THE INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS

<<Έχομεν περικείμενον ημίν νέφος μαρτύρων>> (Hebr. 12:1)

First of all, does the Bible object to the intercession of the saints? Doesn't it talk about prayer, which we Christian people must do for each other, "pray for each other"; isn't that what James says in 5:16? Apostle Paul suggests that Christians pray for him too (Rom. 1:9. 15, 30-31. -).

However, one could say that prayer and intercession are two different things. Prayer can be done by all Christians and by people even before Christ, maybe even and without Christ. Whereas the intercession is done by some specific Christian saints, in the way the Orthodox view it anyway; it touches more upon the word "mediation" rather than "prayer". This is more or less the protestant view. We agree of course that the intercession differs from prayer, because it is directed to specific saints and not to all Christian people. The intercession "converges to", "tends to", mediation, but it does not have the same meaning as mediation (something lost many times in translations). The words we're interested in here are "πρεσβεία" (intercession) and "μεσιτεία" (mediation). People talk regarding the "unique mediation" of Christ, which is a different thing altogether and proves, as expected, that they do not know the distinction between the two words.

If the verb "πρεσβεύω" (I intercede) is identical with the verb "μεσιτεύω" (I mediate) in the Holy Bible, how come then Apostle Paul who calls Jesus Christ as the "one mediator between God and man" also say regarding himself "πρεσβεύω εν αλύσει" (Ephes. 6: 20) i.e. "I intercede in a chain"?

Of course, you could say that, here, Apostle Paul talks regarding the mission, which he received as a preacher of the Gospel from the Lord. The Lord said this explicitly regarding him in Acts 9:15-16.

"Πρεσβεύω" means that I am an intercessor, an ambassador if you like. The words "εν αλύσει", which essentially means "chained", express the passion of Apostle Paul through which passion he became like Christ (suffering in a similar manner). In other words "πρεσβεύω εν αλύσει", means that I am an intercessor, an ambassador of Christ, because I suffer too, like He suffered. Here therefore are the two 'worlds' of the "πρεσβεύω εν αλύσει"; the first world is the intercession, the representation of Christ by the Apostle. The second world is the chaining, the grief of Apostle Paul.

Of course, you might still insist that Apostle Paul is not considering himself as a representative of Christ with the word "πρεσβεύω", but simply notes the special mission of his preaching.

If that is the case, however, we ask you: how come Apostle Paul in his 2 Corinth. 5:20 says: “υπέρ Χριστού πρεσβεύομεν ...” we intercede υπέρ Christ? What exactly does this word "υπέρ" mean here?

May we point the reader to the Vulgate for this verse; it says: "For Christ therefore we are ambassadors..." and KJV says, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ". Therefore the reader, who reads a translation, for the above translations are slightly vague here, may not have known the following issue. When it says "for" (corresponding to υπέρ) does it mean literally "for Christ" or "of Christ"? Something else?

So you will ask: What meanings can the word "υπέρ" (hyper) have in general, and which one is assigned here?

The word "υπέρ" in Greek can have two meanings: either "διά" (for) or "αντί" (instead; in place of; opposed to). In the first case we will have: We intercede for Christ (literally). This however is totally blasphemous, and nonsensical, incomprehensible; it is terrible to say that we can dare to say that we intercede to God for Christ, terrible because Christ intercedes for us and not we for Him!

Therefore we must take the second and last meaning of the word "υπέρ" here; namely, "in Christ's stead", "in place of Christ".

Therefore "πρεσβεύομεν υπέρ Χριστού" means we are intercessors, ambassadors of Christ, and representatives of Christ. Christ, as is well known, had a triple mission: He would preach, He was guiding His Apostles and He offered Himself on the Cross. Because Christ has the right after the sacrifice on Golgotha, to intercede, to mediate to His Father for us, in a similar way the Apostles, apart from their governing and teaching mission, have the right to intercede as intercessors of Christ, "υπέρ Χριστού", as the text says clearly. This way the intercession of Christ via them will be complete. Notice also here that the Apostle does not say "πρεσβεύω" (I intercede, in the singular) but "πρεσβεύομεν" i.e. we intercede, in the plural. Therefore the intercession was not only work of Apostle Paul but of the other Apostles too, and thus of their successors as well.

