| DOCTRINES AND DOGMAS |
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| 3 MAJOR THEMES AND
MOTIFS |
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The phenomenon of saintliness (i.e.,
the quality of holiness, involving a special relationship to the sacred
sphere as well as moral perfection or exceptional teaching abilities) is
widespread in the religions of the world, both ancient and contemporary. Various
types of religious personages have been recognized as saints, both by popular
acclaim and official pronouncement, and their influence on the religious masses
(the broad spectrum of those holding various wide-ranging religious beliefs) has
been, and is, of considerable significance. (see also sacred
and profane) |
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Saints are persons believed to be
connected in a special manner with what is viewed as sacred reality--gods,
spiritual powers, mythical realms, and other aspects of the sacred or holy. The
existence of such persons has been a widespread phenomenon throughout the
religions of the world. The religious person may have various relationships with
the sacred: as seer, prophet, saviour, monk, nun, priest, priestess, or other
such personage. In the case of each of these, however, a specific kind of
relationship to the holy is involved. Seers, for example, have an inspirational
vision of the future; prophets proclaim a revelation; saviours are entrusted
with effecting redemption, liberation, or other salvatory conditions; monks and
nuns lead religious lives in accordance with ascetic regulations that they
generally observe as long as they live. Every one of these religious personages
may simultaneously be, or become, a saint, but there is no necessary connection.
Sainthood thus implies a special type of relationship to the holy, a
relationship that is not automatically obtained by other religious personages
through their performance of religious duties or offices. |
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The significance of saintly personages
is generally based on real or alleged deeds and qualities that became apparent
during their lifetimes and continue to exert influence after their deaths. The
special character of their feats and qualities of living is believed to arise
from an especially close association with a deity or sacred power. In addition
to such a relationship, sainthood also requires the existence of a sacral
institution that can grant such recognition, or of a popular cult that
acknowledges and posits a belief in the saint's special qualities. In
institutionalized religions, such as Roman
Catholicism, there is a regularized process (called canonization)
by which saints are officially recognized. Canonization requires, among other
things, proof that the person in question wrought miracles during his or her
lifetime. On the other hand, folk belief often recognizes the saintly powers of
a living or dead person long before the institutional religion acknowledges him
as a saint. |
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Confucianism
is in the main ethically oriented. Confucius
taught that right conduct was a means of acquiring ideal harmony with the Way
(Tao) of Heaven and that the "holy rulers of primal times" were
representative examples of such ideal conduct. In the oldest known Chinese
historical work, the Shu
Ching("Classic
of History"), such a ruler, King T'ang (11th century BC), is described as
one who "possessed the highest degree of virtue, and so it came to be that
he acquired the bright authority of Heaven." Thus, in Confucianism, the
saintliness of its holy men lay in ethical perfection, and through the practice
of ethical ideals a contact with Heaven (T'ien) was established. Confucius
himself serves as an example of a man who was first regarded as a saint because
of his deep wisdom and conscientious observance of ethical precepts and was even
considered to be "more than human." During the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD
220), Confucius was elevated to a new status: Emperor Kao Tsu offered sacrifice
at the Confucian temple, and Emperor Wu proclaimed Confucianism the official
ideology of China. The titles duke (AD 1) and king (739) were further tributes
to "the perfect sage." During the T'ang dynasty (618-907), sacrifices
were regularly offered in Confucian temples, and in 1906 Confucius was declared
equal to the Lord of Heaven. |
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Taoism
is oriented toward another kind of sanctity: the attainment of a passionless
unity with the Absolute. Chuang-tzu
(died c. 300 BC), a mystical Taoist sage, speaks of the "pure men of
early times" in his work, the Chuang-tzuand characterizes them as such. |
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Shinto, the native Japanese
religion, is concerned with the veneration of nature and with ancestor
worship; it does not have saints according to the standards of ethical
perfection or of exceptionally meritorious performance. According to Shinto
belief, every person after his death becomes a kamia supernatural being who continues to have a part in the life of
the community, nation, and family. Good men become good and beneficial kamis,
bad men become pernicious ones. Being elevated to the status of a divine being
is not a privilege peculiar to those with saintly qualities, for evil men also
become kamis. There are in Shinto, however, venerated mythical
saints--such as Okuni-nushi (Master of the Great Land) and Sukuma-Bikona
(a dwarf deity)--who are considered to be the discoverers and patrons of
medicine, magic, and the art of brewing rice. (see also afterlife) |
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Founded by Siddharta Gautama,
Buddhism developed into three major forms in the course of its more than
2,500-year history: Theravada
("Way of the Elders"), also called in derogation Hinayana
("Lesser Vehicle"); Mahayana ("Greater
Vehicle"); and, stemming from it, Vajrayana ("Vehicle of the
Thunderbolt"). A belief in saints prevails in all three groups. |
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Theravada Buddhism, claiming
strict adherence to the teachings of the Buddha, recognizes as saints (arhats)
those who have attained Nirvana
(the state of bliss) and hence salvation
from samsara(the compulsory circle of rebirth) by their own efforts. The Buddha
himself--having obtained Nirvana ("the destruction of greed, . . .
