§ 84. THE WOliSHIP OF MAKTTRS AND SAINTS. •iS'i
risions, and dreams, and pious fraud fnrnislied abundant oontributions to the Christian legendary poesy.
The worship of the saints found eloquent vindication and encouragement not only in poets like Prudentius (about 405) and Paulinas of ISTola (died 431), to whom greater freedom is allowed, but even in all the prominent theologians and preach ers of the Nicene and post-Nicene age. It was as popular as monkery, and was as enthusiastically commended by the leadera of the church in the East and West.
The two instit :itions, moreover, are closely connected and favor each other. The monks were most zealous friends of saint- worship in their own cause. The church of the "fifth century already went almost as far in it as the Middle Age, at all events quite as far as the council of Trent ; for this council does not j^rescribe the invocation of the saints, but confines itself to approving it as " good and useful " (not as necessary) <on the ground of their reigning with Christ in heaven and their intercession for us, and expressly remarks that Christ is our only Pedeemer and Saviour.' This moderate and prudent statement of the doctrine, however, has not yet removed the excesses which the Roman Catholic people still practise in the worship of the saints, their images, and their relics. The Greek church goes even further in theory than the Roman ; for the confession of Peter Mogilas (which was subscribed by the four Greek patriarchs in 1643, and again sanctioned by the council of Jerusalem in 1672), declares it duty and propriety {xpkoi) to implore the intercession {fieatreia) of Mary and the saints with God for us.
We now cite, for proof and further illustration, the most important passages from the church fathers of our period on
nope in Pontus, became the patron of all mariners, and took the place of Castor and Pollux. At the daily meals on shipboard, Phocas had his portion set out among the rest, as an invisible guest, and the proceeds of the sale of these por- Jions was finally distributed among the poor as a thank-offering for the prosperous voyage.
' Cone. Trid. Sess. xxv. : " Sanctos ima cum Christo regnantes orationes suaa pro hominibus Deo offere ; bonum atque utile esse suppliciter eos invocare et ob beuefieia impctranda a Deo per Filium ejus Jesum Christum, qui solus noster re demptor et salvator est, ad eorunr. orationes, opem auxiliumque confugere."
+38 THIBD PKKIOD. A.D. 311-590.
tilis point. In the numerous memorial discourses of the tathei'S, the martyrs are loaded with eulogies, addressed as present, and besought for their protection. The universal tone of those productions is offensive to tlie Protestant taste, and can hardly be reconciled with evangelical ideas of the exclusive and all-sufficient mediation of Christ and of justification by pure grace without the merit of works. But it must not be forgotten that in these discourses very nmch is to be put to the account of tlie degenerate, extravagant, and fulsome rhetoric of that time. The best church fathers, too, never sep arated the merits of the saints from the merits of Christ, but considered the former as flowing out of the latter.
We begin with the Greek fathers, Basil the Great calls the forty soldiers who are said to liave suftered martyrdom under Licinius in Sebaste about 320, not only a "holy choir," an "invincible phalanx," but also "common patrons of the human family, helpers of our prayers and most mighty intercessors with God." '
Ephraim Syrus addresses the departed saints, in general, in such words as these : " Remember me, ye heirs of God, ye brethren of Christ, pray to the Saviour for me, that I through Christ may be delivered from him who assaults mc from day to day ;" and the mother of a martyr : " O holy, true, and 1 )lessed mother, plead for me with the saints, and pray: 'Ye triumphant martyrs of Christ, pray for Ephraim, the least, the miserable,' that I may find grace, and through the grace of Christ may be saved."
Gregory of Nyssa asks of St. Theodore, whom he thinks invisibly present at his memorial feast, intercessions for his country, for peace, for the preservation of orthodoxy, and bega him to arouse the apostles Peter and Paul and John to prayer for the church planted by them (as if they needed such an admonition !). He relates with satisfaction that the people
' Basil. M. Horn. 19, in XL. Martyres, § 8 : *fl xop^^ Siyios, & avvrayfia Up6v, % avvairKTfihv ap^ay-qs, i) Koiuol (pv \aK( ^ tov ytvovs ruiv avb pwir uiv (0 30mmunes generis liumaui custodes), ayaboX koivuivoI (ppovriSwp, Sevvfus awtp yot, TcpffffieuTal SwardTaToi (Icgati apud Dciim potentissimi), a<TTf'p»s t^ •<KOV/ufVr)S, iv^T} Tciv (KKKriffiuv, v/J-us oux V yv KartKpvyfiev, a\\' oupavhi inreSf^aro,