Those are articles about the Catholic veneration of St. Mary. You need to be careful about attributing Catholic language and beliefs about the Mother of God to the Orthodox. Even where our language may be similar, we may mean different things.
These two threads may be helpful to you:
http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,13075.0.html
http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/forum/index.php/topic,15799.0.html
The more that I read these threads, the more I discovered how similar the teachings of Co-Redemptrix of Mediatrix are to Orthodox teaching on the matter. Is this merely a case of "Romophobia" where we are denouncing a term because of it's apparent Latin origin, even if we agree with it in principle?
Your suspicion of Romophobia runs deeper than you think. Here is a tangent I went on in another thread to explain how Prostestant reaction to Catholic teachings regarding the Theotokos and the saints has corrupted the very meaning of the word "worship" - and why it is even worse for you as an American. I've had this on my computer for a while, so I'm not sure where I got the information from; just reading bits and pieces, I suppose. The point is, I can't give references. And don't forget that my intention is not to criticise Protestants or Americans for this unfortunate evolution in the English language, but am simply stating a case for a broader understanding of something that has been forgotten in colloquial usage. I don't think it's a trend that can be reversed, but understanding some of the history might help the individual. I hope it's helpful. If it's not..... what can I say?
It's like one of the recent podcasts on Our Life In Christ... A guy contacted them saying the Orthodox worship Mary because a "western" dictionary says they do by definition... It just does not make any sense and is illogical.
Tangent alert!!
By definition it's completely logical. "Worship" is a Western word. It's English. Interestingly, Wycliffe, in his translation of scripture into the English of the pre-Reformation 1300s quotes; "Worschipe thi fadir and thi modir" (Mark 7.10). Today, this verse is translated as "honour your father and mother".
The guy you refer to, though no doubt confused, is actually correct. In the absolute and true sense of the word "worship", we Orthodox do worship Mary. The etymological origin and literal meaning of the English word “worship” is; wur’-ship (Anglo-Saxon: weorthscipe, wyrthscype, "honor," from weorth, wurth, "worthy," "honorable," and scipe, "ship" - in other words "conferring honour to those who are worthy of receiving it"). It's not an exclusively religious word (as seen in the examples of its use below) and it traditionally includes several definitions and applications with regard to conferring honour – including adoration. Whilst, theologically speaking adoration is the highest mode of conferring honour and is offered to God alone, it is still a definition of “worship”.
During the English Reformation, certain Christian communities under influences from Europe began to reject the worship of the Mother of God, along with that of the saints, angels, icons and relics. In many places there were widespread outbreaks of iconoclasm. Sacred images which had been worshipped for centuries by devout Christians came to be seen, by the Reformers, as idols. The English Reformers, emulating their European counterparts, argued the same biblical texts to justify their beliefs as the Eastern iconoclasts had done back in the early centuries of Christian history; so it isn’t unexpected that these items came to be treated as abominations and destroyed. Communities which resisted the Reformation often hid their sacred images, and restored them to use when the opportunity arose. This was the case during the brief reign of Mary Tudor in England.
The English Reformation’s rejection of the worship of the Mother of God, saints, angels, icons and relics, had an odd consequence for the emerging Protestant usage of the English language. Since Protestants mistakenly assumed that God was the sole object of Christian worship, the word gradually began to be restricted in meaning and finally became treated solely as a synonym for "adore."
The English word "adoration" correctly translates from the Greek word "latreia" or the Latin "adoratio" or "adoratio latriae". Now, there can be no doubt that this is the utmost mode of worship; due to God and to God alone. Adoration as a mode of the utmost form of worship springs from the Christian’s acknowledgement of our absolute dependency on God as created beings. But let’s not forget that “adoration” is still a mode of worship; still a definition of "worship".
The English Reformation’s rejection of the worship of the saints, their relics and sacred images left no other definition of worship except for “adoration” in the Protestant mindset. Unfortunately, no distinction was made by Protestants between adoration and the other lesser, relative modes of worship, since none of them had survived in their religious practice.
Nonetheless, despite this manipulation of the English word, the older, broader concept of "worship" still survives to some degree in England. A mayor of a city is referred to as "your Worship," and, of course, this is completely without any suggestion that anyone is acknowledging that person as the Creator of the Universe. In the older version of the Anglican Marriage service the bride and bridegroom exchange rings, saying “with this ring, I thee wed, with my body I thee worship,". As we said these words, neither my husband nor myself were the slightest bit confused that either of us was acknowledging the other as Almighty God.
Unfortunately, this useage hasn't continued with you, our American neighbours. You seem to have managed to completely obliterate the broader meaning of the English “worship”, and made it a word that can now only to be used in connection with God. How far you have succeeded in this linguistic manipulation is evident with the Episcopalians who, from what I understand, have completely removed the line “with my body, I thee worship” from the marriage vows in the Common Book of Prayer. Perhaps if this phrase had remained within the Episcopalian movement, you might have retained a broader understanding of the English word “worship”, and not fallen into the Protestant trap. Often I see someone deny our worship of the Mother of God, the saints and relics, with the insistance that we merely venerate” Her. Of course, this completely misses the point, for veneration is simply a definition of the word "worship".
Examples of usage.
In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) we find; Worship \Wor"ship\, n. [OE. worshipe, wur[eth]scipe, AS. weor[eth]scipe; weor[eth] worth + -scipe -ship…
1. Excellence of character; dignity; worth; worthiness. [Obs.] (Shakespeare)
A man of worship and honour. (Chaucer)
Elfin, born of noble state, And muckle worship in his native land. (Spenser)
2. Honour; respect; civil deference. [Obs.]
Of which great worth and worship may be won. (Spenser)
Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat
With thee. (Luke 14:10). (*King James Version)
3. Hence, a title of honour, used in addresses to certain magistrates and others of
rank or station.
My father desires your worships' company. (Shakespeare)
4. The act of paying divine honours to the Supreme Being; religious reverence and
homage; adoration, or acts of reverence, paid to God, or a being viewed as God.
“God with idols in their worship joined.'' (Milton)
The worship of God is an eminent part of religion, and prayer is a chief part
of religious worship. (Tillotson)
5. Obsequious or submissive respect; extravagant admiration; adoration.
'T is your inky brows, your black silk hair, Your bugle eyeballs, nor your
cheek of cream, That can my spirits to your worship. (Shakespeare)
6. An object of worship.
In attitude and aspect formed to be at once the artist's worship and despair.
(Longfellow)
Tangent ended.
