First Century Advice to follow the example of the Saints
Clement of Rome (A.D. 30-100) writes the following in his letter to the church at Corinth. (Chapters 17 and 19)
Let us be imitators also of those who in goat-skins and sheep-skins went about proclaiming the coming of Christ; I mean Elijah, Elisha, and Ezekiel among the prophets, with those others to whom a like testimony is borne [in Scripture]. Abraham was specially honoured, and was called the friend of God; yet he, earnestly regarding the glory of God, humbly declared, "I am but dust and ashes." Moreover, it is thus written of Job, "Job was a righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil." But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, "No man is free from defilement, even if his life be but of one day."Moses was called faithful in all God's house; and through his instrumentality, God punished Egypt with plagues and tortures. Yet he, though thus greatly honoured, did not adopt lofty language, but said, when the divine oracle came to him out of the bush, "Who am I, that Thou sendest me? I am a man of a feeble voice and a slow tongue." And again he said, "I am but as the smoke of a pot."God has indeed blessed His church with men and women of example-- may we not neglect such a treasure in our history, all too easily limiting "the saints" to those written about in the pages of the Old and New Testaments.Thus the humility and godly submission of so great and illustrious men have rendered not only us, but also all the generations before us, better; even as many as have received His oracles in fear and truth. Wherefore, having so many great and glorious examples set before us, let us turn again to the practice of that peace which from the beginning was the mark set before us; and let us look stedfastly to the Father and Creator of the universe, and cleave to His mighty and surpassingly great gifts and benefactions, of peace. Let us contemplate Him with our understanding, and look with the eyes of our soul to His long-suffering will. Let us reflect how free from wrath He is towards all His creation.
Church Tradition gives us not just those Saints within the Bible, but also hundreds and hundreds of others who have lived from the time Clement wrote the words above to our current era.
Consider how much we have learned from the biblical examples of men and women like Elisha, David, Esther, and Jeremiah-- how much more is there to learn from post-biblical Saints including Justin Martyr, Katherine of the Wheel, Basil the great, and Philip of Moscow?
Indeed, how can we be "imitators of the Saints" if we know nothing about them?
Posted by jeremy stock at July 24, 2002 08:36 PMHow true, how true. One reason why I have learned to love the church calendar and the various feast days of saints gone by.
Posted by: wayne at July 25, 2002 10:30 PMwayne, Thanks for the comment (it's good to know someone reads this stuff). :-)
There is so much Tradition/History that Protestants neglect; I can't help but think that that neglect is to their detriment.
Help us especially as Orthodox Christians to maintain that heritage by our knowledge of and practice according the the lives of the Saints of Jesus Christ.
Posted by: jeremy at July 25, 2002 10:46 PMWhat about exemplery modern saints? What about men and women who have been missionaries in difficult situations. John J. Patton, Adorium Judson, David Brainard and others. What about men who have been in the public spotlight for years and remain scandle free like R. C. Sproul? How about great theologians of the recent past like Jonathan Edwards?
While I admit that I wish I knew more about other, older saints, I find that these (and others) likewise inspire me.
Posted by: Tim at July 26, 2002 05:33 PMtim,
great point. I think it is in our interest to emulate those persons whom we know to be pious-- indeed the Bible commands us to do so.
the Saints of "old" (some lived in just the past century so it is somewhat difficult to call them old), however are men and women whom we know perservered to the end: they died in their faith and zeal for Christ (many as martyrs). I see a distinction between those whom we know to be faithful servants of God to the end and those who may (however unlikely) fall into gross sin, or are currently in gross sin (we just may not know about it).
To be more clear, let me say that I do not believe R.C. Sproul, for instance, has hidden gross sin. Rather my point is simply that though we ought to be emulating those righteous men and women around us (how few there are) we must not let that detract from our respect and emulation of those Saints that have passed from this life in faith to a very special degree.
The Saints of the Church are not just lay persons of faith who died believing that "God is love," nor who "always went to church," nor even those persons who really seemed "on fire for God." Rather, the Saints of the Church are men and women of particular zeal, uncommon piety, genuine humility, indiscriminate love, and steadfast faith.
Without detracting from current fellow Christian brothers and sisters, I think it's especially important to see the truly unique lives and deaths with which God has chosen to flower his garden of history.
Posted by: jeremy at July 26, 2002 06:41 PMSure Jeremy, you make a great point. And just like you weren't trying to eliminate modern saints, neither was I trying to eliminate older saints. Just trying to round it out some. :)
As far as those who died for the Faith, a great book is 'Jesus Freaks' by DC Talk and Voice of the Martyrs. It is full of stories of those (ancient and modern) who suffered greatly in the name of Christ. What an inspiration!
Posted by: Tim at July 30, 2002 06:17 PMFoxe's Book of Martyrs had that kind of effect on me. It was the only book I'd ever read about the saints, in particular, and I think - if I'm not mistaken - that it covered early Church fathers and mothers, as well as those martyrs at the time of the Reformation. But to hear of John, for instance, being thrown from the steeple of the temple and when his persecutors came to him, he was forgiving them and praying for them... I think it was John. The kind of person that it takes, on the inside, to do something like that is hard to envision, especially when you see yourself wanting to kill someone for doing even the slightest offense to you. It seems like the saints are necessary to study, in part, because one's devotional life with Christ depends on it. I find that reading things, like the Diary of David Brainierd, or biographies of early Christians, has a profound effect on how I view the call to discipleship. I compare myself to them - do I love as they loved? Do I die as they died daily? Do I joy in the kinds of things they did, and with the depth that they did? Did I ache over the sins of myself, but also of others, like they did? I need to hear about these big brothers of mine, for my own soul's sake. I do think it is painful that American Protestantism is so cut off from the flow of our church's history.
Posted by: scott cunningham at August 5, 2002 02:50 PMScott,
Well said. I couldn't agree with you more.
It pains me to see how little my life resembles the lives of the saints...yet strive to emulate them I shall continue (Lord have mercy).
It is as though Protestantism believes "church history" begins in 1540. There is so much more to be learned from.
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