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Being queer and a Christian is often very difficult. I experience alienation from both sides. Often these two parts of myself feel impossible to reconcile. But, I want to share something beautiful that my priest does that nearly makes me weep every time. The Orthodox Church is not known for its inclusivity or progressiveness. It is ancient and its gears turn slowly. During Holy Communion, those who are not confirmed members of the Church may come forward for a blessing. The blessing is done by gender.
"The servant of God [Name] is blessed..." for men,
"The handmaid of God [Name] is blessed..." for women.
The first time I went up for a blessing, I was hesitant. My gender is no secret and I do not try to hide my queerness. Which blessing would I receive? With sadness, I concluded the priest would do what was simplest and default to my assigned gender.
I stood before him and bowed my head, arms crossed over my (noticeably growing) chest. He raised the golden chalice over my head and lovingly said:
"The beloved of God Quinn is blessed, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen "
He has done this ever since and with this simple action, preaches one of the main, if oft forgotten pillars of Orthodoxy: It does not matter who you are, what pronouns you use, what colour your hair is, what clothes you wear, what mistakes you've made, what trials you have overcome, where you came from or where you are. You are beloved of God just as you are. You are created in the Image of God and are a sacred vessel of beauty, and there is a place for you here.
This is true inclusivity. Not the white liberal veneer placed on so many churches where the cishet, boomer congregation pats themselves on the back for the rainbow flag outside while actively misgendering the trans person sitting in the pew. My priest has not given any big speeches talking about how everyone is loved here. He doesn't have to. His genuine kindness and that of my fellow parishioners are the only sermon marginalised people need to hear. In these moments, the two parts of myself become one and I truly believe that the God I love delights in me.
Should Our Prayers Be Offered to Jesus or to the Saints?
By Author 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. Rev. 5.8-10 reads:
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 (see 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 (Luke 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.
The Catholic commentariat has also presented several examples from the New Testament to make their point. For instance, they cite Rev. 8.3, namely, the prayers of the saints that rise up before God. However, the context of this eschatological verse is God’s wrath that is poured out upon the earth, not an answer to our prayers (Rev. 8.3-5):
Another angel with a golden censer came
and stood at the altar; he was given a great
quantity of incense to offer with the prayers
of all the saints on the golden altar that is
before the throne. And the smoke of the
incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose
before God from the hand of the angel.
Then the angel took the censer and filled it
with fire from the altar and threw it on the
earth; and there were peals of thunder,
rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an
earthquake.
Human Intercession versus Intercession of saints
The fact that there is a body of Christ (“a cloud of witnesses” Heb. 12.1) is not an invitation or a request to worship them. Catholic scholars have confused the issue even further. They cite various instances in the New Testament in which Paul commands Christians to pray for him (e.g. 2 Cor. 1.11). Or they’ll cite the example of Timothy who commands Christians to pray for one another (1 Tim. 2.1). However, praying “FOR” someone and praying “TO” someone are two completely different things. To pray “for” (or on behalf of) a living person is one thing. To pray “to” a dead person is quite another. In the first case, you’re simply praying *for* the living (human intercession) and asking God to help them in their time of need. However, praying *to* a deceased saint for help is a different matter altogether. Now, you are praying not to God but *to* a dead saint (Intercession of Saints) to help a living human being. As a result, the saints have gained so much power that they have become intercessors between heaven and earth. It’s true that Paul and Timothy instructed Christians to pray for the betterment of others. But that’s not the same as praying to dead saints for help, grace, and blessings.
Although Protestant denominations accept human intercessory prayer for the living (cf. Rom. 15.30), they deny the intercession of the dead on behalf of the living. Similarly, Reformed theologians acknowledge that the “communion of saints" comprise all who are in Christ, including the departed. Nevertheless, in their view, invocations of the departed spirits of saints constitute a transgression of the First Commandment (see Deut. 5.7): “You shall have no other gods before me.”
On the Importance of Developing a Personal Relationship with Christ
The Catholic and Orthodox mindset is that God is not in competition with his creation (Robert Barron), and that although Christ is humanity’s mediator via the cross (1 Tim. 2.5), he’s not necessarily accessible as our 24-7 prayer advocate on a minute-by-minute basis. He has partners and associates that work under him, much like a high-end law firm in New York. But the so-called “managing partner” (i.e. Law firm CEO) at the top is usually inaccessible. Hence the need for the intercessory prayers. They argue that turning to the saints for help is not in competition with Jesus Christ since God has many partners and friends and is the ultimate source of all living things.
But this represents a distortion of Biblical revelation. The multiple attestations of the New Testament are all about Jesus. They feature Jesus as the leading figure, who is the hero of the story, and without whom we cannot be saved. It is the story of the creator who enters creation. He is the one “through whom he [God] also created the worlds” (Heb. 1.2). John’s gospel attests of his divinity: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (1.1). Paul declares: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2.9). And without the shedding of his blood there can be no New Testament, much less a church (cf. Heb. 9.17, 22). Phil. 2.10-11 concludes:
so that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bend, in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.
In Mt. 28.18, the Matthean Jesus exclaims:
All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me.
In Rev 1.8, Jesus is equated with God Almighty:
‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’
says the Lord God, who is and
who was and who is to come,
the Almighty.
