Does the Eastern Church label OT figures as "Saints"

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I seem to remember an episode of CAL in which Jimmy said the East names OT figures like Moses or Elijah as St. Moses and St. Elijah? Is that the case?
 
MarcoPolo said:
I seem to remember an episode of CAL in which Jimmy said the East names OT figures like Moses or Elijah as St. Moses and St. Elijah? Is that the case?
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We certainly regard them as saints, but on all of the icons I’ve seen of them they are usually referred to as the Prophet Elijah, etc. However there wouldn’t be anything wrong with calling him or others by the name Saint.
 
thefizzle656 said:
We certainly regard them as saints, but on all of the icons I’ve seen of them they are usually referred to as the Prophet Elijah, etc. However there wouldn’t be anything wrong with calling him or others by the name Saint.
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I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it either, but I’d be curious to know why the West doesn’t use that language, and why the East might. But you seem to say the East doesn’t, so I’m not sure!
 
MarcoPolo said:
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it either, but I’d be curious to know why the West doesn’t use that language, and why the East might. But you seem to say the East doesn’t, so I’m not sure!
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He is saying that the East will use both—Prophets/Saints–and he is correct.
 
Mickey said:
He is saying that the East will use both—Prophets/Saints–and he is correct.
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Oh! Well, if I could change anything in Western Catholic custom, I think it would be to call them Saints too!
 
This is not a matter of theology, doctrine or dogmatics but of the semantics and etymology of the English word saint, which is a noun stemming from the Latin Sanctus (holy) and which tends to be applied rather as a title (to a person). In Orthodox parlance the flavour of the word – svjatii (Slavonic) / agios (Greek) is more adjectival – holy, which in English is rooted in the German heilig. For example some would say Holy Paul the Apostle or Holy Great Martyr George, Holy Archangel Michael, The Holy Prophet Elias (Elijah), The Holy King and Prophet David, etc., which is a particularly direct translation of Greek or Slavonic - i.e. Orthodox - usage; others might say Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint David the King and Prophet, etc., which means the same, it just has a different ‘accent’ so to speak. The concept is the same as we use of God Himself: Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us. Because of linguistic differences and practice we would not say Saint God, Saint Strong, Saint Immortal……

Saint, in English, tends to be reserved for ‘people’, holy for ‘things’. Certain Greek or Slavonic texts could be translated as, for example, *the priest places saint paten and saint chalice on saint table *– more correctly (in English) we would say the priest places the holy paten and the holy chalice on the holy table.

A cursory glance through the Roman Catholic Church’s Litany of the Saints shows that the holy patriarchs (like Abraham, Jacob, Isaac) and prophets are included, albeit they are not listed or named one by one, merely recognised as a specific group of holy persons or … saints - according to the Catholic Encyclopedia: * all the Patriarchs and Prophets who saved their souls in the hope of Him Who was the expected of the nations*.
 
I think a bigger difference is the the OT saints have days on the liturgical calendar. I don’t know if the Latin one does.
 
Isa_Almisry said:
I think a bigger difference is the the OT saints have days on the liturgical calendar. I don’t know if the Latin one does.
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I think you are entirely correct. I looked through an on-line Roman Catholic Index of Saints - very numerous - and although it included Aarons, Abrahams, Jonahs, Mosess, Davids, and others, these were all Christian Era saints, bearing the names of the patriarchs and prophets, but the patriarchs and prophets themselves were not mentioned at all and there were no feast days given for them.

Of course there are some very notable statues of the prophets and patriarchs to be found in Italy, notably David, Moses and Aaron.
 
<<Oh! Well, if I could change anything in Western Catholic custom, I think it would be to call them Saints too!>>

1 August is the only commemoration of OT righteous on the Roman Calendar, namely the Maccabees.

However, on the Carmelite Calendar, David, Elijah, and Elisha are commemorated.
 
MarcoPolo said:
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it either, but I’d be curious to know why the West doesn’t use that language, and why the East might. But you seem to say the East doesn’t, so I’m not sure!
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Because they’re not on our calendar of saints.
 
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