Early Christian Views on Veneration of Saints
Early Christians clearly honored saints and martyrs by remembering them, celebrating their death days, and speaking of their blessed place with Christ. Polycarp, Cyprian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and early liturgies give the clearest witness. The material here is strong for remembrance and honor, but thin for asking saints to pray for people. Bible passages about saints and the prayers of the saints are helpful background, but the direct early Christian focus is on martyrs and holy people being commemorated.
179 early-church witnesses · 288 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about the veneration of saints?
Early Christian writings give clear signs of respect for saints, martyrs, and the holy dead, especially by honoring their memory, marking their feast days, and speaking of their place with God. Polycarp’s martyrdom account, Cyprian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and later liturgical texts all point to commemoration and honor, not just private admiration.
The strongest direct material is about martyrs being remembered, celebrated, and treated as blessed, while the case for asking saints to intercede is only indirect in these cards. Some cards are about honoring God, bishops, or martyrs in general, so the evidence is broad for reverence and remembrance but thin for a full doctrine of saint veneration. Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christians honored saints and martyrs by remembering their deaths and celebrating their memory.
- Polycarp, Cyprian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and early liturgies give the clearest witness.
- The cards strongly support reverence and commemoration, but only indirectly support prayer to saints.
Questions Answered by the Sources
Did early Christians honor martyrs and saints?
Yes. Early Christian writings say martyrs and saints were remembered with honor, and some communities kept their death days as yearly commemorations. Polycarp’s martyrdom account is especially clear, and Cyprian and Julius Africanus also speak of celebrating the martyr’s memory.
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Polycarp, The Martyrdom of Polycarp Supporting witness
Accordingly, we afterwards took up his bones, as being more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more purified than gold, and deposited them in a fitting place, whither, being gathered together, as opportunity is allowed us, with joy and rejoicing, the Lord shall grant us to celebrate the anniversary of his martyrdom, both in memory of those who have already finished their course, and for the exercising and preparation of those yet to walk in their steps.
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
2. Finally, also, take note of their days on which they depart, that we may celebrate their commemoration among the memorials of the martyrs, although Tertullus, our most faithful and devoted brother, who, in addition to the other solicitude and care which he shows to the brethren in all service of labour, is not wanting besides in that respect in any care of their bodies, has written, and does write and intimate to me the days, in which our blessed brethren in prison pass by the gate of a glorious death to their immortality;
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Cyprian, Epistles Direct teaching
...r them, as you remember, whenever we celebrate the sufferings and days of the martyrs in the yearly commemoration. Therefore, he could not be base or inferior, since the honor of this family and its noble character urged him on by the examples of virtue and faith in his own household. But if, in a worldly family, it is counted honorable and praiseworthy to be a patrician, how much greater are the praise and honor of becoming noble in the heavenly record of honor! I cannot tell whom I should call more blessed: those ancestors, because they have such an illustrious descendant, or him, because he has such a glorious origin. Divine condescension flows so equally between them, and passes back and forth so fully, that just as the dignity of their descendant adds brightness to their crown, so the greatness of his ancestry lights up his glory.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
VIII. Now concerning the martyrs, we say to you that they are to be had in all honour with you, as we honour the blessed James the bishop, and the holy Stephen our fellow-servant.
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Julius Africanus, Extant Writings Supporting witness
...things, the persecution stopped for a year and a half. During that time, the holy bodies of all the martyrs were honored and carefully placed in tombs built for that purpose, and their names are written in the book of life. Also, the birth into heaven day of the holy martyrs of Christ, the blessed Symphorosa and her seven sons, Crescens, Julian, Nemesius, Primitivus, Justin, Stracteus, and Eugenius, is kept on July 18. Their bodies rest on the Tiburtine road, at the eighth milestone from the city, under the kingship of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, On All the Saints Supporting witness
Since, then, this solemnity is a glorious one among our festivals, and the spectators form a crowded gathering, and our assembly is one of elevated fervour in the faith, I shall face the task of commencing an address with confidence.
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Didache, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles Supporting witness
And you shall seek out day by day the faces of the saints, in order that you may rest upon their words.
More related quotations from this section 8 shown
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, On All the Saints Supporting witness
For these have inspired aged men to accomplish with much love a long course, and constrained them to support their failing steps by the staff of the word;
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, On All the Saints Supporting witness
By reason thereof do the martyrs leap upon the head of the dragon, and despise every species of torment.
