Canonization (Greek “to legitimize”, “to take as a rule”) is the recognition by the Church of any of its members as a saint with corresponding veneration. It does not follow from what has been said that only those who were canonized acquired holiness, since there are a large number of saints who have died in obscurity.

Canonization is the consolidation by an act of the highest church authority of the real experience of a prayer connection between members of the Church (and not only those living today) and an ascetic of piety, the experience of heard prayers, concrete help and spiritual connection that hundreds, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people feel among themselves and a saint of God.

When this connection becomes undoubted for the Church, then the canonization of the newly-appeared saint takes place - a true servant of God and our helper, which many already know from their own lives.

In the Orthodox Church, canonization is celebrated with a solemn service in honor of the newly glorified saint. The canonization procedure was developed and strictly regulated relatively recently.

In the I-IV centuries. the veneration of saints was determined by the community and legalized by the bishop. Later, the veneration of saints and the general church distribution of such veneration was determined by the inclusion of the name of the deceased member of the community in the list of martyrs (martyrology). When the veneration was universal, i.e. general church character, it was confirmed by the head of the Local Church.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, the canonization of saints was performed locally by diocesan bishops. The first example of a conciliar decision on canonization is the resolutions of church councils of 1547 and 1549.

In our time, the local veneration of an ascetic as a saint requires the permission of the patriarch, for the general church recognition of a saint, the decision of the Council of Bishops. If a saint is canonized in one of the Local Orthodox Churches, his name is communicated to the heads of all the others.

In these Churches, a decision may be made to include the newly glorified saint in the church calendar. Thus, the Russian Orthodox Church venerates St. John the Russian Confessor, St. Herman of Alaska and Silvanus of Athos, although John the Russian and Silouan of Athos was canonized by the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, and Herman of Alaska was glorified by the American Orthodox Church.

An Orthodox Christian is ranked by the Church as a saint after death. The most common conditions for canonization are the following: holiness of life, suffering for the Orthodox faith, the gift to work miracles during life and / or after death as evidence that Divine Grace acts through the ascetic, the exact correspondence of the ascetic’s faith to Orthodox dogma, the incorruptibility of relics. Popular veneration serves as a pretext for considering the issue of canonization by church authorities.

Currently, materials for canonization in the Russian Orthodox Church are being collected by the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints.

The practice of glorification now is as follows: the diocesan commission is the first to consider materials for glorification. With a positive decision, they are submitted for consideration to the Synodal Commission, which, if approved, transfers them to the Synod. The day of the decision of the Holy Synod is included in the calendar as the day of the glorification of the saint. Only after this, an icon is written to the saint and a service is composed. As for the locally venerated saints, the difference is only in the degree of glorification within the earthly Church. They also write icons and services. Local glorification always implies a general church one, it cannot be that prayers are served for the same person in one city, and memorial services in another.

In matters of canonization, various rumors, conjectures, dubious publications often arise, which, of course, cannot serve as serious arguments for considering a particular case. You never know who will dream or appear. Vladyka John appeared to this mother in a dream and blessed her to write a book about the elder, and she published a book that cannot even be recognized as Orthodox.
Regarding the criteria for glorification, many decrees have been issued, which not only take into account the experience of canonization of previous generations, but also develop clear criteria for canonization in our time. This was not done by accident, but in order not to make a mistake, so that there was no way back. But many historians, even writing on these topics, did not bother to not only study them, but even read them. The people often use simply authoritative opinions for them. For some, this is a favorite magazine or a revered newspaper, and most often - "this is my father said."

You can often hear this: they say, before there were no commissions, but there were saints, but now the “synodals” do not want to glorify the righteous; in this they see almost sabotage for the Russian people. And in ancient times, martyrs were glorified immediately, without any meetings of the Synod and commissions. But then they were not needed, since the feat of the martyrs was obvious, before everyone's eyes, and the remains testified to healings and miracles, becoming relics.

The Synodal Commission has been working for 20 years. Our diocesan - 10. These commissions were created due to the abundance of material that the persecutors of the twentieth century gave us. The difficulty lies not only in this. During the years of repression, people were shot not only on the basis of faith. Sometimes it is even difficult to separate purely political and ecclesiastical matters. After all, every ecclesiastical matter can be regarded as political, but not every political matter is ecclesiastical. The 20th century was distinguished by particular cruelty, and even, I would say, some kind of crafty sophistication of the persecutors, betrayal, slander, cowardice, betrayal. And the Orthodox wrote denunciations against each other.

It requires the painstaking work of a researcher and an understanding of one's responsibility to the Church. In such work, not only the view of a professional historian is important, but also the spiritual understanding of events. This is rarely done by the laity.

