“Why Do You Pray to the Saints?” The Objection Every Orthodox Christian Hears

When visitors first walk into an Orthodox Church they are immediately drawn to the images of men and women throughout history that adorn the walls of our churches.

This is perhaps the most striking contrast between Eastern Orthodoxy architecture and nearly every other thread of Christendom.

Many Orthodox churches, such as the parish I am part of, cover nearly every single inch of the walls, ceilings, and columns with images of Saints, the stories of the Bible, as well as pictures of palm trees, fruit, angels, and more.

I don’t ask that as a means of provoking an argument, but rather, more as a way of attempting to gauge their own understanding of prayer and intercession.

If you consider yourself a Christian, regardless of what kind of ‘church’ you attend, inevitably you have experienced a moment in your life where someone has shared some trial or tribulation they are going through and then follows it with a request on their part; “please pray for me”.

So engrained in our culture is the concept of asking others for prayer when times are tough, that the phrases people use are etched into our subconscious;

• “Please keep me in your prayers.”

• “I could really use some prayers right now.”

• “Please pray for my family.”

• “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”

Politicians use statements like these when natural disasters strike cities

Clergy use these kind of phrases when difficult times arise

And our friends and neighbors use these statements when they have medical procedures or illnesses that are present on their mind.

Nobody ever objects when someone says, “please pray for me”.

In fact, so rooted is this idea of asking others for prayer, I would go so far as to say nearly every Protestant, Evangelical or Christian of any kind that I have ever met consider it rather virtuous to ask others for prayer.

Interestingly enough, whenever someone asks another person to pray for them, they are never rebuked.

Nobody ever says to the person who asks for prayer,

“How dare you ask another human to intercede for you when you have direct access to God through Jesus Christ!”

Asking for prayer is not considered something that a person should be criticized for, but rather it is seen as a sign of humility, in other words, a virtue;

• Someone who says “I need prayer” is viewed as admitting they need help from others.

• Someone who says “please pray for me” is viewed as someone who asks their brothers and sisters in Christ to join in their suffering.

• When problems become more serious, the person in need tends to ask more people to pray for them.

The word intercession in the Greek is éntyoxis (ἔντευξις) meaning petition or prayer, and the verb entygxánω (ἐντυγχάνω) means to “to meet with” or “to plead on behalf of another”

Thus, intercessory prayer in the life of a Christian is considered to be the most normal form of prayer,

• Nobody ever thinks you’re replacing Jesus Christ when you ask a fellow brother or sister to pray for you.

• Nobody ever thinks you’re denying the unique mediation of Jesus Christ

• Nobody thinks you’re attributing any kind of divine power to a human that is solely reserved to Jesus.

So apparently the problem isn’t specifically related to the idea of intercession, the problem when it comes to the subject of Orthodox Christianity is quite simply: who is doing the interceding.

At the heart of the objection regarding Orthodox Christianity and praying to saints, are various versions of these statements;

• “Well, I can ask someone here on earth to pray for me, because I can talk to them”

• “But the Saints are dead!”

• “How can they possibly hear you?”

Such statements and questions have very deep rooted presuppositions that aren’t always discussed;

• Are the saints actually dead?

• Do Christians believe that death destroys the Christian’s relationship with Christ?

• Do we believe that those who die in Christ cease to exist?

• Do we believe they cease to worship God?

• Do we believe they cease to love?

• Do we believe they cease to pray?

Oddly enough, if you attend a Protestant or Evangelical funeral (or memorial) you are likely to hear phrases that echo ancient ideas;

• “He’s in a better place”

• “She’s with Jesus now”

• “They’re reunited with their loved ones”

• “We’ll see them again”

Apparently, the moment their loved one dies, the very people who say the “saint’s are dead” suddenly believe their loved ones are alive with Christ, yet at the same time they somehow believe those people who are with Christ are completely incapable of praying.

Of course, the constant criticism is always the same,

“But how can a saint in heaven hear millions of prayers?”

Again, this question presupposes a lot of assumptions beneath it;

The question assumes a Saint has to be omniscient in the exact same way God is omniscient.

We seem perfectly comfortable believing in a God that can hear millions of Christians praying simultaneously, yet somehow we become scandalized at the mere possibility that the same God could allow His saints to participate in hearing those same prayers.

