Saints

CRITICAL: Orthodox piety venerates canonized sfinți through icons, relics, and akathist prayers, and petitions them for intercession — a devotional practice at least as liturgically central to lived Orthodox spirituality as Catholic saint veneration is in the West. Romans 1:7 calls every believer ‘sfânt’; this requires an explicit teaching note distinguishing corporate sainthood from canonized-saint veneration in every occurrence.