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Commodianus, Writings Supporting witness
Let the hidden, final, holy people be longed for. Indeed, let it be unknown to us where it dwells, acting by nine and a half tribes. And He has commanded them to live by the former law. Now let us all live. The tradition of the law is new, as the law itself teaches. I point this out to you more plainly. Two and a half tribes are left. Why, then, is the half-tribe separated from them? That they might be martyrs when He brings war on His chosen ones into the world. Or certainly the company of the holy prophets would rise together upon the people, who would impose a check on those whom the obscene horses have slaughtered with kicking heel. Nor would the band ever hurry rashly to the gift of peace. Those of the tribes are withdrawn, and all the mysteries of Christ are fulfilled by them throughout the whole age. Moreover, they have arisen from the crime of two brothers, under whose influence they followed crime. These bloody ones are thus scattered, not without cause. They shall assemble again on behalf of the mysteries of Christ. But then the things spoken of in the law are hastening to completion. Almighty Christ descends to His chosen ones, who have been hidden from our sight for so
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Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies Supporting witness
But after some time, when there were other martyrs in that place, Marcia, a concubine of Commodus, was a woman who loved God and wanted to do some good work. She called the blessed Victor into her presence, who at that time was a bishop of the Church, and asked him which martyrs were in Sardinia. He gave her the names of all of them, but he did not give the name of Callistus, because he knew the deeds Callistus had dared to do. Marcia obtained her request from Commodus and gave the letter of release to a certain eunuch named Hyacinthus, who was rather advanced in age. After receiving it, he sailed to Sardinia. When he had delivered the letter to the man who was governor of the region at that time, he succeeded in having the martyrs released, except for Callistus. But Callistus himself fell on his knees and wept, and begged that he also might be set free. Therefore Hyacinthus, overcome by the prisoner's urgent pleading, asked the governor to release him also. He claimed that Marcia had given him permission to free Callistus, and that he would make arrangements so that there would be no danger to the governor in this. The governor was persuaded and released Callistus also. When Calli
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Cyprian, Treatises Supporting witness
...Antiochus, their enemy—yes, in Antiochus Antichrist was set forth—tried to defile the mouths of the martyrs, glorious and unconquered in the spirit of confession, with the pollution of swine's flesh. And when he had severely beaten them with whips, and could do nothing, he ordered iron plates to be heated. When they were heated and glowing, he ordered the one who had spoken first, and had more stirred up the king by the constancy of his virtue and faith, to be brought forward and roasted, after his tongue had first been pulled out and cut off, the tongue that had confessed God. And this happened all the more gloriously for the martyr. For the tongue that had confessed the name of God ought itself to go first to God. Then, in the second brother, sharper pains were devised. Before he tortured the other limbs, he tore the skin from his head with the hair, no doubt with purpose in his hatred. For since Christ is the head of the man, and God is the head of Christ, he who tore the head in the martyr was persecuting God and Christ in that head. But he, trusting in his martyrdom, and promising to himself from the retribution of God the reward of resurrection, cried out and said, "You in
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Hippolytus, Treatise on Christ and Antichrist Supporting witness
...e, being swollen with pride because of their submission, will begin to send out letters against the saints, commanding that they all be killed everywhere because they refuse to honor and worship him as God, according to the word of Esaias: "Woe to the wings of the vessels of the land, beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: woe to him who sends sureties by the sea, and letters of papyrus upon the water; for swift messengers will go to a nation anxious and expectant, and to a people strange and bitter against them; a nation hopeless and trampled down."
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
...e fear of God and with the observance given and commanded by Him. Moreover, they expose the blessed martyrs to ill will, and they involve the glorious servants of God in conflict with the priest of God. For although the martyrs, remembering my position, have sent letters to me and have asked that their requests should be examined and that peace should be granted to them—when our Mother, the Church herself, has first received peace, so that the Lord's mercy and divine protection may bring me back to His Church—yet these men disregard the honor that the blessed martyrs and the confessors preserve for me. They despise the Lord's law and that observance which those same martyrs and confessors command to be kept. Before the fear of persecution has ended, before my return, almost even before the departure of the martyrs, they have communion with the lapsed and offer and give them the Eucharist. Even if the martyrs, in the heat of their glory, should think less carefully about the Scriptures and should desire something excessive, they ought to be warned by the advice of the presbyters and deacons, as was always done in former times.
