Veneration, but not Adoration?
Spyridon says (4:28): Our veneration passes to them, because there is a clear distinction made between veneration and adoration. Adoration belongs to God alone. But all of us venerate to some extent different people, different things. We show honor and respect. And so we venerate our holy images, but we do not adore them as we adore God. It is not worship. Worship belongs to God alone.
David Erhan says (6:48): Some like to argue that the distinction between adoration and veneration, which is crucial to this discussion, does not exist in Christianity it is a made-up distinction. As a matter of fact there is biblical basis for this distinction, and I think one of the clearest parts of this aside from the examples of um holy people and temples being venerated, which I will be talking about in the preceding slides, is Matthew 4 and Luke 4 8. “Then says Jesus unto him, get thee behind me, Satan. For it is written, Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve now.”
The Cathodox claim that they “venerate” images, but that they do not “adore” images, because THAT would be the sin of idolatry. So let’s set the backdrop of this debate: You are saying there’s a huge difference between adoring (which would result in damnation) and venerating (which God REQUIRES from me). If that’s true, there had better be a very clear difference between the two! It better not turn out that these two things are LITERALLY SYNONYMOUS!
This Orthodox website says:
“According to English language definitions, worship and veneration are often considered synonymous with each other. However, in Greek, the original language of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the two are quite distinct. Veneration (Gr. doulia) means showing great respect and love for the holy. It is to treat something or someone with reverence, deep respect, and honor. Most often, we show that honor by kissing the icon of the Saint or briefly bowing before it. While in the West, Protestants might conflate kissing an image or bowing with worship, this association never existed in the Eastern Church. Kissing an image merely conveys love toward the one in the image. Likewise, in many cultures, a bow is merely a respectful way to greet another person.”
The Cathodox translate the Greek word “proskineo” as venerate, and the Greek word “Latria” as “adore. But the oldest English translations of Scripture made by the Cathodox use the word “venerate” and “adore” interchangeably! The Douay-Rheims Bible, which was the Catholic gold standard since 1582 (and the first English translation of the Bible made by the Catholics), translates the Greek word “proskineo” as “adore” in every instance, such as “And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh,” the latter act of giving incense being latreio, by the way (look up quotes from the church fathers saying this offering from the magi was proof of divine worship). Check out their attempt to cope when Abraham “adores” the sons of Heth.
The Eastern Orthodox Bible (EOB) also translates “proskineo” as “adore” in every single instance. In the introduction of the Eastern Orthodox Bible (pp. 24-25). They ADMIT that “proskineo” and “veneration” are synonymous, and they ALSO admit that “proskinesis” and “adoration” are equivalent words! Here is their damning admission:
As the editor of the Acts of the Seventh Ecumenical Council for the Post-Nicene Fathers series observed:[18]
The Council was most explicit in declaring that this was merely a veneration of honor and affection, such as can be given to the creature, and that under no circumstances could the adoration of divine worship be given to them but to God alone. The Greek language has in this respect a great advantage over the Hebrew, the Latin and the English; it has a word which is a general word and is properly used of the affectionate regard and veneration shown to any person or thing, whether to the divine Creator or to any of his creatures, this word is proskunesis; it has also another word which can properly be used to denote only the worship due to the most high, God, this word is latreia. When then the Council defined that the worship of “latria” was never to be given to any but God alone, it cut off all possibility for idolatry, mariolatry, iconolatry, or any other “latry” except “theo-latry.” If therefore any of these other “latrines” exist or ever have existed, they exist or have existed not in accordance with, but in defiance of, the decree of the Second Council of Nicea.
But unfortunately, we have neither in Hebrew, Latin, nor English any word with this restricted meaning, and therefore when it became necessary to translate the Greek acts and the decree, great difficulty was experienced, and by the use of “adoro” as the equivalent of proskuneo many were scandalized, thinking that it was divine adoration which they were to give to the sacred images, which they knew would be idolatry. The same trouble is found in rendering into English the acts and decrees; for while indeed properly speaking “worship” no more means necessarily divine worship in English than “adoratio” does in Latin (e.g. I. Chr. xxix. 20, “All the congregation bowed down their heads and worshiped the Lord and the King” [i.e. Solomon]; Luke xiv. 10, “Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee”), yet to the popular mind “the worship of images” is the equivalent of idolatry.
