Veneration#Catholicism and Orthodoxy

In major Buddhist traditions, Theravada and Mahayana, those who have achieved a high degree of enlightenment are recognized as arhats. Mahayana Buddhism particularly gives emphasis to the power of saints to aid ordinary people on the path to enlightenment. Those who have reached enlightenment, and have delayed their own complete enlightenment in order to help others, are called Bodhisattvas. Mahayana Buddhism has formal liturgical practices for venerating saints, along with very specific levels of sainthood. Tibetan Buddhists venerate especially holy lamas, such as the Dalai Lama, as saints.

Veneration towards those who were considered holy began in early Christianity, with the martyrs first being given special honor. Official commemoration of saints in churches began as early as the first century. The apostle Paul mentioned saints by name in his writings.Note: Paul does not actually use the title Saint with any name, but refers to all Christians in general as saints in Romans 15:25. And the New Testament refers to those martyred like Stephen and righteous ones like Simeon in Luke 2:25. Icons depicting saints were created in the catacombs. The Orthodox Church of Byzantium began official church commemoration very early and even in Rome, commemoration is documented in 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 canonization or glorification process. It is also the first step to becoming a saint.

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.{{efn|s.v. dulia, {{cite book|title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1997|editor1-last=Cross|editor1-first=F.L.|edition=Third|page=513|editor2-last=Livingstone|editor2-first=E.A.}}s.v. proskynesis, {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Te2dAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA475|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Art and Architecture, Second Edition|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=9780199680276|editor1=Tom Devonshire Jones|page=475|editor2=Linda Murray|editor3=Peter Murray}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bkZITAQ4XbgC&pg=PA450|title=The Orthodox Christian World|publisher=Routledge|year=2012|isbn=9780415455169|editor1-last=Casiday|editor1-first=Augustine|page=450}}{{cite web|title=Veneration of Images|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07664a.htm|publisher=New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia}}s.v. Communion of Saints, {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PN7UMUTBBPAC&pg=PA114|title=The Westminster Dictionary of Christian Theology|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|year=1983|isbn=9780664227487|editor1=Alan Richardson|page=114|editor2=John Bowden}}s.v. Images, Veneration of, {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yu846j61u0wC&pg=PA594|title=Evangelical Dictionary of Theology|publisher=Baker Academic|year=2001|isbn=9780801020759|editor-last=Elwell|editor-first=Walter A.|page=594}}}}

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. 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.{{cite web|translator=Fathers of the English Dominican Province|year=1920|title=The Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas|url=https://www.newadvent.org/summa/3103.htm|location=Second Part of the Second Part — Question 103: Dulia|edition=2nd|publisher=New Advent|publication-date=2017}} Hyperdulia, protodulia, and Latria are shared by Traditionalist Catholicism.{{cite web |url=https://fsspx.news/en/news/why-it-necessary-know-mary-23310|title=Why is it necessary to know Mary?|website=Society of Saint Pius X}}{{cite web |url=https://fsspx.news/en/news/worship-due-mother-god-27746|title=The Worship Due to the Mother of God|website =Society of Saint Pius X}}{{cite web |url=https://sspx.org/en/quamquam-pluries-devotion-st-joseph-31292|title=Quamquam Pluries: devotion to St. Joseph}} {{cite web |url=https://fsspx.uk/en/dignity-st-joseph-35882|title=The Dignity of St. Joseph}}

File:Arca del santo 03.jpg in Padua, Italy (veneration of the tomb of a saint).]]

File:El Médano BW 2.JPG in Tenerife, Spain (veneration of a place associated with a saint).]]

File:SJBS.png in Rome, Italy (veneration of the relic of a saint).]]

In Catholicism, veneration is a type of honor distinct from the true worship (veritable adoration), which is due to God alone. According to Mark Miravelle, of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, the English word "worship" has been associated with both veneration and adoration:

As Thomas Aquinas explained, 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.

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.

