Adoration

ADORATION. - Etymologically a. (from Lat. ad os) is the gesture of bringing the hands to the lips and then turning them toward a simulacrum or any sacred object as a sign of veneration. This name is also extended to similar attitudes of the arms, hands, and body (kneeling, prostration [Gk. προσκύνησις], deep bows, etc.).

1. ADORATION IN RELIGIONS IN GENERAL

The act of a. exists in all religions because it is prompted by an intimate feeling of fear and respect toward the mi-

divine mystery and in the higher religions of respectful love toward the divinity or the object venerated.

Adoration expresses itself through acts of collective or individual worship. The collective acts draw the whole human group, small or great as it may be, toward the expression of the same religious sentiment, which can manifest itself in the lower forms of orgiastic dance, of the rhythmic movements of the Quakers and the Pentecostals, in the whirling turns of the howling dervishes; and, in the higher forms, in prayers and in chants modulated at the invitation of the one presiding over the assembly, and in sacrifices.

The acts of individual worship depend on the free expansion of the individual, and proceed along an ascending scale, from the simple gesture to contemplative meditation, prepared in certain religions by practical means such as breath control in yoga, the "psychotechnical" practices in theosophy, the search for silence that isolates one from contacts with the outside, and finally the complete abandonment of all the powers of the soul in God. But on this point v. MISTICA.

The religious monuments that have come down to us in such abundance from antiquity and from the Middle Ages allow us to distinguish various gestures of adoration. Used in the ancient East and still today among Muslims is complete prostration to the ground: the same that was used before sovereigns, who placed their foot on the neck of subjects and of subjugated kings, while the inferior kissed the ground. Simpler is the posture of sitting on one's heels or kneeling on both knees or on one knee. But one could also adore simply by standing, in the attitude of a servant awaiting orders, with arms hanging or crossed on the breast, or else with both arms raised. Also frequent was the use of adoring with the gesture of greeting, with the arm raised and the palm turned forward. The humility of the various gestures could be increased by bowing the head as a sign of reverence.

A gesture that seems to have remained isolated was in use among the Cretan-Mycenaeans: it consisted in bringing the closed fist to the forehead, almost as if to shield the eyes from the radiance emanating from the divinity. A sign of adoration is finally the kiss, rather rare, both in antiquity and in the modern age.

Paolino Mingazzini

2. IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY

In the broad sense in which adoration has been defined, it could also refer to persons invested with civil authority. In Christian tradition, however, it usually has only a religious content and can mean either any act of worship whatsoever (cf. Io. 4, 21) or, more properly, every act of exterior worship paid to God or to creatures, taking into account their special relationship with God.

In these last words the object of adoration is perfectly determined: God supremely, fully, without any relation; and then the creature considered solely in its relations with God. And since the union of the various creatures with God can be more or less intimate, it follows that adoration can have different degrees. Already St. Augustine wrote on this point: "We honor the martyrs with that worship of love and social intimacy with which we honor here on earth other men who are distinguished for their holiness in serving God. Only that we honor the martyrs with greater devotion and confidence because they have already overcome the struggle" (Contra Faustum, 20, 21: PL 32, 384). In fact, however, the use of the word adoration has been restricted, with regard to creatures, to those only that have a wholly special relationship with God. Thus the holy humanity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, the cross as symbol of our redemption, the angels and the saints whose sole occupation is to honor God, the Mother of the divine Word who is placed above the angels and the saints, are the object of our adoration, but of an adoration proportioned to their excellence relatively to God. Hence three kinds of adoration, which are true acts of religion, namely: of latria, of dulia, and of hyperdulia. Theologians, with St. Thomas, teach that while the adoration of dulia and the adoration of dulia do not differ substantially from one another (it is always adoration rendered to creatures), whereas between them and the adoration of latria (which is due to God alone), the difference is substantial (cf. Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, q. 103, a. 3).

Taken in this sense, adoration means the same as worship (v.), which is why authors speak indifferently of the worship of latria, the worship of dulia, and the worship of hyperdulia. Generally, however, by restricting the use of the word adoration to the worship due to God alone (adoration in the strict sense, adoration of latria), they call veneration (dulia means dependence, submission, and therefore veneration) the worship due to the angels, the saints, and their relics and images; and special veneration that due to the Virgin, her relics, and her images. In each of these kinds of adoration or worship, moreover, authors distinguish an absolute adoration or worship and a relative adoration or worship: absolute is that adoration which is rendered to what merits in itself to be adored because of its own excellence; relative, on the other hand, is that which is rendered to what does not merit to be honored in itself, but because of the excellence of another. Thus absolute adoration or worship of latria is given to God, to the Most Holy Trinity, to Jesus Christ, to the Eucharist, to the heart of Jesus; relative adoration or worship of latria to the name of Jesus, to the cross on which Jesus died, to the image of Our Lord, to the instruments of the passion such as the crown of thorns, the nails, the lance, etc. With absolute adoration or worship of hyperdulia we honor the Madonna, and with relative hyperdulia her images. With absolute adoration or worship of dulia we venerate the angels and the saints, with relative dulia their relics and images.

