ng "lest he should transfer the honor of his God to a man"
(Esther 13:14).

Again with the reverence due to an excellent creature Abraham adored
the angels, as did also Josue (Jos. 5:15): though we may understand
them to have adored, with the adoration of latria, God Who appeared
and spoke to them in the guise of an angel. It was with the reverence
due to God that John was forbidden to adore the angel (Apoc. 22:9),
both to indicate the dignity which he had acquired through Christ,
whereby man is made equal to an angel: wherefore the same text goes
on: "I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren"; as also to exclude
any occasion of idolatry, wherefore the text continues: "Adore God."

Reply Obj. 2: Every Divine excellency is included in His majesty: to
which it pertains that we should be made happy in Him as in the
sovereign good.

Reply Obj. 3: Since there is one excellence of the three
Divine Persons, one honor and reverence is due to them and
consequently one adoration. It is to represent this that where it is
related (Gen. 18:2) that three men appeared to Abraham, we are told
that he addressed one, saying: "Lord, if I have found favor in thy
sight," etc. The triple genuflection represents the Trinity of
Persons, not a difference of adoration.
_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 84, Art. 2]

Whether Adoration Denotes an Action of the Body?

Objection 1: It would seem that adoration does not denote an act of
the body. It is written (John 4:23): "The true adorers shall adore
the Father in spirit and in truth." Now what is done in spirit has
nothing to do with an act of the body. Therefore adoration does not
denote an act of the body.

Obj. 2: Further, the word adoration is taken from _oratio_ (prayer).
But prayer consists chiefly in an interior act, according to 1 Cor.
14:15, "I will pray with the spirit, I will pray also with the
understanding." Therefore adoration denotes chiefly a spiritual act.

Obj. 3: Further, acts of the body pertain to sensible knowledge:
whereas we approach God not by bodily but by spiritual sense.
Therefore adoration does not denote an act of the body.

_On the contrary,_ A gloss on Ex. 20:5, "Thou shalt not adore them,
nor serve them," says: "Thou shalt neither worship them in mind, nor
adore them outwardly."

_I answer that,_ As Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iv, 12), since we
are composed of a twofold nature, intellectual and sensible, we offer
God a twofold ado