In Isaiah chapter 42 verse 8, God says:
I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I
give to no other, nor my praise to idols.
With Jesus’ extraordinary credentials and qualifications, why should we consult the spirits of dead men? The point is that Jesus is everything to regenerated Christians. He’s constantly on their mind. Born-again Christians are madly in love because of what Jesus has done for them, namely, he has made them *fully alive,* while their cup is running over with love, peace of mind, and perpetual bliss! Hence, there’s a fire of love for Jesus that burns inside every born-again-Christian’s heart. So, your focus should not be diluted on secondary figures and causes. Rather, your attention must be concentrated on Christ alone, if you are to “be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Rom. 12.2). That’s because there is only *one* mediator (not two or three) between God and humanity——“the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2.5). Therefore, when religion tries to seduce you into chasing after idols, you must run the other way.
Is the Intercession of the Saints Blasphemy?
Dr. Edward Sri——theologian, author, and prominent Catholic speaker who appears regularly on EWTN——wrote a paper entitled, “What Does the Bible Say about Praying to Saints?” The article concludes as follows:
How to Grow in Fellowship with the Saints
1. Pick a few saints that you want to get to know.
2. Read their writings and learn about their lives. Fill your mind with their stories and their example.
3. Talk to those saints, every day. Share your weaknesses with them and ask them to walk with you in your difficult times. Don’t just ask them to pray for you…invite them to be with you in every part of your life.
This borders on blasphemy. The point of Sri’s exhortation is that instead of developing a personal relationship with Jesus, we are encouraged to develop an intimate relationship with a beloved saint of our choosing. In other words, the aforesaid article is strongly urging people to devote themselves to someone other than Christ (in fact, a departed spirit) and to focus all their energies on the said saint. It is a clever, if not demonic, deception to remove our focus away from Christ under cloak of religion (2 Cor. 11.14):
And no wonder! Even Satan disguises
himself as an angel of light.
——-
Matthew 5:11-12 NIV
[11] “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. [12] Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Pobedna Pesma" (Победна песма) is a Serbian Orthodox chant about the Second Coming of Christ. It is a beautiful song as is it a terrifying one for those who don't believe in Him.
Revelation 1:7: "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him."
Is there an Orthodox Christian book club on Tumblr yet? If not, please reply if you’d like to start one!
Reply with your favorite Orthodox book / what you’re currently reading / what you’re planning on reading next!
My current favorite Orthodox book is My Elder Joseph the Hesychast. I’m currently reading St. Paisios the Athonite’s biography but I plan on reading St. Silouan the Athonite’s book next!
St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church, San Gabriel, California
“If a person wants to get an idea about the pyramids of Egypt, he must either trust those who have been in immediate proximity to the pyramids, or he must get next to them himself. There is no third option.
In the same way, a person can get an impression of God: he must either trust those who have stood and stand in proximity to God, or he must take pains to come into such proximity himself.”
+ St. Nikolai Velimirovich
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.’”
+ St. Anthony the Great
"We should take heed with ourselves so as not to trick ourselves into thinking we are pursuing the straight and narrow path when in truth we are following the way which is wide and broad. The following will demonstrate the meaning of the narrow path: ... the cleansing drink of dishonour, insults, condemning, derision, the deprivation of one's will, long-suffering in annoyances, unquestioning endurance of insults, disregard of sneers, and the habit when ill-treated, of enduring it hardily. Or when slandered, of not being angry. When disgraced by another, not to be upset. When reviled to be humble. Blessed are those who follow the path we have spoken of, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."
+ St. John Climacus
“An angel fell from Heaven without any other passion except pride, and so we may ask whether it is possible to ascend to Heaven by humility alone, without any other of the virtues.”
+ St. John of the Ladder
“As health comes from bitter medicine, so too does salvation of souls come from bitter experience.”
“So in every tribulation, let us say, ‘Thank you, my God, because this was needed for my salvation.’”
+ St. Paisios the Athonite
+ St. Ephraim of Nea Makri
Anyone else wanna join our Panagia’s Garden Orthodox Book Club?
We are all planning for the coming Advent Fast, the 40 day fasting period in preparation for our Savior’s Nativity— Christmas!
We have a few book recommendations, and also a devotional we plan on following altogether, so it would be a great joy to have more people join our little community for our readings. Just reply/reblog this post or send a DM and I will send you a link to our server!
One Sunday, Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, gave a sermon as follows:
"Last night a woman with a child came to this church. She was in trousers and with no headscarf. Someone scolded her. She left. I do not know who did that, but I am commanding that person to pray for her and her child to the end of his days to God for their salvation. Because of you she may never go to church again."
He turned around, head down, and entered the Altar. That was the entire sermon.
If you like Orthodox Christian literature, art, theology, and history, I’d like to invite you to join our Panagia’s Garden Discord book club!
It is free-for-all and our main goal is to encourage each other to pick up our books more often and share the wisdom we learn from the saints of the Orthodox Church. You needn’t be Orthodox to join, all are welcome.
Please send me a private message or reply to this post to let me know that you’re interested and I will send you the link to our server. ☦️
“After sin comes shame; courage follows repentance.
Satan upsets the order; he gives courage to sin and shame to repentance.”
+ St. John Chrysostom