Veneration (Latin:veneratio;Greek:τιμάωtimáō),[a] orveneration of saints, is the act of honoring asaint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree ofsanctity orholiness.[1]Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Veneration of saints is practiced, formally or informally, by adherents of some branches of allmajor religions, includingChristianity,Judaism,[2]Hinduism,[3]Islam,[4]Buddhism[1][3] andJainism.
Within Christianity, veneration is practiced by groups such as theCatholic Church,Eastern Orthodox Church, and theOriental Orthodox Church, all of which have varying types ofcanonization orglorification processes. In Catholicism and Orthodoxy, veneration is shown outwardly by respectfullykissing, bowing or making thesign of the cross before a saint'sicon,relics, or statue, or by going onpilgrimage to sites associated with saints. TheLutheran Churches andAnglican Churches commemorate saints on feast days throughout theliturgical year and often name churches after saints.[5][6] In general, veneration is not practiced byReformed Christians andJehovah's Witnesses, as many adherents of both groups believe the practice amounts toidolatry.
Hinduism has a long tradition of veneration of saints, expressed toward variousgurus and teachers of sanctity, both living and dead. Branches of Buddhism include formal liturgical worship of saints, withMahayana Buddhism classifying degrees of sainthood.[1][3]
In Islam, veneration of saints is practiced by some of the adherents of traditionalIslam (Sufis, for example), and in many parts of places like Turkey, Egypt, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.[7][8] Other sects, such asWahhabists etc., abhor the practice.[9]
In Judaism, there is no classical or formal recognition of saints, but there is a long history of reverence shown toward biblical heroes and martyrs. Jews in some regions, for example in Morocco, have a long and widespread tradition of saint veneration.[1][2][3]
In major Buddhist traditions,Theravada andMahayana, those who have achieved a high degree ofenlightenment are recognized asarhats. Mahayana Buddhism particularly gives emphasis to the power of saints to aid ordinary people on thepath to enlightenment. Those who have reached enlightenment, and have delayed their own complete enlightenment in order to help others, are calledBodhisattvas. Mahayana Buddhism has formal liturgical practices for venerating saints, along with very specific levels of sainthood.Tibetan Buddhists venerate especially holylamas, such as theDalai Lama, as saints.[1][3]
Veneration towards those who were considered holy began inearly Christianity, with themartyrs first being given special honor. Official commemoration of saints in churches began as early as thefirst century. Theapostle Paul mentioned saints by name in his writings.[10] Icons depicting saints were created in the catacombs. TheOrthodox Church of Byzantium began official church commemoration very early and even in Rome, commemoration is documented in the third century. Over time, the honor also began to be given to those Christians who lived lives of holiness and sanctity. Various denominations venerate and determine saints in different ways, with some having a formal canonization or glorification process. It is also the first step to becoming a saint.[1]
Christian theologians have long adopted the termslatria for the type of worship due to God alone, anddulia andproskynesis for the veneration given to angels, saints, relics and icons.[b]
Catholic andEastern Orthodox theologies also include the termshyperdulia andprotodulia for the types of veneration, the former specifically paid to theVirgin Mary, while the latter toSaints Joseph andJohn the Baptist.[11][15] The Roman Catholic theologianThomas Aquinas specifies thathyperdulia is the same type of veneration asdulia, only given in a greater degree; both remain distinct fromlatria.[17]
In Catholicism, veneration is a type of honor distinct from thetrue worship (veritable adoration), which is due to God alone. According to Mark Miravelle, of theFranciscan University of Steubenville, the English word "worship" has been associated with both veneration and adoration:
AsThomas Aquinas explained, adoration, which is known aslatria in classical theology, is the worship and homage that is rightly offered to God alone. It is the manifestation of submission, and acknowledgement of dependence, appropriately shown towards the excellence of an uncreated divine person and to his absolute Lordship. It is the worship of the creator that God alone deserves.
Veneration, known asdulia in classical theology, is the honor and reverence appropriately due to the excellence of a created person. Excellence exhibited by created beings likewise deserves recognition and honor.
