Temple, church. How is the Orthodox Church

Last time we talked about what temples are and about their external architectural features. Today let's talk about how the temple works inside.

Here we have stepped over the threshold of the temple, and now let's figure out what the parts of the temple are called.

Right at the entrance, at the door, is vestibule(pretend in Slavic and means "Door"). This is usually located candle box where we can take candles, write notes about health and repose, order a prayer service or memorial service. In some temples, the vestibule is fenced off from the middle part of the temple.

Moving on, we will be in Withmiddle part of the temple, it is also called "ship". This part means the earth, all earthly space. Here we stand at the service, pray in front of the icons, here, in a specially designated place, confession is held.

In the middle part of the temple, in the center on lectern(table with beveled lid) is located icon of the day, it can be an image of a saint whose memory day is celebrated on this day, or an icon of a holiday. Upon entering the temple, the parishioners usually first of all go to venerate this icon, put a candle near it.

Between the middle part of the temple and its main part - the altar - is iconostasis. The icons on it, as it were, connect our world with the heavenly world.

Iconostasis, translated from Greek, means "icon stand". In ancient times, there were no iconostases, the altar was not separated from the space of the temple, only sometimes a low lattice was installed there to prevent the crowd. Subsequently, especially revered icons were fixed on the lattice, facing the worshipers. This testified to the fact that the saints also participate in our prayer. Subsequently, the number of icons in the iconostasis began to multiply. In Russia, iconostases appear in 5 or more rows of icons upwards. The traditional Russian iconostasis has 4 or 5 rows.

First row- icons called "local", these are the main icons of the iconostasis: images Savior and Mother of God , they are always located on the sides of the central entrance to the altar (royal doors). There is also an icon depicting the saint (or event) in whose honor the temple was consecrated, as well as icons of especially revered saints.

Second row iconostasis: Deesis rank, that is, the saints standing before Christ in reverent prayer.

Third row: (usually) festive, these are the most important holidays of the Orthodox Church.

Fourth row: Biblical prophets with scrolls in which their prophecies are written.

Fifth row: Old Testament forefathers, among whom, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses other.

The iconostasis usually ends with an icon crucifixion or Cross of the Savior.

The traditional Russian iconostasis strikes with its power and spiritual content. He says that we are not alone in our paths of spiritual life. We have a host of helpers who pray with us and help us achieve salvation.

But the temple can have an iconostasis with fewer rows. Actually, only icons are mandatory. Savior and Mother of God(from the first row), and the rest of the icons are set if possible.

The iconostasis is located on a certain elevation, on saltier, the center of which forms a semicircular protrusion in front of the Royal Doors, which is called pulpit. This place marks the mountain from which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself preached. And today, from the pulpit, the clergy turn to the people with a sermon, here they pronounce litanies and read the Gospel. On the ambo, it is taught to believers and Holy Communion.

Now it is necessary to say about the main part of the temple - about the altar. Word "altar" translated from Latin as "high altar". The altar is located on the eastern side of the temple, since the Savior in the Holy Scriptures is called Sun of truth(Mal. IV, 2) and East(Zech. III, 8), in church hymns He is called "East of Easts"(the luminary of the feast of the Nativity of Christ).

The chronicle descriptions say that during the construction of the temple, the place of the altar was first planned, and the longitudinal axis of the temple was drawn, oriented to the first ray of the rising sun. Thus, the altar should be oriented towards the sunrise, so that people, standing opposite the iconostasis, would face the east. This is how temples are built today.

The main entrance to the altar in the center is called royal doors because through them the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the King of Glory, invisibly passes in a bowl with the Holy Gifts. To the left and right of the Royal Doors there are so-called deacon's door(otherwise - the northern and southern doors of the iconostasis), deacons most often pass through them.

At special moments of worship, the clergy enter and exit through the Royal Doors. In other cases, entry and exit to the altar occurs only through the deacon's gates. Outside of worship and without full vestments, only a bishop (bishop and above) has the right to enter and exit through the Royal Doors.

Inside the altar behind the Royal Doors is a special veil(in Greek catapetasma), opened at the established moments of worship. It symbolizes the Stone rolled away by the Angel from the Holy Sepulcher, thereby introducing all the people standing in the temple to what is happening in the altar.