Does this then destroy the Saviour's work, the work of Our Lord Jesus Christ? Mentioned in the "one mediator between God and man"?

No, it doesn't of course. The mediation of Christ via the sacrifice on Golgotha is different from the intercession of the saints via their own passion.

But, you will say, the sacrifice on Golgotha was so perfect and so unique, that any other sacrifice and any other mediation is cancellation of the sacrifice on Golgotha and the mediation of Christ!

But the problem then is how do we harmonise, how do we oeconomise as we would say in theological language, the intercession that Apostle Paul speaks of? What is the difference between the intercession which the Apostles had (Ephes. 6:20 and 2 Corinth. 5:20) and the mediation of 1 Tim. 2:5 which only the Lord had?

Mediation of Christ via the sacrifice on Golgotha is the objective redemption of the human race. The intercession of the saints via their various grief, and therefore via the "εν αλύσει" of Eph. 6:20 of Apostle Paul's, is the subjective familiarization to the objective redemption.

And to make myself better understood:

"Subjective familiarization to the objective redemption" means:

Christ having been crucified, resurrected, and ascended into heaven, offered the sacrifice to the whole world via His crucifixion; through His resurrection and ascension, it was proved that this sacrifice was accepted in front of His Father (recall also that the offer of animal sacrifices of the high priests accepted by God in the OT are a protypon of the one sacrifice of Christ). Despite all this, however, man is not saved until he becomes familiar with this sacrifice, in other words until he makes this sacrifice his own possession, via his faith and all the other things needed, which depend on it. One such thing is the intercession of the saints, for which intercession Apostle Paul speaks clearly in 2 Corinth. 5:20 and Ephes. 6:20 as we saw already.

But you could say now: right to the intercession of the saints is given via their sufferings and grief. But don't you think that this way the passion of the sacrifice on Golgotha is diminished?

Apostle Paul speaks often regarding the passions of Christ, which he goes through as well. And specifically: 2 Corinth. 1:5: “for as the sufferings of Christ are in excess in us...” 2 Corinth. 4:10: "Always the death of the Lord Jesus carrying in flesh...” Philip. 3:10: "The communion of His passions being made conformable to His death".

You see here that the Apostle calls his grief as "sufferings of Christ", "necrosis of Jesus", "communion of His passions". Doesn't it make an impression upon you that Paul considers his grief as grief of Christ?

Maybe you could say that Apostle Paul calls his sufferings as sufferings of Christ in order to express that, in the same way Christ suffered, so does he. In other words, Paul's love is so big for Christ that he happily suffers for Him.

But Paul calls his sufferings as sufferings of Christ and not Christ's sufferings as his sufferings. In other words, he is trying to tell us that his passions are a continuation of the passions of Christ and consequently a continuation of the sacrifice on Golgotha.

But wasn't the work of the sacrifice on Golgotha complete?

Of course it was. The work of Christ on Golgotha is complete. However, the sufferings of Apostle Paul, being sufferings of Christ, continue the passion on Golgotha and in a way complete it.

Of course at this point you might call this "blasphemy"; since the work of Christ on Golgotha is perfect it does not need completion by the passions of Apostle Paul or anyone else's!

And to this end, we reply: How come then Apostle Paul says expressly in Col. 1:24: "Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for His body, which is the church" (Vulgate)?

More accurately looking directly at the koine text we have:

“ανταναπληρώ τα υστερήματα των θλίψεων του Χριστού εν τη σαρκί μου υπέρ του σώματος αυτού, ό εστίν η εκκλησία”

i.e. word-for-word we get:

"Now I am glad for those things I suffer υπέρ you, and I ανταναπληρώ in my flesh the thing that is missing in the grief of Christ, υπέρ His body, which is the church..."

Or, more compactly,

"Now I rejoice for the sufferings υπέρ you, and I fill up the shortage of the grief of Christ in my flesh υπέρ His body, which is the church".

Here apostle Paul speaks explicitly about completion ("filling up" in this sense = ανταναπληρώ) of the sufferings of Christ!

