They already are one. That’s the first thing to understand.
In the Orthodox Church, every baptized Christian is a saint in the biblical sense. St. Paul addresses his letters “to the saints in Ephesus” and “to the saints in Corinth.” He wasn’t writing to some spiritual elite. He meant everyone in the Church. You’re a saint if you’re baptized. Your neighbor in the pew is a saint. The person who can’t seem to stop checking their phone during the homily is a saint. We’re all called to holiness, and baptism makes us part of the communion of saints.
But that’s not what you’re really asking about, is it?
When we talk about Saint Herman of Alaska or Saint Mary of Egypt, we’re talking about something more specific. We’re recognizing people who’ve lived that calling so fully that they’ve become windows into what God can do with a human life. The Church doesn’t make people saints. It recognizes saints who already exist.
How the Church Recognizes Saints
Here’s where Orthodoxy works differently than you might expect if you’re coming from a Catholic background. There’s no Vatican office reviewing files. No devil’s advocate arguing against canonization. No requirement for two verified miracles after death.
It starts from the ground up.
Someone dies, and people start praying to them. Not to a committee, not waiting for permission. They just do it. A priest might serve a memorial and mention how holy this person was. Someone paints an icon. People visit the grave and ask for prayers. Healings happen. The person’s name spreads from one parish to another. This can take decades or centuries. Nobody’s in a hurry.
Eventually, the bishop notices. Or the bishop’s been part of it all along. The local church gathers information about the person’s life. Did they live the Orthodox faith? Were they known for prayer, for charity, for endurance under suffering? Do their relics show signs of God’s presence? Have people been helped by their prayers?
If everything checks out, the Holy Synod (the bishops of that jurisdiction) meets and says what the people have already been saying: this person is with God, and we should honor them officially. They compose hymns for the saint’s feast day. They write a life of the saint. They announce it to other Orthodox churches. That’s it. The canonization happens through the Divine Liturgy itself, through the singing of those new hymns.
It’s organic. It’s communal. It recognizes something that’s already happened rather than creating something new.
What About Miracles?
They help, but they’re not a checklist item. Martyrs don’t need miracles. They’ve already given the ultimate witness. St. Stephen didn’t need to heal anyone after his death to be recognized as a saint. His blood was enough.
For others, miracles and incorrupt relics often accompany sanctity. But the Church is looking at the whole life. Did this person unite themselves to God? Did they show the fruits of the Spirit? Can we hold them up as an example without embarrassment or qualification?
Sometimes the miracles come later, after people start praying. Sometimes they’re immediate. God’s not bound by our processes.
Why This Matters Here
If you grew up Baptist in Beaumont, this whole concept probably feels strange. You were taught that venerating saints is Catholic superstition at best, idolatry at worst. And the Catholic process does look pretty bureaucratic and top-down, which doesn’t help.
But think about it this way. Your grandmother who prayed the rosary every day and never missed Mass, who everyone in the family went to when they needed prayer, who died with peace on her face, you already know she’s with God. You’ve probably asked her to pray for you since she died, even if you felt a little weird about it. That’s the seed of what we’re talking about. The Church just makes it official and communal instead of private and uncertain.
We believe the saints are alive, not dead. More alive than we are, actually. They’re part of the Church just like your fellow parishioners. We ask their prayers the same way you’d ask your friend to pray for you. The only difference is they’re closer to God than we are, so their prayers carry weight.
St. Herman of Alaska was glorified in 1970. He’d been dead since 1836. People in Alaska had been venerating him for over a century before the Orthodox Church in America made it official. The Church didn’t create his holiness. It acknowledged what God had already done and what the faithful already knew.
That’s how someone becomes a saint. They give themselves completely to God, they die, God shows through their prayers and their life that they’re with Him, and eventually the Church says out loud what’s already true. If you want to see what a human being looks like when they’re fully united to God, you look at the saints. They’re not superheroes. They’re what we’re all supposed to become.
