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Home , Canonization, Great martyr

Fractio Panis (сelebratiion of the Eucharist), second century, the cata- comb of Priscilla, , Italy.

CLOUD OF WITNESSES Sanctity and

Denis Kostomarov

Every day of the church year is marked we have the saints as our “patrons” 1 Cf. Alexander by the memory of saints. We come and seek their prayers for ourselves. Schmemann, across references to the saints in the But is this the same understanding of Литургия смерти и современная pages of Scripture. We celebrate the death as in early , which культура (Moscow: memory of the apostles, the , was marked by a living memory of the Granat, 2014). the righteous reverend, holy , risen Christ? Among the early Chris- pious rulers, and so on. Local churches tians, who still had a vivid recollection themselves perform of their risen Lord, death was not com- with various frequency. But, as often prehended this way. happens in the history of theology, the meaning of holiness, of what is meant Attitudes toward death in the New Tes- by “you are a holy nation,” has been tament and in the early Christian liter- transformed since the apostolic era. In ature and culture bear the impression this short theological reflection, I want of Easter. In the graves of catacombs to explore the reshaping of this term we encounter numerous inscriptions across the life of the Church and in reading, “he is alive,” or “she is alive.”1 Christian practice in order to come to “For to me to live is Christ, and to die a better appreciation of how to apply is gain,” exclaims Paul (Phil. 1:21). The the concept of holiness in our contem- implores porary lives. his readers, “Do not interrupt me; let me become the food of the wild beasts, Holiness, first of all, is an attempt to through which I will find my God. I am understand the reality of death for a the Lord’s wheat, and the teeth of the Christian. Today, we feel a tragic line beasts will cut me into pieces to become between the world of the living and the pure bread of Christ.”2 This un- the spiritual world of the dead, where derstanding of death was common in

The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 5 the early Church. Death had been con- extraordinary or unusual people. The sumed and overcome by Jesus Christ; understanding which Paul and the hell was destroyed. Death was not the young Church brought to the term holy end of a life, but the connection with becomes clear if we open the Old Tes- life in Christ. This connection began at tament and look at its meaning there. the moment of baptism, when a person The Hebrew word qadosh stands for shed his shabby clothes and died with “separate,” or “detached,” denoting a Jesus to be resurrected with him. person or thing that either belongs to God or is able to withstand close prox- In subsequent years, the Church took a imity to God. Although there were “not momentous step backward, returning many wise, not many powerful, not death once again to the defeated devil. many noble” (1 Cor. 1:26) among the 2 Igna- tius of Antioch, Epis- Christianity had transformed the fu- members of the young communities, tle to the Ephesians. neral sob into a triumphant “Alleluia,” they still belonged to Christ, and were http://aleteia.narod. but could not endure the contrast be- consequently set apart from their sur- ru/ignat/efes.htm. tween this transformational aspiration roundings, even if this was not visibly and a sad and difficult world. In re- obvious to the non-Christians around 3 Cf. Hegumen sponse, an infinite and incomprehen- them. Because of this belonging and Andronik Trubachev, “Канонизация sible discussion of “posthumous fate” the community’s unique understand- святых в Русской and of the “other world” began. Step ing of death, an unusual comprehen- Православной by step, the basic motive of Christian sion of life and holiness becomes clear. Церкви” in Orthodox prayers for the dead became obsessive Christians may be imperfect and com- Encyclopedia and fearful requests for , mit sins, but their inseparability from (Moscow: Право- славная энциклопе- mercy, and forgiveness, as though a God’s love leaves them unalterably дия, 2000). cup of human love would be more holy. As becomes painfully evident in complete than the depthless eucharis- the further history of Christian theol- tic cup of Christ’s love. ogy, this understanding was gradually eclipsed, and it has guided us to the Christians of the early Church com- modern condition where it is difficult monly used variations of the word to imagine using the endonym “holy” saints for themselves not as an honor- in relation to ourselves without being ific, but as descriptive of their reality as indicted for either pride, delusion, or a community that had been set apart both. by God. For example, Christians are labeled as a “holy nation” in 1 Peter In order to really comprehend this, 2:9, not because of their inherent im- we have to consider the phenomenon peccability but owing to their belong- known as . In the current ing to Christ and their commission practice of the Orthodox Church, per- to demonstrate God’s designs for the sonal canonization is preceded by a world. Paul begins many of his letters comprehensive study of the life of an with a reference to “holy brothers” in ascetic and can reveal a number of facts Rome, Colossae, Ephesus, Philippi, or relevant to a person’s elevation to - Corinth. hood.3 Saints may be widely venerated by at least local Christian communities, Knowing that Paul’s letters were of- be certified to have performed mira- ten occasioned by conflicts and trou- cles, or have left behind incorruptible bles in young communities, we can (incorruptibility of remains is not confidently say that his attribution a prerequisite to the canonization in all of “holiness” to these “brothers and of the local Churches; for example, in sisters” did not mean that they were monastic communities of Mount Athos