Historically, schools of theology have used the term "worship" as a general term which included both adoration and veneration. They would distinguish between "worship of adoration" and "worship of veneration". The word "worship" (in a similar way to how the liturgical term "cult" is traditionally used) was not synonymous with adoration, but could be used to introduce either adoration or veneration. Hence Catholic sources will sometimes use the term "worship" not to indicate adoration, but only the worship of veneration given to Mary and the saints.[18]
According to theCatechism of the Catholic Church:
The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype", and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it". The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration", not the adoration due to God alone:
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.[19]
In theRoman Catechism, a more lengthy statement onThe Honour and Invocation of the Saints is available.[20]
Catholic tradition has a well established philosophy for theveneration of Mary in the Catholic Church via the field ofMariology with Pontifical schools such as theMarianum specifically devoted to this task.[21][22]
For the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in addition to the dogma of her Divine Motherhood,[23] theMother of God "Theotokos" was the subject of three otherdogmas:
Protodulia is the special veneration given to Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, withinJosephology. This veneration of Saint Joseph is distinct from hyperdulia, which is reserved for Mary, andlatria, the worship due to the God alone.[24]
While Saint Joseph is venerated for his role in theHoly Family, the title of protodulia signifies that among the saints, he holds a unique and preeminent place, second only to Mary. The Church regards him as a powerful intercessor and protector of the Church, and his virtues—obedience, humility, and care for Jesus and Mary—are celebrated.
The theological grounding for protodulia is rooted in several papal documents and the long-standing tradition of the Church:
In the Catholic Church, there are many different forms of veneration of saints, such as a pilgrimages (e.g. those ofSaint Peter's tomb (Vatican),Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua (Italy),Santiago de Compostela Cathedral (Spain), orChurch of the Holy Sepulchre (Israel)). It is also usual to make a pilgrimage to places associated with the life of a saint, such as theCave of Santo Hermano Pedro (Spain), theCave of the Apocalypse (Greece) or theAya Tekla Church (Turkey). Veneration of images and relics;Lord of Miracles (Peru), theVirgin of Guadalupe andSaint Jude Thaddaeu (Mexico),Holy Dexter (Hungary),Reliquary of the Three Kings (Germany), etc.
In theSyriac Orthodox Church liturgical service, theHail Mary is pronounced as a prefatory prayer after theOur Father, and before the priest's entrance to the chancel.[29] The name of the Blessed Virgin Mary has also been probably used for thesanctification of altars, above the name of all other saints.[30]
In theEastern Orthodox Church, veneration of the saints is an important element of worship. Most services are closed with the words “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!"[31] and would usetroparions andkontakions to venerate the saint of the day.[32] This practice of venerating saints both through praise and by means of theiricons is defended inJohn Damascene's bookOn Holy Images,[33] and was the subject of theSecond Council of Nicaea.
Lutheranism andAnglicanism allow the veneration of saints in a manner similar to Catholicism.[34][35] Throughout theliturgical year, the Lutheran and Anglican churches commemorate feast days that honour the saints. Churches are named in honour of the saints.
InReformed churches, veneration is sometimes considered to amount to the sin ofidolatry, and the related practice ofcanonization amounts to the heresy ofapotheosis. Reformed theology usually denies that any real distinction between veneration andworship can be made, and claims that the practice of veneration distracts the Christian soul from its true object, the worship of God. In hisInstitutes of the Christian Religion,John Calvin writes that "(t)he distinction of what is calleddulia andlatria was invented for the very purpose of permitting divine honours to be paid to angels and dead men with apparent impunity".[36]
In terms of veneratingrelics of saints, two verses are frequently mentioned:
'Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.' (2 Kings 13:21,NIV).
'God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.' (Acts 19:11, 12,NIV).
