Sunday of All Saints

On this first Sunday after Pentecost, we commemorate all those who have lived holy lives in obedience to the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christians have been honoring saints and martyrs since at least the second century AD. Initially this day was solely a commemoration of the holy martyrs. It was only later in Church history that this day became a commemoration of all the righteous ones made perfect in the Faith.

The Byzantine Rite’s commemoration of All Saints on the Sunday following Pentecost has a logical liturgical sequence. In the first we celebrate the outpouring of the grace of the Holy Spirit; in the second we commemorate the result of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who have responded to the call to faithfully follow Christ.

It is important for us to understand that saints are not super human beings, but rather they fully share our human nature with all of its struggles, temptations, and failings. All of them in their time and in their circumstances of life fulfilled our Lord’s commandments to love God and to love neighbor as self. Through acquiring the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, their lives were redeemed and transformed. On this special day, the Church honors every saint, known and unknown. We celebrate these holy individuals and ask for their prayers and intercessions.

It is a sacred and ancient tradition to adorn our churches, chapels, and homes with icons of the saints. These images remind us of the great diversity of the righteous ones: martyrs, confessors, ascetics, fools for Christ, educated people, simple people, rich, poor, male, female, bishops, monastics, and lay people.

The Sunday of All Saints is not the remembrance of the superhuman faith and power of a select few, but it is the celebration of God’s ability to use flawed people to do holy things. Jesus calls each of us in our uniqueness and invites us to sainthood by the gift of divine grace of the Holy Spirit. Let us remember today all the deeply faithful and deeply flawed saints through whom the glory of God has been revealed to the world.

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