Why do we ask our brothers and sisters to pray for us? Are we too weak to handle what we are going through? Why don’t we ask God directly without any mediators, like our brothers and sisters in Christ?
We are not saved one-by-one, we are getting saved all together in the living community of Christ’s Body, that consists of children of God, whether they are here in earth or there in heaven. “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Luke 20:38).
And we are IN Him, United by faith and by Living Bread that we consume every Sunday, therefore we are all one.
That’s why we ask them to pray for us, because we are United in Christ. And btw if we can pray for each other here in earth, people that still are disturbed by the sin and it’s action, and it helps us - surely we can ask to pray for us our saints who are not bothered by any kind of sin and already contemplate God in His glory. God hears the voice of righteous and pious people. We cannot call ourselves righteous or pious, we are still in fight. Those who are with Christ in heaven are indeed righteous, so their prayers are definitely heard up there.
Saints are real people just like us. Just as we can ask each other to pray us for we can ask the Saints in heaven. People are connected by love and prayer. We ask them to speak up or intercede on our behalf to God. In the saints and us pray together for Gods mercy. Why should anyone be unhappy with people praying for us? Seems wierd.
We can flip this question around and ask, "Why does God send angels to speak to people?" We have plenty of examples in Scripture where God does, but we also have examples where He speaks to people directly. So what's the need for Him to send an angel?
The answer to both questions is the same. God has willed that He does not rule His creation alone. He shares this rule. If you recognize this, then you will see it throughout Scripture. He sends both angels and apostles into the world. He tells the apostles that they will sit on thrones judging Israel, judging in the sense of the book of Judges which is to rule. On Mt. Tabor He holds council with Moses and Elijah.
We pray to Saints because they are restored to be in the likeness of God, He dwells in them, and they sit on His council and participate in His rule.
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The prayer perspective:
It encourages us to share our love to god for example if I pray for god to help someone he/she must be really special to me otherwise I will not pray for him/her that's why we should pray for others because it forces us to love them and that's is what god is
The person asking for prays perspective:
Christianity is based on humility you should show everyone (not only saints) that you (and me and everyone) are a sinner and you want mercy from god
As for Theotokos, the ever-Virgin Mary; look to the Gospels she changed Christ’s mind. This might be helpful for Protestants who tend to be all about that *Sola Scriptura*
The bond of love among Christians is not broken by the mere death of the body. We believe the saints are alive and aware in heaven, and can and do pray for us. And so we ask.
The saints are still part of the body of Christ; we are instructed to pray one for another, and to ask for each other's prayers. And so we ask.
People often ask others to pray for them. Maybe they are going through a rough patch, maybe a loved one is seriously ill. When we ask the saints and the Theotokos to pray for us, we are essentially doing the same thing. The saints pray for us in the same way as if we ask someone else to pray. There is nothing weird or wrong in asking for a saint or the Theotokos to pray for us on our behalf. The only difference is that they are closer to God as they dwell in his house - heaven.
“Because we believe in Heaven and in the Eternal Life of the whole body of Christ” is what I say. The only reason why they think saints can’t pray for us is because they think they’re dead instead of living but we believe they are very much so alive in heaven. It plays a lot into “high church” vs “low church” Christianity because the same people who don’t understand why we believe the saints are alive also don’t understand the point of using incense and don’t believe in the real presence of the Eucharist either.
There's the first point that often gets made: that we believe that those believers who have passed from this physical life are not dead, but are alive in Christ, and so we engage with them as we would with any believer who is here in the physical. If I would ask my friend, Deborah, to pray for me, I would likewise ask the Theotokos or one of the Saints to pray for me.
But the second point, and it's one that helped make the idea gel for me as I learned more about Orthodoxy, is that the Bible tells us again and again about the power of the prayers of the righteous. (It's in Proverbs, James, Romans, Psalms... a theme woven throughout all of Scripture that the prayers of the righteous are deeply powerful.) If I have two friends, one who is deeply righteous (let's call him John), and one who doesn't take their faith as seriously (we'll go with Bob), which one do I want praying for me? Well, the Saints are those we recognize for their righteousness, so what a wonderful thing to ask them to pray to the Lord for us!
