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Robert Coleman
God is Holy and we must live a Holy life.
Brandon of Aotearoa
.:. THE HOLY MAN -- What Is a true "Man of God?"
Dear all friends, thank you so much for choosing to discuss such a special of a subject as this. May God shower you with his blessings and glowing light to reveal the answers you seek.
You ask a noble question, yet the second question is just as important if you wish to discover the answer.
That question is where to look for the answer.
If you wish to discover about what is a "holy man", why not turn to "holy writings" or the holy books? What mere humans can know better?
While this term you seek is found many times all through out the holy books, modern translations might only show the phrase "holy man" twice. The holy books of "The Nevi'im" known in English as "The Prophets" call our respected prophet Elisha a holy man". (2 Kgs 4:9) And the holy books of "the Gospels" call our respected prophet John the Mikva-ist "a holy man". (Mk 6:20)
So if you want to know what the true meaning of what a "holy man" is, you might want to study the life of both of these prophets. Being a holy man has nothing to do with them being perfect, it had to do with them being a man of God or a man who could prove he had God's approval often by miraculous signs.
The old bibles used to translate this word "tzedik" which often can mean the same thing. It also can mean "man of God", but most bible translations now translate it as "the righteous" or the "holy ones". The late KJV translated it "saints".
I hope the blessings of Elisha and St. John go with you, and that Lord willing you might also meet a "holy man" or a real man of God -- someone very close to Him.
This is also where we get the word saint.
I have a fun fact to share from my times in the Holy lands, which is also true in the Near East and anywhere that used to belong to the former Greek Empire of Alexander the Great. You will find that this word culturally has multiple meanings. It can mean the poor, the super religious, those who died for a noble cause, historical heroes and examples young people look up to.
So in the Near Eastern languages which are also closely related to Israel they still hold on to the core meaning of these ancient words being part of the same language family. Both Syriac-Aramaic and Arabic borrow a ton from Ancient Hebrew. And so does Egyptian.
The concept of a "holy one" is equal in this case to the person who is "poor" and living without. It's seen as a special blessing to be poor in this culture, as being salt on the earth.
In Greek culture, the poor beggars are looked at as the ambassadors for God, and this is also true in the Near East.
It can also mean anyone who is "called out" to be separated, and so can refer to all students of the Messiah-prince.
So as you see "holy man" or "zedik" can mean many different things depending on it's context. In other cases it can mean even the angels themselves.
PS: In the Nazareth dialect of Jesus's Aramaic-Syriac, it is said that "holy" also is interchangeably used for jewelry or treasure. Which can give the concept of "holy ones" a even more special meaning. This does not apply to Syriac dialects outside of Nazareth.
Again I pray the blessings of the prophet Elisha and St. John go with you, and that Lord willing you might also meet a "holy man" for yourself one day -- a real man of God or someone very close to Him. It's a very special thing!