To believe in the Saints

Not that I reject or ridicule other Christians, those who are not of the Orthodox Catholic faith, for it is not mine, nor anyone else’s, to judge, condemn, ostracize, or conquer people who belong to another faith, not other Christians (for they too believe in Christ), nor Jews (for they did not crucify Him, I did), nor Muslims (for they seek the God who has found me), nor polytheists (for God is still One even when we worship Him as many), nor atheists (for their life itself is the gift of the only God who is).

Not that I reject their beliefs or unbeliefs in God or about God, but what sets apart the Orthodox Catholic Christian from others is, not that we believe in God, but that we believe in the Saints, that we believe that they are alive, even more alive than ourselves, that we believe they are present with us always, even as Jesus is, who says ‘lo, I am with you till the end of the age,’ that we believe in their help, their love, their presence, their example, and that we expect their resurrection with our own.

Anyone can believe in God, and most do, because conscious existence is proven by reason, just as nature is proven by science, to be reflections and creations, respectively, of the Mind upon which the mind of man is modeled. But to believe in the Saints is more difficult, because that is a belief in something and someone who is not always invisible or ancient or far away. To believe in the Saints requires that we believe in people, in each other, even as we see them, even in ourselves.

Yes, to really believe, and accept, ourselves—and all that must follow from that—is what sets the Orthodox Catholic apart from others, to believe in the Saints.