For our readers: church rites in Orthodoxy with detailed description from various sources.

The Orthodox Church has established a tradition of performing many rituals that affect the life of a believer in different ways, but at the same time always establish a connection with God. Some of them came to us from biblical times and are mentioned in Holy Scripture, others are of later origin, but all of them, together with the holy sacraments, are constituent parts the common spiritual foundation of our faith.

The difference between rites and sacraments

Before starting a conversation about what church rites are in Orthodoxy, it is necessary to emphasize their fundamental difference from other forms of sacred rites, which are called sacraments, and with which they are often confused. The Lord gave us 7 sacraments - this is baptism, repentance, chrismation, marriage, communion, anointing, priesthood. When they are performed, the believers are invisibly communicated the grace of God.

At the same time, the church rite is only a part of earthly reality, elevating the human spirit to the acceptance of the sacrament and directing its consciousness to the feat of faith. It should be remembered that all ritual forms receive their sacred significance solely through the prayer that accompanies them. It is only thanks to it that an action can become a sacrament, and an external process can turn into a ritual.

Types of Orthodox rites

With a great deal of conventionality, all Orthodox rites can be divided into three categories. The first includes liturgical rites, which are part of the general order of liturgical church life. Among them, the removal of the holy shroud, performed on Good Friday, the year-round blessing of water, as well as the blessing of artos (leavened bread) on Easter week, the church rite of anointing with oil, performed at matins, and a number of others.

The so-called worldly rites belong to the next category. These include the consecration of the home, various products, including seeds and seedlings. Then it should be called the consecration of good undertakings, such as the beginning of fasting, traveling or building a house. This should also include church ceremonies for the deceased, which include a wide range of ceremonial and ritual actions.

And finally, the third category is the symbolic rites established in Orthodoxy to express certain religious ideas and are a symbol of the unity of man with God. In this case, a striking example is the sign of the cross. This is also a church rite, symbolizing the memory of the suffering endured by the Savior, and at the same time serving as a reliable fence against the action of demonic forces.

anointing

Let's take a look at some of the most common rituals. Everyone who happened to be in the church at matins (worship performed in the morning) became a witness, and perhaps a participant in the ceremony, in which the priest performs a cruciform anointing of the forehead of the believer with consecrated oil, called oil.

This church rite is called the anointing. It symbolizes God's mercy poured out on a person, and he came to us from the Old Testament times, when Moses bequeathed to anoint Aaron and all his descendants, the servants of the Jerusalem temple, with sacred oil. In the New Testament, the Apostle James, in his conciliar epistle, mentions its healing effect and says that this is a very important church rite.

Unction - what is it?

In order to prevent a possible error in the understanding of two sacramental rites that have common features - the rite of anointing with oil and the sacrament of unction - some explanation is required. The fact is that each of them uses consecrated oil - oil. But if in the first case the priest's actions are purely symbolic, in the second they are aimed at calling on God's grace.

Accordingly, the sacrament of unction is a more complex sacred action and is performed, according to church canons, by seven priests. Only in extreme cases is it allowed to be performed by one priest. The anointing with oil is performed seven times, while passages from the Gospel, chapters from the Epistle of the Apostles and special prayers intended for this occasion are read. At the same time, the church rite of chrismation, as mentioned above, consists only in the fact that the priest, blessing, applies the sign of the cross on the forehead of the believer with oil.

Rites associated with the end of a person's earthly life

An important place is also occupied by the church rite of burial and subsequent commemoration of the dead. In Orthodoxy, this is of particular importance in view of the importance of the moment when the human soul, having parted with mortal flesh, passes into eternity. Without touching on all its aspects, we will dwell only on the most significant points, among which the funeral service deserves special attention.

This funeral service can be performed over the dead only once, in contrast to the memorial service, litia, commemoration, etc. It consists in reading (singing) the established liturgical texts, and for lay people, monks, priests and babies, their order is different. The purpose of the funeral is to ask the Lord for forgiveness of sins to His newly-departed servant (slave) and to give peace to the soul that has left the body.

In addition to the funeral service, the Orthodox tradition also provides for such an important rite as a memorial service. It is also a prayer chant, but it is much shorter in duration than the funeral service. It is customary to perform a memorial service on the 3rd, 9th and 40th day after the death, as well as on its anniversary, namesake and birthday of the deceased. When the body is taken out of the house, as well as during the church commemoration of the deceased, another rite of the funeral service is performed - lithium. It is somewhat shorter than the memorial service and also takes place in accordance with the established rules.

Consecration of dwellings, food and good undertakings

In the Orthodox tradition, sanctification is a ritual, as a result of which God's blessing descends on a person and on everything that accompanies him in this earthly life. According to the teachings of the church, until the second coming of Christ, the enemy of the human race, the devil, will invisibly do his black work in the world around us. We are doomed to see the external manifestations of his activity everywhere. A person cannot resist him without the help of the Heavenly forces.

That is why it is so important to cleanse our homes from the presence of dark forces, to prevent the evil one from entering us along with the food we eat, or to put invisible obstacles in the way of our good undertakings. However, it should be remembered that any rite, as well as a sacrament, acquires grace-filled power only under the condition of unswerving faith. To consecrate something, while doubting the effectiveness and strength of the rite, is an empty and even sinful act, to which we are invisibly pushed by the same enemy of the human race.

water blessing

It is impossible not to mention the rite of consecration of water. According to the established tradition, water blessing (water blessing) can be small and great. In the first case, it is performed many times during the year during prayers and at the sacrament of Baptism. In the second, this rite is performed once a year - during the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

Installed in memory greatest event described in the Gospel - the immersion of Jesus Christ in the waters of the Jordan, which became a prototype of the ablution of all human sins, which takes place in the holy font, which opens the way for people to the bosom of Christ's church.

How to confess to receive absolution of sins?

Church repentance for sins, regardless of whether they were committed intentionally or out of ignorance, is called confession. Being a sacrament and not a rite, confession is not directly related to the topic of this article, and yet we will briefly dwell on it because of its extreme importance.

The Holy Church teaches that everyone going to confession is obliged, first of all, to be reconciled with his neighbors, if he had any strife with them. In addition, he must sincerely regret what he has done, otherwise how can he confess without feeling guilty? But even this is not enough. It is also important to have a firm intention to improve and continue to strive for a righteous life. The main foundation on which confession is built is faith in God's mercy and hope for His forgiveness.

In the absence of this last and most important element, repentance itself is useless. An example of this is the gospel Judas, who repented that he had betrayed Jesus Christ, but strangled himself due to a lack of faith in His boundless mercy.

Let's digress for a while from the fact that Orthodox Divine Liturgy is a traditional practice that has come to us from the depths of centuries, and let's try to understand why it should be a ritual?

Indeed, if we were creating it from some very general notion right now, would it really be necessary to make our religion so strictly formal? Maybe that free, improvisational form, which the Protestants adhere to, also has a right to exist?

Freedom declarative and real

Of course, we should start with the fact that the notorious “freedom” of Protestantism is much more declarative than real. At one time, our American university decided to build a “chapel of all religions”, the building of which would be free from any traditional religious paraphernalia and could be used for worship and rituals by students of any religions.

And, indeed, formally the requirement was met - one could not find fault with any element of the decoration of the chapel. But in the general architectural appearance and interior, Protestant forms were so unmistakably guessed that no one ever really used the chapel, except for representatives of various Protestant denominations.

And this is a very characteristic phenomenon: even when Protestants sincerely think that they are free and guided only by the dictates of their hearts, in fact they are closely connected with those new traditions that have developed among them over the past few hundred years.

Our invisible rituals

Of course, it is not only Protestants who are deceived in this way. Most modern people snort arrogantly when faced with the “archaic and meaningless” rituals of Orthodoxy, but at the same time in their own lives they follow many rituals, large and small, sometimes unconsciously borrowed from some tradition, sometimes invented on their own.

For example, among the Soviet students, ironically and critically inclined towards any and all traditions, both religious and secular, including the “new Soviet” state imposed on them, many rituals were born associated with the passing of the session. To name just a few: “catching a freebie” with a record book through the window, pulling out a ticket with your left hand, sleeping before an exam with a textbook under your pillow.

Similar examples can be found in almost every secular subculture, including those where, it would seem, functionality should be at the forefront: in corporations, government agencies, the army. Moreover, rituals necessarily exist both “official”, imposed by the “top”, and unofficial, which are created and “holy” observed (sometimes even despite the active opposition of the leadership!) in the “bottom”.

Rigid rituals of secular people

Thus, if you look closely, it turns out that the ritual is one of the most common and typical behavioral features of a person, any person!

