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Actually not, though it's rather different form what somebody not knowledgeable about religion and, most importantly, history of denominations of the Christian

by krick 12y ago

Actually not, though it's rather different form what somebody not knowledgeable about religion and, most importantly, history of denominations of the Christian Church would expect. In fact most of saints ("saints" like those who are called "святой", not "блаженный") in orthodox church are rather militant people. Historically, their reasons for being acknowledged as saints isn't starving themselves to death somewhere far in the mountains, but "protecting homeland from pagans" and such.

maaku 12y ago
I once took a class at a Jesuit university named "Witches, saints and heretics." The TL;DR was that these are not disjoint groups of people.
- krick 12y ago
  Well, Jesuit way to treat thing is very different even from "canonic Catholic" (yeah, sounds a little weird after we have Jesuit pope), not to say about Orthodox Church and it is not unusual for them to conclude that "black and white are essentially one and the same thing after all", so I probably wouldn't relate contents of that class to discussion about some Orthodox saint too much. AFAIK Olga isn't treated as saint in Catholic Church, is she?
  - maaku 12y ago
    I probably should have clarified that the professor was himself a lay person. Basically the term "witch", "saint" or "heretic" was applied based on the social context of the individual, or a moral judgment made by the church or the population surrounding the individual. Heretics were people the Church didn't agree with, saints were those whose actions were approved by the Church. The Church has been known to change its stance over time, and some individuals have fallen into multiple categories at various times. Famously, Joan of Arc was at various points a witch, a heretic, and a saint. Regarding Olga, she christianized Rus and here sainthood was recognition of that. I don't actually know if she was ever considered a saint by the Roman Church.

by krick 12y ago

maaku 12y ago

I once took a class at a Jesuit university named "Witches, saints and heretics." The TL;DR was that these are not disjoint groups of people.

krick 12y ago
Well, Jesuit way to treat thing is very different even from "canonic Catholic" (yeah, sounds a little weird after we have Jesuit pope), not to say about Orthodox Church and it is not unusual for them to conclude that "black and white are essentially one and the same thing after all", so I probably wouldn't relate contents of that class to discussion about some Orthodox saint too much. AFAIK Olga isn't treated as saint in Catholic Church, is she?
- maaku 12y ago
  I probably should have clarified that the professor was himself a lay person. Basically the term "witch", "saint" or "heretic" was applied based on the social context of the individual, or a moral judgment made by the church or the population surrounding the individual. Heretics were people the Church didn't agree with, saints were those whose actions were approved by the Church. The Church has been known to change its stance over time, and some individuals have fallen into multiple categories at various times. Famously, Joan of Arc was at various points a witch, a heretic, and a saint. Regarding Olga, she christianized Rus and here sainthood was recognition of that. I don't actually know if she was ever considered a saint by the Roman Church.