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Home , Latria, Proskynesis, Soli Deo gloria, Veneration

5. [Bracketed numbers are from the Catechism of the ]

Roman Catholic Perspectives

“In Eastern Orthodox and Roman , the term is used for the form of adoration and directed only to the Holy .[9] The term dulia is used for in general and hyperdulia (below latria) for the Mary.[10] The definition of the three level hierarchy of latria, hyperdulia and dulia goes back to the in 787.” −Wikipedia (Soli_Deo_Gloria)

“Latria vs. Dulia and Hyperdulia Latria is sacrificial in character, and may be offered only to . Catholic and Orthodox Christians offer other degrees of reverence to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Saints; these non-sacrificial types of reverence are called hyperdulia and dulia, respectively. In English, dulia is also called . Hyperdulia is essentially a heightened degree of dulia provided only to the Blessed Virgin.

This distinction, written about as early as and St , was detailed more explicitly by in his Summa Theologiae, A.D. 1270: "Reverence is due to God on account of His Excellence, which is communicated to certain creatures not in equal measure, but according to a measure of proportion; and so the reverence which we pay to God, and which belongs to latria, differs from the reverence which we pay to certain excellent creatures; this belongs to dulia, and we shall speak of it further on (103)"; in this next article St. Thomas Aquinas writes: "Wherefore dulia, which pays due service to a human lord, is a distinct from latria, which pays due service to the Lordship of God. It is, moreover, a species of observance, because by observance we honor all those who excel in dignity, while dulia properly speaking is the reverence of servants for their master, dulia being the Greek for servitude".” −Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latria

“Veneration towards those who were considered holy began in early , with the first being given special honor. Official church commemoration of saints in Rome beginning as early as 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 or glorification process.

Roman Catholic, Orthodox In Roman Catholic and Orthodox theology, veneration is a type of honor distinct from the adoration due to God alone. According to Deacon Dr. Mark Miravelle, of Franciscan University of Steubenville, the English word "" has been associated with both veneration and adoration:

As St. Thomas Aquinas explains, adoration, which is known as latria 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. Although we see in English a broader usage of the word “adoration” which may not refer to a form of worship exclusive to God—for example, when a husband says that he “adores his wife”—in general it can be maintained that adoration is the best English denotation for the worship of latria.

Veneration, known as dulia 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. We see a general example of veneration in events like the awarding of academic awards for excellence in school, or the awarding of olympic medals for excellence in sports. There is nothing contrary to the proper adoration of God when we offer the appropriate honor and recognition that created persons deserve based on achievement in excellence.

We must make a further clarification regarding the use of the term “worship” in relation to the categories of adoration and veneration. 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.

Church theologians have long adopted the terms latria for the type of worship due to God alone, and dulia and for the veneration given to , saints, and . Catholic and Orthodox theologies also include the term hyperdulia for the type of veneration specifically paid to Mary, mother of , in Catholic and Orthodox traditions. This distinction is spelled out in the dogmatic conclusions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787), which also decreed that , i.e. forbidding icons and their veneration, a central to the Iconoclastic controversy, is a that amounts to a denial of the of Jesus.

Now, the Roman Catholic tradition has a well established philosophy for the veneration of the Virgin Mary via the field of with Pontifical schools such as the specifically devoted to this task.

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Protestant In Protestant churches, veneration is sometimes considered to amount to the heresy of , and the related practice of canonization amounts to the heresy of . 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 from its true object, the worship of God. In his Institutes of the Christian , 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". −Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veneration

Reformer Perspectives

“Soli Deo gloria, or "glory to God alone", stands in opposition to the veneration or "cult" perceived by many to be present in the Roman Catholic Church of Mary the mother of Jesus, the saints, or angels. Soli Deo gloria is the teaching that all glory is to be due to God alone, since is accomplished solely through His will and action — not only the gift of the all-sufficient atonement of Jesus on the cross but also the gift of in that atonement, created in the heart of the believer by the Holy . The reformers believed that human beings —even saints canonized by the Roman Catholic Church, the popes, and the ecclesiastical hierarchy— are not worthy of the glory that was accorded them; that is, one should not exalt such humans for their good works, but rather praise and give glory to God who is the author and sanctifier of these people and their good works. It is not clear the extent to which such inappropriate veneration is actually approved by the Roman Catholic Church and so the extent to which this Sola is one of justified opposition is unclear. The Roman Catholic's official position, for example as described in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, make it clear that God alone is deserving of glory.” −Wikipedia (Five_solae)

“The reclaimed the Scriptural teaching of the sovereignty of God over every aspect of the believer's life. All of life is to be lived to the glory of God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, "What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." This great and all consuming purpose was emphasized by those in the 16th and 17th Centuries who sought to reform the church according to the Word of God. In contrast to the monastic division of life into versus secular perpetuated by Roman Church, the reformers saw all of life to be lived under the Lordship of Christ. Every activity of the Christian is to be sanctified unto the glory of God.” −http://www.fivesolas.com/5solas.htm

“The glory of God is the holiness of God put on display. That is, it is the infinite worth of God made manifest. Notice how Isaiah shifts from “holy” to “glory”: “Holy, holy, holy is of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isa. 6:3). When the holiness of God fills the earth for people to see, it is called glory….