Moreover, secular people for their rituals sometimes choose much more rigid forms and frameworks than those with which they reproach followers. traditional religions. Suffice it to recall the army “hazing” or the no less humiliating and cruel rituals of “hazing” common in American colleges and universities for newly admitted members of the “Greek” brotherhoods and sisterhoods (“hazing” is an initiation ritual, often carried out in the form of orgies, ritual beatings (for example, vice ) and other (sometimes quite bizarre) mockery of newcomers).

Ritual - a legacy of paganism?

One can easily draw a parallel of such traditions with the primitive pagan rites of initiation, but it is unlikely that one will be able to find at least some analogy in Christian rites.

It is curious that when a person takes his first steps in the Church, he most often seeks more regulated norms of behavior than those that are actually given to Christians in accordance with Holy Tradition. Entire volumes have already been written about the neophyte “candle charters”, their abuse of “statutory” fasts, “obedience”, asking for blessings on every little thing (up to brushing your teeth and wearing underwear!) Whole volumes have already been written.

The situation is completely paradoxical, even to some extent comical: with the prevailing belief in the world that the Church imposes on its members too many unnecessary rituals, from which unchurched people are free, in fact the Church frees its children from many vain rituals outside world, despite constant attempts to excessively “ritualize” church life in accordance with secular norms perceived by them from childhood!

Rituals of the Church

But what about the rituals that the Church establishes?

What is their fundamental difference from most of the rituals of the outside world? The answer is simple: they are distinguished by “formal informality”. There are household rituals (morning hygiene procedures, breakfast, lunch and dinner at a certain time and with certain dishes, etc.) that we do not think about because they do not burden us. They are natural, but not because they are useful for us (we are so used to them that we don’t think about their benefits at all). Usually, our parents teach us these very rituals from early childhood.

The Church establishes the same natural rituals, but related to the “hygiene” of our soul. Morning and evening rule, for example, can be compared to brushing your teeth or taking a shower; reading prayers before eating, we kind of "wash my soul." The Church itself compares confession in one of its prayers with a visit to a doctor: “Listen, therefore: for thou hast come to the doctor’s clinic, so that thou shalt not go unhealed.” At the same time, the divine service will correspond to solemn family events at which the whole family gathers. Of course, as with any analogy, this family comparison should not be abused. But it shows what should be the attitude towards “formality” and ritual in the Church.

Ritual - order versus freedom?

There are all sorts of formalities and obligations that humiliate us and limit the freedom of our personality (bureaucratic formalities, customs inspection, etc.). Family formalities and obligations (decorating the Christmas tree, opening the summer season, looking for gifts for relatives, seating at the festive table in a certain order, etc.) do not limit us at all. We perceive them as a manifestation of order in the house. Without them, we would feel uncomfortable.

It's the same in the Church. One of our novice friends once confessed: “Everything in the Church is like in the army. This is what I like.” But he has not yet felt that order in the Church is not an artificial and impersonal order of troops lined up on a parade ground, and parishioners in service are not soldiers in a parade. This is a quiet and cozy order in the House of a loving Father, and the parishioners are joyful, obedient, kind children at a family holiday.

An example of such a free, informal “formality” in the Church is the absence of rows of benches in the central part of the temple, the presence of which would artificially organize worshipers both in space and in time (as is customary among Catholics and Protestants).

In our Orthodox churches, worshipers are not tied to one fixed place throughout the entire Divine Service. If we observe from the side, we will notice that the parishioners move from one icon to another, put candles, they can come up and ask something behind the candle box; not all worshipers come exactly at the beginning of the service, and not everyone stands in the service to the end. Even if you are rushing somewhere on business, you can drop into the church for a few minutes to pray in a calm, solemn atmosphere.

Rituals of love

A very special position in the lives of people belonging to any cultures is occupied by rituals that could conditionally be called “rituals of love”. This is the “etiquette of courtship” in search of a marriage partner, and all sorts of traditions surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, and “generally accepted” norms of communication between parents and children, as well as various relatives.

Each of us can easily name many examples of such rituals from the life of those cultures and subcultures with which he is familiar: sometimes intricate, sometimes quite simple, sometimes rooted in hoary antiquity, sometimes born just a few years ago. Some of these rituals may be common to entire peoples, while others may be limited to one family.

But common to all of them is that their observance has an unconditional priority, sometimes people can do crazy things and even risk their lives for the sake of following one of these rituals (remember the deadly fishing for the sake of satisfying the “tolgak” of a pregnant wife by the hero of “Stormy Stop” Chingiz Aitmatov or anecdotal escapades of "hero-lovers" in order to get the coveted bouquet for his beloved).

Friendship, like communication with pleasant people in general, also has its own rituals. For example, one of our Moscow acquaintances told us that for forty years he and his institute comrades had been skiing every year on December 5 - this tradition survived the state holiday to which it originally owed its origin - Constitution Day. Of course, and here everyone can remember a lot of examples - traditional fishing, chess games, travel, walks, etc.

So, it turns out that in human behavior, love, affection, and in general any close relationship with another person is carried out through constancy and predictability, that is, they are inevitably ritualized. Therefore, it is not at all strange, but, on the contrary, it is natural that the Divine Service, in which each of us seeks union with God and the God-Man Jesus Christ, turns out to be a ritual.

Are all rituals magical?

One important caveat must be made here in order to dispel a common misconception, which, alas, seeps even into serious scientific work on religious rituals. This misconception lies in the fact that, supposedly, there is no difference between the ritual of a native shaman and the reading of a litany by an Orthodox priest, between the sprinkling of water “spellbed from the evil eye” in everyday witchcraft rites and holy water in Orthodox rites.

Magical rites accompany mankind from the dawn of civilization to the present day. Here, for example, is one of the simplest Babylonian magical rituals that have come down to us on cuneiform tablets, it is at least three thousand years old: “To cut off the source of evil from human habitation, collect, finely grind and mix seed in mountain honey (seven plants are named) ... divide the mixture into three parts, and bury them under the threshold of the gate, and with right side, and on the left side. Then sickness, headache, insomnia and pestilence will not come near this man and his house for one year.” (based on the classic H. W. F. Saggs, The Majesty That Was Babylon).

And here is a modern recipe for removing damage from the home, found on the Internet at the time of writing this article: “Take a faceted glass, pour half a glass of boiled water into it and put a handful of earth mixed with salt. The glass is placed on the left hand, and with the right hand, lead over the glass with the words: “Evil people, here is your house, but here is the threshold”, (say three times), then you need to throw out the entire contents of the glass on the threshold of your house, and break the glass and throw it away. ”

It is easy to see that there is no fundamental difference between these rituals, they could easily be placed in the same magical collection - both today and several thousand years ago. And the reason is that the fundamental principles of ritual magic have always been and remain the same: you perform a certain fixed set of actions and you get the expected result.

Despite the fact that declaratively magic is supposedly associated with some supernatural forces, in its essence it is rational and prosaic to the point of banality, and it is worth comparing it with an ordinary cookbook: you do those and those operations, and you get jellied meat or a cake. If the recipe is good, then the more accurately you follow its instructions, the better the desired result will be obtained, and vice versa, having mixed up or not doing something, you can end up with complete failure. And magic is most often directed precisely at some purely domestic, everyday needs.

Church ceremonies, on the other hand, most often do not pursue any specific utilitarian goals. The exceptions are “requiem services“, various kinds of prayers: for the health of the sick, for rain during a drought and other agricultural needs, etc.

But even in them, the guaranteed achievement of the result is by no means assumed. As part of any Orthodox Divine service, the prayer “Our Father” is necessarily read or sung, in which there is an appeal to God “Thy will be done.”

Also, the troparion “Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us is often used as part of various Divine Services, bewildering any answer, we offer this prayer as the Lord of sin: have mercy on us.” Slavism "bewildering any answer" is translated as "not looking for any justification". That is, turning to God even with the most vital requests, we clearly realize that we can’t motivate or appease the Lord with ANYTHING, we don’t have any “levers of pressure” on Him.

In addition, during the holding of Orthodox Divine Services, for one reason or another, formal, bookish prescriptions are almost never carried out literally, in their entirety. This is especially true of the trebs: the same prayer service performed by different priests and in different circumstances can differ quite significantly. According to the logic of ritual magic, this is a complete absurdity: deviating from written prescriptions, the performer of the ritual dooms himself to a deliberate failure in advance.

The church rite is NOT ritual magic, the church ritual is not an attempt to “earn” salvation or some kind of divine blessing. We are saved exclusively by the grace of God: almost every Orthodox prayer contains the petition “Lord, have mercy”, this is the most frequently repeated phrase both in church services and in private prayer.