hate, . . . and illusion")--is viewed as the first Buddhist saint.
Disciples of the Buddha who reached Nirvana after him also are considered
holy men. Furthermore, in early Buddhism, there were also women regarded as
holy, including Prajapati, the Buddha's aunt and stepmother--whose
repeated requests finally caused the Buddha to permit women to enter his
order--and his wife Yashodhara. |
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Mahayana
Buddhism, originating about the beginning of the Christian Era, rejected the
Theravada belief that only monks may attain salvation. In Mahayana
belief there is a path to redemption for all people, irrespective of their
social standing. Salvation and the way to redemption are conceived in terms more
liberal than those of Theravada. Mahayana Buddhists believe
in an otherworldly paradise that allows for personal existence and in which
dwell heavenly Buddhas (those who have attained Nirvana in previous
worlds) and bodhisattvas
("Buddhas-to-be"). The heavenly Buddhas and bodhisattvas are believed to grant grace
to sentient beings, so that salvation is no longer acquired by fleeing from the
world and giving up worldly professions, but rather by faith (in the sense of
trust) in the promise of a saviour deity. Thus, in Mahayana
Buddhism, the Buddhas and bodhisattvas are viewed as the holy ones, the saints, who in
compassion, attempt to aid others struggling for salvation. This concept is in
striking contrast to the arhats of
Theravada Buddhism, who follow the dying Buddha's last words, "Seek your
own salvation with diligence." The basic altruistic concept of Mahayana
then is that of the helping bodhisattva. Everyone
should strive for this ideal in order to save as many fellowmen as possible as a
bodhisattva and to bring them into the
"Greater Vehicle" (Mahayana). Hence, the idea of faith
in benevolent saints gains prominence in Mahayana Buddhism as a
theistic religion of salvation. In Japanese Mahayana there are
patron saints, such as Shotoku Taishi,
the regent who supported the introduction and development of Buddhism in his
country in about AD 600, after it had been introduced in AD 552. |
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Vajrayana
Buddhism, embodying, among other views, Tantrism (a system of magical and
esoteric practices), is mainly represented by Tibetan
Buddhism. In addition to the innumerable saints of Mahayana
Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism also accepts as living saints those who are regarded
as incarnations (tulkus) of saints,
scholars of the past, deities, or demons. The Dalai
Lamas, heads of the Tibetan hierarchy, are viewed as reincarnations
of Chen-re-zi (the bodhisattva of
mercy, Avalokiteshvara). |
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According to Jain teaching, there were
23 Tirthankaras (saintly
prophets or proclaimers of salvation) before Mahavira Vardhamana,
the 6th-century-BC Indian religious leader after whom Jainism was named. Today
they are venerated as saints in temples containing their images. Veneration of
the Holy Tirthankaras is viewed in terms of purifying the devotee
morally, as these saints are but examples for the Jainas and not actually
objects of a cult. |
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Hinduism in a wider sense encompasses Brahmanism,
a belief in the Universal Soul, Brahman; in a narrower sense it comprises the
post-Buddhist, caste-ordered religious and cultural world of India. The Indian
religions are by and large mystical in character; hence, even in early Hinduism
ascetics were highly honoured. Mysticism
generally starts with ascetic practices as a means of eliminating a desire for
worldly existence. (see also asceticism) |
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In later Hinduism, when the ascetics
continued to be revered by the masses as sadhus
(saints, or "good ones") and yogis
(ascetic practitioners), the concept of the avatara(the idea of the incarnation of a divine being in human form) served to
interpret the existence of holy men. By means of this concept it was, and still
is, possible to consider living and dead saints as incarnations of a deity and
also to incorporate saints of other religions into the Hindu world of belief.