We forget that the Orthodox Church is not a political organization that accepts new canonized members into its ranks at our discretion. Some want to canonize Rasputin today, not wanting to understand his life, others want Stalin, the patriots need a holy warrior, the military needs a general, etc. There are many wonderful and even outstanding personalities in our history, but holiness, an example for the whole Church, is a completely different matter.

We know that not everything is open to people on earth. There are circumstances that are inaccessible to anyone, but for now they cannot be known, and canonization is impossible. It remains for the judgment of God.
In this case, one must have humility in order to accept the decision of this commission or the Holy Synod. If, of course, we trust our Church.
Holiness is always an example, a feat, a feat of life or martyrdom.

During the Great Patriotic War, millions fought and died, and they fought well, but not everyone became Heroes of the Soviet Union, did they? So in the Church, the New Martyrs are a small flock. We should not create idols even for such noble purposes as canonization, succumbing to our passions. Yes, the great F.I. Tyutchev is right when he said: “It is not given to us to predict how our word will respond ...” This also applies to canonization, which we cannot scatter: not seeds, you won’t pick it back up.

In July of this year, the canonization of the Athos elder John Vyshensky will take place. Who can become a saint, what are the criteria for canonization and how to know holiness, answers Archimandrite Tikhon (Sofiychuk), Chairman of the Commission for the Canonization of the Kyiv Diocese.

—Father, how are saints canonized?

– The history of the Orthodox Church is the history of its holiness. Each Local Church fulfills its spiritual calling in full measure only when it not only reveals ascetics of piety in its enclosure, but also collectively glorifies these saints as canonized saints.

The Church gave the Christian world a great host of ascetics of piety, martyrs and confessors.

The Church calls saints those people who, having been cleansed from sin, have acquired the grace of the Holy Spirit and have revealed His power in our world.

Each saint with his own special life shows the path to holiness and acts as a model for those who follow this path. The Church teaches: the saints of God, making up the face of the saints, pray before the Lord for living brothers in faith, to whom the latter render prayerful honor.

The canonization procedure was developed and strictly regulated relatively recently. In the I-IV centuries. the veneration of saints was determined by the community and legalized by the bishop. Later, the veneration of saints and the general church distribution of such veneration was determined by the inclusion of the name of the deceased member of the community in the list of martyrs (martyrology). When veneration assumed a universal, i.e., church-wide character, it was confirmed by the head of the Local Church.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, the canonization of saints was performed locally by diocesan bishops. The first example of a conciliar decision on canonization is the resolutions of church councils of 1547 and 1549.

Councils of 1547 and 1549 Modern icon

What are the conditions for canonization?

- Canonization is the reckoning by the Church of any deceased ascetic of piety to the ranks of her saints. The word "canonization" (lat. canonizatio - to take as a rule), borrowed from the Western theological language, is used in the Russian Church along with the expression "communion to the saints" ("comprising", "introducing" into the saints). Greek hagiology uses a term meaning "proclaiming" (to the saints).

The grounds on which the dead righteous are counted among the saints were formed in the Ancient Church. Over time, one or another basis received a predominant value, but in general they remain unchanged.

The term "canonization" - a Latinized transcription of the Greek verb meaning "to determine, on the basis of the rule to legitimize" - was introduced into circulation by Western theologians rather late. In the Greek Church, this term does not have an exact analogy, therefore, in such cases, she used the phrase "communion to the face of saints" or "containment, incorporation into the face of saints."

The main condition for the glorification of the saints at all times was the manifestation of true sanctification, the holiness of the righteous. Evidence of such holiness could be:

1. The faith of the Church in the holiness of glorified ascetics as human beings. Those who pleased God and served the coming to earth of the Son of God and the preaching of the holy Gospel.
2. Martyrdom for Christ or torture for the faith of Christ.
3. Miracles performed by the saint through his prayers or from his honest relics.
4. High church primatial and hierarchal service.
5. Great services to the Church and the people of God.
6. A virtuous, righteous and holy life, not always witnessed by miracles.
7. In the 17th century, according to the testimony of Patriarch Nectarios of Constantinople, three signs were considered the conditions for the presence of true holiness in people:

a) Orthodoxy is impeccable;
b) the performance of all virtues, followed by opposition for the faith, even to the point of bloodshed;
c) God's manifestation of supernatural signs and wonders.

8. Often, the evidence of the holiness of the righteous was the great veneration of his people, sometimes even during his lifetime.
Along with the faces of the saints, according to the nature of their church service - martyrs, saints, reverends, holy fools for Christ's sake - the saints also differed in the prevalence of their veneration: local temple, local diocesan and general church. Today, only locally venerated saints are singled out, whose veneration does not go beyond the boundaries of any diocese, and general church ones, revered by the entire Church. The criteria for the glorification of church-wide and locally venerated saints are the same. The names of the saints glorified by the entire Church are communicated to the Primates of the fraternal Orthodox Local Churches for inclusion in the holy calendar.

– What is the practice of glorifying saints today?

