Since ancient times, faith has been an integral part of the spiritual life of an Orthodox person. An example of fortitude, courage, and humility of the saints of the Russian land gave him hope for prosperity even in the most difficult times.
A significant contribution to the formation of Orthodoxy in Russia was made by people who dedicated themselves, their lives to God, bringing the word of God to the people. Being an example of humility, tolerance, piety and steadfastness of the Christian faith, these persons, according to the teaching of the Church, are in heaven after death, praying before God for all people.
Each of these righteous people has a unique divine image, to which he is reckoned at the time of canonization. The number of saints in the Orthodox faith is very significant. However, there is a certain classification that assigns each of them to a certain category in accordance with the earthly life they have lived: apostles, unmercenaries, faithful, blessed (holy fools), great martyrs, confessors, martyrs, inscribed, new martyrs, righteous, reverend, prophets, equal to the apostles, saints, passion-bearers.
During his earthly life, Jesus Christ was surrounded by his disciples, the closest of whom were called apostles. It was they who spoke with sermons in all cities and countries, carrying the Christian faith to the people. Initially, there were 12 of them, and only later their number increased by another 70 apostles.
Peter and Paul, the apostles, whose merits in strengthening the faith of Christ surpass the rest, are usually called the Supreme. The Apostles John the Evangelist, Luke, Mark and Matthew are called Evangelists, since they own the work of writing the Gospel.
In the Orthodox faith, it is customary to call saints unmercenaries who were famous for their generosity, selflessness, and renunciation of riches for the sake of the Christian faith. As a rule, these are healers, healers, miracle workers who, healing the sick from bodily, mental and other ailments, did not take any payment. Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus of Alexandria, Panteleimon and Ermolai are just a few of the unmercenary saints.
This face of holiness originated in the Church of Constantinople, and then began to be applied in Orthodox churches. The faithful saints are saints, exclusively from among the monarchs, whose life path is an example of righteousness and is glorified by the church. Among the Russian faithful are the saints Ivan Kalita, Alexander Nevsky, Vladimir Monomakh, Yaroslav the Wise, Dmitry Donskoy, Andrey Bogolyubsky, Daniel of Moscow and Igor Olegovich, Prince of Kiev.
According to Wikipedia, "foolishness is a deliberate effort to seem stupid, insane." In Orthodoxy, it is customary to call saints blessed or holy fools who deliberately portrayed some kind of madness, hiding their virtues and ridiculing worldly values. They were often insulted and humiliated. Among the most revered blessed in Russia are Procopius Ustyug, Mikolka Svyat, Basil the Blessed.
Great martyrs
According to Orthodox teaching, a great martyr is a saint of noble birth and who has suffered for the faith of Christ, while a martyr is a commoner whose death was a martyr's. This face of holiness is one of the oldest and most revered. The list of great martyrs is very impressive and includes, for example, the early Christian Saint Irene of Macedon, Mercury of Caesarea, George the Victorious, Demetrius of Thessalonica, Catherine of Alexandria and others.
Confessor, the face of holiness, occupying a special place in Orthodoxy. It includes Christians who, during their lifetime, were persecuted, physically punished for their faith, but did not renounce it and continued to openly profess Christianity. As a rule, despite a life of suffering, the holy confessors died of natural death.
Among the holy confessors glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church are Metropolitan Agafangel (Transfiguration) of Yaroslavl and Rostov, Metropolitan Nicholas of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan (Mogilev), Archbishop of Tambov and Shatsk Vassian, Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimean Lukan of Amy Russian Orthodox Church Athanasius, Bishop of Ivanovsky, Vicar of the Vladimir diocese Vasily, Archimandrite Sergius, the priest John Olenevsky and others.
Martyrs
Martyrs in Christianity are people who have accepted torture and death for their faith in Jesus Christ. An interesting fact is that this face of holiness is one of the oldest and the Christian church glorifies the holy martyrs who testified about Christ not only after, but even before his death. The first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, was stoned to death for preaching Christianity in Jerusalem.
Inscribed
The siblings Theodor and Theophanes Inscribed, born in Jerusalem, came from a pious Orthodox family. Fyodor, the eldest of the brothers, was drawn to faith from childhood, and attended church with pleasure. Both brothers received a good education, and becoming young people continued their studies in the Orthodox Greek monastery of Sava the Sanctified.
With the coming to power of the Byzantine emperor Leo V the Armenian in 813, the veneration of icons was prohibited. The brothers were sent by the Patriarch of Jerusalem Thomas I to talk with the emperor. Fyodor and Theophanes inscribed were tasked with persuading Leo V to abandon iconoclasm. But the emperor declared the brothers heretics, and for more than twenty years they were persecuted and tortured. In the end, cruel torture was invented. With the help of red-hot needles, twelve lines of poetry were applied to the face of each of them, allegedly shaming the holy confessors and disfiguring them. After that, the brothers received a second name - Inscribed.
The Monk Theodore died in prison in 840, his brother Theophanes lived to see the abolition of the ban on veneration of icons. He compiled canons on veneration of icons and died around 847.
New martyrs
The new martyrs are the holy Christians who were martyred in a relatively recent period. Among the new martyrs are Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow, Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev (Epiphany), Metropolitan Seraphim of Leningrad and others.
The life of the righteous saints, both external and internal, was built according to the laws of God and thanks to deep faith, piety, humility, they are glorified by the church. In Orthodoxy, the righteous are the forefathers and the Godfathers.
A special face of the saints who have retired from worldly life in favor of monastic life are saints. They did not marry and spent their lives in fasting and prayer. The first saints in the Christian faith are Paul of Thebes, Pachomius the Great, Anthony the Great, Hilarion the Great.
In Orthodoxy, a prophet is a saint who foreshadowed the will of God on earth. Biblical prophets are divided into:
- 4 Great Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel;
- 12 Minor Prophets - Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
Equal to the Apostles
Equal to the Apostles are saints who spread the Orthodox faith like the Apostles. For example, a follower of Jesus Christ Mary Magdalene, the first martyr Thekla of Iconium, Mariamna, the martyr Apphia of Kolosskaya.
Saints
Saints are saints from among the bishops or hierarchs who please God with their righteous earthly life, such as, for example, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian.
Passion bearers
Passion bearers in the Orthodox Church are called saints who were martyred by their fellow believers. This is how Saint Demetrius of Uglich, the martyrs Boris and Gleb, and the Monk Dula are often called. Also, in 2000, Emperor Nicholas II and his family were canonized as martyrs.