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.{{cite web|title=What Is Devotion to Mary?|first=Mark|last=Miravalle|author-link=Mark Miravalle|publisher=Mother of all peoples|access-date=November 2, 2013|date=November 24, 2006|url=http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/2006/11/what-is-devotion-to-mary/|archive-date=June 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180606103919/http://www.motherofallpeoples.com/2006/11/what-is-devotion-to-mary|url-status=dead}}

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

{{blockquote|The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype", and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it". The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration", not the adoration due to God alone:}}

{{blockquote|Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - Paragraph # 2132 |url=http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2132.htm |access-date=26 May 2021}}}}

In the Roman Catechism, a more lengthy statement on [https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Catechism_of_the_Council_of_Trent/Part_3:_The_First_Commandment#246 The Honour and Invocation of the Saints] is available.[https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Catechism_of_the_Council_of_Trent/Part_3:_The_First_Commandment The catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 3: The First Commandment#245|The Honour and Invocation of the Saints]

Catholic tradition has a well established philosophy for the veneration of Mary in the Catholic Church via the field of Mariology with Pontifical schools such as the Marianum specifically devoted to this task.{{cite web|url=http://mariologicalsocietyofamerica.us |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031224124802/http://www.mariologicalsocietyofamerica.us/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 24, 2003 |title=Mariological Society of America |publisher=Mariologicalsocietyofamerica.us |access-date=2012-01-26}}[http://www.servidimaria.org/en/attualita/promotori2/promotori2.htm]{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202032938/http://www.servidimaria.org/en/attualita/promotori2/promotori2.htm|date=December 2, 2007}}

For the doctrine of the Catholic Church, in addition to the dogma of her Divine Motherhood,"Divine Maternity Dogma." Father Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P., July 19, 2002. Accessed 6-3-2021. https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/d/divine-maternity-dogma.php the Mother of God "Theotokos" was the subject of three other dogmas:

1. Immaculate Conception (absence of the original sin, by grace of God)
2. Perpetual virginity (before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, until her Assumption)
3. Assumption (in body and soul to Heaven).

Protodulia is the special veneration given to Saint Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, within Josephology. This veneration of Saint Joseph is distinct from hyperdulia, which is reserved for Mary, and latria, the worship due to the God alone.Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 956-957.

While Saint Joseph is venerated for his role in the Holy Family, the title of protodulia signifies that among the saints, he holds a unique and preeminent place, second only to Mary. The Church regards him as a powerful intercessor and protector of the Church, and his virtues—obedience, humility, and care for Jesus and Mary—are celebrated.

The theological grounding for protodulia is rooted in several papal documents and the long-standing tradition of the Church:

1. Pope Pius IX proclaimed Saint Joseph the Patron of the Universal Church in 1870.{{Cite web |title=St. Joseph, Proclaimed Patron of the Universal Church 150 Years Ago, Is Needed More Than Ever {{!}} National Catholic Register |url=https://www.ncregister.com/features/st-joseph-proclaimed-patron-of-the-universal-church-150-years-ago-is-needed-more-than-ever?amp |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.ncregister.com}}
2. Pope Leo XIII emphasized special role of Saint Joseph in the Church in his encyclical Quamquam pluries (1889), where he called for greater devotion to him.{{Cite web |title=Quamquam Pluries (August 15, 1889) {{!}} LEO XIII |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_15081889_quamquam-pluries.html |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.vatican.va}}{{Cite web |title=Redemptoris Custos (August 15, 1989) {{!}} John Paul II |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_15081989_redemptoris-custos.html |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.vatican.va}}
3. Pope Pius XII further affirmed this devotion by instituting the feast of Saint Joseph the Worker in 1955.{{Cite web |title=The Story Behind the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker {{!}} National Catholic Register |url=https://www.ncregister.com/cna/the-story-behind-the-feast-of-st-joseph-the-worker?amp |access-date=2024-10-02 |website=www.ncregister.com}}

In the Catholic Church, there are many different forms of veneration of saints, such as a pilgrimages (e.g. those of Saint Peter's tomb (Vatican), Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua (Italy), Santiago de Compostela Cathedral (Spain), or Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Israel)). It is also usual to make a pilgrimage to places associated with the life of a saint, such as the Cave of Santo Hermano Pedro (Spain), the Cave of the Apocalypse (Greece) or the Aya Tekla Church (Turkey). 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.

