Have any saints resurrected the dead?

[Olympiada]

Greetings Monachos.net Discussion Community,

Some man accused me of resurrecting my wiccan coven in another discussion community and that got my mind to working.

First of all have any saints resurrected the dead? I am sure there are. I am sure the Scriptures talks about this. I am very ignorant. I am going to do my own work, but any direction would help.

Second of all, perhaps this obnoxious man is not so far from the truth. After all pagans are said to be spiritually dead by the Christians, yes?

Olympiada

[Olga]

The saint who immediately comes to my mind regarding resurrection of the dead was Apostle Peter, who brought Tabitha/Dorcas back to life (Acts 9:36-43). There may well be others mentioned in the New Testament, as well as some of the Old Testament prophets such as Elias/Elijah who did so as well. There are numerous saints whose Lives give accounts of resurrection.

[M.C. Steenberg]

Using the following search string in Google (http://www.google.com) (including the quotation marks in the indicated pleaces) will yield quite a few results:


saints who "resurrected the dead"

INXC, Matthew

[Kusanagi]

St George the Great Martyr
thats all i can think of for some reason.

[Nina]

Prophet Elias.

[Kusanagi]

she asked saints?
St Justin the Philosopher says those that follow the law from old testament cannot be called saints. In Romania Old Testament Holy People arent called saints.

St Winifred's saint uncle i forgot his name.

oh yeah how could i forget St Sava of Serbia

[Nina]

I am sure the Scriptures talks about this.

She mentions Scriptures and OT is part of the Scriptures. And Prophet Elias belongs to OT and NT. Also he has not departed this world, because God hides him until the time of Antichrist. But you are right that OT people are not called Saints. Although he is a very important figure that we can be that generous and count him with the people that have resurrected the dead.

[Father David Moser]

But you are right that OT people are not called Saints.

I don't really know that this is accurate. How many "St Elias" parishes are there for example - or my own patron: the Prophet and King David who is commemorated along with Joseph the Betrothed and James the Brother of the Lord - or the Prophets Daniel, King Solomon, Ezekiel, Avakum, Joel and so on - or Noah, Job, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Rachael, Moses, Aaron, Miriam, and on and on. These people aren't Saint's???

Fr David Moser

[Michael Stickles]

Possibly we have yet another terminology problem. I normally do not see the word "Saint" used with OT figures; instead of "St. Elijah" I see "Holy Prophet Elijah", for instance. Yet, in the article "The Glorification of the Saints in the Orthodox Church" on the OCA's website, I read:


So, the glorification of saints in the Orthodox Church is a recognition that God’s holiness is manifested in the Church through these grace-filled men and women whose lives were pleasing to God. Very early on, the Church recognized the righteous ancestors of Christ (Forefathers), those who predicted His coming (Prophets), and those who proclaimed the Gospel (Apostles and Evangelists). Then those who risked their lives and shed their blood to bear witness to Christ (Martyrs and Confessors) were also recognized by the Church as saints.

I highlight "also" to point out that the Forefathers and Prophets, while not called by the honorific "Saint", are still apparently considered "Saints".

In Christ,
Mike

[Nina]

There is no problem in this case. Father David is more than right because many people of several Orthodox cultures refer to the Prophet as Saint Elias (my grandmothers taught us that way also and it was hard for me to change to Prophet Elias). That is why I enlisted him (but also because I am very very very fond of him and because his church was the first church I went to). He is so beloved and unique.

[Kusanagi]

thats why they are called Holy or Righteous instead of saint.
Its a different kind of hierarchy in heaven according to the priest i asked.

and my saintly friend said this too.


oh yes St Arsenios the Great also raised the dead.

[Effie Ganatsios]

Prophet Elias and Saint Elias.

We always say Prophet Elias here and his churches are always built high on hills facing the east. Some services are held in these churches at sunrise.

The word Elias is the greek translation of the Jewish word Elijah and means the same.

[Michael Stickles]

Prophet Elisha as well. We see one raised while he was alive (the Shunammite's son - II Kings 4:32-37), and one while he was dead (the Israelite thrown into Elisha's grave who came back to life when his body touched Elisha's bones - II Kings 13:21).

[M.C. Steenberg]

Dear friends,

Surely there is something in the title 'saint' (aghios) relating to the engagement with the Holy Spirit of the Father (to aghion, the Holy One, to aghion pneuma). Since the mystery of this engagement was fully made manifest at the Pentecost, the title of Aghios, saint, takes a special meaning in reference to that unfolding of the Spirit. So the holy apostles, for example, are in iconography depicted without 'halos' until after this coming of the Spirit - not because they were not saintly before this moment, but because in the Spirit this sanctity is especially known as rooted in this spiritual pentecost of the Church, wrought of Christ 'sending the Comforter' to guide and lead the Church.

