VetSurg said:
I'm a member of the same church they were. What I call the church of Christ is that first century church that Peter, Paul, Timothy, Tabitha, Aquila and Priscilla were members of. It is not a denomination. It is the original church that Christ promised to build. It is the "one body" of Ephesians 4:4. It is the body of Christ (Col. 1:24). It is the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2,9). I will readily admit there are some buildings that say "church of Christ" which are not that church because they believe and teach things contrary to the scriptures.
This is a useless claim in and of itself. Every church that I know claims this.
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And whoever referred to St. Paul; I hope you understand that biblically, all Christians are saints (Acts 26:10, Romans 1:7, 12:13, 15:25-26, 16:2, I Cor. 1:2, 14:33, Eph 1:1, etc., etc.).
Sigh. This is as tiresome as your petty, childish invective like "worshiping Mary". For the record, no Roman Catholic or Orthodox person worships Mary.
The word "saint" and the word "holy" are one and the same in Greek - hagios. Holy comes from old English / Germanic, and "saint" comes from Latin. The honorific of "saint" or "hagios" given to champions of the Church is not a theological confession that they are somehow special or super-holy in a way that no other Christians are. Nor is the list of saints, or holy ones, or blessed ones (all same thing) in any way exhaustive or exclusive.
The saints, the holy ones, are friends of Christ Jesus as witnessed by their words and actions in this life. Do you object that the Apostle Paul was (is) not holy? Or do you object that I don't call you holy? What's the problem, here, exactly?
Just as Christ is The Christ and we are called to be christs (little christs, as Christian signifies), only Jesus is the Holy One, only God is Holy. Yet by union with Him we, too, become holy ones - we "might possess for [our] own the splendor of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Thess 2:13-14). The Orthodox Church has never had any formal process for who we recognize as a "saint". We simply recognize those who have been witnesses - martyr, in the literal sense - and demonstrated through their lives that they shine with the reflected light of God. For the record, that definitely includes the Apostles and Martyrs. St Paul is both.