Not (explicitly) mentioning the word "Hyperdulia", Lumen Gentium, an apostolic constitution of the Second Vatican Council, affirms:

{{blockquote|Placed by the grace of God, as God's Mother, next to her Son, and exalted above all angels and men, Mary intervened in the mysteries of Christ and is justly honored by a special cult in the Church. Clearly from earliest times the Blessed Virgin is honored under the title of Mother of God, under whose protection the faithful took refuge in all their dangers and necessities. Hence after the Synod of Ephesus the cult of the people of God toward Mary wonderfully increased in veneration and love, in invocation and imitation, according to her own prophetic words: "All generations shall call me blessed, because He that is mighty hath done great things to me".|[https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html LG 66]}}

{{blockquote|The entire body of the faithful pours forth instant supplications to the Mother of God and Mother of men that she, who aided the beginnings of the Church by her prayers, may now, exalted as she is above all the angels and saints, intercede before her Son in the fellowship of all the saints, [...]|LG 69}}

Saint Joseph is mentioned in a unique passage:

{{blockquote|Our union with the Church in heaven is put into effect in its noblest manner especially in the sacred Liturgy, wherein the power of the Holy Spirit acts upon us through sacramental signs. [...] Celebrating the Eucharistic sacrifice therefore, we are most closely united to the Church in heaven in communion with and venerating the memory first of all of the glorious ever-Virgin Mary, of Blessed Joseph and the blessed apostles and martyrs and of all the saints.|LG 50}}

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.{{cite book|author=Jaison Jacob|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_0-CgAAQBAJ&pg=100|title=Holy Qurbana Kramam: Malankara Orthodox Church|publisher=Diaz Xavier|page=275|author-link=Jaison Jacob|archive-url=https://archive.today/20190116140316/https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=Z_0-CgAAQBAJ&hl=it&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PT276|archive-date=January 16, 2019|url-status=live}} The name of the Blessed Virgin Mary has also been probably used for the sanctification of altars, above the name of all other saints.{{cite web|title=Our Lady Mary, Mother of God, mediator for all grace and advocate for all the devotees before God.|url=http://www.stbaselios.org/about-us-2/our-lady-mary-mother-of-god/index.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116120331/http://www.stbaselios.org/about-us-2/our-lady-mary-mother-of-god/index.html|archive-date=January 16, 2019|access-date=Jan 15, 2019|website=St. Baselios Indian Orthodox Church|location=Malankara|language=en}}

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, veneration of the saints is an important element of worship. Most services are closed with the words “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!"{{cite web|url=https://www.oca.org/reflections/fr.-john-breck/most-holy-theotokos-save-us|title=MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS, SAVE US!|website=oca.org|date=2 September 2003 }} and would use troparions and kontakions to venerate the saint of the day.{{cite web|url=https://www.oca.org/saints/lives|website=oca.org|title=Lives of the Saints}} This practice of venerating saints both through praise and by means of their icons is defended in John Damascene's book On Holy Images,{{cite book|title=On Holy Images|first=John|last=Damascene|author-link=John Damascene|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/49917/49917-h/49917-h.html|year=1898|location=London}} and was the subject of the Second Council of Nicaea.

{{See also|Saints in Anglicanism|Saints in Methodism|Calendar of saints (Lutheran)}}

Lutheranism and Anglicanism allow the veneration of saints in a manner similar to Catholicism.{{Cite web |title=Veneration of Saints |url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/glossary/veneration-of-saints/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=The Episcopal Church |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=LCMS |first=Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod |access-date=2025-02-25 |title=Commemorations |url=https://www.lcms.org/worship/church-year/commemorations}} Throughout the liturgical year, the Lutheran and Anglican churches commemorate feast days that honour the saints. Churches are named in honour of the saints.