Worship rituals

In the Old Testament, God gave his people a traditional and ritual order of worship. The New Testament did not make any special changes in the principle of its implementation, Jesus did not teach the apostles any special liturgical innovations, on the contrary, both He Himself and His disciples took an active part in church services and synagogue prayer. But by offering the Salvation Sacrifice on the Cross, Christ placed Himself at the center of the rites of the Church. And today these rituals of love, transmitted to the Church by the Holy Spirit through the apostles, are alive and well.

So, we observe a ritual in a certain way, not because it is “effective” in this way, but because we follow it. church tradition i.e., ultimately, we do so out of obedience to Christ and His Church. And this is fundamentally important, because it turns out that God worships in rituals that He Himself has established. It is these “correct” rituals, and not some others, that are given to us by God as a means to open the doors of our hearts, to build bridges that connect us with Him and with each other.

Professionals and amateurs... in faith?

The traditional and ecclesiastical nature of Orthodox rituals automatically means that they must be performed in the community of the Church and in a continuous historical perspective. If someone tries to create an independent apostolic church community and worship in it, then he will liken himself to a football fan who, going into the yard to knock on the wall or kick the ball with friends, dresses in the uniform of his favorite team bought at an auction and imagines that he thereby becomes, as it were, a professional football player. However, unlike sectarians, any football fan who does this understands that this is nothing more than fantasy.

Rituals for Orthodox and Protestants

Let us now return for a moment to the question of the free improvisational forms of Protestant worship, which, in the opinion of the Protestants themselves, are so superior to our "empty, anachronistic, legalistic religion."

The purpose of the Protestant service is to find divine joy and inspiration through good music and preaching. They go to the temple to learn something new about God. The Orthodox, feeling God in their hearts, go to God, worship the One whom they know in direct personal experience. The focus of the Orthodox service is the altar, the Protestant one is the pulpit. What for the Orthodox is a sanctuary or a chapel, for Protestants is an audience where people are listeners. This is confirmed by the terminology that English language, for example, is used in appropriate cases.

The protester wants to be touched by the service. It is clear to him that for new inspiration one must constantly hear something new. Therefore, the task of the pastor and the choir is to give the congregation this new experience. Depending on their talent and skills, sometimes they succeed, sometimes they don’t, which leads to countless disappointments and migration from one confession or sect to another. We came across this first hand in America, living in places where the nearest Catholic church is an hour away and the nearest Orthodox church is 4 hours away.

In Orthodoxy, however, the perception of the Divine Service does not depend on the skill of the preacher and the choir - precisely because of the ritual and formality, which we wrote about above. There is no concern whether the service will be meaningful. Of course, the perception of each of the individual parishioners is difficult to one degree or another due to inattention and sinfulness, but this is no longer a problem of the quality of service as such. The Holy Spirit works through the service itself, and not through those who perform it.

Of course, this is true only when the clergy and clergy follow the established rules of Orthodox worship. As long as the priest and choir follow the established order of service, they cannot voluntarily or unwittingly do anything that would prevent the meeting of the flock with God.

If they begin to deviate from this order, even for the most seemingly innocent and outwardly prudent reasons, justifying the changes by concern for the convenience of the parishioners, the inexperience of the choir and readers, the inadequacy of the premises, etc., the consequences can be the most catastrophic.

For example, in one of the Western European parishes, for decades there has been a practice of transferring holidays, including even the most important ones, to Sunday, simplifying liturgical rites, changing texts, etc. etc. The result that we were “lucky” to observe is this: the event of the Resurrection of Christ was no longer given any importance; the veneration of saints completely disappeared (even such great ones as the apostles Peter and Paul, John the Baptist, etc.); parishioners, and some of them clergy, who regularly attend Divine Services every week for 5, 7 or more years during this time have not read a single line of the Gospel, do not know even the simplest prayers such as “Our Father”, “Virgin Mary”, “ Heavenly King,” they never went to confession and took communion; Many parishioners do not even have a rudimentary understanding of Orthodoxy in general, as exemplified by the fact that they do not attend the Liturgy for years, being sincerely convinced that instead it is enough to go to an abbreviated Vespers on Saturday evening.

Worship is not invented by people

Therefore, it is important not to forget that Church worship is not an invention of people - and it is not for individuals to adjust it simply according to their whims. The liturgical services of the Church are the embodiment of Christ's instructions to His apostles as to how we should worship Him. God Himself governs the acts of worship, God Himself proclaimed its order. He also established the words of the prayers. Archimandrite Sophrony (Sakharov) in the book “Seeing God as He is” writes: ““Time to create the Lord, (Ps.118:126) Master, bless.” With these words the deacon addresses the priest before the beginning of the Liturgy. The meaning of these words: "Time for the (Himself) Lord to act." So, the LITURGY is first of all a Divine Act.” It is thanks to this that the Orthodox also receive the inspiration that the Protestants are looking for. Service is always good, worship is always right, and whether we receive this inspiration depends only on ourselves.

Protestants, leaving the church after the service, often ask themselves the question: “What did today's service do for me personally, what did it give me?” The Orthodox, however, do not care about such a consumer issue at all. He feels the fullness of the Church in himself. Being professionals in the choir, for example, we know that in a certain service we made a lot of shortcomings, in some places the choir sang out of tune; the parishioners come up after the service and, full of happiness and joy, thank you from the bottom of their hearts for the service. In fact, they do not thank us, but they themselves do not always know about it.

cleansing fire

We want to end this part with a quote from Matthew Gallatin's book "Thirsty for God in the Land of Shallow Wells", a former prominent American evangelical preacher who converted to Orthodoxy after more than 20 years of unsuccessfully searching for the true church in Protestantism:

“The liturgical service as a cleansing fire. It never fades. God shines brightly in him, in all his glory. When I approach it, I am obliged to surrender myself to the God who is in it. I speak the words commanded by Him. I sing the songs that He calls. I pray the prayers He has put in me. What He wants, I must hold fast. What He wants, I must do. There is no place to take care of yourself or your own desires. What is worship but an opportunity for me to become like Christ?”

Read also:

Worship: Why talk about Christ beautifully?

Worship: why do we keep the "traditions of antiquity deep"?

Connection with the church

A person's connection with the church can be manifested in a person's internal conversion to God and in external actions. The latter include church rites and sacraments, feasts for the veneration of saints and prayer services.

Church rituals in Orthodoxy differ from Protestant and Catholic rituals, although they have a lot in common. First of all, all of them are the thread and material external binder that connects man and God. The conduct of church rites in Orthodoxy accompanies the most significant events for a person: birth, baptism, wedding, funeral.

Worldly life and church ceremonies

Despite the modern pace of life, a certain technological development of civilization, the church and rituals continue to occupy an important place in human life. This is connected both with the traditions that have evolved over the centuries, and with the inner need of a person for support from above, in faith in God's justice and love.

People are most interested in church sacraments associated with baptism, weddings, communion, funerals. And although many ceremonies conducted by temples are optional and have no civil and legal force, almost every adult feels their necessity.

An exception, perhaps, is baptism, when parents decide to give the child a spiritual name and the intercession of the Almighty for life. Many of those who were not baptized in childhood, then independently come to the temple for God's blessing and undergo the rite of baptism.

Conditional division of church rites

All church rites can be conditionally divided into four groups: temple liturgical rites, rites for the everyday needs of believers, symbolic rites and sacraments.

The latter include baptism, communion rites in the Orthodox Church, anointing, wedding, repentance. All of them are carried out in accordance with certain rules and requirements of the church.

Symbolic rituals include the overshadowing of oneself with the sign of the cross, which accompanies prayers to God and saints, church services, and entering the temple.

The rites of the church, aimed at meeting the needs of believing parishioners, include the consecration of food and water, housing, blessings for study, travel, and fasting.

Church ceremonies include liturgical activities.

Greater Church Ordinances: Baptism

The rite of baptism of a child can be performed after the fortieth day from the moment of his birth. For the ceremony, the presence of godparents, who are selected from close people, is required. Their duties include the spiritual guidance of the godson, his support in life. The mother of the child is not allowed to the sacrament of baptism.

During the ceremony, the child is in a new baptismal shirt in the arms of the godparents, who pray and overshadow themselves with the priest. According to tradition, the child is dipped into the consecrated font three times, carried around the font three times. The strands of hair cut off during the ceremony are a symbol of obedience to the Savior. At the end, the boys are brought behind the altar, and the girls are leaned against the face of the Virgin.

It is believed that baptism gives a person a second birth, provides him with God's help and support in difficult times, protects him from sins and troubles.

