Glorification is the Church’s formal recognition that someone is a saint. It’s what Catholics call canonization, but we approach it differently.
When the Orthodox Church glorifies a saint, we’re not making someone holy. We’re recognizing what God has already done. The person has already been transformed by grace, already participates in Christ’s risen life, already intercedes for us from heaven. Glorification is the Church saying publicly what the Holy Spirit has already shown to be true.
How It Actually Happens
It starts locally. People pray at someone’s grave. They ask for prayers. Healings happen. A reputation grows. Maybe the relics are found to be incorrupt or fragrant. The local bishop takes notice.
Then comes investigation. The bishop or a synod looks at the person’s life, their witness, the miracles attributed to their intercession. They’re looking for evidence of theosis, that process of union with God we’re all called to. Did this person actually become what we’re all supposed to become?
If the answer is yes, the Holy Synod makes a decision. Then comes the liturgical rite. It often begins with a final panikhida (memorial service), followed by Vespers and Matins with newly composed hymns. An icon is unveiled. The saint’s life is published. A feast day gets added to the calendar. Churches can now be dedicated in their name, and Orthodox Christians everywhere can ask their prayers.
The whole thing is less about proving someone deserves sainthood and more about discerning what the Spirit is already doing among the faithful.
Two Meanings, One Reality
Here’s where it gets interesting. Glorification also means something bigger in Orthodox theology. It’s the final stage of salvation itself: purification, then illumination, then glorification. That last stage is theosis, becoming by grace what God is by nature. It’s participating in God’s uncreated energies, seeing Him face to face, being transfigured by His light.
Christ’s resurrection and ascension are the prototype. He was glorified first. His humanity was filled with divine glory, and now ours can be too. When the Church glorifies a saint, we’re recognizing that this person has reached that glorification, that they’re already experiencing what we’re all moving toward.
So the word works both ways. The theological meaning (becoming glorious in God) and the Church’s act (formally recognizing someone as a saint) point to the same reality.
Not Quite Like Rome
Catholics have canonization. We have glorification. They’re similar but not identical.
Rome’s process became highly centralized and juridical over the centuries. There’s a formal investigation in Vatican courts, a required number of verified miracles, a papal declaration. It’s thorough, but it’s also very top-down and legal.
Our process is more conciliar and organic. It starts with the people’s veneration, moves through local bishops, gets confirmed by a synod. We look for miracles and evidence of holiness, but we’re not checking boxes on a legal form. We’re asking whether the Holy Spirit is clearly at work here, whether the faithful are already experiencing this person as a saint.
Both traditions end up with the same thing: someone added to the calendar, liturgical services composed, public veneration encouraged. But the path there reflects different ecclesiologies. Rome emphasizes papal authority and juridical certainty. We emphasize conciliar discernment and the Spirit’s work in the whole Church.
Saints You Might Know
St. John of Kronstadt was glorified in 1990. St. Raphael of Brooklyn, the first Orthodox bishop consecrated in North America and an Antiochian saint, was glorified in 2000. The New Martyrs of Russia, killed under communism, were glorified in 1981 and again in 2000 as more names were added.
Right here in North America, we’ve glorified St. Herman of Alaska, St. Tikhon of Moscow (who served in America), St. Peter the Aleut. These aren’t ancient figures from distant lands. Some of them died within living memory.
The Church is still recognizing saints. Glorification isn’t something that only happened in the old days. God is still making people holy, and the Church is still noticing.
Why It Matters
If you’re coming from a Protestant background, this might feel strange. Many Protestants use “saint” to mean any Christian, and they’re not wrong, Scripture does that too. But the Church has always also recognized that some Christians shine brighter, that God’s grace is more visible in some lives than others. Not because God plays favorites, but because some people cooperated with grace more fully.
When we glorify a saint, we’re holding up an example. We’re saying, “Look, this is what grace can do. This is what you’re called to become.” We’re also gaining an intercessor, someone who prays for us from that closer place to God.
And we’re doing something the Church has done from the beginning. The early Christians venerated martyrs at their tombs. They asked their prayers. They celebrated their feast days. Glorification is just the formal version of that ancient instinct, the Church’s way of saying, “Yes, this is real. This person is with God. Ask their prayers.”
If you want to see what glorification looks like in practice, come to a feast day celebration for one of our saints. You’ll see the icon, hear the hymns, receive the blessed bread. You’ll see the Church doing what she’s always done: recognizing holiness and inviting us to reach for it ourselves.
