The Role of Veneration
I propose a resolution to you the reader on the role of veneration in the Church. The veneration of saints and holy people of the Church should be permitted.
Now to define what I mean. Veneration is defined as respect, honor, giving what is due, etc. It can be expressed through imitation, bowing, kneeling, falling to the ground, a simple nod etc. Saints are those who have died and are in heaven; in another sense saints are those that are the Christian elect mentioned by Paul when he greets his congregations. In case there is a dispute in these terms I also include holy men, or men who have done great works or expressed powerful faith that would deem recognition. So these definitions include holy men that have died and are still living today. The church being the entire Christian community for the Bible is supposed to be guiding force for all churches and denominations. When I say “should” I mean that an action be taken that is not available today, and when I mean “permit” it is understood that religious leaders encourage or at very least allow the proposed behavior to take place.
The criteria for deciding this issue should not be with the famous writings of people in the past or even in the present. Nor should the criteria be in philosophy but in scripture, the Bible. For the Bible is the source in which all denominations can agree is an infallible work, where is traditions and outside writings are different and suspect in the denominations. Clearing your mind of all outside influences let us proceed to look through the Bible and its context concerning this issue.
I begin by proposing veneration to angels and I use an example in Matthew.
Matthew 18:10 Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.
This is the reason to venerate angels for their union and dignity for they see the face of God. I back up my reasoning with several examples in scripture where such veneration occurs.
In Genesis 19:1And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;
Now Lot did not worship the angels but showed them veneration in bowing before them with his face towards the ground. If he had instead worshipped, the angels would have surely rebuked him, but in any case Lot was favored by God because he had great faith.
Joshua 5:14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
The captain being an angel of the Lord, Joshua bows before the figure. Now there may be doubt that perhaps the captain of the host of the Lord is indeed God Himself so I will provide another example.
Tobiah and Tobit fell to the ground in veneration to the angel Raphael in the book Tobit. If you have that book you will find it in Tobit 12:16.
In fairness for those who don’t have this book I have another example.
Daniel 8:16 And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. 17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
But even angels venerate as Gabriel does in Luke 1:28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
But human beings are capable of venerating other human beings. In this example Joseph is an Egyptian governor which commands respect.
Gen. 42:6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
You shall honor the priests, pastors, and ministers of the Lord.
Exodus 28: 2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
You shall honor elderly not only in respect but in caring for them.
Lev. 19:32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.
You shall honor the prophets.
1 Sam. 28:14 And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
You shall honor the king (religious head) as the prophets did.
1 Kings 1:23 And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground
2 Kings 2:15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
1 Chron. 21:21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
1 Chron. 29: 20 And David said to all the congregation, Now bless the LORD your God. And all the congregation blessed the LORD God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and worshipped the LORD, and the king.
Veneration can be used in worship as demonstrated in these verses. Veneration can be used to honor a person but also give honor to God depending on how it is done.
2 Chron. 29: 29 And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped. 30 Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
Sir. 44:1-2 Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation. The Lord hath wrought great glory through his magnificence from the beginning.
1 Macc. 4:40 And they fell face down to the ground on their faces, and they sounded with the trumpets of alarm, and they cried towards heaven.
2 Macc. 10:4 And lying prostrate at the foot of the altar, besought him to be merciful to them, and to be an enemy to their enemies, and an adversary to their adversaries, as the law saith.
2 Macc. 13:12 So when they had all done this together, and had craved mercy of the Lord with weeping and fasting, lying prostrate on the ground for three days continually, Judas exhorted them to make themselves ready.
Although on many occasions the Jewish people bowed before their king, King David himself bowed before the temple of the Lord. It is not worship of the building itself but the presence of God that is being worshiped. I also conclude that the kiss at the Temple wall or the kneeling before it in Jewish culture is the worship of God not the wall itself.
Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
The New Testament also provides examples of veneration to holy men. St. Paul instructs us to give honor where honor is due. Certainly if we are to honor our elected officials, give them tribute when it is asked, it would be my assumption that the same should occur to our religious leaders.
Romans 13:7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
In this string of verses below we have Epaphroditus, a companion of Paul who almost died in sickness. So Paul instructs everyone to rejoice, to receive him in the Lord with gladness. An example to be taken in the Church today, to have glad hearts when a religious leader fights of a sickness or hardship. Also it implies for people to pray to God to assist a religious leader when he is in need.
Phil. 2:25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. 26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. 27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. 28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. 29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
In connection with the kings of the Old Testament St. Peter instructs with this verse.
1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men . Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
The man spoken below is Christ. He is indeed counted more worthy of glory than Moses, at the time the greatest Jewish prophet. However in this very verse it implies that Moses is worthy of some glory in the word “more.” Moses is given the credit for being the house of the Jewish people but God was the one who built it. It is necessary to distinguish the worship of God and veneration towards man.