Greater Church Ordinances: Communion

It is believed that communion in the church frees a person from committed sins and grants him God's forgiveness. The rite of communion precedes the wedding rite, but it also needs some preparation.

Approximately a week before the rite of communion, it is necessary to attend church if possible. On the day of the sacrament, the morning service must be fully defended. During the preparation for communion, it is necessary to adhere to the same rules as when observing fasting. That is, to refrain from food of animal origin, alcoholic beverages, entertainment and idle talk.

On the day of the celebration of the rite of communion, before the start of the Divine Liturgy, it is necessary to confess before the priest. The communion itself is held at the end of the service, when all those who wish to perform the rite come in turn to the pulpit, on which the clergyman holds the chalice. The bowl must be kissed and stepped aside, where everyone will be given holy water and wine.

The arms should be folded crosswise on the chest. On the day of communion, it is also worth adhering to strict rules: do not sin even in your thoughts, do not have fun, and refrain from sinful food.

Great Church sacraments: wedding

All church rites differ not only in the features of their conduct, but also in the rules and requirements. In order to undergo a wedding ceremony, you must first officially register the relationship in the registry office. A priest can conduct a wedding ceremony only if there is an official marriage certificate.

An obstacle to the ceremony may be a different religion of one of the young, an undissolved marriage with another person, consanguinity, or a vow of celibacy given in the past. Weddings are not held on great church holidays, during weeks and strict fasts, and special days weeks.

During the ceremony, the best men stand behind the young, who hold the crowns over the couple. All women present at the sacrament must be covered with their heads. During the wedding ceremony, the bride touches the Face of the Virgin, and the groom touches the Face of the Savior.

It is believed that the wedding ceremony protects the marriage from destruction from outside, gives the couple God's blessing and help from the Almighty in difficult moments of life, helps to preserve love and respect for each other.

In addition to external beauty and solemnity, which are characteristic of all church rites, they give peace to the human soul, relieve him of feelings of loneliness and internal torment. Their main advantage is that they make a person look inside himself, clear his mind of bad thoughts, and gain true life values.

In ancient Russia, there was a close connection and interaction between the church and home life of our ancestors. Orthodox people paid great attention not only to what they cook for dinner, but also how they cook it. They did this with unfailing prayer, in a peaceful state of mind and with good thoughts. And special attention was paid church calendar- they looked at what day it was - fast or modest.

The rules were observed especially strictly in the monasteries.

The ancient Russian monasteries owned vast estates and lands, had the most comfortable farms, which gave them the means to make vast food supplies, which in turn gave them abundant funds for the wide hospitality bequeathed to the inhabitants by their holy founders.

But the business of hospitality in the monasteries was subject to both the general church and private charters of each monastery, that is, one food was offered to the brethren, servants, wanderers and the poor on holidays and fodder (commemorated by contributors and benefactors) days, another on weekdays; one - on fasting days, the other - on fasting days and fasts: Great, Christmas, Assumption and Petrovka - all this was strictly determined by charters, which also differed in place and means.

Nowadays, far from all the provisions of the church charter, which were primarily focused on monasteries and clergy, can be applied in everyday life. However, an Orthodox person needs to learn some of the rules mentioned above.

First of all, before you start cooking, you must definitely pray to God.

What does it mean to pray to God? To pray to God means to glorify, give thanks and ask Him for the forgiveness of your sins and your needs. Prayer is the reverent aspiration of the human soul to God.

Why should you pray to God? God is our Creator and Father. He takes care of all of us more than any child-loving father and gives us all the blessings in life. By it we live, move and have our being; therefore we must pray to Him.

How do we pray? We sometimes pray inwardly - with mind and heart; but since each of us consists of a soul and a body, for the most part we say a prayer aloud, and also accompany it with some visible signs and bodily actions: the sign of the cross, a bow to the waist, and for the strongest expression of our reverent feelings for God and deep humility before Him we kneel and bow to the ground.

When should you pray? Pray at all times, without ceasing.

When is the right time to pray? In the morning, upon awakening from sleep, to thank God for keeping us in the night and ask for His blessing on the coming day. At the beginning of the case - to ask God's help. At the end of the case - to thank God for help and success in business. Before dinner - so that God blesses our food for health. After dinner - to give thanks to God who feeds us. In the evening, before going to bed, to thank God for the day spent and ask Him for the forgiveness of our sins, for a peaceful and serene sleep. For all occasions, special prayers are prescribed by the Orthodox Church.

Prayer before eating food:

Our Father ... or: The eyes of all in Thee, O Lord, trust, and You give them food in good time, You open Your generous hand and fulfill every animal goodwill.

On Ty - on You. They trust - they treat with hope. In good time - in due time. Open - open. An animal is a living being, everything living. Benevolence - a good disposition towards someone, mercy.

What are we asking God for in this prayer? In this prayer, we ask God to bless our food and drink for health.

What is meant by the hand of the Lord? Under the hand of the Lord is understood here the giving of good things to us.

What is the meaning of the words fulfilling every kind of animal goodwill? These words mean that the Lord cares not only about people, but also about animals, birds, fish and, in general, about all living things.

Prayer after lunch and dinner:

We thank Thee, Christ our God, for Thou hast satisfied us with Thy earthly blessings; do not deprive us of Your Heavenly Kingdom, but as if in the midst of Your disciples, Thou hast come, Savior, give them peace, come to us and save us. Amen.

Earthly goods are everything necessary for earthly life, for example, food and drink.

What are we praying for in this prayer? In this prayer, we thank God that He has satisfied us with food and drink, and we ask that He not deprive us of His Kingdom of Heaven.

These prayers should be read standing, facing the icon, which must certainly be in the kitchen, aloud or to oneself, making the sign of the cross at the beginning and end of the prayer. If several people are sitting at the table, the older person reads the prayer aloud.

What can be said about someone who incorrectly and carelessly baptizes during prayer or is ashamed to be baptized? Such a person does not want to confess his faith in God; Jesus Christ Himself will be ashamed of this at His Last Judgment (Mark 8:38)

How should you be baptized? To make the sign of the cross, the first three fingers right hand- large, index and middle - put together; the last two fingers - the ring and little fingers - are bent to the palm of your hand. We put the fingers folded in this way on the forehead, on the stomach, on the right and left shoulder.

What do we express by folding our fingers like this? By putting together the first three fingers, we express the belief that God is One in Essence, but three in Persons. Two bent fingers show our faith that in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, there are two natures: Divine and human. By depicting the cross on ourselves with folded fingers, we show that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ crucified on the Cross.

Why do we cross the forehead, stomach and shoulders? To enlighten the mind, heart and to strengthen the forces.

It may seem strange or completely fantastic to a modern person to say that the taste of dinner can depend on prayer or mood. However, in the Lives of the Saints there is a very convincing story on this subject.

One day Prince Izyaslav of Kyiv came to the holy Monk Theodisius of the Caves (reposed in 1074) and stayed to dine. There were only black bread, water and vegetables on the table, but these simple dishes seemed to the prince sweeter than overseas dishes.

Izyaslav asked Theodosius why the monastery meal seemed so tasty. To which the reverend replied:

“Prince, our brethren, when they cook food or bake bread, first they take a blessing from the rector, then they make three bows in front of the altar, light a candle from the lamp in front of the icon of the Savior and make a fire with this candle in the kitchen and bakery. When it is necessary to pour water into the cauldron, the minister also asks the elder for this blessing. Thus, everything is done with blessing. Your servants begin every business with grumbling and annoyance at each other. And where there is sin, there can be no pleasure. In addition, your yard managers often beat the servants for the slightest offense, and the tears of the offended add bitterness to the dishes, no matter how expensive they are.

Regarding food intake, the Church does not give special recommendations, however, it is impossible to eat before the morning service, and even more so before communion. This prohibition exists so that the body burdened with food does not distract the soul from prayer and communion.

What is the Sacrament of Communion? In the fact that a Christian accepts under the guise of bread the true Body of Christ, and under the guise of wine the true Blood of Christ for union with the Lord Jesus Christ and for eternal blessed life with Him (John 6:54-56).

How should one prepare for Holy Communion? Those who wish to partake of the Holy Mysteries of Christ must first fast, i.e. fast, pray more in church and at home, reconcile with everyone and then confess.

How often should you take communion? One should take communion as often as possible, at least once a month, and always during all fasts (Great, Christmas, Assumption and Petrov); otherwise it is unfair to be called an Orthodox Christian.

At what church service is the Sacrament of Communion performed? At the Divine Liturgy, or Mass, which is why this service is considered more important than other church services, such as Vespers, Matins, and others.

