In the contemporary world, it is extremely difficult to differentiate a saint and a hero. We used to take one for another, because each of them performs something significant for the world. In some ways, of course, these terms are different: duties that saints and heroes do have different purposes and are performed in different ways. While saints don’t exist in every tradition, as they are usually connected to religion and protect the morals and ethics, heroes have existed in all the cultures throughout the human history. The latter even exist today in the books and on the TV screens. But let us look at the Greek world, where the understanding of the two was very alike. Professor Ambrosio has read a number of lectures that talked about saints and heroes and the way that they at some point became one.
However, in spite of the fact that Paul didn’t fit a general description of a hero, Christians did consider him such. He was a hero for them, because he was connected to Jesus and thus, had something supernatural about him. Here is the moment where the border between a hero and a saint becomes blurred. If one is not Christian, he can definitely tell that Paul wasn’t anywhere close to being a hero; however, if one is Christian, that is how he views Paul – an ultimate hero who has to be followed just because he heard the voice of Jesus. Now, if we look at another prophet, prophet Mohammed of Islam, we can get even more confused. In Islam, there was no division between politics and religion. When Mohammed received his revelation, he became a religious leader; but he was already a political leader as well. So he basically fitted both descriptions: he went to the foreign lands with a sword and conquered several nations that he later converted to Islam. He tried very hard not to be considered a saint; he ordered to be buried in a small grave where no one could ever find him and worship him after his death. However, he did become a saint as Muslims worship things that belonged to him and never portray him in books or movies. They do the same only with Allah who is also too great to be portrayed. We can clearly see that while Mohammed did everything to remain a hero, not a saint, he connected these two understandings and became both. This is not acknowledged in Islam, as the culture worships only Allah and thus, doesn’t allow any other saints.
Christianity claims to be a monotheistic religion, but it also worships saints. Many people pray to Saint Paul as to one of the closest to Jesus Christ people. For Christianity and Islam relatively, Paul and Mohammed are definitely heroes; without them, these cultures wouldn’t develop the way they did. These characters are exceptional because they were close to the God and could communicate with Him. They are heroes because they managed to convert many people to their religions. While Paul did it with the help of his letters, Mohammed, being a political leader and a great military man, went out there and conquered lands. However, Christianity wasn’t much different: during the Crusades, Christians walked into the foreign lands for the same purpose – to convert people to Christianity. These characters were saints as well, even though Mohammed tried very hard not to be one, because he didn’t want people to worship him instead of Allah. People would still warship Mohammed because he was chosen, and thus, there was something special about him that made him different from other people. If one is different from other people and is allowed to hear the voice of God, one is very likely a saint. We can clearly see how these two terms become one and cannot be easily differentiated anymore. We cannot call Paul only a saint or only a hero; it’s even more difficult to do it with Mohammed. Just like Professor Ambrosio says, the idea of the hero in the Classical world slowly integrates with the idea of the saint, as Christianity develops and spreads all over the world. After it spread far enough, we can no longer put these two words apart, especially with the characters mentioned above.
Reference:
Ambrosio, F. (n.d.). Philosophy, Religion, and the Meaning of Life. Retrieved April 24, 2016, from http://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/philosophy-religion-and-the-meaning-of-life.html
Zahnd, B. (2012). Beauty will save the world. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
