The answer to the first question is simple, contrary to protestant thinking emphasis are put on the Saints for one purpose and one purpose only and that is to provide us with examples of how to live Christian lives. These Saints were men and women who totally, wilfully, joyfully and gladly set their lives aside to serve and follow Jesus Christ. These men and women reached levels of holiness and sanctification through their faith in Christ that enabled them to perform real miracles, miracles that actually brought people into the light of Christ. Many were also martyred for their faith and rather than renounce Jesus in times of extraordinary torture and suffering, they gladly took the pain and died, ultimately receiving a crown of glory.
We read in Matthew 16: 24-25
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Many of these Saints did exactly that, they gave up their lives, their comfort and yes they even set aside the basic needs of the body to serve Christ! Why would we not want to imitate these people? They are examples of what can be achieved if we deny ourselves and focus purely on Jesus, they provide evidence of God's power working through ordinary, sinful man and they motivate us to seek the same crown of glory that they have been presented with. As Saint Paul the Apostle said "Imitate me as I imitate Christ", 1 Corinthians 11:1.
To answer the second question we must understand what worship is, worship is the act of offering yourself to God, it is the act of humility by accepting that you need God in your life and it is the act of committing yourself wholly to God by prayers, fasting and continual repentance. Asking for the prayers of the Saints is not worship, having an admiration and love for the Saints is not worship and wanting to imitate the Saints is not worship. If these acts are considered acts of worship then we should not respect or love anyone or anything here on earth, we should certainly not give consideration to St Paul's statement referred to above in regards to imitating him and we should not desire the prayers of a righteous person because according to opponents of Orthodoxy these are all forms of worship. In preparedness to a typical protestant objection claiming that the Saints are dead and therefore loving or asking for prayer from a living person is a different matter, well actually no, it isn't. Death was destroyed at the Cross and no longer reigns over us and we also read that "God is a God of the living and not the dead" Matthew 22:32, death does not separate the Church of Christ! The Saints who have physically past from this life unto the next are alive in Christ, how then can we claim that they are dead?
To answer the third question it is necessary to understand why we look up to these special men and women and as has been alluded to previously, it is simply because of their faith in Christ and their deeds that allowed them to reach a level of holiness that we should all strive to attain. We as Orthodox Christians understand that if it was not for Christ these men and women would not be able to perform miracles or display the wonders of God that they so often did, it is all through the grace of Christ that these Saints were able to reach a state of purity and righteousness. Let us imitate them by following Christ, even unto death.
Lastly I would like to make clear that we do not focus all our attention onto the Saints (I believe there is a lack of focus to be honest), the Church of the East focuses solely on Christ and places nothing equal to or above Him other than God the Father and the Holy Spirit, which together are the one triune God. Claims of over emphasis on Saints by detractors of the Church of the East simply fail to provide examples of such occurrences and their objections should always be taken with a grain of salt. God established this Church and the gates of hell will never prevail against it.
May the prayers of the Saints be with you all.
Amen
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