ALL SAINTS SERVICES TO HONOR MEMORY OF DEPARTED LOVED ONES.

Byline: Tracy Valeri Daily News Staff Writer

Halloween is over and the ``real'' holiday - the antithesis of the one that causes people everywhere to dress up as monsters, witches, ghouls and vampires - will be observed throughout the San Fernando Valley and the world Sunday.

All Saints Day, a time for Christians to remember loved ones who are living or deceased, will be celebrated throughout the Southland.

St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Glendale, the Church of the Foothills in Sylmar and Gethsemane Lutheran Church in La Crescenta will be among the many Christian congregations that will have special services memorializing the saints who have been instrumental in sharing the gospel, God's promise of salvation through Christ.

``Sainthood according to the Lutherans is not restricted to the saintly,'' according to the Rev. Samuel G. Platts of Church of the Foothills, where the names of saints will be included in prayers and people will be able to say something about their deceased loved ones after the service.

St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Glendale will have a service titled ``The Great Multitude'' with candles being lit in memory of the departed.

Gethsemane Lutheran Church in La Crescenta will have worshipers speaking their thanksgivings aloud for significant Christians who have helped perpetuate Christianity.

``All Saints Day,'' according to Gethsemane's the Rev. John W. Rieck, ``is a time to remember the people whom God has given the church to build it and keep it going through the centuries.''

According to Christian Research Institute International, before the birth of Christ, the day we now know as Halloween was part of a Celtic feast commemorating the beginning of winter, when the veil between the living and the dead was pierced.

It was believed that on this night demons, witches, hobgoblins and elves were released en masse to harass and oppress the living.

Consequently, many people would dress up as devils and ghouls to make themselves immune from attack - from where we get our tradition of costumes.

In response to this tradition, the early Christian church moved a celebration called All Saints Day from May to November 1 and renamed it All Hallows' Eve, where the word Halloween comes from, the ``holiday'' celebrated the evening before.

This was an attempt on the part of early Christians to infiltrate pagan traditions with the truth of the resurrection, a move designed to demonstrate that only Christ could protect people from the ploys of Satan.

The Roman Catholic Church traditionally has given sainthood status to biblical notables like the apostle Paul and Mary, the mother of Jesus; those who have been formally recognized as being worthy of honor.

But sainthood has also been attributed by Catholics to those who have followed Christ with ``heroic virtue'' and those on Earth or in heaven who have been justified by Christ.

The reformed Protestant Church defines saints simply as all who believe in Christ, whether living or dead.