Saints Are Types United by Similarity
Saints Are Types United by Similarity
The Holy Bible, as well as the history of the Church and the lives of the saints, has presented to us many types of saints:
Among them are the heroes of faith such as Saint Athanasius the Apostolic, and among them the fathers of monasticism such as Saint Anthony the Great. Among them are men of mercy such as Saint Sarabamon Abu Tarha and Anba Abraam, Bishop of Fayoum… and among them ascetics without title, such as Saint Anba Roweis…
Among them are children like Saint Abanoub and Saint Cyriacus the son of Julitta. And among them are elders like Saint John the Beloved and his disciple the elder Polycarp. And among them are youth like St. Mina and John the Baptist.
Among them are men, and among them are women… among them are clergy, and also laypeople, among them the virgins, and likewise the married. Among them are those who departed the world as martyrs, and those who departed as confessors, and those who died a normal death.
They are countless types, offering examples to everyone regardless of his condition… Yet despite this diversity, they resemble one another in main points…
They resemble one another in that they loved God from the depths of their hearts.
Because of this love, some of them left all the delights of the world and lived as monks. Or left all life and died as martyrs. Or left comfort and quietness and lived struggling for the sake of faith or preaching. Or distributed their money to the poor…
And through their love for God, they lived on earth as strangers seeking a heavenly homeland…
Not only the monks among them, but even a servant like Paul the Apostle, who says while serving in the world: “I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him” (Philippians 3:8–9).
And a king like David says in his Psalms: “I am a stranger on the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me” (Psalm 119:19). “For I am a stranger with You, a sojourner, as all my fathers were” (Psalm 39:12).
And as they lived in this way, they all resembled one another in purity of heart and its holiness, yet each had his own measure in holiness.
