What is the relationship between Christians on earth and the saints in heaven?
a passage states it a passage rules it out
Common ground
These are affirmed by more than one position, so a passage saying only this counts for none of them.
- The saints are honoured and remembered as examples of faith (Augsburg XXI: 'the memory of saints may be set before us')
- Living Christians should pray for one another
- Christ is the one mediator between God and humanity
- Feasts or remembrance of martyrs on their days
Remembered as examples only
Reformed BaptistReligious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to him alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creatureWestminster Confession of Faith, 21.2 (1646)
What sets it apart: The passage says prayer is to be made to God alone and never to departed saints, without saying the saints pray for us.
Formally defined: Westminster Confession, 21.2 (1646)
No early passage in the library states it yet.
The saints pray for the Church, but are not to be invoked
Lutheranconcerning the saints we concede that, just as, when alive, they pray for the Church universal in general, so in heaven they pray for the Church in generalApology of the Augsburg Confession, XXI.9 (1531)
What sets it apart: The passage says departed saints pray for the Church while denying that Christians should address them.
Formally defined: Augsburg Confession XXI (1530); Apology XXI (1531)
No early passage in the library states it yet.
Asking the saints to pray for us
Catholic Orthodoxthe saints, who reign together with Christ, offer up their own prayers to God for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke themCouncil of Trent, Session 25, On the invocation of saints (1563)
What sets it apart: The passage addresses a departed saint directly (such as 'pray for us') or teaches that Christians should ask departed saints for their prayers.
Formally defined: Council of Trent, Session 25 (1563); Synod of Jerusalem (1672)
Earliest statement: Asterius of Amasea, c. 405
Every deciding passage, earliest first
Amphilochius of Iconium, c. 395
In that [passage]: 'Father, if it is possible.' The discourse of our holy father Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium, against the heretics, concerning: 'Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me' (Matt 26:39). Again, like a lawful soldier, I take up the fight against the heretics, with Stephen, the commander of piety, leading the ranks. For just as Jesus was turning the enemies when Moses was praying, so also I, with the martyr cooperating, lay hold of the enemies of the truth. I say these things not daring through an abundance of words, but having trusted in the prayer of the martyr, I…
- Rules out: Remembered as examples only
Asterius of Amasea, c. 405
Thus a father or mother, taking up a sick child and embracing it, runs to seek medicine and doctors, but turns to unskilled help; and coming to one of the martyrs, she presents her petition to the Lord with the same cries used toward the Mediator: 'Intercede through Christ's suffering for those who suffer and are sick. With boldness, use your voice for fellow-servants. Even if you left our life behind, you know the sufferings of humanity; you yourself once pleaded before becoming a martyr. When you sought, you received; now having received, grant. Ask for your own benefit in the form of old ag…
- Rules out: Remembered as examples only
- Rules out: The saints pray for the Church, but are not to be invoked
- States: Asking the saints to pray for us
Asterius of Amasea, c. 405
For our prayer is not sufficient to move God in the time of necessity or misfortune, for our plea is not a persuasion, but a remembrance of sins; therefore we fly to the fellow-servants who are loved by the Lord, so that they might heal our defects through their own achievements. What then is the charge, that while honoring martyrs we ourselves strive to please God? What accusation is there in flying to protectors? Let us examine also these things, if the accuser cleanses the charge. And how [can it be said], that you do not honor myriads of dead men, but worship them as gods?
- Rules out: Remembered as examples only
Asterius of Amasea, c. 405
The martyrs are not respected even for the greatness of the miracles. Instead, people call them many-maned, and their tombs and their resting places are named as such, and they cleanse themselves as if rubbing against a contagion, not even mentioning that God-breathed saying praised by every mouth: 'Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints' (Psalm 116:15). Therefore, let us pray to God, and let us entreat the martyrs to revile the Lord in common, so that a spirit of compunction may be given to those acting under the error of heresy, and the division may be loosed like a med…
- Rules out: Remembered as examples only
- Rules out: The saints pray for the Church, but are not to be invoked
- States: Asking the saints to pray for us
Hesychius of Jerusalem, c. 450
It should be believed that he is truly the holy Longinus, the centurion who confessed Christ on the cross, by whose intercession and consolation we are all preserved, both those who read and those who hear, in Christ.
- Rules out: Remembered as examples only