In liturgical practice, the Russian Orthodox Church uses the Typicon. The Typicon, or Charter, is a liturgical book containing a detailed indication of what days and hours, at what divine services, and in what order the prayers contained in the Service Book, Horologion, Octoechos and other liturgical books should be read or sung. The Typicon also pays great attention to the food eaten by believers.

How to behave in the Temple of God.

The church is a special, sacred place. That is why you should know and strictly follow the rules of conduct in it. This is especially true for people who rarely attend churches and are not very often present at services. Before heading to Holy place, it is necessary to learn and remember how to behave properly in church. Needless to say what you should be wearing pectoral cross and matching clothes. Mobile phone it is better to leave it at home, in extreme cases, turn it off while visiting the temple.

When visiting a church, the following rules must be observed:

Enter the Holy Temple with spiritual joy, filled with humility and meekness.

Always come to the Holy Temple at the beginning of the service.

During the service, try not to walk around the Temple.

If you come with children, make sure that they behave modestly, accustom them to prayer.

Men are not allowed to be in the temple in a headdress.

Women should enter the Temple modestly dressed and with their heads covered. For the clothes of an Orthodox Christian woman, there is a rule - covered head, shoulders and knees. It is unacceptable to take communion and venerate shrines with painted lips.

If, standing in the Church, we think that we are in heaven, then the Lord will fulfill all our petitions.

You must remain in the church until the full end of the service. You can leave early only because of weakness or serious need.

About the need to visit the Temple of God.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to earth for our salvation, founded the Church, where he is invisibly present to this day, giving us everything we need for eternal life, where “invisibly the Powers of Heaven serve,” as the Orthodox chant says. “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, verse 20), He told His disciples the apostles and all of us who believe in Him. Therefore, those who rarely visit the temple of God lose a lot. Even more sinful are parents who do not care that their children attend church. Remember the words of the Savior: “Let the children go and do not prevent them from coming to Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 19, verse 14).

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, verse 4), the Savior tells us. Spiritual food is just as necessary for the human soul as bodily food is for maintaining bodily strength. And where will a Christian hear the word of God, if not in the temple, where the Lord Himself invisibly instructs those gathered in His name? Whose doctrine is preached in the church? The teaching of the prophets and apostles, who spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of the Savior Himself, Who is true Wisdom, true Life, true Way, true Light, enlightening every person coming into the world.

Church - Heaven on earth; the worship that takes place in it is the work of an angel. According to the teachings of the Church, when visiting the temple of God, Christians receive a blessing that contributes to success in all their good undertakings. “When you hear the ringing of the church bell, calling everyone to prayer, and your conscience tells you: let’s go to the house of the Lord, then put everything aside, if you can, and hasten to the church of God,” advises St. Theophan the Recluse. - Know that your guardian angel is calling under the roof of the house of God; it is he, the celestial, who reminds you of Heaven on earth, in order to sanctify your soul there with the grace of Christ, in order to sweeten your heart with heavenly consolation, but who knows? “Perhaps he is calling there also in order to lead you away from temptation, which you cannot avoid if you stay at home, or to shelter you under the canopy of the temple of God from great danger…”

What does a Christian learn in the church? Heavenly wisdom, which was brought to earth by the Son of God - Jesus Christ! Here he learns the details of the life of the Savior, gets acquainted with the life and teachings of the saints of God, takes part in church prayer. And the conciliar prayer of believers is a great power!

The prayer of one righteous man can do much - there are many examples of this in history, but the fervent prayer of those gathered in the house of God brings even greater fruit. When the apostles were awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit according to the promise of Christ, they were together with the Mother of God in the Zion room in unanimous prayer. Gathering in the temple of God, we expect that the Holy Spirit will descend on us. It happens… unless we put obstacles ourselves.

For example, a lack of openness of heart prevents parishioners from uniting in temple prayer. In our time, this often happens because believers in the temple of God do not behave in the way that the holiness and greatness of the place require. Therefore, it is necessary to know how the temple is arranged and how to behave in it.

RULE OF THE REPRED SERAPHIM OF SAROVSKY FOR THE LAID.

This rule is intended for lay people who, for various reasons, do not have the opportunity to perform the prescribed prayers (evening and morning rules). Saint Seraphim of Sarov considered prayer to be as necessary for life as air. He asked and demanded from his spiritual children that they pray unceasingly, and commanded them to pray the rule, now known as the Rule of St. Seraphim.

Waking up from sleep and standing in a chosen place, everyone should read that saving prayer that the Lord Himself conveyed to people, i.e. Our Father (thrice), then the Virgin Mother of God, rejoice (thrice), and, finally, the Creed once. Having completed this morning rule, let every Christian go about his business and, doing it at home or while on the road, should read quietly to himself: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. If there are people around, then, doing business, say only with your mind: Lord, have mercy, and continue like this until dinner. Before dinner, do the same morning rule.

After dinner, doing their job, everyone should read quietly: Most Holy Theotokos, save me a sinner - what to continue until nightfall.

When it happens to spend time in solitude, you need to read: Lord Jesus Christ, Mother of God, have mercy on me a sinner. And going to bed at night, every Christian should repeat the morning rule and after it, with the sign of the cross, let him fall asleep

At the same time, the holy elder said, pointing to the experience of the holy fathers, that if a Christian clings to this small rule, as a saving anchor amid the waves of worldly fuss, fulfilling it with humility, then he can reach a high spiritual measure, for these prayers are the foundation of a Christian: first - as the word of the Lord Himself and set by Him as a model of all prayers, the second was brought from heaven by the Archangel in greeting to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the Lord. And the Creed contains all the dogmas of the Orthodox faith. He who has time, let him read. Gospel, Apostle, other prayers, akathists, canons. If it is impossible for anyone to fulfill this rule, then the wise old man advised to fulfill this rule both lying down, and on the way, and at work, remembering the words of Scripture: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Acts 2, 21; Rom. 10 ,thirteen).

Last way

about the Orthodox burial ritePriest Vladislav Bibikov

The law of death is immutable. Death comes, and the soul of a man is separated from his body. It is impossible to understand and fully comprehend the phenomenon of death. Just as mysteriously and incomprehensibly for the mind is the union of the soul and body in the womb, so equally mysterious is their separation.

The burial of a person at all times was accompanied by rites befitting this event. Through funeral rites, the living hoped to ease the transition to the other world for the deceased and make his stay there as happy as possible. Naturally, these rites reflected the ideas about the afterlife that the people who performed them had.

The burial rite of the Orthodox Church pursues the same goal. In a short article, there is no way to fully reveal all the details and the deep meaning of its liturgical actions and prayers. We will consider only the general rules for the burial of an Orthodox Christian, and also pay attention to customs that have nothing to do with the Christian idea of ​​​​the afterlife, but, unfortunately, are often found in everyday life.

Since ancient times, Orthodox Christians have paid special attention to the remains of the deceased brothers in faith, for the human body is a temple of the spirit living in it, consecrated by the grace of the Sacraments (1 Cor. 6:19). After death, the body of the deceased is washed with clean water, dressed in clean clothes and placed in a coffin. Both the coffin and the remains themselves are first sprinkled with holy water. The deceased is covered with a white veil - a shroud, a whisk is placed on his forehead - a paper ribbon with the image of the Savior, the Mother of God and John the Baptist. The paper whisk symbolizes that unfading crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4), which the Lord has promised to those who love Him and do His commandments. A small icon or cross is placed in the hands of the deceased.

The custom of putting handkerchiefs, glasses and other items that he used during his lifetime in the coffin with the deceased is a pagan superstition and does not bring any benefit to his soul.

Before the funeral service over the body of the deceased, it is customary to continuously read the Psalter and perform memorial services. The Psalter can be read by any Christian who has the necessary skills to do so. But it is more decent to invite a person who has a church blessing to perform this rite.

Before taking the deceased out of the house, his relatives, if they have enough zeal, can invite a priest who will perform a memorial service at the tomb and, leading the funeral procession, leads the remains to the temple, where the actual funeral should be performed.

During the movement of the procession, some make stops at crossroads. Previously, during such stops, the priest made short litias - prayers for the repose of the soul of the deceased. They, in fact, served as the reason for the stops.

It is completely senseless to throw millet or other cereals under the feet of walking people. There is no point in overturning the stools or benches on which the coffin stood. Throwing earth after the funeral procession, as is done in other places, is simply blasphemy. Didn't the deceased really deserve anything more than a clod of dirt from us at parting!

