Hello my Siblings in Christ, I’m Bojan, and today we will discuss one particular charge that is often leveled towards Orthodox and Catholics - that, when we pray to the saints, we engage in necromancy.
Let me show you how praying to a saint actually looks like.
“Saint George, pray for me.”
See, that’s all there is to it. I could have done an hour long prayer, but that’s just a difference between you texting someone and getting out with that person to spend some quality time.
Now, let’s see what necromancy is. Necromancy is summoning of the spirits of the dead in order to get favors from them and to make them reveal the unknown. So, let us demonstrate an act of necromancy.
You take a sheep and you both to to the deepest, dankest, darkest cave you can possibly find. You sacrifice the sheep, and use its blood to provide the life force for the spirits to manifest. Then you engage in a short Q&A, do a fan meet, they threaten you, you threaten them, and so on. Sure, they are probably demons, but let us be honest, you are not really that interested in Blackbeard, you just want to get your grabby hands on his treasure.
Perhaps you’re more interested in fancier, cleaner form of necromancy known as spiritism? Get your friends around a table, sing some incantations - and voila - here comes the alleged Blackbeard again with his much coveted knowledge of his trove.
When you practice necromancy, you want the dead to manifest. That is the sole purpose of the rite. When you pray to the saints, you don’t want them to manifest. There’s no need. It’s like prayer - in fact, it is prayer. Prayer is one way - you don’t need or want for Jesus to appear personally to you. You’re not God’s special little princess. You’re not Moses. Never were, never will be. If you want or pray for God to personally appear to you, I want you to not. If God wants you to do something, He will use His ordinary channels, like an advice or inspiration.
Necromancy is motivated by pride and greed - greed towards material grain and knowledge.
Prayer to saints is motivated by humility - we acknowledge that our hands in prayer are weak and we need help from those athletes of Christ who did not falter at the threat of a blade or torch or bullet.
Remember that when pray to the saints, we pray to them and they hear us in the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t hear us - nor would they exist. It’s not like St. Anastasia hears me first and then she forwards the prayer to God who hears it second. It simply has to do with fellowship. It’s not as much as praying to saints as much as it is praying with saints. In necromancy, God play no role. Even if He does, He’s no more than a tool to threaten the dead into submission. And that’s a no-no.
Saints are alive in Christ. There are no dead in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I don’t need clandestine rituals to summon the saints, just a friendly plea towards my fellow Christians who have gone before me. So my question for you is: if someone accuses us of necromancy, are we necromancers, or are they denying the life giving power of Christ?
When a faithful Christian dies, does Christ in him or her die as well? I’d think not.
Let me show you how praying to a saint actually looks like.
“Saint George, pray for me.”
See, that’s all there is to it. I could have done an hour long prayer, but that’s just a difference between you texting someone and getting out with that person to spend some quality time.
Now, let’s see what necromancy is. Necromancy is summoning of the spirits of the dead in order to get favors from them and to make them reveal the unknown. So, let us demonstrate an act of necromancy.
You take a sheep and you both to to the deepest, dankest, darkest cave you can possibly find. You sacrifice the sheep, and use its blood to provide the life force for the spirits to manifest. Then you engage in a short Q&A, do a fan meet, they threaten you, you threaten them, and so on. Sure, they are probably demons, but let us be honest, you are not really that interested in Blackbeard, you just want to get your grabby hands on his treasure.
Perhaps you’re more interested in fancier, cleaner form of necromancy known as spiritism? Get your friends around a table, sing some incantations - and voila - here comes the alleged Blackbeard again with his much coveted knowledge of his trove.
When you practice necromancy, you want the dead to manifest. That is the sole purpose of the rite. When you pray to the saints, you don’t want them to manifest. There’s no need. It’s like prayer - in fact, it is prayer. Prayer is one way - you don’t need or want for Jesus to appear personally to you. You’re not God’s special little princess. You’re not Moses. Never were, never will be. If you want or pray for God to personally appear to you, I want you to not. If God wants you to do something, He will use His ordinary channels, like an advice or inspiration.
Necromancy is motivated by pride and greed - greed towards material grain and knowledge.
Prayer to saints is motivated by humility - we acknowledge that our hands in prayer are weak and we need help from those athletes of Christ who did not falter at the threat of a blade or torch or bullet.
Remember that when pray to the saints, we pray to them and they hear us in the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, they couldn’t hear us - nor would they exist. It’s not like St. Anastasia hears me first and then she forwards the prayer to God who hears it second. It simply has to do with fellowship. It’s not as much as praying to saints as much as it is praying with saints. In necromancy, God play no role. Even if He does, He’s no more than a tool to threaten the dead into submission. And that’s a no-no.
Saints are alive in Christ. There are no dead in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I don’t need clandestine rituals to summon the saints, just a friendly plea towards my fellow Christians who have gone before me. So my question for you is: if someone accuses us of necromancy, are we necromancers, or are they denying the life giving power of Christ?
When a faithful Christian dies, does Christ in him or her die as well? I’d think not.
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