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Cyprian, Epistles Supporting witness
...nd. It was as if they were trying by force to seize the peace that had been promised to them by the martyrs and confessors. About this too, I wrote twice to the clergy, and ordered that my letters be read to them. I said that, for the time being, in order to lessen their violence in any way, if any who had received a certificate from the martyrs were near death, after making confession and receiving the laying on of hands for repentance, they should be sent to the Lord with the peace promised to them by the martyrs. In this, I did not lay down a law for them, or rashly make myself the author of this direction. Rather, it seemed proper both that honor should be paid to the martyrs, and that the violence of those who were eager to throw everything into disorder should be restrained. Besides this, I had read your letter, which you recently sent here to my clergy through Crementius the subdeacon. In it, you said that help should be given to those who, after their fall, were seized with sickness and penitently desired communion. So I thought it right to follow your judgment, lest our actions, which ought to be united and in agreement in all things, should differ in any way. As for th
Did Christians gather to remember the saints?
Yes. Early liturgical texts speak of making remembrance of prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, and other saints, and of celebrating the commemoration of the saints. That points to public remembrance in worship rather than treating the saints as ordinary dead people.
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Early Liturgies, Divine Liturgy of St. James Direct teaching
and the deacons who surround Your holy altar, and graciously give them a blameless life, keep their ministry undefiled, and purchase for them a good degree, that we may find mercy and grace, with all the saints that have been well pleasing to You since the world began, to generation and generation — grandsires, sires, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, teachers, saints, and every just spirit made perfect in the faith of Your Christ.
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Early Liturgies, Liturgy of Adaeus and Maris Direct teaching
At the commemoration of the saints.
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Early Liturgies, Liturgy of Adaeus and Maris Supporting witness
Make remembrance of prophets, apostles, martyrs, confessors, bishops, doctors, priests, deacons, and all the sons of the Holy Catholic Church who have been signed with the sign of life, of holy baptism. We also, O Lord:
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Early Liturgies, Liturgy of Adaeus and Maris Supporting witness
... together with that of all the pious and righteous fathers who have been pleading before You in the commemoration of the body and blood of Your Christ, which we offer to You on Your pure and holy altar, as You have taught us; and grant to us Your rest all the days of this life.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Supporting witness
...t be set apart for him at the feast, even if he is not at the meal, since he is your priest, and in honor of God, who has entrusted the priesthood to him. And whatever is given to each of the elderly women, let twice as much be given to the deacons, in honor of Christ. Let a double portion also be set apart for the presbyters, since they labor continually in the word and teaching, because of the apostles of our Lord, whose place they hold, as the bishop's counselors and the crown of the Church. For they are the Sanhedrin and senate of the Church. If a reader is there, let him receive a single portion, in honor of the prophets, and let the singer and the doorkeeper receive as much. Therefore, let the laity give proper honor in their gifts, and the highest marks of respect to each distinct order. But let them not trouble their ruler on every occasion. Instead, let them make their requests known through those who minister to him, that is, through the deacons, with whom they may speak more freely. For we cannot approach Almighty God except through Christ. In the same way, therefore, let the laity make all their desires known to the bishop through the deacon, and then let them act as
Did early Christians believe saints were with Christ after death?
Yes. Several texts describe martyrs as seated with Christ, sharing in His kingdom, or being in the tower with the saints of God. This is a strong sign that saints were thought of as alive with God, not gone forever.
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Dionysius of Alexandria, Epistles and Epistolary Fragments Direct teaching
Accordingly, those holy martyrs who were once with us, and who now are seated with Christ, and share in His kingdom, and partake with Him in His judgment, and act as His judicial assessors, received there certain of the brothers who had fallen away and had become chargeable with sacrificing to idols. And when they saw that the conversion and repentance of such people might be acceptable to Him who does not at all desire the death of the sinner, Ezekiel 33:11, but rather his repentance, they proved their sincerity, and received them, and brought them together again, and assembled with them, and had fellowship with them in their prayers and at their festivals. What advice then, brothers, do you give us regarding these people? What should we do? Are we to stand forth and act with the decision and judgment that those martyrs formed, and to observe the same graciousness with them, and to deal so kindly with those toward whom they showed such compassion? Or are we to treat their decision as an unrighteous one, and to make ourselves judges of their opinion on such subjects, and to throw clemency into tears, and to overturn the established order?