– The practice of glorification is as follows: first, the Diocesan Commission for the Canonization of Saints considers materials on glorification. With a positive decision, they are transferred to the Synodal Commission, which, if approved, sends them to the Synod. The day of the decision of the Holy Synod is included in the calendar as the day of the glorification of the saint. Only after this, an icon is written to the saint and a service is composed. As for the locally venerated saints, the difference is only in the degree of glorification within the earthly Church. They also write icons and services. In the Orthodox Church, canonization is celebrated with a solemn service in honor of the newly glorified saint.

The petition and documents of the ascetic of the faith are submitted to the ruling bishop to study the issue of the possibility of canonization. Attached are materials testifying to the holiness of a person. A detailed biography of the ascetic is compiled, reflecting the feat of faith in its entirety. Documents are sent on the basis of which the biography is compiled: all archival copies, medical evidence of healings, memoirs of archpastors, pastors and laity about the pious life and the grace-filled help of the ascetic, revealed during his lifetime or after his death. Particularly careful elucidation requires the question of the veneration of the ascetic by the people.

Meeting of the Commission for the canonization of saints under the Holy Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Photo: canonization.church.ua

It should be recalled the decision of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church of December 26, 2002 "On streamlining in the dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church the practice associated with the canonization of saints." Then it was decided that when preparing the canonization of saints, the following circumstances should be taken into account:

1. Materials for the canonization of an ascetic must be carefully prepared and considered by the diocesan commission for the canonization of saints in accordance with the decision of the 1992 Council of Bishops.
2. It is unacceptable to publish unverified materials related to the life, deeds and sufferings of clerics and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church. With the blessing of the ruling bishop, all evidence must be verified on the spot. The ruling bishop can give a blessing for the publication of such materials only after personally familiarizing himself with their content.
3. The practice of collecting signatures in dioceses for the canonization of certain persons is unacceptable, since it is sometimes used by various forces for non-ecclesiastical purposes.
4. Haste should not be shown in the canonization of recently deceased revered clerics and laity. It is necessary to carefully and comprehensively study the documentary materials of their life and ministry.
5. The relics of canonized ascetics are acquired with the blessing of His Beatitude Onufry, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine. The ruling bishop must report to His Beatitude Onufry, Metropolitan of Kyiv and All Ukraine, on the results of the acquisition of the holy relics.

6. The relics of non-canonized ascetics cannot be displayed in temples for veneration.

In our time, when considering cases of canonization of those who suffered for Christ, it is necessary to apply additional criteria, taking into account the circumstances of the era. In each specific case concerning the glorification of one or another confessor of the faith of the twentieth century, the commission carefully studies archival materials, personal testimonies, if it is sometimes possible to find and interview eyewitnesses of events or those who, not being an eyewitness themselves, keep memories of these people or their letters , diaries and other information.

Interrogation materials are the subject of careful study. All persons who suffered during the years of persecution were subsequently rehabilitated by the state. The authorities recognized their innocence, but it still cannot be concluded from this that all of them can be canonized. The fact is that people who were subjected to arrests, interrogations and various repressive measures did not behave in the same way in these circumstances.

The attitude of the organs of repressive power towards the servants of the Church and believers was unambiguously negative and hostile. The man was accused of heinous crimes, and the purpose of the prosecution was the same - by any means to obtain a confession of guilt in anti-state or counter-revolutionary activities. Most of the clergy and laity denied their involvement in such activities, pleaded neither themselves nor their relatives, acquaintances and strangers to be guilty of anything. Their behavior during the investigation, which was sometimes carried out with the use of torture, was devoid of any slander, false testimony against themselves and their neighbors.

At the same time, the Church does not find grounds for canonization of persons who, during the investigation, slandered themselves or others, causing the arrest, suffering or death of innocent people, despite the fact that they themselves suffered. The cowardice shown in such circumstances cannot serve as an example, for canonization is, first of all, evidence of the holiness and courage of the ascetic, whom the Church of Christ calls upon its children to imitate.

The description of the life of a martyr or confessor must be accompanied by copies of archival investigative files, according to which the ascetics were convicted. Namely: the questionnaire of the arrested person, all protocols of interrogations and confrontations (if any), the indictment, the verdict of the "troika", the act of carrying out the sentence, or another document certifying the time, place and circumstances of the death of the ascetic. If the martyr or confessor was arrested several times, then it is necessary to submit copies of the above materials from all criminal investigation cases.

There are many other aspects in the issue of glorifying a martyr or a confessor, which can only partially be reflected in the materials of investigative cases, but it is impossible to glorify a person without the decision of the relevant authorities. It requires special attention to clarify the attitude of a person to the splits that took place at that time (Renovationist, Gregorian and others), behavior during the investigation: was he a secret informant of the repressive authorities, was he called as a perjurer on other cases? The establishment of these facts requires a lot of work of many people - members and employees of diocesan commissions for the canonization of saints, whose work is organized and controlled by the ruling bishop.

