Some Clarifications On Prayers To The Saints

I think that I should clarify some things with regard to the issue of praying to the saints, so as to avoid any misunderstandings.

I'm aware of comments addressed to deceased people and angels in catacomb inscriptions, in poetry, on modern gravestones, and in other contexts. But messages addressed to deceased people on the walls of the catacombs aren't equivalent to prayer. When the psalmists speak to the mountains, for example (Psalm 68:16, 114:6), or somebody writes a message to a deceased person on his gravestone, that isn't equivalent to prayer. The psalmist isn't praying to the mountains, and the message on the gravestone isn't meant to be a prayer. To equate such rhetorical devices with prayer is erroneous. Nobody who goes to a Protestant graveyard and sees "rest in peace" addressed to a dead person, or who sees angels being addressed in a Protestant hymn, would conclude that Protestants must therefore believe in praying to the dead and angels. Such data would be inconclusive at best.

I'm aware, for example, of Ludwig Ott's citation of a passage in Hippolytus where he addresses some comments to the (deceased) companions of the prophet Daniel. Ott writes:

"The invocation of the saints is first attested by St. Hippolytus of Rome, who turns to the three companions of Daniel with the prayer: 'Think of me, I beseech you, so that I may achieve with you the same fate of martyrdom.' (In Dan. II, 30)." (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma [Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1974], p. 319)

Hippolytus might have been praying to the companions of Daniel. Or he might have been using a rhetorical device such as we see in Psalm 68:16 or 114:6, where David talks to the mountains. Elsewhere in his commentary on Daniel, Hippolytus comments on Nebuchadnezzar throwing Daniel's companions into the furnace:

"Tell me, Nebuchadnezzar, when didst thou see the Son of God, that thou shouldst confess that this is the Son of God? And who pricked thy heart, that thou shouldst utter such a word? And with what eyes wert thou able to look into this light? And why was this manifested to thee alone, and to none of the satraps about thee?" (On Daniel, 3, 92)

Would anybody argue that Hippolytus was actually speaking with Nebuchadnezzar, and was expecting him to answer his questions? In his comments on the Psalms, Hippolytus tells us that he defines prayer as "supplication offered to God" (On the Psalms, 8). I would say that Hippolytus' alleged support for praying to the deceased is possible, but unlikely.

Also, keep in mind what issue is on the table here. We're not discussing prayers for deceased saints. Nor are we discussing whether saints in Heaven pray for us or whether angels carry our prayers to God or present our prayers to God in some sense. A prayer can be addressed to God, yet some other being is said to present it to God in some way (Revelation 5:8). The issue here is prayers to the saints. People often confuse these issues and therefore respond with irrelevant arguments.

There are many passages in the Biblical documents and in the earliest church fathers that are directly about prayer. We're never encouraged to pray to the deceased. The practice is found in some later patristic sources, but we have no reason to believe that it's a doctrine always taught by the church.