According to the definition given above, it is clear that adoration entails a twofold act: the one internal, of the intellect which knows another's excellence and its own subjection, and of the will which intends to manifest externally, by some sign, this subjection of ours; the other external, that is, the very act of humiliation and respect by which we externally manifest the internal act.

The external acts by which adoration has been shown in the past and is still shown today, with the sole exception of sacrifice, are indifferent and can be paid both to God and to creatures; for which reason the specific nature of adoration depends on and is inferred from the internal act rather than from the external act. Thus whoever by means of prostration intends to submit himself to someone as to God, renders him the worship of latria; if instead he intends to submit himself to him as to a friend of God, he performs an act of dulia; if then he intends to submit himself to him as to a man invested with authority or otherwise powerful, he does nothing but an act of civil worship. Hence it is easy to explain the ecclesiastical use of genuflection to the Pope and to the diocesan bishop, of the kissing of the foot to the Supreme Pontiff, of the very term adoration to designate the act of respect and veneration paid by the cardinals to the newly elected vicar of Jesus Christ; as likewise the use of civil prostration (of genuflection) and the like, practiced, especially in the East, toward the person of the emperor, or toward ancestors and the dead in general.

When, however, the practice of these acts is demanded toward human creatures with the same intention with which they are paid to God, then we often see the believer in the true God refusing to perform them. Thus Holy Scripture tells us that Abraham adored Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23, 12), that Joseph was adored by his brothers (Gen. 43, 26), David by Mephibosheth, Joab, Absalom, etc. (II Kings 9, 6 and 8; 14, 22 and 33); but it also tells us that Mordecai refused to adore Haman, who demanded such an act as though he were a God (Esther 3, 2); that St. Peter refused the adoration of the centurion Cornelius, who wished to pay it to him as to God (Acts 10, 26). Thus the first Christians refused those acts of homage toward the emperors, who exacted them as though they were gods, protesting that with such an intention they could be paid only to the one God. Also well known are the theological disputes concerning the use of adoration, which from the 5th to the 9th century disturbed, now more now less, the East and the West (v. ICONOCLASM). It must be conceded that in the two Churches the fundamental doctrine on the matter was the same: the controversy arose from the failure to understand one another on words (from that time the Greeks began to reserve the word λατρεία to indicate the worship given to God alone and used the word προσκύνησις in a more general sense; but the distinction became precise only little by little - η ἀληθινή λατρεία, η κατά λατρείαν προσκύνησις distinguished from η τιμητική (or ἐκ τιμῆς) προσκύνησις - whereas in the Latin language the two terms were translated by the single word adoratio, which contributed neither to clarity nor to understanding); and also from the fact that the Latins saw in the customs of the Greeks the expression of the absolute worship of latria, whereas the latter did not see it there.

As for the obligation of adoration toward God, moralists recall that this duty is imposed both by the natural law and by divine-positive law (cf. Mt. 4:10); ecclesiastical law, moreover, has determined the manner and the time of fulfilling, for the faithful, the said precept (cf. can. 1255 ff. of the CIC). The worship of the saints, of sacred images, and of relics is regulated by the provisions of the CIC (cann. 1276-89).

Adamo Pucci

3. IN ART

In ancient Christian art the rite of adoratio, already used by the pagans toward the divinities and then also toward the emperors, becomes a simple prostration, mostly on one knee and often accompanied by a gesture of speech or greeting. Thus behave the saints who present themselves at the judgment of God, and thus the various figures (the Canaanite woman, the leper, the three Marys, etc.) whom the Gospel brings near to Jesus in an act of adoration. Another mode of adoration was the simple deep bow; and this too occurs in ancient art, as, for example, in the representations drawn from the Apocalypse. The kissing of the feet accompanied by deep prostration, which is seen on various ancient sarcophagi, unites together the sentiment of adoration with that generic one of the deepest respect. This has remained in that rite which is still called, improperly, the adoration of the newly elected Pope.

Antonio Ferrua

ADORATION: v. also PRAYER.