By David M. Baumann

From the age of the Reformation, and occasionally before that time, there has been controversy among Christians regarding to what extent devotion to the saints is proper. How much devotion (if any) and what kind is fitting? Why would a Christian offer devotion to the saints anyway? Is devotion to the saints required, forbidden, or optional?

As in all areas of Christian belief, there are errors to be avoided on both sides of the issue, and a broad road in the middle. When it comes to devotions to saints, on the one hand we want to make sure that the unique position of Jesus as our divine Lord and Savior is not obscured. On the other hand, we want to make sure that the family of God we call the communion of saints is not neglected either. Proper Christian belief gives us plenty of room to know and to follow what is authentic to our faith.

John of Damascus, who died in about 760, addressed the issue of devotions to saints during a time of controversy on this very issue. His writing is generally accepted as authoritative. He distinguished between “veneration” that is properly paid to created beings and “worship” that is properly given only to God. No proper devotion to any saint can obscure Christ. If it does, it ceases to be suitable for Christians. On the contrary, proper devotion to the saints exalts and praises Christ.

At the risk of oversimplification, Anglicanism strives to be authentic to the doctrine and practice of the undivided Church, bringing both into contemporary application. The Book of Common Prayer, the ultimate standard and expression of Anglican theology, obligates the faithful to a certain minimum.

The prayer book identifies the saints as holy persons who are already in heaven (page 330: “Grant us grace so to follow the good examples of all thy saints, that with them we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom”). It recognizes them as our partners in prayer (page 367: “We praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven”). It affirms that we are in their fellowship (page 380: “in the multitude of your saints … you have surrounded us with a great cloud of witnesses … that we might rejoice in their fellowship”) and that we are supported by their prayers (page 489: “we beseech thee that … aided by their prayers … we also may be partakers of the saints in light”).

One will not, however, find in the Book of Common Prayer any example of directly invoking the saints to pray for us. This is an optional devotion, practiced by many Episcopalians in lesser or greater degree, but not required of anyone. This is a good recognition of Anglican procedure: Whatever is neither essential nor required should not be placed into the prayer book that comes before all the faithful.

However, although the Book of Common Prayer does not directly include an invocation of the saints, it is not uncommon for “lesser liturgies” that are not central in the lives of the faithful to do so. The devotions in many monastic communities, for example, include the invocation of saints, using formulas that are centuries old. The official hymnal as well includes invocations of saints. For example, the Virgin Mary is addressed and invoked in Hymn 618, verse 2:

O higher than the cherubim,

more glorious than the seraphim,

lead their praises, alleluia.

Thou bearer of the eternal Word,

most gracious, magnify the Lord.

C.S. Lewis was not attracted to the invocation of saints. Addressing the matter in his book Letters to Malcolm, he wrote: “There is clearly a theological defense for it; if you can ask for the prayers of the living, why should you not ask for the prayers of the dead? There is clearly also a great danger. In some popular practice we see it leading off into an infinitely silly picture of Heaven as an earthly court where applicants will be wise to pull the right wires, discover the best ‘channels’, and attach themselves to the most influential pressure groups. But I have nothing to do with all this. I am not thinking of adopting the practice myself; and who am I to judge the practices of others?”

One should not conclude, however, that the saints were unimportant to Lewis or their presence far from his awareness. Nearly a decade before Letters to Malcolm was published, he wrote, “It is nice to be still in the care of St. Mary Magdalene: she must by now understand my constitution better than a stranger would, don’t you think?” (Letters to an American Lady, Nov. 1, 1954). Lewis was referring to his move from Magdalen College in Oxford to Magdalene College in Cambridge, which became effective Jan. 1, 1955.

Lewis affirmed that “there is clearly a theological defense for” the invocation of saints. Evidently his objection was not to the practice itself but to its abuse. He acknowledged the common explanation that, just as a Christian may ask another Christian in this life to pray for him, teach him something of the ways of the Lord, or to rejoice with him in Christ, so one may address the faithful departed in the same way. This explanation makes sense, but only because Christ conquered death and in him there are no barriers.

Jesus taught something similar to this in a discussion he had with the Pharisees on the resurrection of the dead. He said that God “is not God of the dead, but of the living; for all live to him” (Luke 20:38). That is, because of the resurrection all the redeemed are bound together in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit; the barrier of death does not completely sunder the faithful departed from those still on earth. Because of both the resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, the saints intercede for us in heaven and are our partners in prayer. In Christ, the connection in love between the living faithful and the departed faithful is real and powerful. Consider the common practice of the bereaved, especially the recently bereaved, who in their grief address a departed loved one. This natural expression of the heart does no inherent disservice to God.

To conclude, the invocation of saints is permissible but certainly not required. One may have a rich and complete Christian devotional life and never adopt the practice. Those who do invoke the saints in their devotions must not in any way obscure the unique position of Jesus as God and the source of all grace. Those who do not invoke the saints must not diminish the nature of the full family of God called the Communion of Saints which is comprised of the living and the dead. If we avoid the extremes, there is plenty of room on the broad road of orthodoxy.

The Rev. Canon David M. Baumann, SSC, is rector of Church of the Blessed Sacrament, Placentia, Calif.

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