Since ancient times, faith has been an integral part of the spiritual life of Orthodox people. An example of fortitude, courage, humility of the saints of the Russian land gave him hope for prosperity even in the most difficult times.
A significant contribution to the formation of Orthodoxy in Russia was made by people who dedicated themselves, their lives to God, and the bringing of the word of God to the people. As a model of humility, tolerance, piety and perseverance of the Christian faith, these individuals, according to the teachings of the Church, abide in heaven after death, praying before God for all people.
Each of these righteous people has a unique divine image, to which he is reckoned during canonization. The number of saints in the Orthodox faith is very significant. However, there is a certain classification that relates each of them to a certain category in accordance with the lived earthly life: apostles, unmercenaries, faithful, blessed (holy fools), great martyrs, confessors, martyrs, traced, new martyrs, righteous, reverends, prophets, equally apostles, saints, sufferers.
Apostles
During earthly life, Jesus Christ was surrounded by his disciples, the closest of whom were called apostles. It was they who delivered sermons in all cities and countries, bringing Christian faith in the people. Initially, there were 12, and only later their number increased by another 70 apostles.
Peter and Paul, the apostles, whose merits in strengthening the faith of Christ surpass the rest, it is customary to call the Supreme. The Apostles John the Evangelist, Luke, Mark and Matthew are called Evangelists, since they own the work of writing the Gospel.
Childless
In the Orthodox faith, it is customary to call saintless people saints who were famous for their generosity, selflessness, and renunciation of wealth for the sake of the Christian faith. As a rule, these are healers, healers, miracle workers who, while healing the sick from bodily, mental, and other ailments, did not take any charge. Cosmas and Damian, Cyrus of Alexandria, Panteleimon and Yermolai - these are just a few representatives from among the saints who have no money.
Faithful
This face of holiness originated in the Church of Constantinople, and then began to be used in Orthodox churches. Reliable saints are saints exclusively from among the monarchs, whose life path is a model of righteousness and is glorified by the church. Among the Russian believers can be called Saints Ivan Kalita, Alexander Nevsky, Vladimir Monomakh, Yaroslav the Wise, Dmitry Donskoy, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Daniel of Moscow and Igor Olegovich, Prince of Kiev.
Blessed or holy fools
According to Wikipedia, "foolishness is an intentional effort to seem stupid, crazy." In Orthodoxy, it is customary to call blessed or holy fools saints who deliberately depicted a kind of madness, hiding their virtues and ridiculing worldly values. Often they were insulted and humiliated. Among the most revered in Russia, the blessed ones include Procopius Ustyuzhsky, Mikolka Svyat, St. Basil.
Great Martyrs
According to Orthodox teaching, a great martyr is a saint who has a noble birth and suffered suffering for the faith of Christ, while a martyr is a commoner whose death was martyred. This face of holiness is one of the oldest and most revered. The list of great martyrs is very impressive and includes, for example, the early Christian saint Irina of Macedonia, Mercury of Caesarea, George the Victorious, Demetrius of Thessalonica, Catherine of Alexandria and others.
Confessors
Confessor, face of holiness, occupying a special place in Orthodoxy. It includes Christians who, during their lifetime, were persecuted and subjected to physical punishment for their faith, but did not renounce it and continued to openly profess Christianity. As a rule, despite living in suffering, the holy confessors died a natural death.
The holy confessors glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church include Metropolitan Agarfangel of Yaroslavl and Rostov (Preobrazhensky), Metropolitan of Alma-Ata and Kazakhstan Nikolay (Mogilev), Archbishop of Tambov and Shatsky, Vassian, Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimean Amy, Biekopiec Biepop, Biep Biełopiec Biełopolca Russian Orthodox Church Athanasius, Bishop of Ivanovo, Vicar of the Vladimir Diocese, Vasily, Archimandrite Sergius, Priest John Olenevsky and others.
Martyrs
Martyrs in Christianity are people who have accepted torment and death for their faith in Jesus Christ. An interesting fact is that this face of holiness is one of the oldest and the Christian church glorifies the holy martyrs who testified of Christ not only after, but even before his death. The first martyr in Christianity, St. Stephen, was stoned for preaching about Christianity in Jerusalem.
Traced
Siblings Theodore and Theophanes Inscribed, born in Jerusalem, came from a pious Orthodox family. Fyodor, the eldest of the brothers, was attracted to faith since childhood, he attended church with pleasure. Both brothers received a good education, and as young people continued their studies in the Orthodox Greek male monastery of Sava the Sanctified.
With the advent of Byzantium emperor Leo V Armenian in 813, icon veneration was forbidden. The brothers were sent by the patriarch of Jerusalem, Thomas I, to a conversation with the emperor. The task of convincing Leo V to abandon iconoclasm was set for Fedor and Theophanes Inscribed. But the emperor declared the brothers heretics, and for more than twenty years they were persecuted and tormented. In the end, a cruel torture was invented. With the help of red-hot needles, twelve poetic lines were put on the face of each of them, supposedly dishonoring the holy confessors and mutilating them. After that, the brothers received a middle name - Inscribed.
The Monk Theodore died in custody in 840, his brother Theophan lived to see the lifting of the ban on icon veneration. He compiled canons of icon veneration and died around 847.
New Martyrs
New martyrs include holy Christians who have suffered martyrdom in relatively recent times. Among the new martyrs can be called the Patriarch of Moscow Tikhon, Metropolitan of Kiev Vladimir (Epiphany), Metropolitan of Leningrad Seraphim and others.
The righteous
The life of the righteous saints, both external and internal, was built according to the laws of God and thanks to deep faith, piety, humility, they are glorified by the church. In Orthodoxy, the righteous include the forefathers and Godfathers.
Rev
A special face of saints who have retired from worldly life in favor of the monastic is the saint. They did not enter into marriage and spent their lives in fasting and prayers. The first teachers in the Christian faith are Paul of Thebes, Pachomius the Great, Anthony the Great, Hilarion the Great.
The prophets
In Orthodoxy, the prophet is a saint who foreshadowed the will of God on earth. Bible prophets are divided into:
- 4 Great Prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel;
- 12 Small Prophets - Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Naum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
Equal to the Apostles
Equal-to-the-Apostles - saints who spread the Orthodox faith like the Apostles. For example, the follower of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, the first martyr of Thekla of Iconium, Mariamne, the martyr Apfia of Colossus.
Saints
Saints are saints from among bishops or bishops who have pleased God with their righteous earthly life, such as, for example, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian.