Nikephoros I said this in his Critique, chapter 12 (speaking about Macarius Magnes):
“12. Indistinctly, the writer has become an unclear judge of his own words, not depending on another for clarity, so that everyone with eyes may see and with ears may hear. Without doubt, he considers the entire discourse to be about idols, not, however, about sacred images, which we Christians, as is proper and as the Church uses, venerate (προσκυνοῦμεν) and revere (σέβομεν). But so that the madness of fools may become more evident…”
12. ἀποχρώντως ὁ συγγραφεὺς κριτὴς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ λόγων ἀκριβὴς γέγονεν, μὴ δεόμενος ἑτέρου πρὸς σαφήνειαν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ ἔχων ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ βλέπειν, καὶ ὦτα τοῦ ἀκούειν ἀναμφιβόλως ἔχῃ περὶ εἰδώλων εἶναι τὸν προκείμενον ἅπαντα λόγον, οὐ μήν τῶν ἱερῶν εἰκόνων ἃς ἡμεῖς Χριστιανοὶ, καθὰ πρέπει καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία χρῆσται, προσκυνοῦμεν καὶ σέβομεν.
That word “σεβάζομαι” (sebazomai) occurs throughout the OT and NT.
Rom 1:18 – For God’s displeasure is being revealed from heaven over all godlessness (ἀσέβειαν) and unrighteousness of men, who, in unrighteousness, blind themselves to the truth.
Romans 1:25 – … Who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped (ἐσεβάσθησαν) and served (λατρεύω) the created thing more than the Creator, who is blessed forever.
But their desperation is manifest from the fact that they appeal to the God-hating Jews as their advocates, who not only openly reject Christ but invent blatantly new traditions of bowing to and kissing objects!
This Orthodox website Pemptoisia tries to clearly define the difference between veneration (proskineo) and adoration (latreio), but they FAIL so badly! I think all a person needs to do is read this article in order to be convinced that there is no difference. Read their definition of veneration and then adoration. Here’s a snippet:
“There is not only a quantitative difference between adoration and veneration—a matter of degree or frequency of praise—but there is a qualitative difference as well. There is a sense of awe—fear and wonder—associated with glorifying God. This is due to His supernatural works and His matchless nature….
Holy Scripture makes it clear that we should fear God rather than men (Isaiah 8:13,13; Luke 12:4,5). Awe is not to be given directly to the saints nor to religious objects; however, indirectly, these things can lead us to be in awe of God as we see how He miraculously works through His creation.
A second qualitative difference is the fact that sacrifices are made to God alone….
Many Protestants erroneously believe lighting candles and burning incense before icons is a type of sacrifice to the saint. While it is true that lighting oil lamps and offering incense were associated with Old Testament sacrifice, it is not true that Orthodox Christians sacrifice those items to the saints. Again, veneration is made to an icon for what it represents. Similarly, lighting candles and burning incense are actions which represent a spiritual reality and as such are directed to God.
Worship is not a matter of physical gestures, but an attitude of the heart….”
Here’s the best refutation of this lie: If worship really were merely an attitude of the heart and not the physical acts of bowing and offering gifts, then there would be no sin in bowing to the image of king Nebuchadnezzar! There would have been no sin in offering incense to the image of the emperor, during the 300 years in which Christians were being arrested and tortured in order to make them deny the faith! Do you really think that all of those people who “adored” the image of king Nebuchadnezzar just LOVED him in their hearts, all while being threatened with suffering a horrific execution if they didn’t obey?
How insane is it to suggest that all of the early Christians who finally broke under pressure and offered incense to the image of the emperor (as a last resort to save their family members from having their flesh pealed off) were madly in love with the emperors! Why would anyone feel love for someone who is threatening to murder their whole family? In reality, the Christians knew full well that the emperor was not God, and so did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego… and yet even the faithful were very tempted to bow and offer sacrifices anyway. It took an immense amount of course and strength to resist the temptation! And why was that? Because they were being threatened with torture if they didn’t perform ACTIONS that would be offensive to their Lord, actions which would constitute a complete denial of the faith.
They call this woman Theodosia of Constantinople a saint, who tried to prevent an officer from destroying an icon by shaking the ladder he was climbing in order to make him fall. After the man died from the fall, the woman was executed. And thus, the Cathodox call her a martyr. That’s right, they kill the LIVING image of God in order to save the DEAD image! This is a perfect illustration and summary of your satanic way of thinking. You put more value on a lifeless image than the living image of God. You’ll command that dead paintings be kissed, but you’ll neglect the command from God to greet each other with a holy kiss.
How absurd that they suggest these icons are holy and necessary for salvation, and then they charge you money to buy them. These are con-men. You’re being i-conned! These people are i-con-artists!