FK:"Other than this has been advertised to me
A:"Really? The first thing one would say about the saints is that we give them honor. Intercession is secondary. They are the martyrs who gave you your religion, and paid with their lives. Literally. Think about it."
Maybe this from +Gregory Palamas concerning icons of saints will explain what we are up to, FK:
"In like manner you should also make icons of the saints and venerate them, not as gods --for this is forbidden-- but because of the attachment, inner affection and sense of surpassing honour that you feel for the saints when by means of their icons the intellect is raised up to them."
we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image (eikona) from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Cor 3:18)let us bear also the image (eikona) of the heavenly. (1 Cor 15:49)
"In like manner you should also make icons of the saints and venerate them, not as gods --for this is forbidden-- but because of the attachment, inner affection and sense of surpassing honour that you feel for the saints when by means of their icons the intellect is raised up to them."
Thanks for the quote. I don't think my big beef is believing anyone is really putting Mary and the saints on the same level as God. I think my "concerns" are more over the need to raise up so many figures to levels that may not be warranted. There are plenty of people who have gone before me whom I admire, respect, and whose faith I want to emulate. I just see "surpassing honour", and the like, as a bit disconcerting because it would seem too easy to forget that all these people were lost sinners, just like me. They needed Christ just as much as I do. So, I don't think Mary was great because of Mary, I think she was great because God chose her and made her great.
That makes me think of a new question. If the saints are communicating with us from Heaven, then I would have to assume that all have been "transformed" and are now sinless, etc. Is your veneration for what they were in life OR what they are now in Heaven?