Devil's Advocate

Devil's Advocate
From Latin: Advocatus diaboli (advocatus diaboli).
From medieval Latin. The primary source is the procedure of canonization, that is, the canonization of one or another righteous person, which in the Roman Catholic Church took place in the form of a dispute between two parties.
This dispute resembled a competition between the parties in court: one of the participants acted as “God’s lawyer” and spoke about the merits of the future saint, about his merits, on the basis of which this righteous person can be canonized. The other side - the “devil's advocate” - spoke, on the contrary, about his shortcomings, sins, and everything that prevents canonization. Based on the results of this debate, a decision was made to canonize him.
About a person who looks for only the dark, bad sides in something or someone, who is interested only in this side of the matter.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.


See what "Devil's Advocate" is in other dictionaries:

    Devil's Advocate is also the title of a 1997 film starring Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino. The Devil's Advocate (lat. advocatus diaboli) is the unofficial name of one of the positions of the Institute of Canonization and Beatification... ... Wikipedia

    - (The Devil's Advocate), USA, Warner Bros., 1997, 138 min. Thriller based on the novel by Andrew Neiderman. A young, ambitious lawyer from Florida, Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves (see REEVES Keanu)) masterfully handles criminal cases in court. The jury invariably... ... Encyclopedia of Cinema

    Devil's Advocate- a) wing relay sl. The canonization of a new saint in the Catholic Church was carried out in the form of a dispute. One of the participants in the dispute (“God’s advocate”) extolled the virtues of the person being canonized, the other (“Devil’s Advocate”) expressed his objections. IN… … Universal additional practical explanatory dictionary by I. Mostitsky

    Devil's Advocate- book. iron. about a person who loves to use foul language at someone, who tries to find faults in good things. This expression dates back to the Middle Ages. The Latin words advocatus diaboli were used to describe a participant in a theological debate who, in a dispute... ... Phraseology Guide

    - (lat. advocatus diaboli) is the unofficial name of the position of the institution of canonization of the Catholic Church. Officially, this position was called strengthener of faith (lat. promotor fidei). It was introduced in 1587 by Pope Sixtus V and officially abolished... Catholic Encyclopedia

    "Devil's Advocate"- this is the name given to a participant in a conversation, argument, discussion who most often expresses judgments that negatively characterize phenomena, rejects their positive qualities, and also actively uses facts that predispose to a negative resolution... ... Fundamentals of spiritual culture (teacher's encyclopedic dictionary)

    1. Book. Iron. About a person who loves to use foul language in someone's life. address, trying to find flaws in good things. BMS 1998, 20. 2. Jarg. business A person who is not an expert, but knows how to think critically about other people’s ideas when developing new ones... ... Large dictionary of Russian sayings

    Devil's Advocate- - such a participant in a dispute, discussion, discussion who expresses arguments characterizing only the negative aspects of the problem under discussion, looks for facts that reject a positive solution to the problem, without stopping to... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

    Devil's Advocate- such a participant in a dispute, discussion, discussion who expresses arguments characterizing only the negative aspects of the problem under discussion, looks for facts that reject a positive solution to the problem, without stopping to... ... Culture of speech communication: Ethics. Pragmatics. Psychology

    Devil's Advocate is also the name of an ecclesiastical office in the Catholic Church. Devil's Advocate ... Wikipedia

Books

  • Devil's Advocate, Andrew Neiderman. Kevin Taylor has it all: success, youth, talent, a beautiful wife. But Kevin wants more. A tempting job offer in the best law firm in New York promises new...
The devil's advocate is a person who speaks evil of his neighbor, who knows how and wants to see only shortcomings in a person. Sometimes this is said about a person who argues for the sake of arguing, and not in order to identify shortcomings in the opponent’s position.

Origin owes to the Catholic Church. Its laws establish that before canonizing a saint, it is necessary to know for sure whether he is worthy. To determine the possibility of declaring a martyr a saint in the Middle Ages, a debate was arranged between a priest, pointing out his good deeds, and another church minister, listing his sins. The second priest was called “the devil’s advocate or defender” (advocatus diaboli)

History of canonization

Canonization is the canonization of a saint followed by veneration.
It has existed since the early Middle Ages. The establishment of the cult of saints was preceded by the work of church authorities to prevent and eliminate dubious cults. Already in the 5th century, the Roman bishops, in order to prevent the appearance of suspicious saints, among whom there could even be heretics, and the resulting misunderstanding between the church and the people, took the trouble to give permission for canonization themselves. The Church of the Frankish Kingdom took similar actions.

Since the 10th century, individual bishops, in order to give the cult of saints greater authority and to promote its spread beyond the borders of their dioceses, began to seek approval from the Roman see. From that time on, canonization arose in the sense in which it is currently given. In most cases, the pope could not have information relating to the person whose cult was in question; therefore, there was a need for the necessary information to be presented and discussed from the point of view of the possibility of establishing the cult of a given person as a saint. This is how the preparatory part of the act of canonization developed, including disputes in which the so-called “devil’s advocate” took part.

The first canonization by Pope John XV occurred in 993. Ulrich, Bishop of Augsburg, was canonized

The devil's advocate is the one who sees in a person only his shortcomings, who speaks evil of his neighbor. Sometimes this is said about a citizen who starts an argument for the sake of an argument in order to piss off his opponent, and not together come to a mutual consensus with him.

Canonization usually refers to the elevation to sainthood followed by worship. This practice has been widespread since the early Middle Ages. Before exalting the cult of Christian saints, a huge amount of work was done to eliminate and prohibit unwanted sects and cults. Back in the fifth century AD, the Roman bishops placed the work on their fragile shoulders to decide who would be a saint and who would not. This happened due to the rapid “reproduction” of all kinds of suspicious saints. Similar actions were taken by clergy from the Frankish kingdom.

Already from the tenth century, some bishops, in order to increase the cult of saints among the people and contribute to its popularization in society, turned to the Roman throne for the highest approval. It was from this period that canonization appeared, such as we know it now. Since in those days it was not possible to obtain information about a candidate for sainthood, there was an urgent need that, along with the name of the future saint, information about his actions and good deeds should also be provided, and that then this information would be subjected to scrupulous verification from the point of view of classifying this person as a saint. the face of the saints. Thus, preparations for canonization were gradually created, in which disputes in which the so-called “devil's advocate” was an indispensable participant played a huge role.