So: how can we harmonise the filling up of the sufferings of Christ via the passions of Apostle Paul, so that neither the perfection of the work of Christ be diminished, nor the "filling up" of His passions under Apostle Paul's sufferings remain unexplained?

To answer that question: did you notice that Apostle Paul defines his passions as completion of the passions of Christ and defines these υπέρ the body of the Church and not υπέρ her head, i.e. Christ?

And what can we conclude from this observation?

Simple: Apostle Paul compares The One Church of Christ to a human body.

Head of this body, of the Church, is Christ. The faithful Christians are compared to the other parts of the body. The head, Christ, suffered the crucificial death and the suffering of the crucifix was complete for the head, for Christ. In the same way, however, that when the rest of the body suffers so does the head, similarly the grief of the body, i.e. the sufferings of the Church, of the Apostles, are also sufferings of the head, of Christ. Christ from His point suffered completely and totally His sacrifice on Golgotha. This way the objective redemption was offered. In order however for the subjective familiarization of the objectively offered redemption be achieved too, the members of the Church, the body of the Church, had to suffer as well.

In short: Christ's passion, the crucificial sacrifice of the Head of the Church, of Christ, happened completely on Golgotha via the objective redemption. The completion of Christ's passion however via Apostle Paul's passion and via the passion of the martyred members of His Church relate to the body, Christ's members, via the subjective familiarization of each one of them towards the objective redemption. In the same way, in other words, the human body needs a neck to be connected to the head, which neck is similar to the parts of the head and of the rest of the body (they are all members of the same body), in a similar way the members of the Church of Christ need some special means in order to connect with the Head, Christ. This special means is not a simple abstract theoretical faith, but that faith which reaches to the height and depth of the sufferings. In the same way Christ suffered, so we must suffer too.

So, the reader will agree at this stage that they have no objection to the above since it is based on the Holy Writ. However, the reader may feel that we have deviated from our main theme here, that being the Intercession of Saints. Whereas now we are talking about the passion of Christ - the Head of the Church -, the passion of the Christians - the members of His body - and the difference between them.

However we are still within our topic and have not deviated. Earlier on, we mentioned Apostle Paul's "πρεσβεύω εν αλύσει" verse. After we analysed the first word "πρεσβεύω" we then came to discuss the "εν αλύσει" and analysed the relationship between the passion of Apostle Paul (and of the rest of the Apostles) with the passion of Christ.

So: based on the Holy Writ it is now clear that there must exist ambassadors, in a relative sense, since Apostle Paul speaks clearly about this. But, what is though the relationship between the contrast of the passion of Christ with Apostle Paul's and the intercession of the saints?

There is an important connection between the two:

In the same way the crucificial death, the passion of Christ, gave the right to Him to be the mediator between God and men, in a similar way the sufferings of the Apostles, of His Church, which are Christ's sufferings, completions of the perfect sufferings of Christ in a special way (ανταναπληρώσεις) as we saw above, must give the right not to the mediation but to the intercession of the saints.

Therefore we see that mediation is the objective redemption via the sacrifice on Golgotha. This sacrifice is total, absolute, perfect. Intercession however is the subjective (personal) familiarization of the objective (general) sacrifice on Golgotha.

Here we see the Intercession of the Saints verbatim and semantically mentioned in the Bible. It is mentioned word for word, verbatim by the word "πρεσβεύω" in two verses from Apostle Paul's epistle: "πρεσβεύω εν αλύσει" (Ephes. 6:20) and "πρεσβεύομεν υπέρ Χριστού" (2 Corinth. 5:20). Semantically, we meet the Intercession of the Saints indirectly through the above analysis of Apostle Paul's sufferings, which are explicitly called sufferings of Christ, and are to be understood as completions (ανταναπληρώσεις) of the sufferings of Christ.

We repeat here again that in the same way Christ's passions gave a right to the mediation, in a similar manner the sufferings of His body, the passions of the Church of Christ, give a right to the intercession, namely the subjective familiarization of the objective sacrifice on Golgotha. Therefore the mediation comes first, the intercession comes second. The intercession of the saints depends on the unique mediation. The intercession is not possible without the mediation. And here lies exactly the difference between the mediation of Christ and the intercession of the Saints.

We discuss the Intercession of the Theotokos here, following upon the theme on Theotokos that was started here.