The archives of the state, whose funds store documents about the history of the Church and the persecution of her, unfortunately, only recently and not in full became available for research. The history of the Church of the twentieth century has only just begun to be studied. In this regard, researchers discover many facts that were previously unknown, as well as their religious, moral side, which many were not aware of. Therefore, the strictness of the Church's position in matters of the glorification of the New Martyrs and Confessors is dictated not by bureaucracy and formalism, but by the desire not to make mistakes due to incomplete information and to make the right decision.

– Why in ancient times were martyrs glorified immediately after death, without a meeting of the commission and the Synod?

– In the Ancient Church, the main list of revered saints consisted of the names of martyrs - people who voluntarily offered themselves as a “living sacrifice”, testifying to the glory-holiness of God. Therefore, already in the 2nd century, in church sources, one can find several testimonies of celebrations along with the days of remembrance of the gospel events and the days of remembrance of the martyrs. The number of saints in the Church in the period before the Ecumenical Councils can be judged from the surviving calendars, martyrologies and minologies. The most ancient of them are martyrologists of the 3rd-4th centuries. in its main part there is a translation of Latin judicial protocols, the so-called proconsular acts (Acta Proconsuloria), or some of their processing. These acts, by order of Emperor Constantine, were kept in all major cities of the empire. In addition to the actual acts of the Roman authorities from this time (I-IV centuries), the first attempts on the part of the Church to write the lives of this or that martyr, testifying to his veneration, have also been preserved. Thus, for example, in the acts of the Martyr Ignatius the God-bearer, Bishop of Antioch (+107 or 116), it is said that the compiler of the description of the martyrdom of Ignatius noted the day and year of his death in order to gather on this “day of remembrance of the martyr” for agapes, timed to coincide with the festive days or days in honor of this saint.

The records of the saints in the Ancient Church are rather brief, since in the Roman court, which was usually held in the presence of "notaries" - stenographers, only the questions of the judges and the answers of the accused were recorded. Often Christians bought these records. For example, in the acts of the martyrs Tarakh, Prov and Andronicus (who suffered in 304), it is noted that Christians paid 200 denarii to the Roman authorities for them.

These court records took the form of an interrogation protocol. First, they indicated the name of the proconsul in whose area the trial was carried out, then the year, month and day, and sometimes the time of the day of the trial, and, finally, the interrogation itself, which is a dialogue between the judge, his servants and the accused. At the end of the interrogation, the proconsul urged to read it aloud, then the judge with his assessors made a decision and read the sentence. The execution of the sentence was carried out in the absence of a judge.

It can be seen from this scheme that only the interrogation of the martyr was described in full in the court records and his testimony and death were reported; there should not have been any other details in them. Later, with the increase in the number of holy martyrs in the Church, these proconsular acts were placed in special collections of minologists, in which the sufferings of each martyr on the day of his remembrance were noted for months.

Such historical sources perfectly illustrate the veneration and celebration of the deceased Christian as a saint. All those who suffered for Christ were counted as such, they, without investigation of their lives, were included in the lists of saints already by virtue of their feat - cleansing with martyr's blood. Sometimes the Church, already knowing about the impending interrogation of an arrested Christian, sent him for trial as a saint, an observer who was obliged to record the feat of testimony of the interrogated. At some episcopal sees, even special persons were appointed for this. Thus, Pope Clement assigned seven deacons to this service in a certain area of ​​the city of Rome. These records were called passio (suffering), later they were combined with minologists, and their readings are placed according to the days of the Roman calendar. By their number, one can determine the number of saints in the Ancient Church, as well as what feat of holiness was revered in the Church before others. So, in the oldest Western calendar, which belonged to a certain Dionysius Philokal and known under the name of Bucherian, 24 days of commemoration of the martyrs are marked, in addition to this - the feast of the Nativity of Christ and a list of holy popes. By the end of the 4th century, after the era of persecution, “the calendar was full,” that is, the number of saints in the year increased so much that there was not a single day that did not have the memory of its saint. For the most part, most of them were martyrs. Asterius, Bishop of Amasia, speaks of this: “Behold, the whole universe is filled with the circle of the ascetics of Christ, there is no place, no season without their memory. Therefore, if any lover of the martyrs wanted to celebrate all the days of their suffering, then for him there would not be a single day in the year that was not a holiday.

However, such a complete ancient Christian calendar has not survived to this day. In the oldest, now known calendars of Western origin, which were called martyrologium (martyrdom), - Gotha, Carthage and others, memories are not distributed over all the numbers of the year. In the most ancient eastern calendar, compiled in 411-412. in Syria, there are more "memories" of saints, but also not on all days of the year. However, it should be noted that all these calendars were compiled only for individual dioceses, and martyrs from one number were not included in another because of their remoteness.

