Worship? Latria is given to God alone; dulia is paid to the saints & hyperdulia to the Blessed Virgin Mary.?

Question

Latria is a Greek term used in Catholic theology to mean adoration, which is the highest form of worship or reverence and is directed only to the Holy Trinity.

Latria is sacrificial in character, and may be offered only to God. Catholics 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. Hyperdulia is essentially a heightened degree of dulia provided only to the Blessed Virgin.

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.

Veneration is a religious symbolic act giving honor to someone by honoring an image of that person, particularly applied to saints.

The Blessed Virgin, as manifesting in a sublimer manner than any other creature the goodness of God, deserves from us a higher recognition and deeper veneration than any other of the saints; and this peculiar cultus due to her because of her unique position in the Divine economy, is designated in theology hyperdulia, that is dulia in an eminent degree. It is unfortunate that neither our own language nor the Latin possesses in its terminology the precision of the Greek. The word latria is never applied in any other sense than that of the incommunicable adoration which is due to God alone. But in English the words adore and worship are still sometimes used, and in the past were commonly so used, to mean also inferior species of religious veneration and even to express admiration or affection for persons living upon the earth. So David "adored" Jonathan. In like manner Miphiboseth "fell on his face and worshipped" David (2 Samuel 9:6).

Answer 1

God is only one of the names given to it; and in fact not a very good name because the very word gives you an idea of a person, while there is no person but only a presence, there is godliness in existence but no God. Once we understand that, our efforts to reach to truth change radically, then worship becomes irrelevant, then prayer is not of much use, then the only way we can attain to the ultimate experience is through meditation and love -- meditation when you are alone, love when you are together. Meditation is the inner side of love, and love is the outer side of meditation.

Answer 2

Latria is for the Trinity alone. Worship in modern English. Adoration in Latin.
Hyperdualia or supreme honor to the Mother of God the Blessed Virgin.
Dualia, honor to the Saints.

Answer 3

This is Catholic doctrine at it`s best and while non-Catholics can rage against it they cannot fault it`s pure logic.
(Greek doulia; Latin servitus), a theological term signifying the honour paid to the saints, by this dulia or honor it is specifically meant to single out those who have as St.Paul puts it have run the race and crossed the finish line having lived the Gospels values with an intense love and obedience to God, and so are to be held up as examples of such.

Answer 4

I agree whole-heartedly!!

There is nothing wrong with the honor given to Mary and the Saints. It is not worship and just because others think it is does not, and cannot make it so.

Answer 5

How could the father and son be worshipped and not the mother that made them? Makes no sense. And you forgot to explain the definition of dulia.

Answer 6

Many non-Catholics have been trained from childhood to believe that one of the clear proofs of the falsity of Catholicism is to be found in the honor that is paid to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church, and in the innumerable trusting prayers that are offered to her by Catholics. At the same time it is true that many non-Catholics, when they learn what are the genuine foundations of Catholic devotion to Mary, are drawn by it so irresistibly that ultimately they become Catholics. For the truth is very simple and clear, and is all contained in the following two truths.

1. Mary is the Mother of God (Luke 1:43). Catholics do not believe that God was bound by any compulsion to have a Mother; they believe that He chose to have a Mother and all that this implies. He chose to permit His human body to be formed in her womb (Luke 1:35).

He chose to permit her to bring Him forth as a tiny baby into the world. He chose to let her feed Him at her breast, carry Him in her arms, guard Him from danger, and teach Him as any child would be taught, to walk and speak and pray. He thereby chose to grant Mary a power over Him that only love can bestow (Luke 2:51). Catholics believe that in choosing a mother, the Son of God chose to grant her the power over His will that the love of a good mother always wields over a good son.

2. Mary is a mother to all men. Catholics believe that the Son of God chose to come into the world through a mother in order that that mother might accept as His brothers all the children of the sinful race of man. He set an example as to how she should be honored and loved. He prepared her for this motherhood of all by asking her to suffer every conceivable form of pain (Luke 2:35), thus teaching her sympathy for the sorrows of her children. Had she been His Mother alone, He would have spared her from pain, because He had the power to do so and because He loved her with an infinite love. He wrought His first public miracle at her request (John 2:1-11), and when He was dying He reminded her that she had been destined from the beginning to be a Mother to all (John 19:27). Catholics therefore believe that Mary will be as eager to help them, in troubles of soul and body, as every natural mother is eager to promote the welfare of her child.

The rosaries that Catholics recite are but the expression of their belief in these two truths (Luke 1:48). They know that if Mary speaks to her divine Son in their behalf, there can be no doubt about their receiving an answer to their prayers.

Answer 7

Dulia or duleia is veneration ,honor or showing respect and is a synomym for the Greek word "time" or homage,service ,respect and devotion time is esed in "Honor Your Father and Mother"

Worship used to mean honor and judges were called "Your Worship" meaning "Your Honor" or "One to whom respect is due"
Members of the Body of Christ need to show respect to each other.

Answer 8

right you are, keep up the great work, educating non catholics and even some catholics. hopefully our seperated brothers and sisters in christ take the time to read and understand this often misunderstood doctrine. god bless.

Answer 9

WAY TO GO!!!! I am constantly correcting Protestants on here who claim that we give The Blessed Mother the same honor we give to God. Thanks for clarifying for them once again!

Answer 10

That is VERY VERY good. You are a girl after my own heart.