The problem though, might still be in something else: OK, so we said that the saints hear our prayers. However we know that only God is present everywhere and only He knows our hearts. How come therefore the saints are informed of the prayers of all the Orthodox, who are scattered all over the world, since they are not present everywhere and do not know men's hearts?

We know from the Holy Writ that the saints in heaven receive knowledge of the pleasant or unpleasant events that take place on earth. The fact that we do not know how this is achieved (whether it is through angels, as we read in Revelation 8:4 -- "And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand" --, or through some other means that the Lord only knows) is no reason to deny it!

But where does the Bible mention that the saints in heaven become informed of the happenings on earth?

In many places. The Lord says explicitly in Luke 15:10: "Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth ". Also, in Revelation 6:10 it is mentioned that the souls that had been sacrificed for God's word and were in heaven would "And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham told the rich man: "child, remember that you received your goods during your life and Lazarus the bad things". From this, it is evident that Abraham, while not present everywhere, had known of the specifics of the life the rich man and Lazarus had lived on earth. Also, Abraham tells the rich man regarding his (the rich man's) five brothers: "they have Moses and the prophets to listen to". Abraham died 2000 years BC, Moses with his Law arrived in 1500 BC and the prophets lived from 800 BC onwards. Here is how those in heaven are still informed of the things that happen on earth without being present everywhere. Also, in the 5th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, it is mentioned that Ananias and Sapphirra had decided in secret to say that they had sold their property for less money than they had actually received in payment. When Apostle Peter heard of this lie, he reproached them and they died. Was Apostle Peter present everywhere in order to know of their deceit? A deceit they had only discussed in secret, alone the two of them, away from everyone else?

OK. How can we prove though that those in heaven intercede for us?

Apart from the above analysis, we refer once again the reader to Revelation 6:10 where we meet the souls interceding to God for those done injustice on earth. More Biblical evidence is given on the Chapter on Saints.

For a broader discussion we shall need to examine the Tradition of the first 4 centuries AD Let us therefore examine that now.

THE INTERCESSION OF SAINTS AND THE ANCIENT TRADITION OF THE CHURCH

ORIGEN (185 - 250 AD)

Origen wrote to his opponent Celsus regarding those in heaven as follows:

"Ου μόνον αυτοί ευμενείς τοις αξίοις γίνονται, αλλά και συμπράττουσι τοις βουλομένοις τον επί πάσι Θεόν θεραπεύειν και εξευμενίζονται και συνεύχονται και συναξιούσι. Ώστε τολμάν ημάς λέγειν ότι ανθρώποις μετά προαιρέσεως προτιθιμένοις τα κρείττονα ευχομένοις τω Θεώ μύριαι όσαι άκλητοι συνεύχονται δυνάμεις ιεραί, συμπαρούσαι το επικλήρω ημών γένει και ιν' ούτως είπω συναγωνιώσαι".

Origen also urges his friend Ambrosius to martyrdom reminding him that this way he will be more beneficial to those on earth "παρρησίαν αναλαμβάνων προς το ευεργετείν αυτούς φίλος γενόμενος Θεώ. Τότε γαρ ... συνετώτερον περί αυτών εύξη".

ST. CYPRIAN (200 - 258 AD)

Cyprian wrote to his close friend Cornelius regarding the separation of the body from the soul through death, that the one that had died would find sufficient consolation in the fact that he could now pray in heaven for those he left behind.

"Αναμιμνησκώμεθα αλλήλων. Προσευχόμεθα ο εις υπέρ του άλλου εκατέρωθεν (ο εν ουρανοίς υπέρ του επί γης, ο επί γης υπέρ του εν ουρανοίς). Είτε δε ο εις είτε ο άλλος προπορεύθη τη χάριτι του Θεού ας εξακολουθώμεν αγαπωμένοι ενώπιον του Κυρίου και προσευχόμενοι υπέρ των αδελφών προ του ιλαστηρίου του κοινού Πατρός".

ST. BASIL THE GREAT (330 - 378 AD)

St. Basil hails the holy forty martyrs as follows:

"Ω χορός άγιος, ω σύνταγμα ιερόν, ω συνασπισμός αρραγής, ω κοινοί φύλακες του γένους των ανθρώπων, αγαθοί κοινωνοί φροντίδων, δεήσεις συνεργοί, πρεσβευταί δυνατώτατοι".

