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A saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of ''holiness'', or likeness to God. While the English term "saint" originated in Christianity, historians of religion now use the appellation "in a more general way to refer to the state of special holiness that many religions attribute to certain people, with the Jewish Tzadik, the Islamic Mu'min, the Hindu rishi or Sikh guru, and the Buddhist arhat or bodhisattva and also being referred to as "saints". "Historians of religion have liberated the category of sainthood from its narrower Christian associations and have employed the term in a more general way to refer to the state of special holiness that many religions attribute to certain people. Depending on the religion, saints are recognized either by official declaration/denomination or by popular acclamation (see folk saints).〔"Veneration of saints is a universal phenomenon. All monotheistic and polytheistic creeds contain something of its religious dimension... " 〕 In Christianity, "saint" has a wide variety of meanings, depending on the context and denomination. The original Christian denotation was any believer who is "in Christ" and in whom Christ dwells, whether in Heaven or on earth.〔''Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia'', "saint", ISBN 0-8024-9697-0, "Christians in general are 'saints' in NT usage, and the term is common in reference to the inclusive membership of a local church . . . Other references in the NT equate Christians in general with 'saints' . . . . All these are identified as saints because they are in Christ Jesus."〕 In Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic doctrine, all of their faithful deceased in Heaven are considered to be saints, but some are considered worthy of greater honor, emulation, or veneration, with official ecclesiastical recognition given to some saints by canonization or glorification.〔(Bebis G '' )〕 ==General characteristics== The English word "''saint''" is from the Latin "''sanctus''", in origin a word in indigenous tradition connected to the god Sancus, but in Christian context the word is used to translate the Greek "ἅγιος" ("hagios"), which is derived from the verb "ἁγιάζω" ("hagiazo"), which latter word means "to set apart", "to sanctify", or "to make holy". The word ἅγιος appears 229 times in the Greek New Testament, and its English translation 60 times in the corresponding text of the King James Version of the Sacred Scriptures.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=What does the word "saint" mean in the Bible from a Protestant ''sola scriptura'' point of view? )〕 As used by the apostolic authors of the Sacred Scriptures, "saint" did not denote the deceased who had been recognized as such, but rather the living faithful who had dedicated themselves to God.〔 The word was also originally a technical one in ancient Roman religion, but due to its "globalized" use in Christianity the modern word in English and Romance languages is now also used as a translation of comparable terms for persons "worthy of veneration for their holiness or sanctity" in other religions. Many religions also use similar concepts but different terminology to venerate persons worthy of some honor,〔"Historians of religion have liberated the category of sainthood from its narrower Christian associations and have employed the term in a more general way to refer to the state of special holiness that many religions attribute to certain people. The Jewish ''hasid'' or ''tsaddiq'', the Islamic ''Mu'min'', the Zoroastrian ''fravashi'', the Hindu ''rsi'' or ''guru,'' the Buddhist ''arahant'' or ''bodhisattva,'' the Daoist ''shengren,'' the Shinto ''kami'' and others have all been referred to as saints."〕 Author John A. Coleman (Society of Jesus, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California) wrote that saints across various cultures and religions have the following family resemblances:〔Hawley, John Stratton, ed. ''Saints and Virtues'', Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. p. 239〕 #exemplary model #extraordinary teacher #wonder worker or source of benevolent power #intercessor #a life often refusing material attachments or comforts #possession of a special and revelatory relation to the holy.〔Coleman, John A. S.J. "Conclusion: after sainthood", in Hawley, John Stratton, ed. ''Saints and Virtues'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. pp 214-217〕 The anthropologist 〔Hawley, John Stratton, ed. ''Saints and Virtues'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. page 239〕 Lawrence Babb in an article about Sathya Sai Baba asks the question "Who is a saint?", and responds by saying that in the symbolic infrastructure of some religions, there is the image of a certain extraordinary spiritual king's "miraculous powers", to whom frequently a certain moral presence is attributed. These saintly figures, he asserts, are "the focal points of spiritual force-fields". They exert "powerful attractive influence on followers but touch the inner lives of others in transforming ways as well."〔Babb, Lawrence A. "Sathya Sai Baba's Saintly Play", in Hawley, John Stratton, ed. ''Saints and Virtues'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. pp 168-170〕 In the Bible, only one person is expressly called a saint: "They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the ." () The apostle Paul declared himself to be "less than the least of all saints" in . 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saint」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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