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Hermas, The Shepherd (Pastor) Direct teaching
...f to these, and is able to hold firmly to their works, will have his dwelling in the tower with the saints of God." Then I asked her about the ages, whether the end was now coming. She cried out in a loud voice, "Foolish man! Do you not see that the tower is still being built? When the tower is finished and built, then the end comes. And I assure you, it will be finished soon. Ask me no more questions. Let you and all the saints be content with what I have called to your remembrance, and with my renewing of your spirits. But understand that these revelations have not been made to you for your own sake only. They have been given to you so that you may show them to all. For after three days, and be careful to remember this, I command you to speak into the ears of the saints all the words that I am going to say to you, so that by hearing them and doing them, they may be cleansed from their iniquities, and you along with them."
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, On All the Saints Supporting witness
...t this all the more boldly, since the Father asks it of me, and the Church is with me, and the holy martyrs strengthen what is weak in me for this very purpose. For they have moved aged men to complete a long course with much love, and have compelled them to support their failing steps with the staff of the word. They have stirred women to finish their course like young men, and they have brought even the very young to this also, yes, even crawling children. In this way the martyrs have shown their power. They leap for joy in the presence of death. They laugh at the sword. They make sport of the anger of princes. They seize death as the producer of deathlessness. By their fall they make victory their own. Through the body they take their leap to heaven. They let their limbs be scattered abroad so that they might keep their souls. And by bursting the bars of life, they open the gates of heaven. And if anyone does not believe that death has been abolished, that Hades has been trampled underfoot, that its chains are broken, and that the tyrant is bound, let him look at the martyrs sporting in the presence of death and raising the joyful song of Christ's victory. O what a wonder! Fr
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Gregory Thaumaturgus, On All the Saints Supporting witness
In this wise have the martyrs shown their power, leaping with joy in the presence of death, laughing at the sword, making sport of the wrath of princes, grasping at death as the producer of deathlessness, making victory their own by their fall, through the body taking their leap to heaven, suffering their members to be scattered abroad in order that they might hold their souls, and, bursting the bars of life, that they might open the.
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Origen, Commentary on John Background
... the dead, but of the living." That is the same as saying that He is not the God of sinners, but of saints. For it was a great gift to the Patriarchs that God, instead of using His own name alone, added their name to His own title as God, as Paul says in Hebrews 11:16, "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God." He is the God, therefore, of the fathers and of all the saints. It would be hard to find a passage saying that God is the God of any of the wicked. If, then, He is the God of the saints, and is called the God of the living, then the saints are the living, and the living are saints. There is no saint outside the living. Nor, when anyone is called living, is the further meaning absent that, besides having life, he is also holy. Very close to this is the lesson drawn from the saying, "I shall be well pleasing to the Lord in the land of the living." He seems to say that the Lord's good pleasure is among the ranks of the saints, or in the place of the saints, and that he hopes to be there. No one pleases God well who has not entered the rank of the saints, or the place of the saints. And everyone must come to that place who has already taken on beforehand, as it we
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Revelation 6:9 Background
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
What Bible passages were used to speak about saints?
The Bible passages here speak of saints as God’s holy people, of the prayers of the saints, and of honor given to them. Revelation 5:8 and 8:3 are the clearest texts for the prayers of the saints, while 1 Corinthians 1:2 and the Psalms describe saints as people set apart for God.
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Revelation 5:8 Direct teaching
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
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1 Corinthians 1:2 Direct teaching
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
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Psalms 89:7 Supporting witness
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.
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Psalms 149:9 Supporting witness
To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the LORD.
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Psalms 34:9 Supporting witness
O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.
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Psalms 30:4 Supporting witness
Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
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Psalms 16:3 Supporting witness
As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.
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Psalms 31:23 Supporting witness
Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
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Revelation 8:4 Direct teaching
And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand.
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Colossians 1:2 Supporting witness
To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Revelation 6:11 Supporting witness
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
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Psalms 116:15 Supporting witness
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Common Questions
Did early Christians honor saints and martyrs?
Yes. They remembered martyrs, celebrated their death days, and spoke of them as blessed and honored in Christ.
Did early Christians pray to saints?
These cards do not give a clear direct example of praying to saints. They mainly show remembrance, honor, and commemoration.
What Bible passages matter for this topic?
Revelation 5:8 and 8:3 speak of prayers of the saints, and passages like 1 Corinthians 1:2 and Psalms 116:15 speak of saints as God’s holy people.
Source Index for the veneration of saints
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 160 ranked source links from 288 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 160 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 179
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
Bible Passages 80 shown of 109
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.
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Veneration of Saints
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