Veneration
Veneration of saints is practiced, formally or informally, by adherents of some branches of all major religions, including Christianity, Judaism,[2] Hinduism,[3] Islam,[4] Buddhism[1][3] and Jainism.
[9] In Judaism, there is no classical or formal recognition of saints, but there is a long history of reverence shown toward biblical heroes and martyrs.
[1] Christian theologians have long adopted the terms latria for the type of worship due to God alone, and dulia and proskynesis for the veneration given to angels, saints, relics and icons.
[b] Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox theologies also include the terms hyperdulia and protodulia for the types of veneration, the former specifically paid to the Virgin Mary, while the latter to Saints Joseph and John the Baptist.
[11][15] The Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas specifies that hyperdulia is the same type of veneration as dulia, only given in a greater degree; both remain distinct from latria.
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.
Veneration of images and relics; Lord of Miracles (Peru), the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Jude Thaddaeu (Mexico), Holy Dexter (Hungary), Reliquary of the Three Kings (Germany), etc.
In the Syriac Orthodox Church liturgical service, the Hail Mary is pronounced as a prefatory prayer after the Our Father, and before the priest's entrance to the chancel.
[32] This practice of venerating saints both through praise and by means of their icons is defended in John Damascene's book On Holy Images,[33] and was the subject of the Second Council of Nicaea.
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".
The deuterocanonical Book of Sirach also briefly discusses venerating the memory of patriarchs and prophets: "Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation" (44:1).
"And their names continue for ever, the glory of the holy men remaining unto their children" (44:15)[37] St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and others, give accounts of miracles that occurred at the graves of St. Stephen, St. Felix of Nola, St. Gervasius, and many others, in post-Biblical times.
[38] Hinduism has a longstanding and living tradition of reverence toward sants (saints) and mahatmas (ascended masters), with the line often blurring between humanity and divinity in the cases of godmen and godwomen.
The Bhakti movements popularized devotion to saintly figures such as sadhus, babas, and gurus as models showing the way to liberation.
"[43] In a manner similar to the Protestant Reformation,[44] the specific traditional practices which Salafism has tried to curtail in both Sunni and Shia contexts include those of the veneration of saints, visiting their graves, seeking their intercession, and honoring their relics.
The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and that of Maimonides in Tiberius are examples of burial sites that attract large pilgrimages in the Near East.
[1][2] In America, the only such example is the grave site of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, at the Ohel, in the cemetery in Queens where he is buried alongside his father-in-law.
During his lifetime, Schneerson himself would frequently visit the gravesite (Ohel) of his father-in-law, where he would read letters and written prayers, and then place them on the grave.