– Some people want to canonize one outstanding figure today, not wanting to understand his life, others want another, patriots need a holy warrior, military men need a general, etc. There are many wonderful and even outstanding personalities in our history, but holiness is quite another matter.

- Every nation has its own heroes, whom it honors and looks up to, wishing to imitate their feat. The Church also has its own Heroes of the Spirit - these are saints. We recently celebrated the feast of All Saints, who shone forth in the Russian land. And there is nothing wrong with the fact that people want to see their compatriots who are close in time as an example to follow. It is important that there are no conceited or any other pragmatic reasons for glorifying this or that ascetic, because this can divide people. There were such cases during the time of the Apostle Paul (I am Kifov, I am Pavlov), there were also divisions in the Church, when some revered St. Basil the Great more, calling themselves Basilians, others - St. John Chrysostom, but these three saints appeared in the 11th century to Metropolitan John of Evchait and put an end to the strife between their admirers, saying that they were equal before God. On this occasion, the feast of the Three Hierarchs was established on January 30.

The saints are one in the Lord and desire that we achieve holiness and be united with God - this is the highest honor for them, since this, according to the Apostle Paul, is the good will of God: “The will of God is your sanctification ...” (1 Thess. 4 :3). When we bury the dead Orthodox Christians, we pray: “With the saints, rest the soul of your deceased servant ...” But this does not mean that all Orthodox Christians who have died, even if they held high church, military or public positions, can serve as an example for imitation and veneration like saints. The Church is not a legal organization where everything is decided according to earthly laws. The Church is a living organism that lives by the Holy Spirit. That is why canonization commissions have been created under the Church and dioceses, which, according to the above criteria, determine whether to honor this or that ascetic or not. Holiness reveals itself, and people only state this fact, which is no longer needed by the saints, since they are already glorified by God, but by us for prayerful help and as an example to follow.

Saints are those people who, having been cleansed from sin, acquired the Holy Spirit and revealed His power in our world. As saints, those are venerated whose pleasing to God was revealed to the Church as a reliable fact, whose salvation was revealed even now, before the Last Judgment.

We are all called to holiness. Indeed, we are sanctified in the Church, the Head and the Firstfruits of which is the Lord Jesus Christ: “If the firstfruits is holy, then the whole, and if the root is holy, then also the branches” (Rom. 11:16). At the Divine Liturgy before Holy Communion, we hear an exclamation referring to us: “Holy to the saints!” Just as a star differs from a star, so in the firmament of heaven the saints differ in the degree of holiness. Some people internalize this holiness by becoming saints, others do not. Everything depends on the free will of man.

Interviewed by Natalya Goroshkova

The Orthodox Church worships five thousand saints, and almost half have been canonized recently. The ROC is often reproached that the canonization pipeline is moving too fast, that dubious politicians like Tsar Nicholas II receive halo and life. Archpriest Oleg Mitrov, a member of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints, told Snob how the church chooses who is a new martyr, who is a reverend, and who is just a good person.

As the archpriest says, holiness is achieved not in one day, but by many labors, prayers, striving to fulfill the commandments. In response to this, God sends his gifts to man. The Apostle Paul lists them: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercy, faith, meekness, temperance. By these qualities, and especially by such supernatural gifts as love for enemies, dispassion, true humility, we can judge the action of God and His grace in man.

Despite the fact that both sinful people and simply unbelievers can love and rejoice, this is all temporary, and the apostle Paul speaks of enduring joy: for example, a person is tortured, and at the same time he feels the joy of connection with God. One can cite as an example the New Martyrs - the saints of the 20th century. Their last letters and diaries have been preserved. People were in terrible conditions, they were sitting in camps waiting to be shot, but at the same time they wrote that they had never been so happy, they had never experienced God so keenly. Is this not evidence that eternal bliss is only in God?

If there is any doubt that it could just be a defensive reaction of the psyche to a nightmare happening around, then in the Orthodox Church there is the concept of "sober thinking". Devotees are very critical of what they feel. They have developed the skill to distinguish lies from the truth. It seems to me that their words can be trusted.

Nicholas II and Vanga

As for the people who violated the commandment and became saints, for example, the thief who was crucified with Christ, he entered paradise through repentance, confession of Christ and the meek patience of dying sufferings. Although all this was contained in a few hours, but in the spiritual sense it turned out to be so great that the Lord granted him eternal bliss in His Kingdom.

Another example is Nicholas II, who did not order the execution of a peaceful demonstration in 1905, this is a Soviet propaganda stamp. The glorification of Nicholas II and his family has nothing to do with his state activities.

“No matter how we treat the royal family, there are no grounds for canonization or an example for other Christians to follow. But the royal family suffered in prison, meekly carried their cross and accepted martyrdom at the hands of the executioners, ”says Oleg Mitrov.

