On the Veneration of Saints & Relics

https://www.eighthdayinstitute.org/on-the-veneration-of-saints-relics

by St John of Damascus

Feast of St James the Apostle & Brother of St. John the Theologian

Anno Domini 2020, April 30

Relics of St. Peter, given by Pope Francis to Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew as a gesture toward unity

THE SAINTS must be honored as friends of Christ & children & heirs of God, as John the Theologian & Evangelist says: “But as many as received Him, He gave them the power to be made the sons of God” (Jn. 1:12). 

 

“Therefore they're no longer servants, but sons: & if sons, heirs also, heirs indeed of God & joint heirs with Christ” (Gal. 4:7; Rom. 8:17). 

And again, in the holy Gospels the Lord says to the Apostles: “You're my friends … 

I'll not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth” (Jn. 15:14, 15). 

 

Furthermore, if the Creator & Lord of all is called both King of kings & Lord of lords & God of gods (Apoc. 19:16; Ps. 49:1), then most certainly the saints, too, are both gods & lords &  kings. 

God both is & is said to be their God & Lord & King. 

 

“For I am,” He said to Moses, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, & the God of Jacob,” & God appointed Moses the God of Pharaoh (Ex. 3:6; 7:1). 

 

However, I say that they're gods, lords, & kings not by nature, but because they've kept undebased the likeness of the divine image to which they were made – for the image of the king is also called a king, &, finally, because they've freely been united to God & received Him as a dweller within themselves have through association with Him become by grace what He is by nature. 

 

How, then, should these not be honored who've been accounted servants, friends, & sons of God? 

For the honor shown the most sensible of one’s fellow servants gives proof of one’s love for the common Master.

 

These are become repositories & pure dwelling places of God, for “I'll dwell in them &  walk among them,” says God, “and I will be their God” (2 Cor. 6:16; Lev. 26:12). 

So, indeed, sacred Scripture says that “the souls of the just are in the hand of God: & death shall not touch them” (Wisd. 3:1). 

 

For the death of the saints is rather sleep than death, since “they've labored unto eternity & shall live unto the end,” & “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Ps. 48:9, 10; 115:15). 

 

What then is more precious than to be in the hand of God? 

For God is life & light, & they that are in the hand of God abide in life & light.

 

Moreover, because through their mind God has also dwelt in their bodies, the Apostle says: “Know you not that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you?”; “Now the Lord is the Spirit”; & again: “If any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy” (1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 3:17). 

 

How, then, should they not be honored, who are the living temples of God, the living tabernacles of God. 

These in life openly took their stand with God.

 

In the relics of the saints the Lord Christ has provided us with saving fountains which in many ways pour out benefactions & gush with fragrant ointment (the epithet myroblytus, or “gushing ointment,” is applied to certain saints whose relics exude a fragrant oil). 

And let no one disbelieve. 

 

For, if by the will of God water poured out of the precipitous living rock in the desert, & for the thirsty Sampson from the jawbone of an ass (cf. Ex. 17:6; Judges 15:19), is it unbelievable that fragrant ointment should flow from the relics of martyrs? 

Certainly not, at least for such as know the power of God & the honor, which the saints have from Him.

 

In the Law, anyone who touched a corpse was accounted unclean (cf. Num. 19:11). 

But these of whom we speak aren't dead. 

Because Life itself & the Author of life was reckoned amongst the dead, we don't call these dead who've fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection & in the faith in Him. 

For how can a dead body work miracles? 

 

How, then, through them are demons put to flight, diseases driven out, the sick cured, the blind restored to sight, lepers cleansed, temptation & trouble driven away; & how through them does “every best gift come down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17) to them who ask with undoubting faith? 

 

What would you not do to find a patron to present you to a mortal king &  intercede with him in your behalf? 

Are not the patrons of the entire race to be honored who make petitions to God in our behalf? 

 

Yes, indeed; we must honor them by raising churches to God in their name, by making fruit-offerings, & by celebrating their anniversaries & taking spiritual joy in these, such as will be the very joy of our hosts, but taking care lest in endeavoring to do them honor we may give them annoyance instead. 

 

For by some things honor is given to God & they who serve Him rejoice in them, whereas by others He is offended & so, too, are His shield-bearers. 

“In psalms & hymns & spiritual canticles” (Eph. 5:19), in compunction, & in compassion for the needy, let us faithful do honor to the saints through whom most especially is honor rendered to God. 

 

Let us set up monuments to them, & visible images, & let us ourselves by imitation of their virtues become their living monuments & images.

Let us honor the Mother of God as really & truly God’s Mother. 

 

Let us honor the Prophet John as precursor & baptist, apostle & martyr, for “there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John” (Matt. 11:11), as the Lord said, & he was the first herald of the kingdom. 

 

Let us honor the Apostles as brethren of the Lord, as eye-witnesses & attendants to His sufferings, whom God the Father “foreknew &  predestined to be made conformable to the image of His son” (Rom. 8:29), “first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly shepherds &  teachers” (1 Cor. 12:28). 

 

And let us honor the holy martyrs of the Lord who've been picked from every rank & whose corps commander is Christ’s archdeacon, apostle, & protomartyr Stephen; let us honor them as soldiers of Christ who've drunk of His chalice & have been baptized with the baptism of His life-giving death, & as participants in His sufferings & His glory. 

 

Let us also honor those sainted fathers of ours, the God-bearing ascetics who've struggled through the more drawn-out & laborious martyrdom of the conscience, “who wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted: wandering in deserts, in mountains, & in dens & in caves of the earth: of whom the world wasn't worthy” (Heb. 11:37, 38).

 

Let us honor the Prophets who preceded the Grace, the patriarchs & just men who announced beforehand the advent of the Lord. 

Let us carefully observe the manner of life of all these & let us emulate their faith, charity, hope, zeal, life, patience under suffering, & perseverance unto death, so that we may also share their crowns of glory.

 

~An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, Book Four, Chapter 15