Program / Course 21: Liturgical Theology / Lesson 3.5
What you will learn
- Define the sanctoral cycle and explain how it differs from the temporal cycle.
- Trace the rise of martyr commemorations and the process by which saints came to be recognized.
- State how Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran and Reformed traditions treat saints and their days.
- Distinguish remembering a saint from praying to one, and say what can be done alone.
The big idea
Alongside the cycle of Christ’s life, from Advent to Pentecost, the church keeps a second cycle of days that remember the saints, beginning with the martyrs. The oldest evidence shows believers gathering at a martyr’s tomb on the anniversary of death. Catholic and Orthodox Christians remember the saints and ask for their prayers. Lutheran and Anglican churches keep many saints days while rejecting the invocation of saints. Reformed churches generally keep none. All agree that Christ alone is the one mediator between God and humanity, though they understand the saints differently.
Key terms
- Sanctoral cycle
- The calendar of saints days, which runs alongside the temporal cycle of seasons built around Christ’s life.
- Temporal cycle
- The cycle of seasons and feasts of the Lord, such as Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter.
- Martyr
- From the Greek for witness. A Christian who dies for the faith.
- Canonization
- In the Catholic Church, the official declaration that a person is in heaven and may be honored by the whole church.
- Veneration
- Honor given to saints and to holy things, as distinct from the worship that is owed to God alone.
- Invocation
- Asking a saint to pray for you, as one asks a friend to pray. It is practiced by Catholics and Orthodox and rejected by most Protestants.
- Theotokos
- A Greek title of Mary, meaning God-bearer, affirmed at the Council of Ephesus in 431 to protect the doctrine that Christ is truly God.
Background
The earliest evidence for honoring the dead who bore witness to Christ is the account of the martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna, from the mid-second century. It says that the believers gathered his bones and met at the place to celebrate the day of his martyrdom as his birthday. In the third and fourth centuries, churches kept lists of martyrs and their days. After persecution ended, the church added confessors, bishops and monks, and in time the calendar filled.
The Bible offers several texts used in the discussion: the cloud of witnesses in Hebrews 12:1, the souls of martyrs under the altar in Revelation 6:9-10, the prayers of the saints in Revelation 5:8 and Mary’s words that all generations will call her blessed (Luke 1:48). The traditions read these texts differently.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: How the calendar grew
The Roman church kept lists of martyrs by the fourth century, and local churches added their own. In the Middle Ages the calendar grew so full that reformers in each age cut it back. The Roman calendar was revised in 1969 to reduce the number of obligatory days and give more weight to Sundays and the temporal cycle. In the Orthodox Church each day has several saints or events, though only some are celebrated with a full service. The Anglican and Lutheran calendars keep a small number of days for Apostles, the Virgin Mary and others, with newer additions in the twentieth century.
Step 2: How saints are recognized
In the early church recognition came by local acclaim, usually with the bishop’s approval. The first papal canonization on record is that of Ulrich of Augsburg in 993. From the twelfth century the popes reserved the process to themselves, and it later developed into a formal investigation of the person’s life, writings and miracles. Today the Catholic process includes a declaration of heroic virtue, beatification and canonization, with the requirement of miracles. The Orthodox have no single central process. A local synod or the church more widely recognizes a saint, a practice called glorification, often following long popular veneration. Anglican and Lutheran churches commemorate figures through the calendar, usually without a canonization process.
Step 3: The Catholic and Orthodox view
Catholic teaching, set out at the Council of Trent and in the Catechism, holds that the saints reign with Christ and pray for the church, and that it is good and useful to ask for their prayers. It distinguishes latria, the worship due to God alone, from dulia, the honor given to saints, and from hyperdulia, the special honor given to Mary. Orthodox teaching likewise honors the saints, and especially the Theotokos, as friends of God who pray for the living, and Orthodox services are full of petitions to them. Both say that Christ remains the sole mediator and that asking a saint to pray is like asking a living believer. Their critics reply that Scripture does not command it, and that it risks obscuring Christ.
Step 4: The Reformation response
The Augsburg Confession (Article 21) says that the saints may be remembered so that faith may be strengthened by their example, but that Scripture does not teach believers to invoke the saints or ask their help. Lutheran writers in the Apology allow that the saints in heaven may pray for the church in general, but not that invocation is commanded. The Church of England in Article 22 condemns the Romish doctrine concerning invocation of saints as a fond thing vainly invented and not grounded on Scripture. Reformed churches, following Calvin, rejected invocation and in general kept no saints days. Most free-church Christians likewise do not invoke saints, though they honor heroes of the faith. The disagreement concerns whether those in heaven may be asked to pray, and whether the practice is a help or a danger.
Step 5: What a person can do alone
Every tradition would allow a person to read the lives of the saints, to give thanks for their example and to pray about their lessons. Catholic and Orthodox Christians would also ask for their prayers. A student from a tradition that does not invoke saints should not be required to do so, and a student who does should not treat it as a magic formula. Canonization and glorification are acts of the church and cannot be done by a private person. A name on a private list is not a canonization.