All these pagan customs are dictated by superstitious fear: what if the dead person “returns” and “takes away” someone else. What a great delusion and what a great sin to think that the life and death of a person depend on a stool turned upside down in time.

The funeral service should be performed in the temple, where for this they bring the coffin with the body of the deceased Christian. The so-called "absentee funeral" is allowed only as an exception (the absence of a temple in the surrounding area, the inability to find the remains of the deceased, and the like). In other cases, the relatives of the deceased, if they do not want to sin before him, must perform the funeral according to the custom of the Church: in the temple, or at least invite a priest to attend the funeral at home.

People often ask: can the closest relatives carry the coffin of the deceased? Yes they can. Moreover, in some regions of Russia, children consider it their sacred duty to express their love for their dead parents in this way, to serve them for the last time.

But wearing wreaths during the funeral procession is not an Orthodox custom. Nowadays, an abundance of flowers and wreaths during burial serves to honor the earthly life of the deceased, nourishes vanity, pride, causes envy and other inappropriate feelings among others, and after all, during the last journey of a Christian, you need to think not about his merits, but pray to God for forgiveness sins that every person voluntarily or involuntarily commits during life.

Absolutely inappropriate for a Christian burial and music. In an Orthodox church, music is not used during divine services, and it is not needed during burial, which is a liturgical rite. “Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us!” - these words of angelic praise accompany the funeral procession. It seems to bring the soul of the deceased into paradise. But what can the soul feel when its last earthly path is resounded by the piercing sounds of trumpets, so reminiscent of the roar of hellfire!

If the temple in which the funeral was performed is located at the cemetery, then it is appropriate to say goodbye to the deceased in the temple. After that, the coffin is closed with a lid, and the funeral procession moves to the burial place. They carry a cross in front, which will then be placed on the grave, the priest with a censer follows the cross, then they carry the coffin, behind the coffin - the relatives and friends of the deceased. At the grave, the priest performs a litiya, and to the sounds of church hymns, the body is buried in the earth. The first with the words: “The Lord’s land and its fulfillment, the universe and all who live on it,” the priest throws the earth, while depicting a cross on the lid of the coffin. In the absence of a priest, one of the pious lay people can do this, using the land blessed by the priest in the temple.

Metal money should not be thrown into the grave - this is a pagan custom. It is an erroneous opinion that fresh flowers must be removed from the coffin. You can also leave an icon with the deceased, although in some places it is customary to take this icon and bring it to the temple, where it remains for forty days after death.

After the burial, there is usually a memorial meal. It begins with a prayer for the repose of the soul of the deceased, and ends with a prayer. On fast days, the table should be fast. Vodka and other alcoholic drinks are completely excluded. The meaning of the word "remember" is to remember the virtues that the deceased possessed and to pray for the forgiveness of his sins. In our country, unfortunately, the organizers of the "commemoration" try to surprise everyone with an abundance of food and drink, while for the soul of the deceased, an abundance of prayers for him is much more useful.

In general, sometimes one has to wonder with what scrupulousness people, far from faith and the Church, try to fulfill all the customs associated with burial known to them. They forget (or don’t they know?) that the main thing is not to bury “correctly”, but to properly prepare a person for death, to make sure that his death is Christian, so that he appears before the Lord with a soul cleansed of sinful dirt. The Church prays for “those who have died in faith and repentance,” which means that before death, a person repents of the sins he committed during his life and partakes of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Only in this case, the Orthodox burial rite will have full meaning.

You should know that intentional suicides are deprived of a Christian burial. Suicide, committed deliberately and knowingly. The Church recognizes as a grave sin as murder. Every person's life is a precious gift from God. Therefore, the one who arbitrarily takes his own life blasphemously rejects this gift. This must be said in particular about the Christian, whose life is doubly a gift from God, both by nature and by the grace of redemption. A Christian who lays a murderous hand on himself offends God doubly: both as the Creator and as the Redeemer. It goes without saying that such an act can only be the fruit of complete disbelief and despair in Divine Providence, without whose will, according to the gospel word, not even a hair will fall from the head of a believer. And whoever is a stranger to faith in God and hope in Him is a stranger to the Church. She looks at the free suicide as a spiritual descendant of Judas the traitor, who, having renounced God and rejected by God, "shed strangled himself." Therefore, according to church canons, a conscious and free suicide is deprived of church burial and church commemoration.

If suicide is committed in a fit of insanity, then the funeral of such a person is performed in the usual manner.

It goes without saying that people who are not baptized are not buried in the Church. But you can pray for them - in simplicity of heart, entrusting the posthumous fate of those who died outside the knowledge of the true God to the boundless mercy of God, and ask the Lord that He, by His only known destinies, would show them His mercy and, as He pleases, grant I would make them weak and calm.

The Church's concern for him does not end with the burial of the deceased to the earth. The Church continues to pray for the repose of his soul. In the Orthodox Church, this custom is as ancient as the very foundation on which the dead are commemorated. In the decrees of the Apostles there are both prayers for the departed, and an indication of the days on which it is especially fitting to commemorate the departed, namely: the third, ninth, fortieth after death. The Fathers and Doctors of the Church, explaining the meaning of the commemoration of the dead and showing its true image, often testify that the commemoration of the dead is an apostolic institution, that it is observed throughout the Church, and that the Divine Liturgy for the dead, or the bringing of their bloodless sacrifice for their salvation, is the most powerful and an effective means of asking the departed for the mercy of God.

The end and glory to God!

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who followed Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, the time is coming, and it has already come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, they will live” (John 5:24-25).

“The time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have done good will go out into the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil into the resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29).

“The will of the Father who sent Me is this, that of what He has given Me, nothing should be destroyed, but everything should be raised up on the last day. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:39-40).

“But I do not want to leave you, brethren, in ignorance of the dead, so that you do not grieve like others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then God will also bring those who die in Jesus with Him” (1 Thess. 4:13-14).

“Christ is risen from the dead, the firstborn of the dead. For as death is through man, so also through man is the resurrection of your dead. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:20-22).

“None of us lives for himself, and none of us dies for himself; but if we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die to the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die, we are always the Lord's. For to this end Christ also died, and rose again, and came to life, that he might have dominion both over the dead and over the living” (Rom. 14:7-9).

Venerable Ephraim the Syrian: “At the voice of the Son, the tombs will fall apart, the dead will rise and sing praises. A new sun will shine over the dead, and from their graves they will lift up praise to Christ. Christ, who condescended for our redemption, will also come for our resurrection.”

Saint Gregory of Nyssa “The Lord, having become the ransom of our death, by His own resurrection broke the bonds of death, and by His ascension laid the path of all flesh, and, being co-throne and equal in honor with His Father, on the Day of Judgment, according to the dignity of life, He will pronounce sentence on the judged.”

Rev. Ephraim the Syrian: “Just as the sun does not dispel darkness with a strange light, so on the day of resurrection the righteous will be enlightened, their garment will be light, their covering will be radiance, and they will become shining stars for themselves.”

Saint John of Damascus:“The mysteries and seers of the Word, who conquered the circle of the earth, the disciples and Divine Apostles of the Savior, did not bring reasons, not in vain and did not bring good, established at the terrible, most pure and life-giving Mysteries to commemorate the faithful departed, that from end to end of the earth the ruling Apostolic and Catholic Church Christ and God firmly and the Devil unquestioningly supports from that time and even until now, and will support until the end of the world. For the Christian faith, free of error, has not accepted anything useless and would not inviolably maintain forever, but everything that is useful, God-pleasing and very salvific.”

Saint John Cassian the Roman: Any longevity of present life seems insignificant when you look at the duration of the Future Glory, and all sorrows from the contemplation of Immeasurable Bliss are removed like smoke, having been exhausted to nothingness, they will disappear and will never appear like an extinguished spark.

Rev. Ephraim the Syrian: The sea of ​​fire causes me confusion and horror, and I tremble because of the evil deeds that I have committed. May Thy Cross, Son of the Living God, serve as a bridge for me over it; May Hell depart in shame before Thy Body and Thy Blood, and may I be saved by Thy bounties.

Saint Athanasius the Great: The God-speaking apostles, consecrated teachers and spiritual fathers, according to their dignity, Being filled with the Divine Spirit and, to the extent of their capacity, received His power that filled them with delight, God-inspired lips, Divinely inspired, established Liturgies, prayers and psalms and year-long commemorations of the departed, which is the custom of the grace of a philanthropic God even to this day. intensifies and spreads from the rising of the sun to the west, in the north and south, to the honor and glory of the Lord of lords and the King of kings.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa: Nothing without reasoning, nothing useless is betrayed from Christ's preachers and disciples and is not accepted by the universal Church of God, but this is a very God-pleasing and useful thing to make a commemoration of the dead in the right faith during the Divine and glorious Sacrament.

