Święci prawosławni – łączą i dzielą: zarys historyczny
The Saints of Orthodox Church – connect and share: historical overview

Summary/Abstract: The cult of saints is one of the features of the Orthodox Church. It differs from the worship of Roman Catholicism above all that is mainly due to the faith and belief communities. Very often it starts in the lives of people considered saintly. The Saints of then Orthodox Churches, unlike the saint of the Roman Catholic Church, are not a mediators between God and human, only helpers human in touch with God, and the helpers of God in contact with the human. The requirements for canonization are less formalized than in Roman Catholicism. Saints are also people especially meritorious for the Church and state (vide – Serbia, Russia), without much penetration in their spiritually-moral figure. Local Churches „abound” canonizations, creating Cathedrals of Saints, also in the form of icon images. This has to be proofof the holiness of the entire Church. For this reason, there are additional barriers between the local Churches; some canonizations are not mutually accepted. The criteria and the practice of canonization in Orthodoxy changed over the centuries. Because of the strong association of the local Churches and countries a significant impact on the canonizations were and still are political factors, which today is particularly evident in the Russian Orthodox Church and Serbian Orthodox Church.Orthodox cult of the saints grow from the culture of the faithful community and make the culture stronger. Due to the fact that the space church-driven in countries dominated by Orthodox Christianity intensively sacralized, this cult also affects the representatives of other social circles. The saints of the region, city or village are clearly present in the public consciousness, contributing to the identity of the local community, sometimes becoming national heroes. Thus, the Saints of the Orthodox Churches combine local communities, while at the same time can contribute to deepening the divisions between the local Churches

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