Catholic Online Forum

That's pretty much my question.

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Justin Q. McNeely

"may you live as long as you want. May you not want as long as you live"---Irish Saying

An example prayer from the web site of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America:



He is also a saint of the RCC:

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David H.

That's an interesting question.

The saints are very important to the Orthodox, just as they are to Catholics. Both have a rich tradition of stories of the saints and of ways that the saints have interceeded for us.

In my experience, the Orthodox honor the saints far more than most Catholics do. Among the Orthodox, you celebrate the feast day of the saint whose name you carry. If you walk into an Orthodox Church you'll see far more depictions of the saints than you will in a Catholic Church. I understand that in the past Catholics also honored their saints feast day as well. It's a practice that I'd like to see us reclaim.

However, when it comes to praying for the help or intercession of a saint, Catholics probably do that more than the Orthodox do.

The answer to your question is yes. The saints are very important to the Orthodox, just as they are to Catholics. Since we share many of the same saints, this is an area where we can find unity.


Effie

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“The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.” –G.K Chesterton

Yes they do. They have icons of them in their churches and homes and they light candles before them and they venerate their relics.

They have some common saints with the Catholics-some of those who lived before the split eg. St George, St Jerome, St Cyril of Alexandria, St Michael the Archangel, St Mark the Evangelists , St Paul of Tarsus and many others. They also highly venerate the Blessed Mother.

They also have their own saints that they pray to that are not in common with the Catholics, namely the ones that lived after the split eg St John Kronstad, St Seraphim of Sarov.

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In Christ
Kim, M



"....abstinence and chastity, dispose man very much to the perfection of intellectual operation.” St Thomas Aquinas

Effie,
I agreed with everything you were saying until this point. It's hard to say what individuals do as part of their individual worship, so do Orthodox pray less for help or intercession from the saints than Catholics? Hard to say. But being involved in a Orthodox culture and following the Orthodox calendar for three years, I have to say there is plenty of evidence for them praying as much to the saints as us Catholics. They are much more open about it than we are in the USA, I know that for sure. And when I walk into any church, there are plenty of candles burning to Mother Mary, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Nikolai, St. Michael, Sts. Cyril and Methodius (an oft-forgotten Catholic saint), St. Ivan Rila (an inspiring Bulgarian saint), St. Petka (another Bulgarian saint) and many , many others.

I actually learned my love and respect for the saints here because they are such a big part of daily life.

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-Andy

"Once I said in my anguish, "I am shut out from your sight." Yet you heard my plea, when I cried out to you.
Love the LORD, all you faithful. The LORD protects the loyal, but repays the arrogant in full.
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."
Psalms 31

Andy,

Good point. I was basing my comment on my experience as an Orthodox and a Catholic in the US. As you noted, that can be very different than how faith is practiced in Eastern Euriope.

thanks,

Effie

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“The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected.” –G.K Chesterton

Effie,
Were you Orthodox once upon a time, or am I reading that wrong? If yes, I have a lot of questions I'd love to ask you...

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-Andy

"Once I said in my anguish, "I am shut out from your sight." Yet you heard my plea, when I cried out to you.
Love the LORD, all you faithful. The LORD protects the loyal, but repays the arrogant in full.
Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."
Psalms 31

My observation, being an Eastern Catholic, is that the Traditions of prayer are structured different in the two Churches. I would think the Orthodox pray to the saints more than Catholics.

As an Easterner (Catholic), my Tradition of prayer is closer to the Orthodox. In our Church I see a difference in daily prayer. We have more commonly available "Office of the Hours" (prayers throughout the day), all Eastern prayers are longer than the west (except for grace), we are venerating Icons all the time, we use prostration in our prayer and we are constantly signing ourselves.

This is a biased opinion so please forgive me if I sound ignorant of the Roman way. Most of the Romans I know are not as forth coming to their prayer as I am so I have a very narrow view of their prayer life. But I just don't see the intercessory prayer to the saints as I do in the East.

I never thought of this before as it has never come up but I will ask an Orthodox priest I know next time I see him.

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Patrick Mitchell

Hospody Isuse Khryste, synu zhyvogo Boga, pomylui mene grishnyka
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have Mercy on me, a sinner

The Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) is the official prayer of the Church- but unfortunately it is not used by the majority of the laity in the West. I am not sure how many catholics (Latin) know that it even exists. I never heard of it mentioned in a sermon.

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In Christ
Kim, M



"....abstinence and chastity, dispose man very much to the perfection of intellectual operation.” St Thomas Aquinas

As an Orthodox Christian I can confirm that the saints play a huge role in our daily prayer. We are seeking their intercessions all the time, and each day is dedicated to saints who, ideally, we honor on that day in our daily devotions. Every saint has a troparion, many also have knotakions and akathist prayers. My patron saint is Irenaeus of Lyons, who I chose because he's venerated in both churches and was pre-schism. I'm trying to learn more about Catholic devotion to saints, I can't find may prayers online. In the Orthodox tradition, we pray akathist prayers (I think at least in the Eastern Catholic churches this occurs too) which are lengthly prayers to specific saints, angels, and the mother of God, which are prayed on the feast day of the saint, or in times of need (if a saint is a patron of a situation, or if a saint is an unmercenary healer, or other situations), and are usually worked into prayers of the hours (i.e., vespers or compline).

Does the Roman Catholic church have something equivalent to akathist prayers? St. Irenaeus is not as highly venerated in the East, so if anybody has any leads on a prayer of intercession to St. Irenaeus, I'd appreciate it!

Blessings!

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In Christ

Ryan

"Grant, O Lord, that I may now love Thee as once I loved sin itself, and that I may labor for Thee without laziness as once I labored for Satan the deceiver."