Intercession of saints

"As we celebrate with our festive gatherings the birthday of this great man, the Lord's forerunner, the blessed John, let us ask for the help of his prayers. Because he is the friend of the bridegroom you see, he can also obtain for us that we can belong to the bridegroom, that we may be thought worthy to obtain his grace." – St. Augustine[1]

Intercession of the Saints is a Christian doctrine that maintains that saints can intercede for others. To intercede is to go or come between two parties, to plead before one of them on behalf of the other. In ecclesiastical usage both words are taken in the sense of the intervention primarily of Christ, and secondarily of the Blessed Virgin and the angels and saints, on behalf of men.[2] The doctrine is held by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox churches, and some Lutherans and Anglicans (chiefly those of Evangelical Catholic or Anglo-Catholic churchmanship, respectively).[3] The practice of asking saints for their intercession can be found in Christian writings from the 3rd century onwards.[4][5][6]

The 4th-century Apostles' Creed states belief in the communion of saints, which certain churches interpret as supporting the intercession of saints. However, similar practices are controversial in Judaism, Islam, and Protestantism.

  1. ^ On the Birthday of Saint John the Baptist, Sermon 293B:5:1. "Against superstitious midsummer rituals." Augustine's Works, Sermons on the Saints, (1994), Sermons 273–305, John E. Rotelle, ed., Edmund Hill, Trans., ISBN 1-56548-060-0 ISBN 978-1-56548-060-5 p. 165. [1] Editor's comment (ibid., note 16, p. 167): "So does ‘his grace' mean John's grace? Clearly not in the ordinary understanding of such a phrase, as though John were the source of the grace. But in the sense that John's grace is the grace of being the friend of the bridegroom, and that that is the grace we are asking him to obtain for us too, yes, it does mean John's grace."[2]
  2. ^ CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Intercession. New Advent. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference ECCL2007 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "On the Intercession and Invocation of the Saints". orthodoxinfo.com.
  5. ^ "The Intercession of the Saints". Archived from the original on 2009-06-19. Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  6. ^ "Why do we pray for the intersession of Saints?". news.assyrianchurch.org.