Seeing the Saints Anew: Reflections from a Reformed Pilgrim

A perhaps Reformed experience of the communion of saints. 

More questions than answers.

In the letters of Paul, the word Saint is used to refer to the faithful in each of the churches  to whom he writes. In the first few centuries the saints were mostly martyrs. Veneration of the saints is a practice of honoring martyrs and other people who were seen as models of faithfulness. Veneration  of the saints developed over five centuries, and often arose from local celebrations of the lives of models of faithfulness. 

John Chrysostom in 407 mentions saints as models of faithfulness and as companions on the spiritual journey. Calvin and Luther both relied on the writings of Chrysostom in writings as well as sermons.

By that time a proper understanding of our relationship to the saints had become tainted. The Church of England and the Lutherans did not remove paintings or statues of the saints. Calvin, on the other hand, rejected any art in the churches and the city, and he sought to paint over every work of art in the churches of Geneva. His fear was that any image could lead to idolatry.

The Second Helvetic Confession (Chapter 4  and 5) urged remembrances of saints as models of faith. “We acknowledge them to be living members of Christ and friends of God who have gloriously overcome the flesh and the world. Hence we love them as brothers and sisters.”

Food for thought: what do we expect?

I'm reminded of David Reeves who taught New Testament Greek at McCormick when I was a student there. In a discussion about the saints, he suggested that we keep in mind that a lot of those people we would call saints today were rogues in their own time. 

More food for thought. An insight on friends

McCormick professor Bruce Rigdon told me once about the time he and his family lived in Greece as he did research with Orthodox scholars and Reformed scholars. For a while they lived in a small community in Greece with the Orthodox Church in the middle of town. When school was not in session, the church had activities for children and youth. Bruce encouraged his children to participate in those activities. 

At a particularly important feast day for the people in that community, everyone in town was invited to be part of the liturgy. So Bruce took his family, and as they entered the church on one side of the entrance was an icon of St. Timothy. Bruce's son walked over to the icon and kissed it. Bruce was astounded, so he asked his son why he kissed the icon. And he replied “that's Timothy. He's my friend.”