Perhaps this lies, in part, behind the distinction often seen, in which Old Testament figures are called 'righteous' but not 'saint' on calendars and in commemorations. I have not looked into this thoroughly, so cannot make any definitive statement one way or the other; but it does strike me as a theological reading of that term in accordance with the economy of God's revelation to the world.

Clearly these Old Testament figures are saints in the sense of being sanctified and holy - and as such 'Righteous Elias' is, as people have already mentioned, sometimes called 'Saint Elias', etc. The distinction is not of ranks of holiness or categories of sanctity. But there is a difference in that engagement with the Holy Spirit of the Father fully sent by Christ - a difference borne witness to in Hebrews.

I wonder if there is some connection here.

INXC, Matthew

[Nina]

In addition saints who have resurrected from the dead:


Abbas Milesios raised a dead person through his prayers.

Saint Sisoes resurrected a dead child.

Saint John the Faster, although dead, "rose and kissed the Eparch Neilos, who had gone to embrace the dead man, according to custom, adn exchanged certain words with him, much to the amazement of those present" (The Rudder [...]).

Saint Markianos was extremely charitable. At nights he would roam the streets of Constantinople, seeking an abandoned corpse. If he did, he would wash it and dress it in new clothes, as if it were that of a close relative and would be overjoyed. "And when he had performed all the duties enjoined on us for the dead, then he would speak to the Corpse as if it were alive.
-Come, then, brother, he would say to it. Let's exchange the embrace in Christ. At these words - what a dread miracle! - the dead person would come alive again momentarily and kiss the good Markianos" [Evergetinos, vol. III, p. 592] (pp. 130-131) After Death by Archim. Vasilios Bakogiannis

The book continues with the miracle of the resurrection of the seven men from Ephesus (after 194 years!), whom we celebrate on August 4. This miracle was allowed from God because at that time the heresy of disbelief in the resurrection of the dead had started. The Emperor Theodosius the Younger prayed fervently to God for a solution and thus God had mercy and provided the miracle of the seven young men from Ephesus.

[Nina]

St Severus the Presbyter of Interocrea in Italy

Saint Severus the Presbyter during the sixth century served in a church of the Most Holy Theotokos in the village of Interocleum in Central Italy. He was noted for his virtuous and God-pleasing life. One time, when the saint was working in his garden, cutting grapes in the vineyard, they summoned him to administer the Holy Mysteries for the dying. St Severus said: "Go back, and I'll catch up with you soon."

There remained only but a few more grapes to cut off, and St Severus dallied for awhile in the garden to finish the work. When he arrived at the sick person's home, they told him that the person was already dead. St Severus, regarding himself as guilty in the death of a man without absolution, started to tremble and loudly he began to weep. He went into the house where the deceased lay.

With loud groans and calling himself a murderer, in tears he fell down before the dead person. Suddenly the dead man came alive and related to everyone that the demons wanted to seize his soul, but one of the angels said, "Give him back, since the priest Severus weeps over him, and on account of his tears the Lord has granted him this man." St Severus, giving thanks to the Lord, confessed and communed the resurrected man with the Holy Mysteries. That man survived for another seven days, then joyfully went to the Lord.

[Kosta]

There have been saints known to have brought back people from death. And even miracles of people coming back to life without the aid of a saint.

On the other hand no one has truly ressurected the dead, for that will happen at the second coming. It is appointed for men to die once. Those miraculous occurence where one has come back to life, is only temporary, like Lazarus who was raised from the dead, but came out of the tomb still wearing the burial linens. The symbolism being he wil need them again. Christ is the first-fruit of the ressurection of the dead, who left his burial linens in the tomb for the Myhr bearing women to discover for He no longer needs them.

[John Litster]

"St. Winefride's Uncle."

This would be the Welsh St. Beuno (+640), who is in fact credited with raising 6 people from the dead including his niece St. Winifred. http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/bios/winifred.html
But these tales are best taken with a grain of salt, as the Lives of nearly all the Celtic saints are notoriously embellished (that of St. Beuno also says that he planted an oak tree which killed any Englishmen who dared walk beneath it!)

[Misha]

Elder Paisios of Mt Athos said that when he was in Stavroniketa monastery has met a faithful and very humble man who prayed for his father in law,who has died without confession.
God has heard him and his father in law revived.

[Alice]

Elder Paisios of Mt Athos said that when he was in Stavroniketa monastery has met a faithful and very humble man who prayed for his father in law,who has died without confession.
God has heard him and his father in law revived.

WOW! That is amazing!

[Eric Peterson]

St. Alexis of Bortsurmany, a contemporary of St. Seraphim of Sarov, resurrected a young man whose funeral he was serving. The boy was well-loved by the village, and Fr. Alexis was very grieved and stopped in the middle of the service, telling the Lord he could not go on. Then, he and the rest of the people knelt and he asked God to raise the boy back to life. And the Lord heard him.

After that, Fr. Alexis had to be given a chair to read thanksgiving prayers.

People from Bortsurmany would go to St. Seraphim and he would tell them to go home and see Fr. Alexis.