Thus Jesus Christ, for instance, is regarded as an avatara
of the god Vishnu (Visnu), and the Hindu saint Ramakrishna is
considered to be an avatara of the god
Shiva. |
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The ancient heroes of Greek
religion may be regarded as saints. One basis for belief in heroes and
the hero cult was the idea that the mighty dead continued to live and to be
active as spiritual powers from the sites of their graves. Another source of the
cult of heroes was the conception that gods were often lowered to the status of
heroes. One of the best known heroes is Heracles, who became famous through his
mighty deeds. In Greek religion the numinous (spiritual) qualities of a person
lay in such heroic deeds. (see also hero
worship) |
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Zoroastrianism includes the veneration
of Fravashis--i.e.,
preexistent souls that are good by nature, gods and goddesses of individual
families and clans, and physical elements. According to Zoroastrian belief,
humans are caught up in a great cosmic struggle between the forces of good, led
by Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), and the forces of evil, led by Angra
Mainyu, or Ahriman, the Evil Spirit. In the battle between Asha (Truth)
and Druj (Lie) the Fravashis may correspond to the saints of Roman Catholicism,
who can be called upon for aid in times of trouble. (see also Parsiism,
dualism) |
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The cult of saints in terms of
veneration was not a part of the monotheistic religion of Israel. Saintliness,
however, was an ideal that many hoped to exhibit. The model of a pious person is
depicted in the righteous one of Psalm 5, "his delight is in the law of the
Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night." In the Hellenistic period
(c. 300 BC--c.
AD 300), when many Jews were susceptible to foreign religious influences,
the Hasidim (the "pious" ones) segregated themselves from the
others, holding fast to the faith of their fathers. (see also Hasidism) |
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The concept of the Hasidim gained
new significance in the 18th century when Israel
ben Eliezer, called Ba'al Shem Tov, or "Master of the Good
Name," started the modern movement called Hasidism. As opposed to
the Orthodox Israelite religion with its emphasis on rationalism, cultic piety,
and legalism, Ba'al Shem Tov stood for a more mystically oriented form of
Judaism. |
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Jesus and his disciples did not speak of
saints; but during the period (1st to early 4th century) in which they were
persecuted, Christians began to venerate the martyrs as saints. They believed
that the martyrs, being
sufferers "unto death" for Christ, were received directly into heaven
and could therefore be effective as intercessors for the living. By the 3rd
century the veneration of martyr saints was already common. (see also adoration) |
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In the Nicene
Creed (AD 325) the early church called itself the "communion of
saints." Here, however, the word "saint" has the broader meaning
of "believer" rather than being applied strictly to a holy person or
numinous personality worthy of veneration. In the 10th century a procedure of canonization
(official recognition of a public cult of a saint) was initiated by Pope John
XV. Gradually, a fixed process was developed for canonization by the
pope, requiring that the person must have led a life of heroic sanctity and
performed at least two miracles. |
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Saints in the Roman
Catholic Church are venerated--but not worshipped--because of their
spiritual and religious significance and are believed to be the bearers of
special powers. Because of a belief in the powers of the saints, their relics
are regarded as efficacious. In the Eastern
Orthodox Church saints also are venerated, but the process of
canonization is less juridical and not always ecumenical. In some Protestant
churches (Lutheran and Anglican) saints are recognized, but not venerated as in
the Roman Catholic and Orthodox. (see also Protestantism) |
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Islam is a rigorously
monotheistic religion, strictly prohibiting any kind of "conjunction"
(i.e., affiliation, or consortship) to
Allah. Thus the concept of sainthood was rejected. Yet even here a
variegated belief in holy men arose because of the demands of popular religion.
Over against the one distant God, whose almighty power and whose role as a
strict judge was emphasized repeatedly, there emerged a desire for intercessors.
