Young Orthodox saint and some questions

[Bonocorium]

The Russian Orthodox Church has canonized a 19 year old Russian soldier (Evgeny Rodionov) as a saint (There are icons of this soldier, including one, where he has an AK-47 or AK-74 on his back and is wearing military uniform). This person died fighting in Chechnya in 1996. He was executed by the Muslim Chechens for refusing to deny his Christian faith.

Just a few questions related to Orthodox Saints and how Catholics should treat non-catholic saints:

Why is it that the Orthodox canonization is so fast, unlike the Catholic one?

Do other Orthodox churches (Greek, Serbia, Georgian, Coptic etc) recognise his sainthood?

Can Catholics pray to non-Catholic saints? If I went into an Orthodox Church, am I allowed to “interact” in any way with the icons?

Are there any non-Catholic saints (other than Calvin, Luther etc) that the Church considers to be in Hell?

 

[svid2]

If I’m not mistaken, the Church does not declare anyone (including horrible criminals) to be in hell. Anyone could repent at the last moment and end up in Purgatory.

The Church has always had a slow, careful approach to canonization. Charlemagne was never canonized, although there was a strong movement for it. Czar Nicholas II and his family are all Orthodox saints. The Catholic Church examines each life in minute detail and each alleged miracle with a fine-toothed comb. Any proposed saint has to have been a Catholic, whereas the Anglican Church has canonized Martin Luther King, Jr., I believe.

 

[Glomung]

It is my understanding that you may ask for any “Saint” to intercede with God on your behalf, I would also assume that whether that “Saint” has much pull with God or not may heavily influence the results of that intercession.

Personally I stick with the heavy hitters, St. Mary, Propeht Elijah (my Patron), St. Michael, and Padre Pio.

The Orthodox do tend to be a bit more liberal on who they consider to be a Saint, but they do share communion with the Roman Catholic Church, so they truly are brothers in Christ.
As far as Evgeny Rodionov goes, I would consider him to be more of a Martyr than Saint.
If he was Catholic he might be considered “Blessed”, but not a Saint.

 

[dzheremi]

The Russian Orthodox Church has canonized a 19 year old Russian soldier (Evgeny Rodionov) as a saint (There are icons of this soldier, including one, where he has an AK-47 or AK-74 on his back and is wearing military uniform). This person died fighting in Chechnya in 1996. He was executed by the Muslim Chechens for refusing to deny his Christian faith.

Just a few questions related to Orthodox Saints and how Catholics should treat non-catholic saints:

Why is it that the Orthodox canonization is so fast, unlike the Catholic one?

Do other Orthodox churches (Greek, Serbia, Georgian, Coptic etc) recognise his sainthood?

I didn’t know anything about this guy (I’m not Russian Orthodox, obviously), but from what’s on his Wikipedia page it would appear he is not a canonized saint, just popularly venerated. This is a common situation not just among the Russians or other EO, wherein someone of esteem among the faithful departs and a cult of veneration develops without their having been formally declared a saint. You can see that among the Copts, for instance, in the madeehas (lit. ‘eulogy’; a type of praise song written in remembrance of a departed person) written to departed Popes such as Pope Kyrillos VI or Pope Shenouda III, neither of which are canonized saints (I don’t know about other churches, but the rule in the Coptic Church is 50 years after the repose, so neither are even eligible yet; HH Pope Kyrillos died in 1971, and HH Pope Shenouda III died just last year).

Edit: Copts (Syriacs, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Armenians, Indians) are not in communion with the Russians or the other EO (Slavs, Greeks, Georgians, Romanians, Albanians, Chalcedonian Arabs in the Levant), so we wouldn’t recognize Mr. Rodionov even if he were declared a saint. In general, we don’t recognize saints outside of our communions (but there are exceptions, such as Mar Isaac of Nineveh). Also – and I’m pretty sure this is true for OO and EO alike – not all churches recognize the same saints even if they are in communion with each other. Ask an Armenian about their veneration of Simeon the Tanner and they’ll probably have no idea what you’re talking about, since his story is intimately related to Egypt and Coptic history, not Armenia (by a miracle of God, his prayer moved Moqattam mountain in Egypt, saving the Copts from a threat of extermination during the 10th century). Many saints are international, but many are purely local/national or even regional (you won’t find non-Middle Eastern churches named in honor of St. Elias, for instance).