Per Royal Doors in the altar, on the table called throne, the sacrament takes place Eucharist.

Here, to the left of the throne, stands altar- small table on which are prepared Gifts for the sacrament of Communion.

Behind the throne in the eastern part of the altar is mountain place(“mountainous” in Slavic means “exalted”). On the High Place is usually located armchair for the bishop.

This is how the temple is arranged inside. It should also be said that the painting and decoration of temples can be different. Usually in murals there are plots Old and New Testaments.

In conclusion, I would like to say that the temple is a shrine, and one must behave piously and humbly in the temple. It would be nice to buy candles and submit notes before the start of the service, so as not to talk and, if possible, not to walk during the service. Let us remember that we are here as in God's House.

In "Handbook Orthodox person» contains the most complete information of a reference nature on the most important topics for every Christian: the organization of the temple, Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, Divine Services and the Sacraments of the Orthodox Church, the annual circle Orthodox holidays and posts, etc.

The first part of the Directory - "Orthodox Church" - tells about the external and internal structure of the temple and everything that belongs to the temple building. The book contains a large number of illustrations and a detailed index.

Censor Archimandrite Luke (Pinaev)

From the publisher

The encyclopedic reference book "The New Table", compiled in the 19th century by the Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas Veniamin, withstood, despite the materialism and skepticism inherent in the era, 17 editions. The reason for such an incredible popularity of the collection was the fact that it contained a huge reference material on temple buildings, their external and internal structure, utensils, sacred objects and images, the ranks of public and private services performed in the Orthodox Church.

Unfortunately, the archaism of the language of the New Tablet, the oversaturation of the collection with explanations symbolic meanings of the objects described makes this unique book very difficult for the perception of a modern Christian. And the need for the information that she gave is even higher at the moment than in the century before last. Therefore, our Publishing House is making an attempt to continue the tradition started by the New Tablet.

In "Handbook of the Orthodox Man" " we have collected the most complete reference information on the above topics, adapting it for the understanding of modern Christians. We have prepared the first part of the book - "The Orthodox Church" - which is distinguished by the completeness of the reference material given in it. It contains information about the external and internal structure of Orthodox churches and everything that is their integral part. Another feature of the book is the abundance of illustrations that clearly represent those sacred objects, the description of which is given in it.

The internal structure of the reference book is characterized by the fact that the beginning of an article devoted to a particular sacred subject is highlighted in bold, which makes it easy to find it in the text.

At the same time, the text is not divided into separate parts, but constitutes an indivisible whole, united within large sections by the internal logic of the narrative.

The book also contains a detailed subject index, allowing the reader to easily find the term of interest to them.

To compile the first part, several sources were used, but the "Handbook of the Clergyman" was taken as the basis, the accuracy of the descriptions of which is beyond doubt. Experience shows that even parishioners of Orthodox churches who have been churched for a long time have a distorted idea about some sacred objects or do not have it at all. The book aims to fill these gaps. In addition, it can become a reference for those who have just come to an Orthodox church and do not know anything about it.

The Publishing House plans to work on the following parts of the guide:

1 . Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition.

2 . Iconography (without special and applied information).

3 . Worship of the Orthodox Church.

4 . Sacraments of the Orthodox Church.

5 . Annual cycle of holidays and Orthodox fasts.

6 . General information on dogmatic and moral theology and other topics.

The purpose of the collection is to collect in it reference material about the Orthodox Church of a public nature. The book will help believers make up for the lack of knowledge about the most important components of the life of an Orthodox person that exists now.

The temple as a building of worship occupies a special place in any culture. Usually, one way or another, all the main events of people's lives are associated with him - birth, funeral, wedding, baptism, etc. For Russian culture, temples are such iconic structures, we will analyze their history, significance and role for the country in this article.

The history of the temple as a structure

ancient cultures and antique time defined the temple as the home of their deity. Such structures were built on the principle of a human house. In it, the main place was occupied by one or another figure of a god, there was a separate place for gifts brought to this deity. The entrance to such a temple for a person was forbidden, it was possible to look at it from the outside and only occasionally look inside to contemplate its divine statue.