These were found in saintly men who were believed to be endowed with charismatic
powers (karamat), allowing them to go
miraculously from one place to another far away; to wield authority over
animals, plants, and clouds; and to bridge the gap between life and death. The
Prophet Muhammad (died AD 632)
had negated the existence of saints, but the piety of the masses
"canonized" holy men while they were still living. After they died,
cults of devotion arose at the sites of their graves, and pilgrimages to such
sites were believed to aid the believer in acquiring help and blessing. |
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The basic motive for the belief in and
veneration of saints is, primarily, the recognition by people of religious
persons whom they view as holy. In order for a religious personage (e.g.,
prophet) to be recognized as a saint, it is necessary that other people see
in him the aura of holiness. The holiness recognized in him may be an impersonal
sacred or spiritual power--which is often perceived in quite insignificant
persons--and is believed to be present even in the bones and other material
relics of a recognized holy person after his death. Religious personalities also
are believed to possess a personal holiness, either bestowed upon them by divine
grace or acquired through asceticism and moral discipline. Such sanctity reveals
itself in the power to perform miracles. |
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The highest form of holiness in a holy
person is reflected in the interpretation of that person as an incarnation of
divine reality or as the possessor of godly nature. Divine qualities are
perceived in such a person, and through him, such as the Logos (divine Word, or
Reason) in Jesus. |
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Popular recognition of saints arises out
of a predilection of the religious masses (those who maintain popular belief, or
folk belief, along with beliefs officially promulgated) to grasp the
supernatural in that which is believed to be unusual and uncommon--i.e.,
in the miraculous event. Thus, the religious masses long for those who can
perform wonders that are awe awakening and satisfy their desire for the
miraculous and mysterious. |
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Besides the desire for miracles, there
is another basic requirement of the masses, especially within monotheistic
religions: the yearning for a superhuman being in human form. The one abstract
God who is believed to be present everywhere and capable of helping everybody
and everything is too unperceptual and remote for the average religious person.
There is a tendency among the religious masses to split up the deity into many
numinous beings that fulfill the desires of the people. The religious masses
often have polytheistic
tendencies. The term "dear saints," as the holy ones are called in
Roman Catholicism, expresses an emotional relationship to those near,
benevolent, heavenly, or spiritual powers that are the heirs to the ancient
ethnic and patron deities of pre-Christian times. |
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In the course of their histories, and as
they expand, the great universal religions (e.g.,
Christianity, Buddhism, and others) incorporate ever more people with their
particular folk beliefs. As their numbers grow and their influence increases in
the religious communities, the indigenous peoples retaining many earlier folk
beliefs form the majority and their inclinations prevail. Because their
behaviour patterns generally remain constant, their religious forms are
preserved. Occasionally, religious reform movements arise within the organized
mass religions. Such movements attempt to restore what is believed to be the
original form of the respective religions and often turn against a belief in and
veneration of saints, regarding such forms of religiosity as degenerate. This
was the case in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation and also in the Wahhabiyah
movement, an 18th-century reform movement in Islam. |
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In monotheistic religions the belief in
saints in its popular form generally contradicts orthodox teaching. Such
religiosity is usually opposed and rejected or else reinterpreted in view of its
ineradicability. If the latter is the case, the orthodox interpretation given
the cult of saints in order to justify it is a theological construction. In
Roman Catholicism, for instance, church doctrine makes a distinction between
veneration (veneratio, douleia) and adoration
(adoratio, latreia). Veneration is
defined as a proper attitude toward saints, whereas adoration is applicable only
in connection with God. The veneration of images as practiced especially in the
Eastern Orthodox Church is explained similarly. The Roman Catholic Church also
teaches that the saints are representatives of God's grace
on earth and that they are completely subject to his will. The vestigial remains
of polytheistic beliefs and practices connected with the veneration of saints
are thus theologically, though not popularly, eliminated. (see also hagiography, iconography) |
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Similar interpretations of the belief in
saints in a monotheistic religion serve to justify an existing cult. The people
themselves are hardly influenced by such interpretations, however. According to
many scholars, the differentiation between douleia
(veneration) and latreia (worship),
or between veneratio (veneration) and adoratio
(adoration), has little meaning for the masses. In practice, they observe
their cult of saints quite in accordance with polytheistic devotion toward gods.
