Intercession of the Saints
The friends of God in heaven still pray for the pilgrims on earth
This is the belief that the saints in heaven pray for the faithful on earth, together with the practice of asking for their prayers. It is rooted in the early cult of the martyrs and affirmed at the Second Council of Nicaea. Catholic and Orthodox traditions hold and practice it as part of the communion of saints. Protestant traditions, by contrast, reject the invocation of saints — a difference of conviction across communions.
How it traveled
- The Homilies on the Statues to the People of AntiochConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEexplains
- The Homilies of St. John ChrysostomConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEexplains
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and ThessaloniansConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEapplies
- The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the RomansConstantinople (Istanbul) · c. 407 CEexplains
- Against VigilantiusBethlehem · c. 420 CEchallenges
- Dialogues of Sulpitius SeverusToulouse (Aquitaine) · c. 425 CEexplains
- City of GodHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- On Care to Be Had for the DeadHippo Regius · c. 430 CEexplains
- The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the GreatRome · c. 604 CEexplains
- Selected Epistles of Gregory the GreatRome · c. 604 CEexplains
- Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from ItGeneva · c. 1564 CEchallenges
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · c. 1564 CEchallenges
- Five Sermons. On Different OccasionsNorthampton, Massachusetts · c. 1758 CEexplains
Key passages(20)
Each passage is tagged by what it does with the idea: explains it, applies it in practice, redefines it with a new meaning, or challenges it. Relevance shows how directly the passage is about this idea.
Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
Erasmus, though stumbling and walking blindfold in clear light, ventures to write thus in a letter to Sadolet, 1530: “Primum, constat nullum esse locum in divinis voluminibus, qui permittat invocare d
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
24. They again object, Are those, then, to be deprived of every pious wish, who, during the whole course of their lives, breathed nothing but piety and mercy? I have no wish curiously to pry into what
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
22. Monstrous errors resulting from this fiction. Refutation. Exception by the advocates of this fiction. Answer. 23. Arguments of the Papists for the intercession of saints. 1. From the duty and off
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 18.—Of Those Who Fancy That, on Account of the Saints’ Intercession, Man Shall Be Damned in the Last Judgment. There are others, again, with whose opinions I have become acquainted in convers
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The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch · John Chrysostom
In the latter part of the century, instances are more frequent. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Myst. v. (6), says, “Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first, patriachs, pro
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
26. But some seem to be moved by the fact, that the prayers of Ps. 22:5). Let us also pray after their example, that like them we too may be heard. Those men, on the contrary, absurdly argue that none
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Against Vigilantius. ———————————— Introduction. Full details respecting Vigilantius, against whom this treatise, the result of a single night’s labour, is directed, may be found in a work on “Vigil
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
14. But the Romanists have another end in view when they say that the power of interpreting Scripture belongs to councils, and that without challenge. For they employ it as a pretext for giving the na
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Concerning Widows · Ambrose of Milan
To an objection that the state of widowhood might indeed be endurable if circumstances were pleasant, St. Ambrose replies that pleasant surroundings are more dangerous than even trouble; and goes to s
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On Care to Be Had for the Dead · Augustine of Hippo
20. Howbeit it is a question which surpasses the strength of my understanding, after what manner the Martyrs aid them who by them, it is certain, are helped; whether themselves by themselves be presen
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians · John Chrysostom
But, as I said, if we be active also ourselves, the prayers for us avail too. Hear Paul saying, “For I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through your supplication, and the supply of the Spiri
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom · John Chrysostom
Isa. viii. 3. [Chrysostom does not use the Hebrew name here, but simply repeats a part of the Greek phrase used to translate “Maher-shalal-hash-baz” in the LXX., which he had already given in the prev
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The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch · John Chrysostom
ταριχεύεσθαι, Dem. adv. Aristogit. i. 72, of the effect of long imprisonment, lit. “to be dried like a mummy.” That this strictness was not quite universal appears from Hom. IX. 1. The feeling there
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Book Third. the Mode of Obtaining the Grace of Christ. the Benefits It Confers, and the Effects Resulting from It · John Calvin
20. Moreover, the Sophists are guilty of the merest trifling when they allege that Christ is the Mediator of redemption, but that believers are mediators of intercession; as if Christ had only perform
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 27.—Against the Belief of Those Who Think that the Sins Which Have Been Accompanied with Almsgiving Will Do Them No Harm. It remains to reply to those who maintain that those only shall burn
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Five Sermons. On Different Occasions · Jonathan Edwards
As the glorified spouse of this great King reigns with and in him, in his dominion over the universe, so more especially does she partake with him in the joy and glory of his reign in his kingdom of g
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City of God · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 24.—Against Those Who Fancy that in the Judgment of God All the Accused Will Be Spared in Virtue of the Prayers of the Saints. And this reasoning is equally conclusive against those who, in t
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The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans · John Chrysostom
You see from how many points he instructs them in the love that was shown them and the honor that was done them. And what is there that God hath not done for us? The world He hath made corruptible for
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Commentary on Galatians · Martin Luther
In the fourteenth chapter of Exodus the Lord addresses Moses at the Red Sea: “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” Moses had not cried unto the Lord. He trembled so he could hardly talk. His faith was at l
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Selected Epistles of Gregory the Great · Pope Gregory the Great
Book XI. Epistle I. To John, Abbot. Gregory to John, Abbot of Mount Sina No doubt the John called Climacus, Scholasticus, and Sinaita, commemorated as a saint on 30 March. Having entered the monas
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