Hmmmm....I had to look this one up. Actually "saints" is used 96 times throughout scripture a third of which is used in the Old Testament.
Mat 27:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
Who was it that Luke followed and Learned from?
Hebrews is also generally attributed to St Paul.
The Orthodox do not suspect the saints are actually dead, instead we acknwoeldge that the saints, even those departed from Earth, are alive in heaven, and still pray. (The notion that folks who go to heaven stop praying is crazy).
They are not the same words in original languages. The OT (Hebrew) uses the word chaciyd which translates as faithful, kind (hardly a 'saint'). The Hebrew word for 'saint' is qadowsh (holy one).
The OT Greek version (LXX) uses όσιος (hosios) without blame, pious..
the New Testament uses exclusively the word άιγιος (haigios), or most holy
Clearly the Hebrews in the OT do not refer to all the faithful as "saints" (i.e. holy ones), whether in Hebrew or Greek. That is a Pauline innovation which the Church never accepted.
The Lutherans went one step farther and called themselves the divines!. Talk about narcissism.
Thnak you for doing so; I was thinking of looking for the same scriptures, as clearly Kosta is reachign with hsi assertions.
the Church made an error on classifying "saints" as those who are not living.
Well, on the basis of the scripture alone I have to agree with you, but the Church had to distinguish between cases when sanctification could be ascertained objectively and the rest. The former category has to be people who went to sleep in the Lord, as we believe that it is the totality of one's life and not a single act of faith, that gives us clues into the final justification. We certainly would not want veneration of living people to be the norm.
Good call. It is absolutely clear that they are referred to as living. I'm not sure of the significance, but I was amazed to see 96 references to the word "saints", and ZERO references to the word "saint".