Hebrew 3:3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
The best way of veneration is imitation. I propose that veneration is not simply bowing or fall down on one’s knees but in imitation of the very people you honor. In this way the apostles showed great veneration to Christ and in turn the followers of the apostles showed them veneration.
1 Cor. 4:16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
1 Cor. 11:1 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.
Phil. 3: 17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
1 Thess. 1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:7 So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
The word “us” refers to the first Christian bishop or teachers worthy of being an example of. For Paul is talking in plural, so it is not just himself that should be imitated but other teachers and Christian leaders.
2 Thess. 3:7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
Imitators of Christian leaders and the saints will inherit the promises of God
Hebrews 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Further examples of how to venerate the elders and teachers of the Church can be found in this verse.
Hebrew 13: 7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Furthermore take heart the trials of those who have spoken in the name of the Lord and take example.
James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
So what does this all mean? Let us go back to the proposed resolution. The resolution being “the veneration of saints and holy people of the Church should be permitted.” If we are agreed on the definitions of what is veneration and what is a saint let us look into how veneration can be expressed.
As shown throughout history veneration has occurred through falling to the ground in which one’s face is very close to the ground, bowing, kneeling, imitation, or simply respect through action and word. Now you may say that the religious leaders of today are more humble than they were thousands of years ago. Perhaps, but I beg to differ with Christian news channels, televisions, fashionable clothes, expensive suits and robes, and fantastically expensive churches. However, I would agree that the average religious leader, the pastor of a single church is indeed a humble man and would not require the congregation to bow in his presence.
That said, is it not more humble for the entire congregation to show respect to the pastor? Now this does not require that respect be in the form of bowing or kneeling before a humble pastor. Respect can be shown in a simple hand shake, a greeting of sort, or perhaps dressing in our best Sunday clothes. A bow is simply deemed “weird’ or out of the ordinary because of cultural differences. It is common in Asian societies for there to be a bow. In a martial arts class a student will bow before the master and bow before the mat before leaving. This is not in itself a worship of the martial arts master or the floor, but respect for the sport and craft taught.
The real controversy is whether the dead should be venerated, the saints of old. Granted that veneration in the form of bowing, kneeling, etc is acceptable as it has been proven to be in the verses above, what is the difference between venerating the dead and the living? Perhaps the dead do not care as a pastor or bishop may care if proper respect is not due.
However, this seems to be a poor argument to totally ignore the dead and our culture proves otherwise. We have tombstones that are decorated with flowers, pictures, and other small objects that remind us of the person who has passed away. We have funerals for the dead. Granted our actions do not matter to the dead, it certainly helps us to realize our own mortality and respect for the life of the person who has died.
So how can one honor the dead other than a tombstone that could be arguably considered to be a statue? One can have a picture, an image of the person who has passed away. I would say that such veneration as kissing a picturing or cherishing old photographs is not worship. I would also say that the kneeling before a tombstone is not worship. I would also say that the statues of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln in Washington DC are not for worship nor is the dead corpse of Lenin in Moscow used for worship.
Nor do I consider the Washington Monument or the Vietnam War wall products of worship but veneration and respect. So when it comes to the statue of a saint how should one go about this? Thus I will go over the expected critique of my work.
A critique can be used with the use of the Deut 5:7, but it can be countered with Ex. 25:18–20, 1 Chr. 28:18–19, and Ezekiel 41:17–18. In the verses mentioned arks, temples, and rooms are decorated with graven images of angels, animals, people etc.
Num. 21:8–9 illustrates the use of an image to save people from poisonous snakes, and it wasn’t taken down until the Jews fell into idolatry in which the righteous King Hezekiah had it destroyed. (2 Kgs. 18:4)
I conclude that a graven image can be good for instruction and veneration as long as it doesn’t become worship. An image of Washington on a dollar bill is veneration but the worship of money is idolatry. Christ used the graven image of Caesar on a coin to make a point that one should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. The use of the coin is very different than the worship of the image on the coin or the worship of money itself.
A little historical context is also helpful for this discussion. Centuries ago people couldn’t read so they were taught by the priests at the time, but statues and other artworks were also used to teach the Gospel to the people. Thus these items became necessary for people to visualize the Gospel, as movies today help us to visualize the Passion of the Christ.
So, if we have paintings, pictures, movies, and soon to be holograms of people in the Gospel why are statues such a problem? Statues remind us of our pagan past, a time we wish we could forget. We want to separate from that past but we can’t because we can see it in the invention of paper in Egypt, the philosophy of the Greeks, the Senate in Rome, and in our own celebration of holidays. As my resolution spells out the Church in general should permit, that does not force but allows the veneration of the saints if not for their sake our own. A civilization that forgets its history will lose its own value and focus.
The King James Bible and the Douay Rheims Bible were used in sourcing the verses.
