Recognition of the holiness of a person means “a special acceptance and honour in connection with Christ Jesus that the clergy of a local church spontaneously attributes to some of its deceased members, who stood out for their devotion to God.”
The basic criteria for somebody to become a saint are:
1) a big period to have passed since their life and death,
2) to have proof of the miracles they have done during their life,
3) their relics should remain indestructible or fragrant;
4) to have evidence of their holiness.
Actually, the saints are indicated by the religious people themselves. Besides, until the 15th century, the only criterion for including saints in the Bible diptychs was their recognition by the believers without going through a specific ecclesiastical process. Moreover, there have been occasions when the believers imposed their opinion, as in the sanctification of John Chrysostom. In some cases, however, the opposite happened. A typical example was what happened in Alexandria, where the believers annulled the sanctification of Ammonius.
At the same time, the local metropolitan collects information about the person’s life, and then, with a report to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, he suggests the holy sanctification of a person.
After their recognition, the saints are mentioned in the Divine Liturgy, the date of celebrating their memory is set, and their icons or relics are exposed for pilgrimage.
It is worth noting that for the Church patriotism or heroic acts are not criteria for sanctification. That is why in 2003 a proposal for sanctifying Athanasios Diakos was rejected.
*The article was originally published in Greek in ikivotos.gr