Our first text comes from St. Clement of Alexandria in his book The Stromata.
So is he always pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him. [ANF 2: 545, bk. 7, ch. 12]
In St. Cyprian of Carthage’s epistle To Cornelius in Exile, Concerning His Confession, written in the middle of the Third Century, one finds the following:
Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if any one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence the first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father’s mercy. [ANF 5:352, Epistle LVI]
St. Cyprian believed in the intercession of the saints so much that he was willing to ask Pope Cornelius to remember him even after “go[ing] hence” to the “presence of the Lord.”
Writing in at the end of the Third and beginning of the Fourth Centuries, St. Methodius of Olympus penned Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple. Notice the eloquent witness he gives to this doctrine.
Wherefore, we pray thee, the most excellent among women, who boastest in the confidence of thy maternal honours, that thou wouldest unceasingly keep us in remembrance. O holy mother of God, remember us, I say, who make our boast in thee, and who in hymns august celebrate the memory, which will ever live, and never fade away. And do thou also, O honoured and venerable Simeon, thou earliest host of our holy religion, and teacher of the resurrection of the faithful, be our patron and advocate with that Saviour God, whom thou wast deemed worthy to receive into thine arms. [ANF 6: 393]
St. Gregory of Nanzianzus in On the Death of His Father (late 300’s) gives the following beautiful description of his father’s prayerful activity from heaven.
Aye, I am well assured that his intercession is of more avail now than was his instruction in former days, since he is closer to God, now that he has shaken off his bodily fetters, and freed his mind from the clay which obscured it, and holds intercourse naked with the nakedness of the prime and purest Mind; being promoted, if it be not rash to say so, to the rank and confidence of an angel. [NPNF 2-07:256, Oration XVIII]
The Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem were written around 347 provide us with yet more evidence of the belief in the intercession of the departed saints.
Then we commemorate also those who have fallen asleep before us, first Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, that at their prayers and intercessions God would receive our petition. [NPNF 2-07: 153, Lecture XXIII]
We read a very explicit substantiation of this belief in St. Basil the Great’s letter Of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation, the invocation of Saints, and their Images
I acknowledge also the holy apostles, prophets, and martyrs; and I invoke them to supplication to God, that through them, that is, through their mediation, the merciful God may be propitious to me, and that a ransom may be made and given me for my sins. [NPNF 2-08: 326, Letter CCCLX]
One of the greatest preachers and Biblical scholars of any age lived in the early Fifth Century. His name was St. John Chrysostom (his last name was given him by his hearers who said he was “goldenmouthed”). Here is what he says in Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians:
And the tombs of the servants of the Crucified are more splendid than the palaces of kings; not for the size and beauty of the buildings, (yet even in this they surpass them,) but, what is far more, in the zeal of those who frequent them. For he that wears the purple himself goes to embrace those tombs, and, laying aside his pride, stands begging the saints to be his advocates with God, and he that hath the diadem implores the tent-maker and the fisherman, though dead, to be his patrons. Wilt thou dare then, tell me, to call the Lord of these dead; whose servants even after their decease are the patrons of the kings of the world? [NPNF 1-12: 402-3; Homily XXVI]
Lastly I want to include a list of inscriptions from the catacombs in Rome which were written in the Second and Third Centuries. Maybe this listing is the best proof of what the Christians of this era believed because it shows what they put into practice.
"Pray for thy parents, Matronata Matrona. She lived one year and 51 days."
"Januaria, take thy good refreshment, and make request for us."
"Atticus: sleep in peace, secure in thy safety, and pray anxiously for our sins;"
"Martyrs, holy, good, blessed, help Quiracus."
"Peter and Paul, help Primitivus, a sinner."
"Paul and Peter, have us in mind in your prayers, and more than us."
"Paul and Peter, pray for Victor." [from Prayer to the Saints at http://www.forthelife.org/a9.htm]
I believe these quotes from the Early Church are more than sufficient to demonstrate for us what they believed. Whether we choose to believe as they did or not is up to us but good sense and integrity prevents us from saying that they did not believe in the prayers of the departed saints.
Strangely, David Bercot in his A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, tries to make us believe that the Early Church did not believe in prayers to the departed saints. It is unfortunate that, rather than citing any of the above evidence, he chooses to cite some so-called evidence which, in fact, does not say what he would have us believe it says. Only by manipulating the evidence, can anyone come to such a fallacious conclusion.
I would much rather let the saints speak for themselves. While it is very easy to let theological bias direct our view of what was said, if we read the whole of their writings and take it as they demonstrably meant it, we can hardly help but come to the conclusion that these early Christians did indeed believe the prayers to the saints in heaven were efficacious and beneficial.