In Reformed churches, veneration is sometimes considered to amount to the sin of idolatry, and the related practice of canonization amounts to the heresy of apotheosis. Reformed theology usually denies that any real distinction between veneration and worship can be made, and claims that the practice of veneration distracts the Christian soul from its true object, the worship of God. 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".{{cite web|url=http://www.reformed.org/books/institutes/books/book1/bk1ch12.html |title=Book I Chapter 12 |publisher=Reformed.org |access-date=2019-11-08}}

In terms of venerating relics of saints, two verses are frequently mentioned:

'Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.' (2 Kings 13:21, NIV).

'God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.' (Acts 19:11, 12, NIV).

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)[http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=29489716 Oremus: Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10]

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. Such miraculous events are seen as divine favor for the veneration of relics.{{cite book|chapter=Chap. II. The Ten Commandments of God|title=A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion|year=1912|publisher=Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss|first= Joseph|last=Deharbe|translator=Rev. John Fander|author-link=Joseph Deharbe}}

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 sadhu, Baba (honorific), and gurus as models showing the way to liberation.Cybelle Shattuck, Hinduism (London: Routledge, 1999), p. 61.{{ISBN?}}

{{Main|Wali}}

File:Turkey-2230 (2217021620) (2).jpg in Konya, Turkey]]

File:Grobowiec Marabuta-Maroko.jpg, southern Morocco]]

Islam has had a rich history of veneration of saints (often called wali, which literally means "Friend [of God]"),See John Renard, Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); Idem., Tales of God Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009) which has declined in some parts of the Islamic world in the twentieth century due to the influence of the various streams of Salafism. In Sunni Islam, the veneration of saints became a very common form of religious celebration early on, and saints came to be defined in the eighth-century as a group of "special people chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles."Radtke, B., “Saint”, in: Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān, General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC. The classical Sunni scholars came to recognize and honor these individuals as venerable people who were both "loved by God and developed a close relationship of love to Him." The vast majority of saints venerated in the classical Sunni world were the Sufis, who were all Sunni mystics who belonged to one of the four orthodox legal schools of Sunni law.John Renard, Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008)

Veneration of saints eventually became one of the most widespread Sunni practices for more than a millennium, before it was opposed in the twentieth century by the Salafi movement, whose various streams regard it as "being both un-Islamic and backwards ... rather than the integral part of Islam which they were for over a millennium."Juan Eduardo Campo, Encyclopedia of Islam (New York: Infobase Publishing, 2009), p. 600 In a manner similar to the Protestant Reformation,See Jonathan A.C. Brown, Misquoting Muhammad (London: Oneworld Publications, 2015), p. 254 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. As Christopher Taylor has remarked: "[Throughout Islamic history] a vital dimension of Islamic piety was the veneration of Muslim saints.... [due, however to] certain strains of thought within the Islamic tradition itself, particularly pronounced in the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries ... [some modern day] Muslims have either resisted acknowledging the existence of Muslim saints altogether or have viewed their presence and veneration as unacceptable deviations."Christopher Taylor, In the Vicinity of the Righteous (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 5-6

File:Patriarch tomb.JPG in Hebron]]

While Orthodox and Organized Judaism do not countenance the veneration of saints per se, veneration and pilgrimage to burial sites of holy Jewish leaders is an ancient part of the tradition."....the veneration of, and pilgrimages to, saints were part of an ancient Jewish tradition." {{cite book|last=Sharot|first=Stephen|title=Judaism: A Sociology|publisher=Holmes & Meier Publishers|location=New York|year=1976|page=42}} The historian Ephraim Shoham-Steiner has shown that during the medieval period, there is evidence suggesting that some Jews (likely from the margins of society) visited the tombs of Christian saints in search of healing and relief from illness. Naturally, halakhic authorities opposed this practice, but their objections do not negate the fact that the phenomenon existed.{{Cite journal |last=Shoham-Steiner |first=Ephraim |date=2010 |title=Jews and Healing at Medieval Saints' Shrines: Participation, Polemics, and Shared Cultures |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40390064 |journal=The Harvard Theological Review |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=111–129 |issn=0017-8160}}