Due to the fact that Nicholas II did not die for Christ when the royal family was canonized, there were disputes within the church, there were many opponents. Therefore, when the commission considered this issue, it proposed to carry out their canonization in the guise of martyrs, and not martyrs. That is, those who have suffered innocent suffering and death.

In the case of the royal family, we know for sure that they had a normal church life with confessions and communions. We know how the royal family behaved on the eve of death: family members kept diaries. They showed Christian qualities like humility and treated what was happening as if it were God's providence, says Mitrov.

The saint is chosen by God. It is He who sends people a sign from another world - a miracle. Holiness is visible during life: the saint works miracles with prayers, heals people, foresees the future. On the basis of miracles, the veneration of the ascetic by the people is born, they begin to turn to him for help, sometimes during his lifetime, sometimes after his death. Time passes, and the bishop, in whose diocese the ascetic labored, instructs him to compile a biography of the ascetic, to collect evidence of his miracles and grace-filled help: what kind of person he is, how he labored, whether his miracles are true, whether there is false reverence for him, as, for example, in Wang's case.

Despite the fact that Vanga worked miracles, they may also be from the devil. In the Russian Church, ascetics were most often glorified on the basis of posthumous miracles, when Divine grace acted either through the relics of the saint, or by prayerful appeal to him. And there were cases when the relics were found, exhibited in the temple, but no miracles happened, and then the decision to glorify was postponed until God spoke affirmatively about this person.

Canonization

Before classifying someone as a saint, the commission works with archives, periodicals, and memoirs. Canonization is research. It is necessary to submit documents testifying to the veneration of the righteous man, about miracles and prayer help through his intercession. In the case of new martyrs, investigation cases in which the martyr was an accused or a witness are especially carefully studied. The collected materials, signed by the ruling bishop, are transferred to the Synodal Commission for the canonization of saints. Based on the results of the discussion, the materials can either be rejected, or sent for revision, or submitted to the hierarchy for a final decision on the glorification of the saint.

Canonization is refused quite often. The reason is either in non-compliance with the canonization criteria, or in the insufficient level of prepared materials. “This process takes time: sometimes several years, sometimes several centuries,” says the archpriest.

Nika Kravchuk

How is the canonization of saints carried out?

The canonization of saints is a special procedure for reckoning God's saints. All those righteous, whose names we see in the church calendar, received such a status for their ascetic life and repeated miraculous help to everyone who turns to them.

Those people to whom believers can turn in prayer are not necessarily officially glorified as saints. Already in the very word canonization, which came to us from the Greek language, the verb "legitimize" is embedded. That is, this procedure helps to canonize certain righteous people as saints.

It has an official status, so it very often lasts for decades, while people pray in front of the graves of the righteous. It seems, and so it is clear that the man is a saint. So why such a long procedure? How did this happen in the first centuries of Christianity?

How did the Church recognize saints before?

Until the 4th century, there was no procedure at all: the community decided that this or that should be canonized as a saint. The bishop gave this decision a "legitimized" status. Why is that? These were centuries of Christian persecution and martyrdom for the faith. People were witnesses of the living faith of the saints, their earthly sufferings and posthumous help.

Then, in order to canonize the saints, it was necessary to include them in a special list of martyrs - the martyrology. The general church status of veneration was confirmed by the head of the local church.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, such functions fell on bishops (locally venerated saints) and church councils (general church veneration). In our time, for the first, the consent of the patriarch is sufficient, and for the second, a positive consideration from the bishops' council.

It is easy to see that in the Orthodox calendar there are many saints glorified by various local churches: there are saints who labored both on the territory of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and in Serbia, Greece, America, and so on. This does not mean at all that, for example, Silouan of Athos or Paisios the Holy Mountaineer was first canonized in Greece, and then in all Orthodox countries. Or Herman of Alaska - first the American Orthodox Church, and the rest followed suit.

The canonization of a saint takes place only once, and all the heads of the local churches are notified of this. Already in the field they have the right to choose whether to add this or that saint to the church calendar. After the official veneration, each righteous person is given an icon and a service.

Compliance with what criteria plays an important role in the process of glorification in the face of saints?

"Requirements" for the Righteous

1. The canonization of saints is always posthumous procedure. No matter how good a person was during his lifetime, it is possible to sum up only after death.

2. Way of life and conditions of death. The lives of the saints tell how many righteous ascetics labored during their lifetime, about prayerful labors and helping others, about the exploits of fasting and testimonies of faith. In addition, most of the saints of the Orthodox Church suffered a martyr's death.

3. Miracles. Examples are taken into account both of the amazing help of the saints during their lifetime and posthumous. The saints healed the sick, sometimes even resurrected the dead, helped in difficult life circumstances.