- What does this tradition mean by a saint?
- Who decides, and by what process?
- What does the tradition ask the faithful to do on a saint’s day?
- Is the saint remembered, honored or asked for prayer?
- What texts of Scripture does each side cite?
- Where does the tradition place the line between honor and worship?
Examples
Polycarp’s day
The account of Polycarp’s martyrdom says believers gathered his bones, which were more precious to them than jewels, and planned to meet each year to celebrate the day of his martyrdom. This is among the earliest evidence for the honoring of a saint on his day.
A Lutheran saint’s day
A Lutheran congregation observes the day of St Andrew with a reading from the Gospel about his calling and a hymn. The sermon presents Andrew as an example of faith. There is no prayer addressed to him.
An Orthodox akathist
An Orthodox family prays an akathist hymn to St Nicholas on his feast day, asking for his prayers. They hold that he is alive in Christ and prays for the church. A Reformed visitor might respect the devotion but believe that Scripture does not warrant it.
Different perspectives
Catholic
The communion of saints includes the living and the dead in Christ. The saints in heaven pray for the church, and asking for their prayers is lawful and good. The church recognizes saints by canonization so that all may know who is held up as a model.
Orthodox
The saints are the friends of God, shown in the icons and honored in every service. The church is a single body of living and departed, and asking a saint for prayers is part of ordinary life in that body.
Lutheran and Anglican
The saints are to be remembered with thanks and imitated in faith. Invocation is not commanded by Scripture and is rejected in the confessions, though some Anglicans, especially Anglo-Catholics, practice a form of devotion to saints.
Reformed and free-church
All believers are saints in the New Testament sense. Christ alone is mediator, and prayer is to be made to God alone. Remembrance of heroes of faith is welcome, but the church year of saints days has often been set aside.
Scholarly
Historians such as Peter Brown have shown that the cult of saints grew rapidly in the fourth and fifth centuries, with roots in earlier martyr commemorations. Judgments about its theology belong to the churches and not to the historians.
Why it matters
Saints days account for a large share of the differences students will meet among the churches, and for much of popular devotion discussed later in the course. Understanding the reasons, from Scripture and from history, allows students to describe each position as its members would and to see where the actual dispute lies. The dispute is about invocation and the role of mediation, not about whether holy people should be remembered.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Catholics and Orthodox worship the saints.
Correction: Their teaching distinguishes worship, due to God alone, from veneration of saints. Whether the distinction holds in practice is what critics dispute, but the teaching itself is plain.
Misunderstanding: Protestants reject all remembrance of saints.
Correction: Lutherans and Anglicans keep saints days with thanks and imitation. They reject invocation, not remembrance. Reformed churches also honor the heroes of faith without a calendar.
Misunderstanding: The pope makes saints by decree and always did.
Correction: In the early centuries saints were recognized locally. The papal process developed later, with the first recorded papal canonization in 993.
Misunderstanding: Saints days replaced pagan gods and festivals.
Correction: Some customs may have borrowed local forms, but most saints days grew out of martyr commemoration. Claims of a direct pagan origin for particular days must be checked case by case.
Knowledge check
What is the sanctoral cycle?
It is the calendar of saints days, which runs alongside the temporal cycle of seasons built around Christ’s life. It began with commemorations of martyrs on the anniversary of their deaths.
How are saints recognized in the Catholic and Orthodox churches?
Catholics use a formal papal process of investigation, beatification and canonization, which developed from the twelfth century. Orthodox churches have no single central process; a local church or synod recognizes a saint, often after long popular veneration.
What do Lutherans and Anglicans say about invoking saints?
The Augsburg Confession says that saints may be remembered and imitated but that Scripture does not teach their invocation, and the Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles reject the invocation of saints. Both traditions keep days for remembrance.
What can a person do alone and what is an act of the church?
A person can read the lives of the saints and pray in thanks for their example. Catholics and Orthodox would also ask for their prayers. Canonization and glorification are acts of the church and cannot be done by a private person.
Think it through
- What is the difference between honoring someone and worshiping them?
- What does Hebrews 12:1 suggest about the dead and the living?
- How does your tradition decide whom to hold up as an example?
- Is there a person whose life has taught you about faith, and what exactly did you learn?
Independent assignment
A saint’s life, read critically
In your own notebook, write 400 to 600 words on one saint, such as Polycarp, Perpetua, Anthony or Augustine. State the earliest source for their life and its date, what is legend and what is reasonably established, and how different traditions remember them. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- Athanasius of Alexandria, Life of St. Anthony A fourth-century life of a saint, to be read with care for its purpose.
- Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church Look up the paragraphs on the communion of saints.
- Council of Trent (1545-1563), Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent Read the decree on the invocation, veneration and relics of saints.
- Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3: The Creeds of the Evangelical Protestant Churches Look up the Augsburg Confession, Article 21, and the Thirty-Nine Articles.
- Hebrews 12:1 The cloud of witnesses.
- Revelation 5:8 The prayers of the saints.
- Luke 1:48 All generations shall call me blessed.
- 1 Timothy 2:5 One mediator between God and men.