Veneration

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In Christianity, veneration (Latin veneratio, Greek δουλια dulia), or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: a dead person who has been identified as singular in the traditions of the religion, and through them honoring God who made them and in whose image they are made. It is practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and some members of the Anglican Communion, Veneration is often shown outwardly by respectfully bowing or making the sign of the cross before a saint's icon, relics, or statue. These items may also be kissed.

In Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglo Catholic theology, veneration is a type of honor distinct from the worship due to God alone. Church theologians have long adopted the terms latria for the sacrificial worship due to God alone, and dulia for the veneration given to saints and icons. Catholic theology also includes the term hyperdulia for the type of veneration specifically paid to Mary, mother of Jesus, in Catholic tradition. This distinction is spelled out in the dogmatic conclusions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787), which also decreed that iconoclasm (forbidding icons and their veneration) is a heresy that amounts to a denial of the incarnation of Jesus.

Possible veneration of an angel can be found in Joshua 5:14:

And he said, "Nay, but as captain of the host of the LORD have I now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said unto him, "What saith my lord unto his servant?" (21st Century KJV)

[edit] Other religious traditions

In Protestantism, as well as monotheistic religions such as Islam and Judaism, veneration is sometimes considered to amount to the heresy of idolatry, and the related practice of canonization amounts to the heresy of apotheosis. Protestant theology usually denies that any real distinction between veneration and worship can be made, and claims that the practice of veneration distracts the Christian soul from its true object, the worship of God. In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin writes that "(t)he distinction of what is called dulia and latria was invented for the very purpose of permitting divine honours to be paid to angels and dead men with apparent impunity." Likewise, Islam also condemns any veneration of icons. The Hindu honoring of icons and murtis, often seem as idolatory, may also be looked upon as a kind of veneration.

In the tradition of Green theology (or Creation-centered theology) animals, plants, and other parts of nature may be said to be venerated simply by taking good care of them, thereby showing honor and respect for God who made them. Creation, being regarded as an icon of the Creator, is a valid object of veneration.

Philologically, to venerate derives from the Latin verb, venerare, meaning to regard with reverence and respect. This word derives from the same root as the name Venus, the goddess of love of the ancient Roman pantheon.