👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾Who Do We Call #Intercessor?
(Part 3)
Dear followers of Orthodox teachings, we greet you with the blessings of God. Today, on the topic of Intercession, we bring you an important teaching that we entrust to each of you to read, reflect upon, and learn from. This lesson is intended to deepen your understanding, to clarify who we call an intercessor.
The Holy Church as Intercessor
Our Holy Church stands as an intercessor before God. As such, she offers prayers of intercession for the whole world. Among these sacred prayers is the supplication: “For rulers and authorities, that they may be granted wisdom and the fear of God.” This prayer, found in the Liturgy of the Word, it's from a command rooted in Holy Scripture.
As the Apostle Paul teaches: “Therefore, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people l for kings and all who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in godliness and holiness.” (1 Timothy 2:1).
A Christian, then, does not pray for himself alone. He gives thanks for the mercy shown to him, yet his heart is also moved to pray and give thanks for others. In this way, the faithful distinguish between personal supplication and intercessory prayer two distinct paths of devotion.
Both are essential, both belong to the life of prayer, and together they form one offering before God: the private cry of the soul and the shared voice of the Church. The Holy Church, in her wisdom, does not confuse the two, but upholds each in its proper place.
Thus, intercession is the act of reconciling, presenting, and pleading on behalf of others. It is the prayer that bridges hearts, the offering that binds heaven and earth.
👉🏾 Whose Work Is Intercession?
Intercession is the work of created beings; it does not belong to the nature of the Creator. God, in His majesty, is the One to whom intercession is offered not the One who intercedes. Yet among His creatures, He has appointed certain holy ones to perform this sacred ministry.
First among them are the holy angels, whom God has honored and appointed to serve His divine will. These heavenly beings, pure and steadfast, bear the prayers of humankind before the throne of grace.
Next are the holy people, the saints whom God has sanctified through their faith, their struggle, and their steadfast love. Among them shines most brightly our Lady, the Most Holy, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, through her unique holiness and glory, bears the great service of intercession for all creation.
This sacred work does not belong to sinners, for one weighed down by his own iniquities cannot stand as mediator for others. Rather, the sinner must first labor in repentance, seeking the mercy of God for his own soul. As it is written: “As the old proverb says, ‘From the wicked comes wickedness.’” (1 Samuel 24:13).
Thus, intercession is the labor of the pure the ministry of those whose hearts have been cleansed by grace, whose voices ascend before the Lord as a pleasing incense on behalf of all who call upon His name.
Continues 👇🏾