The supplications actually directed to the saints in the various religions can
hardly be distinguished from prayers to deities, even though the saints are
theologically regarded as mere intercessors having special access to God, and
the answer to prayer is considered as coming from God alone. From the
perspective of scholars of comparative religion, however, beings to whom prayers
are dedicated are gods. |
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The form of a cult
of saints can be categorized as either indirect
or direct. An indirect cult form involves the veneration of objects
that stand in a magical relationship with the respective saint. In this
connection there can be a veneration of the saint's relics. Such religious
practices are to be understood in terms of spiritual power. Numinous
power is viewed as issuing from the saint; and it is believed to be acquired by
veneration or, in practice, mainly by touching (or kissing) the object itself.
Another indirect cult form is the veneration of the image of the saint.
According to primitive belief, there is a magical connection between the image
and the original, which is itself holy. A common and widespread custom is the
depositing of votive offerings,
dedicated to certain saints, at holy places--temples, churches, shrines, or
chapels where the supplicant can be certain of their direct presence and aid.
This custom is of ancient origin--e.g., the
votive offerings dedicated to the healing god Asclepius in the museum of
Epidaurus (Greece). This practice is still to be found in present-day popular
belief in Greece or at Roman Catholic places of pilgrimage.
(see also sacred place) |
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In these forms of indirect cult, then,
saints are venerated through the medium of concrete objects. In direct
veneration, on the other hand, the saint himself is addressed in invocation and
praise. According to popular belief, such direct worship is most effective at
the place of the predominant presence of the respective saint. The idea of
pilgrimage is always based upon such a belief in the localized presence of
numinous power. |
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A classical illustration of the saint
who is distinguished by his virtue is St. Francis of Assisi. Giving up a life of
extravagance, he began in 1209, together with several friends, to actualize his
ideal of the imitation of Christ by leading a life of poverty. For St. Francis,
three virtues constituted the preconditions of true divine vision: poverty,
ascetic chastity, and humility. (see also morality) |
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An example of a similar kind of
saintliness is reflected in the person of the Indian leader and reformer Mahatma
Gandhi (1869-1948). In his life, devoted to the acquiring of freedom for
India, he also lived according to three ideals. The first was satyagrahaholding fast to the truth with all the powers of the spirit. Gandhi's second
basic principle was ahimsa, which is to be understood not only in the negative sense of
"not killing" but also positively as a renunciation of the self and an
indulgence in "kind actions" toward all beings. His third ideal was brahmacaryawhich often is rendered too narrowly as chastity; it is the
ascetic way of life that Gandhi followed as a saint and as a statesman, hence
receiving boundless veneration by the masses. (see also ahimsa, e="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">or
ahimsa) |
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Many prophets and prophetic reformers
form a second group of saints. One prophet in early Christianity was Paul, who
is honoured as a saint by Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestants. He
was a most powerful spiritual personality, decisively and significantly involved
in the development of Christianity from a Jewish sect to a world religion. |
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The Tibetan reformer Tsong-kha-pa
belonged to a completely different world from that of St. Paul. Originally, he
did not want to be an innovator but only a renewer of old religious patterns. He
was mainly concerned with the restoration of the discipline and the development
of the Lamaistic cult. His fame grew, and owing to his activity many monasteries
were founded. The "Yellow
Hat" sect was established by him. According to legend, Tsong-kha-pa
was taken up to heaven before the eyes of the people. This accounts for the
veneration he received, and still receives, by the Tibetan people. (see also Tibetan Buddhism, mysticism) |
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Often numbered among the saints are
certain religious personalities whose significance lies in their work as
illuminating interpreters of religious tradition or as proponents of a new view
of the divine or the eternal. An example from Indian religions is the great
teacher (acarya) Shankara,
the representative of Advaita (the teaching of the nonduality of divine
reality). When he died at the age of 32, a short and outwardly uneventful life
lay behind him. Yet even today the personality and work of Shankara
continue to determine the intellectual and religious life of India. Equally
significant in the Christian West, and specifically in the Roman Catholic
Church, is Thomas Aquinas, a
Dominican scholar. Although first disputed, his work finally received general
recognition, and he became recognized as the doctor
communis ("general teacher") of the Roman Catholic Church. His
significance lies in his encompassing and methodically clear theological and
philosophical system, in which he reconciled the views of the ancient Greek
philosopher Plato with those of his student Aristotle, antiquity with
Christianity, knowledge with faith, and nature with grace. He was proclaimed a
saint in 1323. (G.Me./
Ed.) |
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