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But this definition must be qualified. The also speaks of God’s glory before it is revealed in creation. For example, Jesus prays, “Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). So I would suggest a definition something like this: God’s glory is the outward radiance of the intrinsic beauty and greatness of His manifold perfections….

“The glory of God” is a way to say that there is an objective, absolute to which all human wonder, awe, veneration, praise, honor, acclaim, and worship is pointing. We were made to find our deepest pleasure in admiring the infinitely admirable—the glory of God. This glory is not the psychological projection of unsatisfied human longing onto reality. On the contrary, inconsolable human longing is evidence that we were made for God’s glory….

The glory of God is the goal of all things (1 Cor. 10:31; Isa. 43:6–7). The great mission of the church is to declare God’s glory among the nations. “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!” (Ps. 96:1–3; Ezek. 39:21; Isa. 66:18– 19).” −Pastor John Piper (http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/soli-deo-gloria/)

 Selected Quotes:

“Soli Deo Gloria—“to God alone be the glory.” This was one of the “solas” of the Reformation. Like , , and , this credo of the Reformation has fallen on hard times. Today many who benefit from the work of the Reformers stand firmly against what the Reformers believed about the sovereignty and glory of God as they pertain to salvation and the spiritual deadness of sinful man. While the Reformers openly proclaimed a God-glorifying monergism (the belief that God’s grace alone is able to raise dead, rebellious sinners to spiritual life without their cooperation), many now take the position of the Reformers’ opponents by preaching synergism, the concept that God’s grace is incapable of accomplishing salvation without the assistance and cooperation of man.

As a Reformed Baptist, I firmly believe in God’s absolute sovereignty over all things,1 man’s slavery to sin (including our inability to please God, as well as our spiritual deadness in sin),2 and the inevitable result of these truths, which is the unconditional electing grace of God. In light of God’s timeless sovereignty over all creation and man’s corruption in sin, God’s election of a people unto salvation must result, as Scripture says, in election finding its basis not in the creature but in the merciful purpose of God alone.” − James R. White and George Bryson (http://www.equip.org/article/what-is-soli-deo- gloria/)

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From Christian History magazine:

Worship Before and After How the reformers radically changed Christian worship in Scotland. by JAMES KIRK

In Scotland, the reformers took a radical, root-and-branch approach toward worship. They brought changes much more radical than in other . Lutherans in Germany and Anglicans in England, for example, sought to retain a great deal of the medieval liturgy. Not the Scottish reformers. They obliterated what they saw as the clutter of nonessentials in late medieval religion: making oral confession of sins, invoking Mary and the saints, venerating relics, using images, believing in purgatory, saying masses for the dead, obtaining indulgences, and making to . The was denounced as idolatrous (it appeared to involve the worship of a wafer), and blasphemous (it detracted from Christ’s unique at Calvary). The Scottish reformers consistently called for return to, in ’s words, “the grave and godly face of the primitive church.” As a result, the liturgy of the pre-Reformation church and the patterns of Protestant worship could scarcely have been more different.

Attending Mass At the heart of the medieval Scottish liturgy was the Mass. Several ministers stood in attendance at the , amid rich ceremony, organ music and choristers, incense, and flickering candles offered to images. Elaborate polyphonic music, which a professional choir alone could master, provided a suitably ornate setting for the solemn celebration and devotion of high Mass. In St. Machar’s Cathedral in Aberdeen, the enlarged choir included twenty vicars choral, two deacons, two subdeacons, two acolytes, and a master of the songschool to train the choristers. A high sung Mass could be found daily in cathedrals, wealthy collegiate churches, and abbeys. In a great cathedral church like St. Machar’s in Aberdeen, were said throughout the day. At the canonical hours of matins and lauds (before dawn), prime, terce, sext, none, vespers, and compline, clergy offered , penitence, and praise on behalf of the people. An alternative to the elaborate and lengthy high Mass was low Mass. The bulk of parish churches up and down the land were simple, often impoverished and unadorned, rural churches. There was neither choir nor music, and simpler services were conducted by a single priest and a clerk who made the responses. In either high or low form, prevailing practice excluded the people: they were passive spectators and listeners in a rite the clergy said in Latin. Even their view of the priest’s actions at the altar was obscured because the celebrant turned eastward, his back to the congregation, until the elevation of the consecrated elements of bread and wine, the miraculous and awesome moment when the congregation might adore what they believed

JAMES KIRK JAMES KIRK is professor in the department of Scottish history at the University of Glasgow. He is author of Patterns of Reform: Continuity and Change in the Reformation (T.&T. Clark, 1989).

