The Scriptures teach that the righteous intercede for others: \u00ab\u00a0The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerful\u00a0\u00bb (Jas 5:16). God himself sent Job’s friends to Job so that he would pray for them (Job 42:8), and the prophets stood before the Lord on behalf of the people (Jer 15:1). The angels also intercede: \u00ab\u00a0O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem?\u00a0\u00bb (Zec 1:12).<\/p>\n
This intercession does not end with death, because God \u00ab\u00a0is not the God of the dead, but of the living\u00a0\u00bb (Mat 22:32). In the Second Book of Maccabees, the prophet Jeremiah, long after his death, appears as one \u00ab\u00a0who loves the family of Israel and prays much for the people and the holy city\u00a0\u00bb (2Ma 15:14). In the Book of Revelation, the elders before the throne offer \u00ab\u00a0golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints\u00a0\u00bb (Rev 5:8).<\/p>\n
The Church is one Body, in heaven and on earth, and its members are joined by love. To ask the saints, and above all the Theotokos, to pray for us is no different in kind from asking a fellow believer to pray for us. It does not replace prayer to God; the saints direct all things to Christ, the one Mediator, in whom they live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christians on earth pray for one another, and death does not separate the members of Christ’s Body; the saints, alive in God, continue to intercede for us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","audience":[],"liturgical_season":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-1393","question","type-question","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/question"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1401,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/question\/1393\/revisions\/1401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"liturgical_season","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/liturgical_season?post=1393"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodox.faith\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=1393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}