Q&A Home > I > Intercession

• According to the Holy Book of Romans 8:34, is Christ an intercessor or a judge?
• Do the departed saints possess attributes of deity? Do we have any single verse in Holy Scripture that teaches us to pray to the saints in heaven? The Holy Bible clearly teaches us to pray to each other on earth (St. James, St. Paul). Do we really know the situation of the saints in heaven between their departure and the resurrection?
• Do the saints in heaven hear our prayers? Do they know our situation on earth; if yes, how; any biblical verse? Do they hear more than one prayer at once?
• Do we need to pray to the saints to intercede for us? Can't we talk directly to God?
• How are we to communicate with the saints? How do we identify the saint appointed by God to watch over us?
• How do I defend my Church's doctrine concerning the Intersession of Saints before those good, non Orthodox Christian friends, who claim that it is a form of idol worship, not biblically supported, nor practiced by any of the apostles and above all against the commandment that says "you shall have no other God" but Him?
• I don't understand the concept of intercession of the saints. Could Your Grace explain it to me please?
• I feel that I am ready to get married, but concerned because nobody has ever "asked about me," and I am now 26 years old. I wonder if it is because my parents are not together. I pray for a husband every day, and I know God will not forget me, but I would also love your prayers, and especially through the intercession of the saints. Is there any saint, in particular, that I should ask for intercession from?
• I have a number of points to make concerning the departed saints’ intercessory prayers:
  • Are there any biblical evidences of the apostles praying to the saints and prophets before them?
  • Are there any biblical evidences of St. Mary having been given intercessory privileges?
  • Since St. Mary does not have God’s attributes of being omniscient, omnipotent (to mention a few), how could she possibly hear millions of prayers at the same time?
  • Why do you teach people such a doctrine which you can't defend?
  • God alone knows the private thoughts of a person, and what goes on in heaven and on earth. Neither the angels nor the departed saints have this all knowing capacity.
  • We can ask the prayers of each other on earth through legitimate methods of communication such as telephone, in person, mail etc. With the saints in heaven we are in a different dimension. We try to communicate in a way that is expressly prohibited in scripture (Is 8:19, Deut 18:10-11, Is 19:3).
  • The saints in heaven are not "really dead," they are absent in the body and present with the Lord. They are physically dead with no thought, nor emotions. In this sense we can't pray to the dead (saints in heaven) because they are physically dead even though they are present with the Lord.
  • The Holy Bible expressly prohibits us to communicate with the dead (Physically not spiritually dead). We can't talk to the saints who are physically dead.
  • This kind of teaching is a false teaching which needs to be addressed to all orthodox Christians and it is an obstacle that prevents us from approaching God, with confidence, through his only son our Lord Jesus Christ.
• If you ask a saint, for example Saint Mary, to intercede on your behalf, but you say it silently, can she hear you? Or does it have to be out loud for her to hear you?
• Since God is the Ultimate Mercy and He loves me more than any one else, including the saints and angels, why would I need to ask them to intercede for me?
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church's point of view concerning the saints can be summarized in the following points:
  • All those who live in the faith of Christ are saints according to the New Testament.
  • Emphasizing the saints as mediators takes away from the Glory of God.
  • No where in the Holy Bible are we commanded to ask for the mediation of the saints who have passed on.
  Please clarify for me how it is that our church doesn't take away from God's glory by asking the intercession/prayers of the Saints and is there any Biblical proof that we should ask for them once they've passed on to the next life? Here is the website of that track http://users.rcn.com/tlclcms/saintid.html.
• Why do we commemorate the saints in the Liturgy? How do the saints intercede for us? Isn’t Jesus our only intercessor? Once we are in heaven, will not praising God be our ONLY job?
• Why do we pray to the blessed Mary or other Saints in heaven for help? We can pray to the Holy Spirit but we can't pray to the departed saints. We are not told by the Lord himself or through his apostles or through the Holy Bible to pray to the saints in heaven.