6 The myrrh-bearing women and the angel on the tomb. Byzantine miniature.

4 Yevgeny Golubinskiy, Исто- рия канонизации святых в Русской Церкви, 2nd edition (Moscow, 1903), 13.

the attitude toward incorruptibility is fourth century by composing lists of very cautious). In the Roman Catho- recognized martyrs; in these lists, the lic Church the canonization process is date of a martyr’s death was also the even more complicated and takes place date of her birth in Christ. At that time, in two stages: canonization is preceded the of ascetics was a matter by translation to the ranks of the beat- for a local community and its , ified (from the beatus, meaning and was understood to concern the “happy” or “blessed”), and only after Eucharistic life of the Church and the that does the Church advance a person unity of all Christians in Christ. An to canonization. issue that seems very important to us today—canonization as the assurance Canonization was not always so com- of Christian salvation—was not central plex. Universal veneration of the for early Christian communities. apostles and other apostolic figures encompassed a broad range of cities In time, this situation changed. After and communities. Old Testament pa- the Edict of Milan began the process triarchs and prophets were commem- of converting Christianity into the fa- orated as forerunners of the Savior. vored religion of the Roman Empire, The Eucharist was celebrated on the the Church was filled by many people graves of Christians, emphasizing the who wished to be part of the new re- paradox of the life of the dead and the ligious order, yet clearly only a small continuation of their involvement in minority were personally interested in the practice of serving their commu- pursuing a Christian path. The great nities. But with the beginning of the expansion of formal Christianity al- persecutions, a new attitude took root tered attitudes toward death and holi- regarding Christians who remained ness; the practice of Christian life in the loyal to their Lord in the face of threats new legal regime often stood in sharp to their lives and well-being. They re- contradiction with the teachings of the ceived the name witnesses (“martyrs,” Church and with the ethical maxims of from the Greek martys). Such vener- the New Testament. Nominal Chris- ation was recorded in writing in the tians could hardly be called “saints,”

The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 7 even by the logic of the Apostle Paul, of this veneration was reoriented away as they were no longer separated from from regular individual Christians to the fallen world. In many cases, Chris- the highest Church authorities. tians now differed from non-Christians merely by having been baptized. In The theological postulate of Christ’s fact, many new Church members did victory over death and hell causes an not show their faith in their deeds, opt- Easter light to radiate from the pages ing simply to make it formal, observ- of the New Testament, the theology ing the required rituals and following of the apostolic fathers, and the litur- the necessary traditions. The belief that gical worship and quotidian practices the victory of Christ over death and of the early Christian communities. hell was gifted even to these Christians This belief framed the death of any of disappeared from practical theology. the brothers and sisters as an entrance The attention of apologists and hier- to a quiet and joyful life in Christ and archs was diverted from intellectual stemmed naturally from their life in the opposition to the pagan world to cri- Church. Canonization was not under- tique of the internal theological and stood, at first, in relation to arguments disciplinary problems of the institu- about “post-mortem” salvation, but tional church. as a natural veneration of Christians whose lives were particularly exem- These developments notwithstanding, plary and edifying for Church mem- it should be noted that the joyful atti- bers. This veneration was directly re- tude to death still persisted for a long lated to the Eucharist: the letters of the time. We can look at a remarkable figure apostles were read as Holy Scripture given by Professor E. E. Golubinski: of and the Liturgy was often celebrated the seventy-four hierarchs of the see of in the catacombs on the graves of the Constantinople between 315 and 1340, dead members of the communities only twenty-five are known not to have or on the graves of the martyrs. The been canonized (and eighteen of these changing of this attitude toward death were, in fact, heretical).4 Golubinski’s and sanctity coincided with the begin- statistic demonstrates that, during the ning of numerous other crises in the © 2016 The Wheel. first millennium, those who died within life of the Church: its worldliness, dip- May be distributed for noncommercial use. the walls of Church were regularly ven- ping into speculative theology, decline www.wheeljournal.com erated as “saints,” even if the expression of liturgical life, and clericalization.

The Rev. Denis Kostomarov is a 2010 graduate of the Bel- gorod Orthodox Theological Seminary. He has taught as professor of religious history in the Oryol State Institute of Economics and Commerce and served as rector and direc- tor of diocesan youth ministries at St. Matrona’s Church in Oryol, Russia. He is currently vice director of the Youth Department of the Oryol Metropolitan District.

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