Church rites

Rite is the outward expression of a person's beliefs. Man is a sensual-spiritual being, in whose nature the spiritual-ideal being is united with the sensible and material: therefore, in his imagination, he tries to clothe the ideal in the visible, in order to make it accessible to himself through this. The subject of man's religious beliefs (that is, God, the highest being) is highly spiritual and infinitely exalted above visible nature; therefore, a person, especially one who is at a low level of moral development, is not able to imagine this subject, nor to enter into a living relationship with it without any visible mediation. This is how the rite serves. Just as the manifestation of fire, thunder, storm, lightning served for the Jews as a visible sign of the presence of God on Mount Sinai during the time of legislation, so the rite everywhere and always served for a person as a symbol and confirmation of the reality of the presence and influence of God on a person. The Orthodox Church believes that every rite performed in its name has one or another sanctifying, renewing and strengthening effect on a person. Cut off from all appearances and rituals, religiosity falls into the extremes of pure subjectivism, i.e., takes the form of either indefinite sensitivity, or extreme logical abstraction. An example of religiosity of the first kind is German pietism, an example of religiosity of the second kind is Protestant rationalism, which closely borders on pantheism.

In the New Testament books, St. Scriptures in Greek words έυος, υρησκεια - rite, έυος, είυιςμένον - custom denoted as that which touches the outside religious life - the orders of hierarchical management (Luke I, 9), the rules of church deanery (1 Cor. XI, 16), religious ceremonies (John XIX, 40), a rite that has a symbolic meaning (Luke 11, 27; Acts. Apost. XV, 1), outward piety (James I, 26), and that which relates to the orders of life civil- popular desire (John XVIII, 39), judicial rule (Acts Apostle XXV, 16). In the first sense, usually church language and the words "rite", "custom" are used, i.e. the name of the rite in the broad sense of the word is called everything that relates to external side of religious life: liturgical rites and charters, objects and actions that have a symbolic meaning. Only that side of the sacraments of the Church, which constitutes their matter and form, does not belong here - those sacred actions and words in which and through which invisible grace is taught. About the rites in St. Scripture says little. The order, the order of external worship, neither Christ nor His apostles established. Ts. rites developed along with the development of the church itself, and she either reduced or supplemented them, then destroyed them, replaced them with new ones. Such an attitude of the Church to the rites clearly indicates that she considered herself entitled to change, cancel and introduce new rites, while maintaining her faith unchanged. Even the apostles expressed their view of the rites in this sense, when at the council (51) they decided not to follow the Old Testament rite of circumcision and in general not to burden Christians from the Gentiles with the fulfillment of the Law of Moses. This decision of the apostles served as a firm foundation for the practice of the church in later times. So, for example, according to the first rule, the apostle. Peter and Paul should have been done for 5 days, and Saturday and Sunday should be celebrated; Council of Laodicea 29 rights. abolished the rule of the apostles and decided to celebrate only Sunday. The rite of the liturgy in the first centuries of Christianity was performed differently: in the church of Jerusalem, the liturgy was celebrated according to tradition from the apostle. Jacob; in Caesarea, this liturgy, as very long, Vasily Vel. significantly reduced; the liturgy of Basil the Great, for the relief of the laity, in turn, was shortened by John Chrysostom. Over time, the rite of the liturgy was reduced in terms of the composition of prayers and increased by some prayers, chants and rites that life itself demanded. So, the songs "Cherubic" and "Only Begotten Son" appeared and were included in the liturgy later (VI century). Some liturgical rites have completely gone out of church practice, for example, the rite of summer conduct, the rite of the cave action, the rite of the Last Judgment, the rite of the action on the week of Vay, the rite of brotherhood, etc. Ts. rite, which does not even follow directly from the divine establishment (as the most important secret actions), is not, however, something completely random and arbitrary. One or another ritual feature, usually born from folk everyday forms, is accepted and appropriated by the church as the best way for a given time to express the known central truth and protect it in an equally accessible symbolic sign. But what seems best for a given time may cease to be so for the next. As a human form of divine truth, once a rite accepted by the Church retains its significance only to such an extent and until further advances in religious consciousness call into being new, more perfect ritual forms. It was difficult for our distant ancestors to assimilate the true meaning of ritualism, especially when everything insistently turned their thoughts more to the external forms of religion than to its internal content. The latter seemed to recede into the background; the soul of an infantile believing Christian, accepting the church rite as ready and given from outside, saw in it an essential part of belief, its inseparable irreplaceable belonging and legitimate respect for the Ts. rite degenerated into ritual belief. This identification of rite with dogma was especially pronounced in the correction of liturgical books and rites under Patr. Nikon. Opponents of church corrections saw the abolition of the old rites as a violation of dogmas, and the introduction of new rites as Latin heresies. Since that time, the rites canceled under Nikon (double hallelujah, seven prosphoria, two-fingering, salting walking, etc.) have become an attribute of the schism of the Old Believers. - In C. rites are expressed in a clear way the truth and the spirit of faith. Thus, for example, the rite of putting the fingers together for the sign of the cross figuratively represents the unity of God in essence and the trinity in persons. Truths and events presented under the guise of actions become understandable for people who live not so much with the mind as with feeling. To deprive such people of that which attracts them outwardly would be to deprive them of one of the sources of religious life. The Orthodox Church, with all the richness of forms and splendor of worship, was able to maintain a balance between form and content, to find the boundary between formalism and didacticism, on the one hand, and pointless play of the imagination, on the other. Catholicism upset this balance in favor of appearance and form. Some Catholic Rites churches were put into use in the Middle Ages according to the calculations of hierarchical power and self-interest. Lutherans rejected most of the church decorations, services, and rituals, but left in their churches the image of the crucifixion, some icons, kept singing and music during worship, bell ringing, some church processions, and instead of ancient prayers and hymns, they composed their own new ones. The Reformed abolished the ancient rites and placed the main content of the service in the sermon. Wed Iv. Perov. "On the Importance and Necessity of the Rite in the Matter of Religion" (Missionary Review, 1897, Sept. - Oct., 2nd book); his own, "The Sacraments and Rites of the Orthodox Church in Their Relation to the Grace They Communicate to Us" ("A Guide for Rural Shepherds", 1894, No. 11); prof. a. F. Gusev, "The need for external worship" (Kazan, 1902); arch. I. Ivanov, "On the significance of the temple and ritual in the field of faith and religion of Christ" (Voronezh, 1894); priest S. Markov, "On the Right of the Church to Change Church Ordinances, Rites and Customs, Not Concerning the Essence of Faith" (ed. 3, M., 1901); S. A - in, "Disclosure of the concepts of dogma and ritual and clarification of the difference between them" ("Orenburg Eparch. Vedomosti", 1893, No. 3); A. Nikolsky, "The True Meaning and Significance of Ts. Rites" ("Missionary Collection", 1891, No. 1); Smirnov, "Hours of Leisure. Experience of systematic exposure of the split of the Old Believers" (ib., 1893, No. 1); Gromoglasov, "Russian schism, etc." (1898); A. M. Ivantsov-Platonov, "On Western Religions" (ed. 3, M., 1894).

• - The concept and the term “O. P." associated with the name of the anthropologist Arnold van Gennep...

  Psychological Encyclopedia

• - ...

  Sexological Encyclopedia

• - liturgical rites in Christianity that arose and were traditionally used on the territory of the former Western Roman Empire until the 11th century in the undivided Church, and after - in the Catholic ...

  Catholic Encyclopedia

• - In addition to the sacraments, there are numerous sacred rites in the Church...

  Catholic Encyclopedia

• - Naming and is carried out when the child is only a few days old. Ch. the moment of the rite is that the priest. the book "Adi Granth" is opened at random, and the first letter of the first word on the opened page...
• - meetings of bishops with dogmatic and canonical authority, convened to discuss the most important issues of church life and doctrine and make appropriate decisions ...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Euphron

• - rules, the fulfillment of which is an essential sign and condition of belonging to the church. In general, ecclesiastical laws mean all the moral and disciplinary decisions of the church concerning all its members...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - see Ritual and Folklore...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - occupy an important place in the life of barbarian peoples, and in the form of cultural experiences they are also found among civilized peoples, among Russians - more often in Little Russia than in Great Russia ...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - the sale of wax church candles, both wholesale and retail, under Peter I was provided exclusively to churches ...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - Rites of various origins, related to Kupala, are timed to the Trinity Day ...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - see Civil litigation ...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - are a means for the court to discover material truth and are established in order to protect the interests of the state and private individuals interested in the course of the process ...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - Lustrations, religious and magical rites, which, according to the beliefs of believers, protect against diseases and other disasters. Among many peoples, the supernatural cleansing power was attributed primarily to fire ...