On the contrary, in Christianity, the temple was not originally positioned as the House of God, but only as a place for the prayer of believers. This idea came from the Old Testament tradition of the “mobile” tabernacle, i.e. portable building, in which the Jews kept the most sacred - the Ark of the Covenant. In addition, the Christian God was conceived as an image above the world, standing outside its boundaries.

How could a house be built for such a God? If the whole world cannot contain Him, then how can a man-made house?

For the early Christians, God lived in the heart of man.
However, over time, Christianity also acquires "state" features, becoming. Then the question of determining the place for universal prayers is raised, i.e. question of building a temple.
For the first places of worship, Christians begin to use secular buildings - late antique basilicas. So in the 4th-5th centuries. AD the first Christian churches appear. It must be remembered that religious buildings were not erected for these purposes, but only adapted.

Description of the first Christian church

The ancient basilicas were quite spacious rooms, which, in fact, was required of them. These structures were rectangular structures with a high central nave (defined as two lights) and two lower lateral ones. In the basilica, respectively, the symbols of the Christian society are placed, consisting of:

catechumens
Faithful
Shepherds

By the same principle, the entire ensemble of the temple unfolds:

Yard (atrium)
Room at the entrance (narthex)
Main room (naos)
Holy place (altar, apse)

This arrangement symbolized the sacred movement of the believer towards God, going from the entrance (west) to the altar (east). This direction was preserved in other types of churches, especially Orthodox ones.
Thus, the first Christian churches revealed to believers not the "statics of veneration" of a pagan deity, but the "dynamics" of movement towards God, expressed in the plasticity of spatial forms.

We can summarize:

The temple in a religiously oriented culture (theocentric) becomes the central structure and the embodiment of its basic ideas of world outlook. In other words, the temple reproduces a certain of this culture.

For example, by the type of residential building and its internal surroundings, the interior, we can imagine a person living in it.

So the temple "personified" characteristic of Christian culture:

• theological (religious doctrines),
• cosmogonic (origin of the world) ideas.

Idea Orthodox church and her story

However, it was precisely the “inconsistency” of such ideas of worldview in Christian culture with the appearance of the first basilicas that led, among other things, to further development ideas of an orthodox church. (). It must be said that this idea has been carefully developed since the 5th century and appears one of the first in the new church doctrines of Christianity.
This "inconsistency" had the following problem. According to the Lord, His throne is heaven, i.e. striving for God, believers turn their eyes upward. This means that the main direction of movement should not be horizontal (as in a basilica), but vertical! In the temples of that time, the roof was flat and seemed to block the sky itself from the gaze of the believer.
The question of a dome appears, which would symbolize the idea of ​​God's heavenly throne. The idea of ​​the dome was not completely new at that time; it had already been embodied in the ancient Pantheon of Rome.
In addition, the dualism of the Christian worldview could be visually resolved in this way, which divided time and space in the human mind into two main parts of the world:

Dolnaya (terrestrial)
mountainous (heavenly)

This division was originally hierarchical, i.e. expressed precisely along the vertical: the main thing is there, and not here - on the ground. That time and space transcends this age of man. This axiom expressed the main chronotope of the entire culture of Christianity in the Middle Ages.

Temple of Sophia of Constantinople

It found expression in the first fundamental religious building of that period - Sophia of Constantinople. It was still a basilica, but already of a domed type. The temple has a dome 36 meters in diameter, located at a height of 55 meters, which visibly expresses the idea of ​​heaven and the heavenly throne of God.

By the way, this temple remained unique in its own way. standard solution domed basilica, this was no longer built.

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The device of an Orthodox church is connected with symbolic traditions, the history of the development of worship.

The main parts of the cathedrals are called:

• the altar is a holy place;
• naos - the middle part;
• vestibule

Each of them symbolizes a certain area of ​​being, is a repetition of the Divine, heavenly and earthly life.

Diagram of the internal structure of an Orthodox church

The altar depicted on the plan, fenced off by the iconostasis from the entire temple - holiest place in the cathedral. This is followed by the middle part of the temple, and then the narthex and the porch - a platform in front of the entrance to the church.