It is common for some Jews to visit the graves of many righteous Jewish leaders."The life of these, mainly Sephardi and Oriental (Mizrahi) communities, is marked by an unself-conscious and unquestioning commitment to deeply rooted values, where legalism often yields to common sense, and mystical piety plays an integral part, visible in such practices as veneration of tombs of patriarchs and saints, often associated with pilgrimage." {{cite book|last=De Lange|first=Nicholas|title=An Introduction to Judaism|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoju00nich|url-access=registration|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, England|year=2000|page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontoju00nich/page/69 69]}} The tradition is particularly strong among Moroccan Jews, and Jews of Sephardi descent, although also by some Ashkenazi Jews as well. This is particularly true in Israel, where many holy Jewish leaders are buried. 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. 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.{{Cite book |author=David M. Gitlitz & Linda Kay Davidson |title=Pilgrimage and the Jews |publisher=Praeger |year=2005 | pages=118–120 |isbn=978-0275987633}} Today, visitors to the grave of Schneerson include Jews of Orthodox, Reform and Conservative background, as well as non-Jews.The New York Observer, Editorial, 07/08/14. [http://observer.com/2014/07/rebbe-to-the-city-and-the-world/ "Rebbe to the city and Rebbe to the world"].Shmuley Boteach, [http://observer.com/2013/10/cory-booker-the-spiritual-senator/ "Cory Booker the Spiritual Senator"], 10/18/13 Visitors typically recite prayers of psalms and bring with them petitions of prayers written on pieces of paper which are then torn and left on the grave.{{cite news |title=Lubavitchers Mark 10 Years Since Death of Revered Rabbi |first=Corey |last=Kilgannon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/nyregion/lubavitchers-mark-10-years-since-death-of-revered-rabbi.html |work=The New York Times |date=20 June 2004 |access-date=19 January 2010}}{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6eQCAAAAMBAJ&q=ohel+chabad&pg=PA42 |title=Beyond Belief |first=Craig |last=Horowitz |journal=New York |date=19 June 1995 |access-date=20 February 2012 |page=42}}{{cite book|title=Identifying Chabad: what they teach and how they influence the Torah world.|date=2007|publisher=Center for Torah Demographics|location=[Illinois?]|isbn=978-1411642416|pages=81,103,110,111|edition=Revised [ed.].|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-_4eAgAAQBAJ&q=yechi+prayer&pg=PA111}}

In Jainism, it recognizes the tirthankaras, which are beings who have achieved transcendence and liberation (moksha) and are, therefore, teachers who taught the Jain path. Away from the evolution of the cosmos and the cosmic event, they do not intervene in any way in it; they serve only as examples to follow.{{sfn|Flügel|2010}} The latter is manifested in the offering ceremonies (devapuja), which constitute more of a renunciation on the part of the believer than a surrender, since the tirthankaras are totally indifferent to the affairs of men and the Jains assume that they are indifferent to them.

• Veneration of the dead
• Intercession of saints
• Mary, mother of Jesus
• Muhammad in Islam
• Rachel's Tomb
• Genuflection
• Patron saint
• Hagiography
• Iconography
• Relic
• Shrine
• Tzadik

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0432/_P2H.HTM ON THE INVOCATION, VENERATION, AND RELICS, OF SAlNTS, AND ON SACRED IMAGES.] Roman Catholic teaching from the Council of Trent (1545–1563)
• [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05188b.htm "Dulia"] from the Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)

{{Saints}}

{{Spirituality-related topics}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Catholic spirituality

Category:Christian terminology

Category:Eastern Orthodox spirituality

Category:Religious practices

Category:Sainthood