For example, the Blessed Matrona of Moscow, being blind, could open the eyes of many to their spiritual problems during her lifetime, and heal the seriously ill. Today, through her prayers, people are healed of serious illnesses, long-awaited children are born in childless families, people find work or receive housing.

4. To be canonized as a saint, you need a sufficient amount credible examples of help saint of God. Usually, those who witnessed the action of God's grace through the saint leave a written testimony, indicate the name and place of residence, as well as a detailed description of how the miracle happened. A special commission (in the Russian Orthodox Church - the synodal commission) has been considering such examples for decades, so that later no one would doubt that they glorified a truly saint.

5. Incorruptibility of relics. In fact, this is an optional condition, although the people pay attention to it first of all. This is another visible confirmation of holiness.

The remains of 122 saints are found in the caves of the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra. Pilgrims from all over the world can venerate the relics. Some of the reverends have their hands open so that there is no doubt that there is no deception here. In addition, one often hears amazing pleasant smells (incense comes from the saints, in addition, they are all different).

Matushka Alipia, New Martyrs of Optina, John Krestyankin - not yet canonized, but already glorified by many

In general, the very procedure for the canonization of saints takes a long time. For example, in the Russian Orthodox Church, many righteous people were glorified as saints only in the 1990s, while they were addressed as saints of God back in the 19th and early 20th centuries (for example, Maxim the Greek, John of Kronstadt).

Mother Alipia, whose relics are in the Goloseevsky Hermitage in Kyiv, has not yet been glorified as a saint, although 27 years have already passed since the day of her death. But every day hundreds and thousands of people from different parts of the world turn to her. People have no doubt that in the near future she will be officially glorified.

It is simply unrealistic to collect all the written evidence of her amazing help. But even the documented part inspires confidence - four volumes of the book Acquired Grace. If all this is studied in detail, it will be obvious that she should be canonized as a saint.

Optina New Martyrs they name Hieromonk Vasily, monks Trofim and Ferapont, who were killed on Easter 1993. Nina Pavlova wrote about their life path and service to God in the book “Red Easter”, thousands of people come to Optina Pustyn and to the graves of the new martyrs. There is also much evidence of their help.

For example, one woman from Nizhny Novgorod made Easter gifts for her family - beaded eggs. Having arrived in Optina after this feast, she brought such a gift to the New Martyrs, leaving it on the grave of the monk Trofim, who was especially beloved. At the graves she prayed that God would send her a son. After 9 months, she and her husband had a boy. Trofim.

John Krestyankin died in 2006. He devoted his whole life to God and the temple, went through prison and a camp for his faith, until his death he was archimandrite of the Pskov-Caves Monastery, in the caves of which he was buried. To this day, nine reverend fathers of the Pskov Caves have been canonized, and with the blessing of the elder Archimandrite John Krestyankin, a service was composed for them.

Even during his lifetime, John had the gift of prophecy, although he carefully concealed it, he did not like being called an elder. In his book Unholy Saints, Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov) talks about some of them (about the spiritual daughter of John Krestyankin, who disobeyed the warning of her spiritual father and died a day after a trifling cataract operation, about a boy whom the elder did not bless for surgical intervention ).

Of course, the Synodal Commission needs a lot of time to study the life and help of John Krestyankin, but spiritual children and many who have heard about the elder are already turning to him with prayers today.

***

The canonization of saints is a rather complex and time-consuming procedure. You need to collect evidence, study life and miracles... Everything is much simpler with God: he rewards with special grace those who have made the right choice on earth. On the one hand, canonization only confirms this status, and on the other hand, it helps the unprepared not to fall into a special trick of the devil - false miracles.

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Article from the encyclopedia "Tree": site

Canonization(gr. άναχερύσις, lat. canonizatio, from gr. χανών in the meaning of “list, catalogue”), canonization of the deceased ascetic to the saints. As a certain procedure, the canonization of saints took shape at a relatively late time and, moreover, not in all church traditions.

Canonization in the Ancient Church

There was no canonization as such in the ancient Church. The church community or an individual usually received the blessing of the bishop for the preservation of the relics of the saint and for the annual celebration of his memory. With the development of the veneration of saints, such recognition was expressed in the inclusion of the saint's name in diptychs and martyrologies; the collection of acts of martyrs, so important for the life of the Church in - centuries, apparently, was not directly connected with the question of recognizing or not recognizing their holiness. In principle, for the believers of the first centuries of Christianity and the early Middle Ages, holiness was obvious, “the shining white host of the elect” (Gregory of Tours) was revealed to the church as a given: the problem of proving holiness, extremely significant for the Christian consciousness in modern times, was irrelevant for the early period. True, the African Church establishes in c. the difference between recognized and not recognized saints (inter vindicatos et non vindicatos), however, it was not so much about the recognition of holiness, but about the establishment of the Orthodoxy of the deceased ascetic - this was significant due to the fact that heretics had their own martyrs, and it was necessary to distinguish ascetics who died in Orthodoxy, from those who accepted a martyr's death without renouncing heresy.