The drawing shows the main parts of the structure of the Orthodox Church.

Description of the internal structure of the temple

Let us consider in more detail the internal structure of the Christian temple.

vestibule

This is the name of the temple, symbolizing the sinful land.

The outer vestibule includes a porch with a porch. According to the ancient Russian custom, penitents say prayers at this place and people who consider themselves unworthy to be inside the temple stand begging.

At the monasteries in the vestibules there is a fraternal refectory, which is the second warm temple.

A tower-shaped bell tower is built above the narthex, symbolizing a candle.

Temple Sanctuary - Middle Section

The middle part of the building is considered a temple, symbolized by earthly existence, is a particle of the renewed human world. They call this place naves, it is located from the porch to the holy place - the altar.

There are icons displayed in large frames or on narrow special tables with inclined covers, which are called lecterns. Candlesticks are placed in front of the holy images, where parishioners can put candles. A lamp made of many candles decorates the interior of this part of the cathedral; the chandelier is called a chandelier.

There is also a small table on which there are candlesticks and a crucifix, called eve or eve. This is a place of requiems or requiem services.

Traditionally, the presence in the temple of the image of Golgotha, which is located in its middle part. This is an image in the form of a wooden Cross the height of a man, on it is the image of the crucified Savior.

On the bottom eight-pointed cross, on a stand, there is an image symbolizing the skull and bones of Adam.

To the right of the Crucifixion is an icon with the image of the Mother of God, to the left of John the Theologian, sometimes instead of him the face of Mary Magdalene.

Salt in the temple

In front of the iconostasis and the altar there is an elevation protruding into the temple, called the solea, in the middle of its ledge is the pulpit, which means ascent.

On both edges of the elevation, places are arranged where the choir is located. These platforms are called kliros, singing priests were called “kliroshans”.

Banners are placed next to the kliros - icons made on silk fabrics, attached to long poles. As church banners they are carried during religious processions.

On the semicircular sole, there are sometimes choirs in the form of a balcony. They are usually located on the western side of the temple.

Altar in the church

Traditionally located in the east side, it faces the sunrise.

The altar is considered "heaven on earth". It is associated with the images of Paradise, is considered the heavenly dwelling of the Lord. In a literal translation, the altar is called the "exalted altar." Only the anointed of God are allowed to enter it.

The inside of the altar consists of:

1. The main shrine, called the Throne for the performance of the Sacraments.
2. The upper high platform, located behind the throne, where the menorah and the cross are placed.
3. The altar, where bread and wine are prepared for the Sacrament.
4. Vessels and sacristies, in which sacred vessels and vestments of priests are located for worship.

The iconostasis separates "Heaven on Earth" from the rest of the cathedral, filled with icons, and there are gates in it. Only clergymen are allowed to enter the central ones, called royal ones. The gates on the north and south sides are for deacons.

The image of the Savior is placed to the right of the central gate, to the left is the icon of the Mother of God. After the image of the Savior, there is a temple icon, which depicts the most revered saint, whose name is associated with the illumination of the temple.

Church aisle

According to Russian traditions Orthodox Church it is not allowed to celebrate more than one liturgy during one day on the same throne. Therefore, additional thrones are installed in the temple, for which either parts are allocated in the main building, or extensions are made outside.

They are called aisles or pareklesia, they are located in the southern or northern side of the room. The presence of several church aisles sometimes not only complicates the structure of the temple, but also creates a whole complex.

Throne

It is a consecrated table, the lower garment of which is a white linen, the upper one is a colored expensive fabric.

This is a place for sacred objects, the specificity of which is that only clergy are allowed to touch them.

Altar in an Orthodox church

Located on the left side of the throne. The height of the sacrificial table is the same as the throne.

It is used for the ceremony of making wine and prosfiers, which are needed for communion.

pulpit

This is a place in the form of a semicircular ledge in the center of the salt, from which the priest delivers speeches and sermons.

Architectural elements of the temple

According to the appearance of an Orthodox church, its purpose is determined. It can be in the form:

1. The cross is the symbol of salvation.
2. A circle symbolizing eternity.
3. A square associated with the earth and spiritual fortress.
4. An octagon representing the Star of Bethlehem.
5. A ship replicating Noah's Ark.