So now let’s remove the pew or chair that we are sitting upon, and then you have the very Orthodox claim regarding the saints that so many people seem to struggle with;

The Orthodox Church has never claimed “The saint has become God”

But rather, the saints are still members of the body of Christ, they are still alive in Christ, and they are still capable of praying with us.

That is one of the reasons our church buildings are adorned with images of the saints; to remind us God is the God of the living, not the dead!

Orthodox Christians don’t pray to the saints because Christ isn’t enough.

We pray to the saints because Christ has made the church into something far larger than ourselves.

Are their Biblical prooftext that support prayers to saints? Yes, of course.

But Scripture doesn’t function like a mathematical proof that automatically forces someone to abandon the framework they were raised in.

Nobody changes their belief systems because they were given prooftext; every Protestant Christian knows this, because for more than a hundred years they have utterly failed at convincing Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons that they are reading the Bible incorrectly. Both of those organizations continue to grow and are much larger now than when the Evangelicals first began trying to show them biblical proof texts.

No amount of proof texts accomplish what people think they accomplish.

Ultimately, what people need is love. They need grace. They need to experience the transformative love of Christ in a way that is real and personal.

I have long ago abandoned the idea of arguing people into the faith. It’s not becoming of who I am in Christ and what He has called me to do.

~ Kenneth

In recent weeks I've been writing more and more addendums to my essays. It serves two purposes;

1. it has decreased the number of emails and DM’s I was receiving in which people were a bit vitriolic

2. it is my way of explaining to people that I don’t expect them to become Orthodox Christians because of my writing. That is not my motivation in writing.

I was born in the 1970’s at what I believe was the zenith of Evangelical apologetics.

The 1980’s and 90’s were overflowing with a million and one ways of trying to convince people to become Christian.

And so, by the time I decided to return to the public sphere again as a writer here on Substack, there now exists within our culture a deeply rooted belief about Christian writers; that the motivation of the writer is to convince people to believe what they believe.

That couldn’t be further from the case for myself.

My main motivation as a writer is simply to continue questioning myself. To question my own beliefs, to question my own observations, and to have a kind of conversation with readers as I continue on in this journey and life in Christ.

If you were talking about my younger self, I would admit that I was very different; I was raised with the idea that my goal in all things was to convince people of the theology I believed in.

It has been time tempered with much humility that has changed me. I began to realize I was failing people when I tried to argue with them. I was failing people when I tried to convince them to believe what I believe.

The realization that began helping me the most was when I had to admit I don't know everything. I kept learning and seeing how my previous beliefs that I held so dearly, were things I no longer believed.

I was forced to see my own flaws.

It took me many years to come to this understanding about myself.

It is a humbling experience to realize you’re not who you thought you are.

I’m always nervous doing interviews or podcast shows.

I’m far more comfortable with the written word because it allows me to double check everything I've said and critique it heavily before I offer it up for public consumption.

Over the course of the last six months I’ve received a myriad of Podcast invitations. I’ve only accepted a couple, from channels that seem to be more about dialogue than debate.

I’m not really sure if there is any value in me being on a podcast. I’m nothing more than a simply history teacher.

There are far greater minds I would want people to listen to than my own.

Yet the interview invitations keep coming in. I mention this because I've accepted another, but continue to be leery if this is the direction I should continue.

Your prayers, comments, likes, and support is appreciated greatly.

Each week we get more done on our property, and are still hoping to finish before winter in order to invite readers and friends to come stay with us, sit around the campfire and fellowship.

I can’t tell you how thankful I am that a few of you sent money towards the project. I really don’t know what to say. I tear up every time a single dollar shows up, as we are truly unworthy of your kindness.

I’m slowly putting together a a Live Winter Seminar that will hopefully coincide with the Nativity.

I’m thinking that an interesting seminar might be one in which we consider the history of the Nativity in relation to Apocryphal books, and I am hoping that we are able to arrange for an Orthodox priest or Orthodox theologian who could spend a little time giving a lecture during the seminar as well.

Paid subscribers to Becoming Orthodox directly help me put these Live seminars on, it takes an exorbitant amount of time to put slideshows and lectures together and to arrange everything.

All of my writings here on Becoming Orthodox are free; we won’t ever put anything behind a paywall. I take the words of the Didache seriously. So thank you to those who help out regardless.

Thank you to each of you.