The Intercession of the Saints In Heaven*

*It IS Biblical & an historical practice from the early days of the Church.

The other day, as a part of a post on ending abortion, I said that part of what we need to do is ask the saints in heaven to intercede for us. I am aware that many people will say that is not Scriptural. But, along with many others, I do see asking the saints to intercede as Scriptural & so did the early Church.

1 of my favorite Scriptures to back this up is found in Revelation 6:9-11. There a group of martyrs ask God how much longer until he avenged their deaths. Clearly they were aware of what was happenning on Earth. Thus they could intercede & ask God to act.

There are a couple of other places where we see both saints & angels acting as intercessors before the Throne of God. Revelation 5:8 shows the 24 elders. Those elders are the 12 sons of Israel & the 12 Apostles. It talks about their role in Heaven. They have golden harps, signifying their role in leading the praise of God. But they also carry golden bowls of incense. & it is made clear exactly what that incense was: "the prayers of the saints". Why are the saints in heaven parying? Obviously, they are interceding for us here on Earth. Also, since saints refered to the believers on Earth, we can safely see in this the fact that the saints in heaven are aware of our needs & bringing our prayers to them to the Lord in Heaven.

In Revelation 8:2-5 we see an angel bringing the prayers of "all the saints" to the Heavenly altar. Again, why would the saints in Heaven have to prayer unless they were interceding for us here on Earth. & it also implies that they are very much aware of the needs of the saints on Earth.

In 1 Timothy 2 Paul tells us, as the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12) to intercede for one another. It says Jesus IS the only mediator also. Clearly our prayful mediation as intecessors doesn't conflict with Jesus' intercession & mediation. & the saints in Heaven are a part of that body called to intercede.

I need to remind you of 1 fact. It wasn't until nearly 400 AD that the Catholic Church (& it was only the Catholic Church that existed back then) officially defined the New Testament Canon. But, from early on (see 2 Peter 3:15-16) St. Paul's writings were considered by the Church as definitely a part of God's Word as found in Scripture. & most of the rest of what was definitively Scripture was commonly agreed upon by the Church, even if not officially defined. So, anything the Church Fathers recommended in their writings would have to line up with what they knew was the Word of God.

So what do some of the early Church Fathers have to say about asking the saints to intercede? Here are some quotes from the 1st 5 Centuries of the Church (emphasis mine for key parts of passage):

Hermas

"[The Shepherd said:] ‘But those who are weak and slothful in prayer, hesitate to ask anything from the Lord; but the Lord is full of compassion, and gives without fail to all who ask him. But you, [Hermas,] having been strengthened by the holy angel [you saw], and having obtained from him such intercession, and not being slothful, why do not you ask of the Lord understanding, and receive it from him?’" (The Shepherd 3:5:4, 80 AD).

Clement of Alexandria

"In this way is he [the true Christian] always pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him [in prayer]" (Miscellanies 7:12, 208 AD)

Origen

"But not the high priest [Christ] alone prays for those who pray sincerely, but also the angels . . . as also the souls of the saints who have already fallen asleep" (Prayer 11, 233 AD)

Cyprian of Carthage

"Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides [of death] always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy" (Letters 56[60]:5, 253 AD)

Methodius of Olympus

(On asking Mary's intercession as well as other saints)

"Hail to you for ever, Virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for to you do I turn again. You are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs to the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of the Bread of Life [Jesus]. Hail, you treasure of the love of God. Hail, you fount of the Son’s love for man. . . . You gleamed, sweet gift-bestowing Mother, with the light of the sun; you gleamed with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, bringing forth in the end that which was conceived of you . . . making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the invisible Son of the Father—the Prince of Peace, who in a marvelous manner showed himself as less than all littleness" (Oration on Simeon and Anna 14, 305 AD).

"Therefore, we pray [ask] you, the most excellent among women, who glories in the confidence of your maternal honors, that you would unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy Mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in you, and who in august hymns celebrate the memory, which will ever live, and never fade away" (ibid.).

"And you also, O honored and venerable Simeon, you earliest host of our holy religion, and teacher of the resurrection of the faithful, do be our patron and advocate with that Savior God, whom you were deemed worthy to receive into your arms. We, together with you, sing our praises to Christ, who has the power of life and death, saying, ‘You are the true Light, proceeding from the true Light; the true God, begotten of the true God’" (ibid.).

Liturgy of St. Basil the Great

"By the command of your only-begotten Son we communicate with the memory of your saints . . . by whose prayers and supplications have mercy upon us all, and deliver us for the sake of your holy name" (373 AD)

Gregory of Nazianzus

"Yes, I am well assured that [my father’s] intercession is of more avail now than was his instruction in former days, since he is closer to God, now that he has shaken off his bodily fetters, and freed his mind from the clay that obscured it, and holds conversation naked with the nakedness of the prime and purest mind . . . " (Orations 18:4, 380 AD)

Gregory of Nyssa

"[Ephraim], you who are standing at the divine altar [in heaven] . . . bear us all in remembrance, petitioning for us the remission of sins, and the fruition of an everlasting kingdom" (Sermon on Ephraim the Syrian, 380 AD)

John Chrysostom

"He that wears the purple [i.e., a royal man] . . . stands begging of the saints to be his patrons with God, and he that wears a diadem begs the tentmaker [Paul] and the fisherman [Peter] as patrons, even though they be dead" (Homilies on Second Corinthians 26, 392 AD)

Ambrose of Milan

"May Peter, who wept so efficaciously for himself, weep for us and turn towards us Christ’s benign countenance" (The Six Days Work 5:25:90, 393 AD)

Jerome

"You say in your book that while we live we are able to pray for each other, but afterwards when we have died, the prayer of no person for another can be heard. . . . But if the apostles and martyrs while still in the body can pray for others, at a time when they ought still be solicitous about themselves, how much more will they do so after their crowns, victories, and triumphs?" (Against Vigilantius 6, 406 AD)

Augustine of Hippo

"A Christian people celebrates together in religious solemnity the memorials of the martyrs, both to encourage their being imitated and so that it can share in their merits and be aided by their prayers." (Against Faustus the Manichean, 400 AD)

"At the Lord’s table we do not commemorate martyrs in the same way that we do others who rest in peace so as to pray for them, but rather that they may pray for us that we may follow in their footsteps." (Homilies on John 84, 416 AD)

(Source of some of the above info: The Intercession of the Saints from Catholic Answers)

(Added 13 January 2008 4:49 am)

I forgot 1 of the other key Scriptures that shows the saints know what is going on & are thus able to intercede for us. & that is Hebrews 12:1. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses." This quote comes right after the list found in Hebrews 11 of OT Saints who's faith is extolled. They are the cloud of witnesses he refers to. Again, clearly Scripture states that those in Heaven ARE aware of what is going on here on Earth. & being aware ARE able to intercede for us & our needs.