ST. GREGORY NAZIANZUS (329 - 390 AD)

St. Gregory sent an epistle to Thekla comforting her ("πείθομαι τα των αγίων ψυχάς των ημετέρων αισθάνεσαι") and said when he laid his father to rest: "πείθομαι, ότι και τη πρεσβεία νυν μάλλον η πρότερον διδασκαλία (παραμυθήσεται ημάς ο μεταστάς) όσω και μάλλον εγγίζει Θεώ τας σωματικάς πέδας αποσεισάμενος και της επιθολούσης το νουν ίλυος απηλλαγμένος και γυμνός γυμνώ εντυγχάνων τω καθαρωτάτω νοϊ". Regarding his friend Basil that had died he said: "Και νυν ο μεν εστίν εν ουρανοίς κακεί υπέρ ημών, ως οίμαι, προσφέρων θυσίας και του λαού προσευχόμενος. Ουδέ γαρ απολιπών ημάς παντάπασιν απολέλοιπεν".

ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA (335 - 394 AD)

St. Gregory says the following words towards a martyr-to-be: "Πρέσβευσον υπέρ της πατρίδος προς τον κοινόν βασιλέα. Υφορώμεθα θλίψει, προσδοκώμεν κινδύνους, ου μακράν οι αλιτήριοι Σκύθαι τον καθ' ημάς ωδίνοντες πόλεμον. Ως στρατιώτης υπερμάχησον, ως μάρτυς χρήσαι τη παρρησία ..., ίνα μη οργιάση κατά νεών και θυσιαστηρίων άθεσμος βάρβαρος. Ημείς γαρ υπέρ ων απαθείς εφυλάχθημεν συλλογιζόμεθα την ευεργεσίαν. Αιτούμεν και του μέλλοντος την ασφάλειαν. Αν χρεία γένηται πλείονος δυσωπίας άθροισον τον χορόν των σων αδελφών, των μαρτύρων, και μετά τούτων δεήθητι".

ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (d. 404 AD)

In his work "Περί του χρησίμως τας προφητείας ασαφείς είναι" he writes: "Έχομεν και ημείς την αγίαν και Θεοτόκον Παρθένον Μαρίαν πρεσβεύουσαν υπέρ ημών".

THE COMMON SENSE

In the words of Clark Carlton from his excellent book "The Faith":

Since the time of the Protestant Reformation, much of Western Christendom has either ignored or rejected outright the intercession of the Mother of God and the Saints for those on earth. In doing so, Protestants have forfeited one of the greatest privileges of being Christians. The Apostle James enjoins us to pray for one another, and in the same verse, explains why: "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16). It is ironic that those who oppose the idea of seeking the intercession of the Saints in heaven have no objections to asking ordinary, sinful Christians to pray for them. But let us consider whose prayers, according to St. James, are more effectual: those Christians still alive on earth struggling with their own sins and problems, or those who have gone on to be with God and are recognised by the Church for their holiness of life?

The Saints are those who have passed through this life in victorious faith and now behold the face of Christ. United with Him in love, they exist in a state of perfect accord with His holy will. Thus, we may be assured that when they pray for us who are on earth, their supplications are in complete harmony with the purposes of God. No longer capable of being deceived by the wiles of the devil, they form a mighty army, joining their will to the will of God and standing firm with us as we fight the good fight of faith. If God hears the prayers of ordinary Christians embroiled in the trials of life (and He certainly does), then how much more does He heed the intercessions of those who have pleased Him most, whom He has called to be with Himself in heaven.

"I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Mt. 22:32). In Christ, death is no longer the impenetrable barrier which separates us from those who have gone before us. Indeed, the writer of Hebrews affirms that the Saints in heaven are aware of what is going on in our lives (Heb. 12:1).