The accessories of the decoration of the temple are:

• images on icons and frescoes;
• lamps that are lit depending on the significance of the service;
• lamps.

If you look at the photo with the temples, then there is a noticeable commonality in their structure - this is the presence of domes, which are crowned with a head with a cross. For example, the tripling of domes symbolizes the Holy Trinity.

For parishioners, both for children and adults, an Orthodox church is perceived as the Kingdom of Heaven. It is useful for everyone to know what the main parts of the church are called; for this purpose, a drawing or a picture with captions helps well.

In ancient Russian architecture during the X-XIII centuries. two forms of architecture developed in parallel: wooden and stone, with a predominance of wooden architecture. First of all, defensive structures were built: cities, towns, citadels, kremlins and prisons. During this period, the main defensive role was played by earthen fortifications. These were earthen ramparts with ditches in front of them and wooden walls above.

The first Christian temple, the wooden church of Elijah in Kiev, was built in the middle of the 10th century. In Rostov, a cathedral was built of oak. The Chronicle gives the names of the first architects: Mironeg and Zhdan-Nikola from Vyshgorod. Under Vladimir the Baptist, stone monumental construction begins. Having borrowed architecture from Byzantium, Russia also inherited the symbolism of the temple - the starry sky. The basis was a cross as a symbol of Christianity and salvation. The head of the temple is held by Christ the Almighty (Pantocrator), and the neck (drum) is held by the apostles. It was they who were depicted on the frescoes in the main dome and on the drums. The cult building was strictly oriented to the cardinal points. The altar was always placed in the east central apse. He was a symbol of the cave where Jesus was born, but at the same time Golgotha, where he was crucified, as well as the heavenly throne - paradise, where Jesus ascended after. The altar was separated from the premises for worshipers by an ambo - an elevation, and later by a solid wall of the iconostasis. The cubic form of the church building took shape in the 10th-12th centuries. and lasted until the 17th century.

Yaroslav the Wise did a lot of arranging Kiev. Under him, not only the walls were fortified, but also three stone gates were erected. Some of them were called Golden: their copper doors were covered with gold, and a church towered above them. Under Yaroslav, three stone churches were built: Georgievsky, St. Irene and St. Sophia, which the Greeks honored under the name of Athena, and the Byzantines worshiped "wisdom" in the image of the Mother of God.

The Kiev Cathedral of St. Sophia was founded on the site of the victorious battle between the Kievans and the Pechenegs. He was given the most high place in the town. And he was perfectly visible to any person in Kiev at that time. The temple was not whitewashed. The brick alternated with a pink bonding solution - opium. The cathedral was larger than many Byzantine churches. He, for example, had not three naves, but five. The temple was crowned with thirteen domes, symbolizing the 12 apostles and Jesus Christ. When the believers entered the temple, they were amazed that they were met not by extraordinary space and height, but by tightness and darkness. Twelve powerful pillars divided the inner space of the temple. Only in the center of the dome penetrated the solar stream. (It was under the main dome that all the main state ceremonies were performed.) Almost the entire second tier of the temple was occupied by choirs - huge floors for the prince and other dignitaries, which divided the internal volume horizontally.

A primordially Russian feature of temple architecture is the allocation of a mosaic pattern of the central dome and the main apse. In the main dome of the temple there was a mosaic image of the Almighty, and in the vault of the central apse there was a giant fresco with the figure of the Mother of God. On a concave vault, she seemed to hug the praying people with her arms. The mosaics of St. Sophia of Kiev originally occupied an area of ​​640 m2. A little more than half are now preserved. The frescoes of the cathedral have survived much worse than the mosaics.

Yaroslav, in gratitude to the Novgorodians for having contributed to his ascension to the throne of Kiev, sent his beloved son Vladimir to them. By order of Vladimir, after the victory over the Volga Bulgars, Sophia of Novgorod was erected. This five-domed temple was built under the direct influence of a similar cathedral in Kiev. There were also choirs for the prince, and groin vaults. But it is more massive. By appearance it was a regular quadrangle, rising without ledges and bases to the roof. But in the masonry of the cathedral (from huge, irregular shape stones) the influence of the Romanesque style can also be traced. After all, Novgorod gravitated towards North-Western Europe. Sophia of Novgorod pretty soon ceased to serve as the personification of princely power and gradually turned into a symbol of the Novgorod Republic. Veche gathered near the temple, the treasury was kept in the temple, solemn prayers were served in the name of military victories, and people were elevated to the highest positions.