ThedeuterocanonicalBook of Sirach also briefly discusses venerating the memory of patriarchs and prophets: "Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation" (44:1). "And their names continue for ever, the glory of the holy men remaining unto their children" (44:15)[37]
St.Augustine, St.Ambrose, and others, give accounts of miracles that occurred at the graves of St.Stephen, St.Felix of Nola, St.Gervasius, and many others, in post-Biblical times. Such miraculous events are seen as divine favor for the veneration of relics.[38]
Hinduism has a longstanding and living tradition of reverence towardsants (saints) andmahatmas (ascended masters), with the line often blurring between humanity and divinity in the cases ofgodmen and godwomen. TheBhakti movements popularized devotion to saintly figures such assadhus,babas, andgurus as models showing the way to liberation.[1][3][39]
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Islam has had a rich history of veneration of saints (often calledwali, which literally means "Friend [of God]"),[40] which has declined in some parts of the Islamic world in the twentieth century due to the influence of the various streams ofSalafism. InSunni Islam, the veneration of saints became a very common form of religious celebration early on,[40] and saints came to be defined in the eighth-century as a group of "special people chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles."[41] The classical Sunni scholars came to recognize and honor these individuals as venerable people who were both "loved by God and developed a close relationship of love to Him."[41] The vast majority of saints venerated in the classical Sunni world were theSufis, who were all Sunni mystics who belonged toone of the four orthodox legal schools of Sunni law.[42]
Veneration of saints eventually became one of the most widespread Sunni practices for more than a millennium, before it was opposed in the twentieth century by theSalafi movement, whose various streams regard it as "being both un-Islamic and backwards ... rather than the integral part of Islam which they were for over a millennium."[43] In a manner similar to theProtestant Reformation,[44] the specific traditional practices which Salafism has tried to curtail in both Sunni andShia contexts include those ofthe veneration of saints,visiting their graves,seeking their intercession, andhonoring their relics. As Christopher Taylor has remarked: "[Throughout Islamic history] a vital dimension of Islamic piety was the veneration of Muslim saints.... [due, however to] certain strains of thought within the Islamic tradition itself, particularly pronounced in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries ... [some modern day] Muslims have either resisted acknowledging the existence of Muslim saints altogether or have viewed their presence and veneration as unacceptable deviations."[45]
WhileOrthodox andOrganized Judaism do not countenance the veneration of saints per se, veneration and pilgrimage to burial sites of holyJewish leaders is an ancient part of the tradition.[46]
It is common for some Jews to visit the graves of many righteous Jewish leaders.[47] The tradition is particularly strong among Moroccan Jews, and Jews of Sephardi descent, although also by some Ashkenazi Jews as well. This is particularly true in Israel, where many holy Jewish leaders are buried. TheCave of the Patriarchs inHebron,Rachel's Tomb inBethlehem and that of Maimonides in Tiberius are examples of burial sites that attract large pilgrimages in the Near East.[1][2] In America, the only such example is the grave site of RabbiMenachem Mendel Schneerson, at theOhel, in the cemetery in Queens where he is buried alongside his father-in-law. During his lifetime, Schneerson himself would frequently visit the gravesite (Ohel) of his father-in-law, where he would read letters and written prayers, and then place them on the grave.[48] Today, visitors to thegrave of Schneerson include Jews of Orthodox, Reform and Conservative background, as well as non-Jews.[49][50] Visitors typically recite prayers of psalms and bring with them petitions of prayers written on pieces of paper which are then torn and left on the grave.[51][52][53]
In Jainism, it recognizes thetirthankaras, which are beings who have achieved transcendence and liberation (moksha) and are, therefore, teachers who taught the Jain path. Away from theevolution of the cosmos and thecosmic event, they do not intervene in any way in it; they serve only as examples to follow.[54] The latter is manifested in the offering ceremonies (devapuja), which constitute more of a renunciation on the part of the believer than a surrender, since the tirthankaras are totally indifferent to the affairs of men and the Jains assume that they are indifferent to them.
Although frequently characterized as the mystical component of Islam, there are also "Folklorist" Sufis, and the "Traditional" Sufis...Sufism is characterized by the veneration of local saints and by brotherhoods that practice their own rituals.
In its popular form, Sufism is expressed mainly through the veneration of saints...South Asia is littered with the tombs of those saints. They include great medieval monuments, like the 13th-century shrine of KhwajaMoinuddin Chisti, founder of South Asia's pre-eminent Sufi order, inAjmer. But for every famous grave, there are thousands of roadside shrines, jutting into Delhi's streets, or sprinkled across the craggy deserts of southern Pakistan.
while most Sunnis view them as fellow, though possibly misguided, Muslims, Shiites are regarded as infidels by the Saudi religious establishment, which adheres to the ultraconservative and austere variation of Sunni faith known as Wahhabism. Saudi religious leaders see the Shiite veneration of saints and shrines, celebration of the prophet Muhammad's birthday and other rituals as sinful.
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