanomtom]

Thank you so much for all of your content. You've been such a big help in my journey into theology.

[OrthosAlexandros]

It would be good to point out how Moses is god in relation to Aaron and the Pharaoh, as divine authority is manifested in him how he is a mediator between God's revelation and Israel and how he intercedes and prays for egypt while "crying out" to God with his whole being when Egypt repents, but when egypt hardens its heart, he is a judge before it, as God brings fourth miracles and plagues through his mouth and hand. These plagues can be understood not only as punishments upon egypt, but ten missionary words, ten preachings and divine pedagogy, as we soon will find out how "many other peoples" follow the Israelites out of egypt. By this it is signified that they are the people who "had the fear of the Word of the Lord" and were the ones who came unto the gates of the OT Church and stood before them. It seen that not being affected by the tenth plague isn't determined by being an ethnic Israelite, but putting the blood of the paschal lamb on the sides and the tops of the doorframes of one's house.