Every day of the church year is marked by the memory of saints. We come across references to the saints in the pages of Scripture. We celebrate the memory of the apostles, the martyrs, the righteous reverend, holy bishops, pious rulers, and so on. Local churches themselves perform canonizations with various frequency. But, as often happens in the history of theology, the meaning of holiness, of what is meant by “you are a holy nation,” has been transformed since the apostolic era.