CONCLUSION

We therefore see that intercession exists and is placed between mediation and prayer. It is neither mere praying nor the mediation of Christ. The intercession is not mediation, because it depends on mediation. The unique mediation was first and the intercession follows. Therefore Christ's mediation is independent of the intercession of the saints and comes before it. The intercession of the saints comes after the mediation and depends on it. Without Christ's mediation there can be no intercession of saints. But the intercession of the saints is more powerful than prayer, because it is done by saints who have outspokenness in front of God because of the particular grief and sufferings they had on earth and also because of their full restoration in heaven. Prayer however is broader, and more general.

We can describe the relationship between mediation, intercession and prayer by three concentric rectangles each contained in the other one. The central inner rectangle is occupied by Christ with His unique mediation; He is one and unique, "one mediator between God and men" (1 Tim. 2:5). The next inner rectangle is the intercession of the saints. This is granted to few, according to the "υπέρ Χριστού πρεσβεύομεν" and the "πρεσβεύω εν αλύσει" of Apostle Paul's. These few are the elect on earth leading a pious life and the ones restored in heaven, as the holy Tradition informs us, which we just described. Finally, the outer rectangle is occupied by prayer, which is general and contains every person that prays.

FOOTNOTES

saints = When we speak of "the Saints" here we certainly do not exclude those millions of other saints that are unknown to the Church. This is why the Church commemorates the Feast of "All Saints"; it is done especially for all those Saints that God did not see fit for them to "energize" the Orthodox Consciousness in order to have the various Synods formally canonise them. Nor does it mean that a lot of these unknown Saints are "inferior" in some sense to the other Saints that we know of and ask for their intercessions. It is certain that in the Next Life we are going to learn of many of these unknown Saints. However, we concentrate in this section on talking about those Saints that God saw fit to reveal as Fervent Intercessors for His Church, providing us at the same time with hagiological prototypes of Christian life and ethos (even if these used to be criminals, prostitutes, murderers or deniers of Christ before following Christ's path). Of course, even though we are allowed to intercede to personal family who has left this world in private prayer for our souls (but we also pray for their souls; since we all pray for one another), we cannot insist that our grandmother who lived a holy life in this world and is now in heaven be formally canonised as such by the Church. The Church makes common knowledge what we all already know provided God -- and through His Grace the Saint concerned -- "energize" for the Orthodox Consciousness to accept this particular person into the choir of Her known Saintly figures. Nevertheless, in many families, individual people are sometimes given signs about the holiness of their dearly departed. However these cannot be "forced upon" the whole of the Church unless God sees fit otherwise. Thus amongst the family of one of the people who work for this site, a miracle took place after their grandmother fell asleep a few years back (her body was transformed to the young age of approximately 33 years), as well as a miraculous healing using the vestments of their late grandfather's brother, a very pious priest. Nevertheless that lady and that priest are not "formal" Saints of the Church of course (although they can now be in great places in the Triumphant side of our Church, interceding for their living family and all other people who do not know of them). We all do remember these unknown Saints not only on All Saints but every time we pray alone or in the temple, asking for the intercessions of "the Mother of God, St. George the Great Martyr, etc., etc., and of all the Saints", thus including all of them. You see, dear reader, all Orthodox, alive or deceased are together into one.

Also, many pious and holy elders, such as Elder Paisios of the Holy Mountain, or Elder Porphyrios, who fell asleep not so long ago, have not been canonised yet. Sometimes centuries can pass before a Saint gets canonised. Of course the common knowledge of the people of Greece (even among atheists!) where these elders lived, unanimously accept them as saintly figures. Nevertheless, obedient to Mother Church, we all await in patience and only call these for now using their titles (elder, father) but do not add them to the choir of Saints of the Church arbitrarily. Therefore we see that the mystical union of the Church and Her Saints is kept before and after the canonisation of these saintly figures. We do not await for some "Master Pope" to "arbitrarily" decide who is and who isn't a Saint, based upon his own personal interests and politics. Mother Church, in Her Trinitarian Mystical Unity, decides in the end, and She simply makes common knowledge what every Orthodox in the locality of the Saint already know in their hearts to be true (unless the Saint revealed as such lived a life of secret piety away from people and their saintly state was revealed only after his or her death). It is interesting that Pope John Paul II beatified Aloysius Stepinac in Croatia back in 1999, who even among many of the Roman Catholics who worked under his rule was known as "the butcher of the Serbs".