While Roman Catholics publicly worship their saints, many orthodox Christians privately revere their own saints. This is an important distinction because Catholics view orthodox worship as the more traditional path. But how do you choose between the two types of saints? There are several important factors to consider.
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Orthodox saints venerate catholic saints privately
As more Catholics are beginning to recognize the sanctity of saints, the process of veneration of these holy figures becomes more formal. The process begins with a petition to be recognized as a saint. Once the request is made, an investigative committee studies the candidate’s life and submits its findings to the Holy Synod of the local Church.
Catholic saints aren’t generally recognized in Orthodoxy, but individual Orthodox still privately venerate them. The process for canonizing these saints is the same as for Latin Catholics. For Catholic saints, canonization usually begins around 1054 AD.
The process of canonization can involve the papacy, but orthodox saints are often canonized in their own countries. After Pope Urban VIII, Italian bishops continued to glorify local saints. They included Blessed Peter Lombard and Blessed John Scotus Erigena. The latter was later canonized by Pope John Paul II.
Orthodox saints view roman catholicism as rationalist
In Baltimore, John-Paul II led the Orthodox-Roman Catholic dialogue into disaster. Since then, the Roman Catholic Church has taken a number of steps to improve the relationship between the two churches, including writing a letter to Cardinal Ljubomir Husar, the Uniate Archbishop of Ukraine. Almost all Orthodox agree that Roman Catholic saints are not worthy of veneration.
The Orthodox Church does not want to acknowledge the influence of Roman Catholics, but it is trying to make some concessions to Roman Catholics. It wants to see a common prayer and service, but does not want to compromise its faith. The Orthodox do this to show their love and help the heterodox. However, the Orthodox cannot help the heterodox without showing them the sick and infected spirituality of the Roman Catholic Church.
There is another theological ground on which the Orthodox fail: the doctrine of original sin. While they do believe in the existence of the Holy Spirit, they do not believe that it is a separate entity from the Father. As a result, they are against repeating the chrismation of someone who was already baptized. According to the Fathers of the Church, repeating baptism on someone already baptized is the same as crucifying Christ.
Both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church can canonize people. For example, early church fathers and councils are often canonized. In the Orthodox Church, there are three paths to sainthood. All three paths, however, presume that the person has the correct belief in God.
The disunity between the churches was not limited to communion and missionary work. Both Moscow and Constantinople claim jurisdiction over vast regions. As an example, both Rome and Constantinople have parishes outside of Eastern Europe. During this time, the Orthodox Church accepted this state of affairs.
