idolatry, 1dolatrie

[Fr. idolatrie, from Low Lat. i do latria, a shortened form of i do lol atria, from Gr. eidololatreia, from eidolon = an image; latreia =service.] sin, aş; expect, Xenophon, exist. ph = f. idolify 1. The worship of idols, images, or representations made by hands to represent divinity, or of any inanimate object; the worship of false gods; paganism. " Idolatrie is Greeke, and the English is image-service." -Tyndall: Works , p. 424. *2. An idol; a false god. "Baal next and Ashtaroth, And all the idolatries of heathen round." Milton: P. R., iii. 418. 3. Exce ive veneration for or attachment to any person, object, or thing. (Shakesp.: Two Gentlemen of Verona , iv. 4.) According to Sir John Lubbock, idolatry or anthropomorphism is the fifth of six progre ive stages in the history of religion. [GOD.] (1) Ethnic : The ancient Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans, the modern Chinese, Burmese, Hindus, ., are all in that fifth stage of religious development. (2) Jewish : In all countries where idolatry exists, the tendency is for the uneducated to worship the idol as if it were a deity, while the more enlightened employ it simply as an imagined aid in adoring an unseen God. Many of the denunciations against idolatry in Isaiah's prophecies are leveled chiefly at the first of these xlii. 17, xliv. 10-17); but some censure also the higher form (xl. 18-25). When Aaron made the golden calf, he proclaimed a feast, not to it, but to Jehovah. This was on his part the higher form (Exod. xxxii, 4, 5), but the people said, "These be thy gods," and worshiped the calf itself (xxxii. 4,8). The second commandment is directed against idolatry. (3) Christian : Images had been introduced into the various churches about A. D. 300 for instruction only: gradually they began to be worshiped. About 726 a controversy arose with regard to their use. The Emperor Leo the I saurian i ued edicts against them, and carried them out with relentle rigor in 736. Between the doll of a girl and the idol of a worshiper there is a close affinity, and it is a noteworthy fact that the restoration of image-worship was brought about by the Empre Irene in 780. The second Council of Nice sanctioned them in 787. But in the modern Greek Church, pictures instead of actual images are used. The latter are employed in the Roman Catholic Church. Most Protestant Churches exclude them from their places of worship, or, if they admit thera, do so only for ornament. [ICONOCLAST.] 1-dol-1-fy, v. t. [Eng. idol , s.; i connective, and Lat. fio , used as pa ive of facio to make.] To make an idol of. (Southey: The Doctor , ch. cxliv.) *i-dol-ish, a [Eng. idol ; -ish.] Idolatrous. "They have stuffed their idolish temples with the wasteful pillage of your estates," -Milton : Reasor of Church Government, bk. ii. (Conc.) *i-dol-ism, s . [Eng. idol ; -ism.] 1. The worship of idols; idolatry. ( Sylvester : The Decay , 518.) 2. Vain opinions, fancies. "How wilt thou reason with them, how refute Their idolisms, traditions, paradoxes?" Milton: P. R. , iv. 234. IMG:content-1449.png:[blocks in formation] *B. In trans.: To practice idolatry; to worship idols.