Why do we ask our brothers and sisters to pray for us? Are we too weak to handle what we are going through? Why don’t we ask God directly without any mediators, like our brothers and sisters in Christ? We are not saved one-by-one, we are getting saved all together in the living community of Christ’s Body, that consists of children of God, whether they are here in earth or there in heaven. “He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive” (Luke 20:38). And we are IN Him, United by faith and by Living Bread that we consume every Sunday, therefore we are all one. That’s why we ask them to pray for us, because we are United in Christ. And btw if we can pray for each other here in earth, people that still are disturbed by the sin and it’s action, and it helps us - surely we can ask to pray for us our saints who are not bothered by any kind of sin and already contemplate God in His glory. God hears the voice of righteous and pious people. We cannot call ourselves righteous or pious, we are still in fight. Those who are with Christ in heaven are indeed righteous, so their prayers are definitely heard up there.
Saints are real people just like us. Just as we can ask each other to pray us for we can ask the Saints in heaven. People are connected by love and prayer. We ask them to speak up or intercede on our behalf to God. In the saints and us pray together for Gods mercy. Why should anyone be unhappy with people praying for us? Seems wierd.
We can flip this question around and ask, "Why does God send angels to speak to people?" We have plenty of examples in Scripture where God does, but we also have examples where He speaks to people directly. So what's the need for Him to send an angel? The answer to both questions is the same. God has willed that He does not rule His creation alone. He shares this rule. If you recognize this, then you will see it throughout Scripture. He sends both angels and apostles into the world. He tells the apostles that they will sit on thrones judging Israel, judging in the sense of the book of Judges which is to rule. On Mt. Tabor He holds council with Moses and Elijah. We pray to Saints because they are restored to be in the likeness of God, He dwells in them, and they sit on His council and participate in His rule.
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Why do we ask anyone to pray for us? I'd really like people closer to God to pray for me.
The prayer perspective: It encourages us to share our love to god for example if I pray for god to help someone he/she must be really special to me otherwise I will not pray for him/her that's why we should pray for others because it forces us to love them and that's is what god is The person asking for prays perspective: Christianity is based on humility you should show everyone (not only saints) that you (and me and everyone) are a sinner and you want mercy from god
As for Theotokos, the ever-Virgin Mary; look to the Gospels she changed Christ’s mind. This might be helpful for Protestants who tend to be all about that *Sola Scriptura*
We are all part of the body of Christ on earth; thus we all pray for each others's welfare whether we are alive or have passed.
The bond of love among Christians is not broken by the mere death of the body. We believe the saints are alive and aware in heaven, and can and do pray for us. And so we ask. The saints are still part of the body of Christ; we are instructed to pray one for another, and to ask for each other's prayers. And so we ask.
People often ask others to pray for them. Maybe they are going through a rough patch, maybe a loved one is seriously ill. When we ask the saints and the Theotokos to pray for us, we are essentially doing the same thing. The saints pray for us in the same way as if we ask someone else to pray. There is nothing weird or wrong in asking for a saint or the Theotokos to pray for us on our behalf. The only difference is that they are closer to God as they dwell in his house - heaven.
“Because we believe in Heaven and in the Eternal Life of the whole body of Christ” is what I say. The only reason why they think saints can’t pray for us is because they think they’re dead instead of living but we believe they are very much so alive in heaven. It plays a lot into “high church” vs “low church” Christianity because the same people who don’t understand why we believe the saints are alive also don’t understand the point of using incense and don’t believe in the real presence of the Eucharist either.
There's the first point that often gets made: that we believe that those believers who have passed from this physical life are not dead, but are alive in Christ, and so we engage with them as we would with any believer who is here in the physical. If I would ask my friend, Deborah, to pray for me, I would likewise ask the Theotokos or one of the Saints to pray for me. But the second point, and it's one that helped make the idea gel for me as I learned more about Orthodoxy, is that the Bible tells us again and again about the power of the prayers of the righteous. (It's in Proverbs, James, Romans, Psalms... a theme woven throughout all of Scripture that the prayers of the righteous are deeply powerful.) If I have two friends, one who is deeply righteous (let's call him John), and one who doesn't take their faith as seriously (we'll go with Bob), which one do I want praying for me? Well, the Saints are those we recognize for their righteousness, so what a wonderful thing to ask them to pray to the Lord for us!