Editing Saint (section)

== General characteristics ==
The English word ''saint'' comes from the Latin {{lang|la|sanctus}}, with the Greek equivalent being {{lang|grc-x-biblical|ἅγιος}} (''hagios'') 'holy'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oca.org/fs/canonization|title=Canonization|website=oca.org|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-19}}</ref> The word {{lang|grc-x-biblical|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 [[Bible]].<ref name="biblepages">{{cite web | url= http://www.biblepages.net/gg03.htm | title= What does the word 'saint' mean in the Bible? | access-date= 16 November 2020}}</ref>

The word ''{{lang|la|sanctus}}'' was originally a technical one in [[ancient Roman religion]], but due to its [[ecumene|globalized]] use in Christianity the modern word ''saint'' 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.<ref name="EoR" /> Author John A. Coleman of the [[Graduate Theological Union]], [[Berkeley, California]], wrote that saints across various cultures and religions have the following [[family resemblance]]s:<ref>Coleman, John A.  "Conclusion: After sainthood", in Hawley, John Stratton, ed. ''Saints and Virtues'' Berkeley: [[University of California Press]], 1987. pp.&nbsp;214–217. {{ISBN|0-520-06163-2}}</ref>

# exemplary model
# extraordinary teacher
# [[wonder-worker]] or source of benevolent power
# [[Intercession of saints|intercessor]]
# a life often refusing material attachments or comforts
# possession of a special and [[revelation|revelatory]] relation to the [[holy]].

The [[anthropologist]] Lawrence Babb, in an article about Indian [[guru]] [[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 person'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".<ref>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. {{ISBN|0-520-06163-2}}.</ref>