In the New Testament, 'saints' means all believers, God's holy people. Catholics and the Orthodox also use the word for those recognized as being in heaven, whose holy lives are honored and whose prayers may be sought.

Do Christians pray to saints?

Catholics and the Orthodox ask the saints to pray for them, much as one asks a friend to pray, not worshiping them. Most Protestants pray to God alone, holding that Christ is the one mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), and honor the saints only as examples.

Is praying to saints the same as worship?

Catholics and the Orthodox distinguish sharply between worship, which belongs to God alone, and veneration, the honor given to saints. Protestants worry the line is easily blurred and so direct all prayer to God through Christ.

Christian beliefs compared

What Christians Believe About the Saints

Christians confess 'the communion of saints' and give thanks for the faithful who have gone before. What they differ on is whether departed saints can be asked to pray for us, and whether they, their relics, and their icons should be venerated.

What nearly all Christians hold

The Apostles' Creed confesses 'the communion of saints,' the bond that unites all God's people, living and departed, in Christ. Every tradition gives thanks for faithful believers of the past and looks to their example.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

Hebrews 12:1

“And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.”

Revelation 5:8

Where the traditions differ

The Catholic position

The saints in heaven are alive in Christ and can be asked to pray for those on earth (intercession). They are venerated, honored, not worshiped, and their relics and feast days are kept. The church formally recognizes saints through canonization.

The Orthodox position

The saints are honored and their icons venerated, with the honor passing to the person the icon depicts, as the Second Council of Nicaea (787) taught. The faithful ask the saints' prayers, and the saints are a vivid, living presence in Orthodox worship.

Major Protestant positions

Protestants take 'saints' to mean all believers, and honor the faithful of the past as examples. Most reject asking departed saints to intercede, holding that Christ is the one mediator between God and people (1 Timothy 2:5), so prayer is offered to God alone. Some (Anglicans, Lutherans) keep commemorations of the saints without invoking them.

What remains genuinely disputed or open

The differences are whether the saints in heaven can and should be asked to pray for us, whether icons and relics should be venerated, how canonization works, and how all of this fits with the confession that Christ is the one mediator. The same questions arise about Mary.

The source ladder

How the answer is weighed: from the highest and most shared authority down to the most contested.

Scripture: Hebrews 11 to 12 on the cloud of witnesses and Revelation 5 on the prayers of the saints are read by all, though drawn on differently.
Ecumenical creeds: the Apostles' Creed confesses 'the communion of saints.'
Tradition: the early honoring of the martyrs, the Second Council of Nicaea (787) on icons, and the Reformation's return to Christ as sole mediator shape the divide.
Scholarship: historians study the rise of the cult of the saints in the early church and its development East and West.

One question deeper: What Christians believe about predestination and free will →

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Beneath every difference, one Lord

Christians have argued long and hard over much of this, and the differences are real and worth understanding honestly. Yet on the thing that matters most they have always stood together: that God so loved the world he came among us in Jesus, died and rose for us, and calls everyone home. You do not have to settle every question to come to him. The Gospel of John is a gentle place to begin, and it costs you nothing but a little quiet and an honest look.

Read the Gospel of John What is the gospel?Ask for prayer

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the saints?: In the New Testament, 'saints' means all believers, God's holy people. Catholics and the Orthodox also use the word for those recognized as being in heaven, whose holy lives are honored and whose prayers may be sought.
Do Christians pray to saints?: Catholics and the Orthodox ask the saints to pray for them, much as one asks a friend to pray, not worshiping them. Most Protestants pray to God alone, holding that Christ is the one mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), and honor the saints only as examples.
Is praying to saints the same as worship?: Catholics and the Orthodox distinguish sharply between worship, which belongs to God alone, and veneration, the honor given to saints. Protestants worry the line is easily blurred and so direct all prayer to God through Christ.

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