5 was the body of Christ present on the altar. Frequently, the priest was the only one to receive Communion (except on Easter, the main occasion for lay Communion). At such masses, the people’s attendance could not be taken for granted: the provincial council of Catholic clergy meeting at Edinburgh in 1552 lamented how “very few indeed out of the most populous parishes deign to be present at the sacrifice of holy Mass on the Sundays and the other double festivals appointed by the church.” At the same time, the belief that the sacrifice offered at each Mass removed venial sin (just as the sacrifice at Calvary did away with mortal sin) encouraged the proliferation of private masses. In Edinburgh, St. Giles’s Church had more than forty dedicated to Mary and the saints before which priests, silently or in low voices, said masses privately for particular , that they might escape torment after death. The more masses purchased, the greater the perceived benefits for the souls of the living and the dead. This emphasis transformed the corporate action of the into individual priestly offerings.

Cleaning House Protestant activists in Scotland embarked on a concerted campaign of iconoclasm— smashing and removing religious images, which they associated with idolatry—and of purging churches of altars, statues, crucifixes, carvings, bells, pictures, , , organs, and chalices—all the symbols they identified with Rome. They hoped to purify worship by eliminating all accretions considered to be false or detracting from the honor that God alone deserved. For John Knox, one Mass was more fearful than ten thousand armed enemies. In 1559, his inflammatory sermon at Perth against idolatry and the “abomination of the Mass” ended in disorder and the purging of St. John’s Kirk. At the height of the struggle, abbeys and friaries were ransacked, churches despoiled, and their contents removed (though care was taken to preserve the buildings of parish churches for Protestant worship). As the reformed congregations met for worship, out went Latin services, altars and unleavened wafers, the cult of Mary and the saints, holy days and feast days, prayers for the dead, belief in purgatory, crucifixes, elaborate , eucharistic vestments, organs, and choristers, the plainsong of great churches and the silence of poor churches. In came a simple service based on preaching, Bible study, prayers, and metrical psalms sung to common tunes. The people were no longer passive spectators but were actively encouraged to sing God’s praise as part of their worship. Seated at tables, they received both wine and bread at Communion. This rebellion of the pious in worship was dramatic and far-reaching. By discarding the medieval liturgy, with all its visual and clerical emphases, the reformers reordered worship and focused attention on the actions of the whole congregation of believers. −Kirk—Christian History Magazine, Issue 46: John Knox & the Scottish Reformation

“For five hundred years protestant Christians have summed up the in terms of the five “solas” which is Latin for “only” or “alone.” And all I do in giving you this summary is

6 add one that is implicit in the others. So in these historical forms I would define the gospel like this:

As revealed with final authority in Scripture alone the Gospel is the good news that by faith alone through grace alone on the basis of Christ alone for the glory of God alone sinners have full and final joy in God alone.

All these affirmations are grounded in the Bible.

• Scripture alone is the final authority for revealing and defining the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:9): “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” The apostolic delivery of the gospel is final and decisive. • By faith alone (Romans 3:28): “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Faith plus nothing is the way we receive the gift of . • Through grace alone (Ephesians 2:5, 8–9): “When we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—… For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” • On the basis of Christ alone (Hebrews 7:27): “Christ has no need, like those high priests, to offer daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” (See Hebrews 9:12; 10:10). Once for all and decisively. Nothing can be added to the work of Christ to cover our sins and that work cannot be repeated. • For the glory of God alone (Ephesians 1:6): “God predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ … to the praise of the glory of his grace.” God saved us in such a way that there would be no human boasting (Ephesians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 1:26–31), but all would show his glory. • “Full and final joy in God alone (Psalm 16:11; 73:25f): “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” −Piper, J. (2014). Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014). Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God.

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RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

Books:

Charts of Reformation and Enlightenment Church History, by John D. Hannah. Published by Zondervan. ISBN: 0-310-23317-8

The Essential Catholic Handbook. Ligouri Publications. ISBN: 0-89243-910-6

Web Sites:

•Great article on “Indulgences” http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07783a.htm

•Good source for quotes, etc. http://www.christian-history.org/martin-luther-sola-fide-quotes.html http://www.fivesolas.com/ http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/soli-deo-gloria/

Movie:

DVD available from Amazon for $8.04.

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