The cathedral was not painted for almost 60 years, but then artists from Byzantium were invited. The dome traditionally had an image of Pantokrator, who, according to legend, was painted with a blessing hand, but in the morning everyone saw that the hand was clenched into a fist. The fresco was repainted three times, until the voice of God was heard, proclaiming that Novgorod was in the clenched hand of the Pantokrator, which would happily exist as long as the hand was clenched. Unfortunately, this image was completely lost during the Great Patriotic War.

In Suzdal, on the banks of the Nerl River, just 2 km from the palace of Andrei Bogolyubsky, there is the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin. This is a rather complex architectural structure. The church was supposed to be erected in a place flooded with floods. To do this, a 4-meter stone plinth was erected on the foundation and covered with earth. The result was a hill, which was lined with hewn stone slabs. The church was built on this pedestal. Its construction marked a victory over the Volga Bulgars in 1164. The Bulgars even delivered a building stone for it in the form of an indemnity. Alas, the frescoes have been lost. The theme of the glorification of the Virgin Mary is present in the girlish masks located above the upper windows of the facades. The masterpieces of architecture can be attributed to the built in the XII century. Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir, decorated with stone carvings of rare beauty.

In connection with the Tatar-Mongol invasion, stone construction was interrupted for almost half a century. The revival dates back to the beginning of the 14th century, when stone walls Pskov child. in Moscow in the 14th century. under Prince Dmitry Donskoy, a white-stone Kremlin was built. In the XV century. the Trinity Cathedral was built in the Trinity-Sergius Monastery founded by Sergius of Radonezh (1314 - 1392), and in Moscow - the Spassky Cathedral of the Andronikov Monastery.

Gradually, in Moscow, which became the center of the unification of Russian lands, stone construction, including civil construction, acquires a special scope. This leads, in particular, to the fact that expensive construction material- hewn stone began to be increasingly replaced by cheaper brick and terracotta. The use of bricks was reflected in the decorative decoration of the facades in the form of patterned brickwork.

At the end of the XV century. The Moscow Kremlin was rebuilt; Italian craftsmen Pietro Antonio Solari, Aristotle Fioravanti, Aleviz Novy and Marco Fryazin were invited to build it. Repeating basically the contours of the fortifications of the previous century, Brick wall, with a total length of more than 2 km with eighteen towers, was not only a defensive fortification, but also became an architectural decoration of the capital. Most of the new churches were erected on the sites of old ones, often wooden ones, thereby emphasizing the continuity of generations.

Today's children watch Soviet cartoons "Well, you wait!" online, on a computer.

The Assumption Cathedral (1475-1479) was built in the Kremlin by the architect Fioravanti, in this huge five-domed temple, which became the main temple of the country, the most important state acts were carried out: weddings to the kingdom and others. The Archangel Cathedral (1505-1508), built by Aleviz Novy, becomes time the royal tomb. This temple was decorated in the spirit of Renaissance architecture. Russian craftsmen built the Cathedral of the Annunciation (1484-1489) and the Church of the Deposition of the Robe (1484-1486). The ensemble ended with the bell tower of Ivan the Great (1505 - 1508). The Moscow Kremlin became an architectural model, which the architects of Tula, Kolomna, Nizhny Novgorod and other cities tried to imitate. Moscow architecture of the XV-XVI centuries. becomes a common phenomenon.

In the XVI century. the ensembles of the Trinity-Sergius, Borisoglebsky, Kirillo-Belozersky monasteries are formed. In Moscow, an example of a multi-pillar composition was the Cathedral of the Intercession on the Moat, popularly nicknamed St. Basil's Cathedral. This architectural monument was erected on Red Square in honor of the victory over the Kazan Khanate in 1552. It was built by masters Barma and Postnik. But the outer multicolored paintings were made already in the 17th century.