Canonization in the Eastern Church

When the veneration of saints was made general church, the establishment of a general church celebration could, apparently, be the result of a conciliar decision (especially in controversial cases) or a decision of the primate of the Church (patriarch). We do not have data on such solutions for early times. The first patriarchal decree known to us with the proclamation of an ascetic saint dates back to the time of Patriarch Photius of Constantinople (c. - c.). The decree of Emperor Leo the Wise (-) is also known, commanding that celebrations be held throughout the Greek church in honor of a number of the most revered saints (this decree, however, by no means introduced veneration, but only regulated the already established tradition). In principle, the canonization of locally venerated saints is done in the Greek Church by the ruling bishop and does not need any approval; the highest hierarchical instances act only when local veneration is transformed into a general church one. There is also no special rank of canonization of saints. Lamentation is celebrated with a solemn service in honor of the new saint and the inclusion of his name in the calendar for the annual celebration of his memory.

Canonization in the Western Church

The situation is different in the Western Church. Initially, here too the right of “the premises of St. relics to the altar for veneration” belongs to the episcopate, although the veneration of individual ascetics continues to develop spontaneously outside the strict control of church authorities; Charlemagne finds it necessary to decide in his capitularies that the honoring of the saint should be preceded by his recognition at least by the local bishop. The first known formal act of establishing veneration is the canonization of St. Ulrich of Augsburg in the city. Around the city, Pope Alexander III decrees that no one can be considered a saint without the decision of the Roman Church, i.e. without papal approval. This regulation is included in the Decretal of Pope Gregory IX and becomes part of Western canon law. Over time, canonization turns into a strictly regulated procedure. Not earlier than 50 years after the death of the ascetic, at the request of the local clergy and bishop, the congregation of rites (congregatio ritus) conducts a threefold study of the life of the deceased and the miracles performed by him (during life or after death), after which the congregation votes and, in case of a positive outcome of the vote, announces the departed blessed (beatus); this procedure is called beatification. After this procedure, local worship is allowed; if after this new miracles are performed, the question of canonization is raised (for general church veneration). The decision on this is announced by the pope himself according to a special order with the formula “we decide and determine that the blessed N is a saint” (decernimus et definimus beatum N sanctum esse).

In Roman canon law, the conditions of canonization are also formulated with the greatest formal clarity. These include:

1. the established church tradition of honoring the canonized,
2. manifestation of miracles at the grave of the canonized,
3. petition for canonization
4. presence of life.

In the Eastern Church, formal procedures of this kind have not been developed, although in general canonization is based on the same principles. The most significant moment remains miracle-working as the most clear indication of the holiness of the deceased, of the action in him and through him of divine grace. In the Russian Church, great (though not decisive) importance is also attached to the incorruptibility of relics.

Canonization in the Russian Church

In the history of the Russian Church stands out five periods of canonization of saints.

• The first period covers the time from the baptism of Rus' to the cathedrals and years;
• the second period consists of the two aforementioned councils under Metropolitan Macarius;
• the third period extends from these councils to the establishment of the Synod (in the city);
• the fourth period coincides with the time of the synodal rule (-);
• the fifth period begins with the restoration of the patriarchate and continues to the present day.

In the first period, the canonization of saints is performed primarily by diocesan bishops, in some cases the veneration acquires an all-Russian character, in total during this period more than 60 saints were canonized, including passion-bearers Boris and Gleb, Equal-to-the-Apostles Olga and Vladimir, saints (for example, Leonty of Rostov, and then Moscow saints Peter, Alexy and Jonah), saints (beginning with Anthony and Theodosius of the Caves), noble princes (for example, Alexander Nevsky), martyrs (for example, Prince Mikhail of Chernigov and his boyar Theodore), blessed (i.e. holy fools, for example, Nikolai Kochanov or Maxim, the holy fool from Moscow).

39 saints were simultaneously canonized at the Councils and years. The canonization of a whole host of Russian saints at these councils was associated with the church-state reforms of Metropolitan Macarius and Ivan the Terrible, with the establishment of the Moscow kingdom as a Christian empire, inheriting the place of Byzantium in church and state terms. One of the aspects of this dispensation was the gathering of the saints of the Russian land, previously locally venerated, the compilation of their lives and services in their honor. Among the saints canonized at these councils were Saint Stephen of Perm, martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius of Lithuania, Saints Zosima and Savvaty of Solovetsky.

From the time of the Makariev Councils to the establishment of the synod, more than 130 saints were canonized, for a number of them the circumstances of their canonization remain unknown, and it can be assumed that their canonization was carried out in the same order, i.e. decision of the ruling bishop. Among the saints canonized during this period are Rev.