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Intercession of the saints is a Christian doctrine common to the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Intercessory prayer is a petition made to God on behalf of others. If a believer prays for her children or friends, his enemies or leaders, then the believer is interceding on behalf of another. The doctrine of saintly intercession goes back to the earliest church. The justification for calling upon a saint in prayer is that the saints are both close to God, because of their holiness, and accessible to humans.
Jesus' parable of Dives and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 might indicate the ability of the dead to pray for the living. Paul's repeated references to Jesus Christ as "advocate" for the believers also indicates that Jesus, living at the right hand of God, will intercede (pray) for the believer (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25). By extension, other holy persons who are dead might intercede on behalf of the petitioner. This is a controversial doctrine, because in some faiths, only Jesus is holy enough to intercede.
In the Roman Catholic Church doctrine supports intercessory prayer to saints, especially Mary, the mother of Jesus, although the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s de-emphasized the role of saints. Intercesory prayer to saints also plays an important spot in the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches.
Protestant views
Many Protestant churches strongly reject all saintly intercession. By the 13th century, superstition had clouded the saint cults, and believers were developing saint cults as magic charms. The practice was attacked both by the Waldensians and the various Bogomil groups (including the Albigensians). The Calvinists and Zwinglians were particularly zealous in their rejection of saintly intercession. In the Church of England's Thirty-Nine Articles, the practice of invoking saints is derided, but the Oxford Movement led to a revival of the practice.
Jewish views
There is some evidence of a Jewish belief in intercession, both in the form of the paternal blessings passed down from Abraham to his children, and 2 Maccabees, where Judas Maccabaeus sees the dead Onias and Jeremiah giving blessing to the Jewish army.
Muslim views
There is a difference of opinion amongst the Muslims. Both the Sufi and the Shia Muslims accept intercession at the levels of Jurispudence and Creed. The Orthodox Sunni Muslims approach the subject of intercession with extreme caution. In some cases the Orthodox Sunni will call those who practice intercession (tawasul) as disbelievers.
See also
Hadith Proofs for Tawassul through the Prophet:
http://hadithproofsfortawassul.blogspot.com/2005/11/hadith-proofs-for-tawassul.html
External links
- Salatul Istisqa, Islamic prayer for rain ceremony
- The performance of the Salatul Istisqa, the Islamic prayer for rain, in the parched bed of the Goulburn River in Denman, in the Hunter Valley, Sydney, Australia, 2003.
"Intercession of saints"