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia

"Church rites" in books

Church holidays

From the book Daily Life of Moscow Sovereigns in the 17th century author Chernaya Lyudmila Alekseevna

Church requirements

From the book Quirks of Etiquette author Lyakhova Kristina Alexandrovna

Church services Church services are called church services that are held at the request of believers. The requirements include prayers for the living and the dead, as well as the consecration of food and household items. Prayer services for the living include prayers for the dead, memorial services and

Church requirements

From the book In the Church author Zhalpanova Liniza Zhuvanovna

Church requirements Church services are called church services that are held at the request of believers. The requirements include prayers for the living and the dead, as well as the consecration of food and household items.

Church celebrations

From the book Moscow in essays of the 40s of the XIX century author Kokorev Ivan Timofeevich

Church celebrations Moscow - the heart of Russia - was once the center of spiritual and religious life. Therefore, nowhere is there such a grandiose number of churches and monasteries. Nowhere are solemn church holidays accompanied by such splendor and splendor as in

2. CHURCH MIRACLES

From the book Contacts with Other Worlds author Gordeev Sergey Vasilievich

2. CHURCH MIRACLES Ever since people invented religions, numerous evidences of the presence of divine (supernatural) power in everyday earthly life began to appear. Moreover, this presence manifests itself very tendentiously. Usually an unexpected miracle

Church forgeries

author

Church forgeries “Like a good hunter, the mystifier in all ages followed the trail of literary popularity. Before the Renaissance, the pious monk forged the works of the "fathers of the church", without stopping his work even when the militant church began to slowly retreat

Church stories

From the book Critical Study of the Chronology of the Ancient World. Antiquity. Volume 1 author Postnikov Mikhail Mikhailovich

Church histories It would seem that works of a church nature should be more reliably traceable back into the depths of centuries. However, the situation with them is the same as with secular works. The "Church History" of SOCRATES SCHOLASTIC, covering the period from Constantine I to

Church Affairs

From the author's book

Church Affairs The Novodevichy Convent was at a considerable distance from the Kremlin, the decoration of which Vasily was primarily concerned with, and yet the crowned miser did not spare a huge amount (3,000 rubles) for the construction of a country monastery. It was

8. Church people

From the book Kievan Rus author Vernadsky Georgy Vladimirovich

8. Church people In ancient Russia, not only the clergy and members of their families fell under church jurisdiction, but also certain categories of people who either served the Church in one way or another, or needed its support. All of them were known as "church

Church Affairs

From the book Ivan III author

Church Affairs The Russian Church for centuries relied on the authority of the Greek Church. But in 1453 the Byzantine Empire was conquered by the Turks. They began to interpret that the beauty of the Greek church was darkened under the rule of heterodox conquerors. In Byzantium, the high priests recognized

Church lands

From the book Ivan III author Skrynnikov Ruslan Grigorievich

Church lands The oldest and largest diocese of North-Eastern Russia was the Archbishopric of Novgorod. Archbishops occupied a special place in the system of governance of the veche republic. As chairman of the Council of Lords, Vladyka was considered the head of Novgorod - "the whole land

Church Traditions

From the book Legends and mysteries of the land of Novgorod author Smirnov Viktor Grigorievich

Church Traditions How Andrew the First-Called went to Novgorod The Apostle Andrew the First-Called was, as you know, the first disciple of Christ and one of the founders of christian church.Nestor the chronicler in The Tale of Bygone Years tells the story of how the Apostle Andrew

Church holidays

From the book Daily Life of Moscow Sovereigns in the 17th century author Chernaya Lyudmila Alekseevna

Church holidays Church holidays were the most numerous among all others in the life of the Moscow sovereigns, as, indeed, in the life of every Christian of that time. Easter and the Twelfth Feasts (Nativity of the Virgin, Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Introduction to

Church Sacraments.

From the book History of the Christian Church author Posnov Mikhail Emmanuilovich

Church rites

From the book of St. Theophan the Recluse and his teaching on salvation author Tertyshnikov Georgy

Church rites The Holy Church, inviting a person to the path of salvation, embraces with her ecclesiality the whole person and his whole life, she has prepared everything that is useful for her children, keeps it and "generously depends on us at the right time and in the right measure" .

The article introduces the reader to the 7 sacraments of the Orthodox faith. Each sacrament, its meaning and purpose is described.

Christian sacraments are the most important component of the life of any believer Orthodox person. According to the canons of the Orthodox Church, the sacraments were established by Jesus Christ. They are designed to change the inner life of a person, to influence his soul.

According to the teachings of the Christian Church, during the sacrament, the grace of God descends on a person. Sacraments are sometimes called rites. But, this is not entirely true. The rites are created by church leaders, and the sacraments are actions that are pleasing to God himself.

7 Sacraments of the Orthodox Church

According to the rules of the church, any of the sacraments must have two components in order to be considered valid. The first is the conduct of the sacrament by a canonical priest, according to all the rules of the rite. The second is the inner mood of the believer himself, the purity of his thoughts and sincere desire to receive the sacrament. There are 7 types of sacraments in the Orthodox Church:

• Baptism
• Chrismation
• Repentance or Holy Confession
• Participle
• Wedding
• Priesthood
• Unction, or Unction

Mystery of Baptism. The Meaning of the Baptism of Infants

1. The sacrament of baptism is the first serious church rite in a person's life. Before this rite, a person does not have the right to take part in any other sacraments and rites
2. According to the rules, the sacrament of baptism can be performed at any age. But, in modern practice, it is customary to baptize a child in infancy.
3. This, according to believers, protects him from all kinds of diseases. And, in case of misfortune, the child will go to Paradise, and not to Purgatory
4. In the Orthodox Church, the infant is immersed in water three times. It symbolizes the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
5. The godparents of the child take part in the sacrament of baptism. God-parents- people who undertake to introduce the child to the Orthodox faith, to provide all kinds of assistance in education.

Godparents cannot be:

• monks
• Children's own parents
• A couple who is married
• People of other religions

You can baptize a child at any age. But, the Orthodox Church recommends baptizing children starting from the 8th day of life. On account of this, there are constant disputes in the church environment.

Firstly, in early Christianity, baptism was practiced only by conscious people who understood the essence of the sacrament and voluntarily agreed to baptism.

Secondly, baptism is completely small child fraught with psychological trauma, because the baby spends most of his time in a dream, he will be frightened by a new environment, people and sudden immersion in water.

Sacrament of Baptism

Sacrament of Chrismation

Confirmation takes place immediately after the rite of baptism. It can only be performed by a canonical Orthodox priest. Chrismation symbolizes the condescension of the Holy Spirit on the believer. After this sacrament, a person fully joins the Orthodox Church. The process of the sacrament involves the anointing of the believer's ears, eyes, nose, hands, and feet with holy chrism. The sacrament of chrismation is also performed at the coronation of the kingdom, and for non-Christians who accept Orthodoxy.

Sacrament of Chrismation

• According to the dogmas of Christianity, a person can repent only voluntarily. Repentance, or the sacrament of holy confession, usually precedes the sacrament of communion. Confession is carried out individually with a priest
• At first, he reads prayers, setting the believer in the right mood. Further, a person can express everything that has accumulated in his soul, confess to a priest his sins
• After confession, the priest covers the confessor's head with an epitrachelion and makes the sign of the cross. Further, the person kisses the Cross and the Gospel. The Sacrament of Holy Confession is completely confidential. Confession is an important stage on the path to spiritual life, to the peace of your soul

Sacrament of Holy Confession. Rite of Penance

Communion or Euchrastia. Meaning of the rite of Communion

• Communion, or Euchrastia, is the main rite of Christian worship. Communion takes place when parishioners partake of bread and wine from the hands of a priest, which symbolize the Body and Blood of Christ.
• The sacrament of communion is necessary as a reminder to believers of self-sacrifice, love for neighbors. In this sacrament, an important role is assigned to the accompanying prayers, prostrations and hymns. Communion is accompanied by a sermon from the priest
• Regular communion, according to the Orthodox Church, can bring a person closer to God. After such a ceremony, illnesses, troubles, quarrels in the family can recede. A believer should take communion at least once a month

Communion occurs only after the sacrament of repentance.

Communion or Euchrastia

At the conclusion of marriage, believing Christians are reunited by the sacrament of the wedding. People who agree to this ceremony must sincerely believe in the eternity of marriage on earth and in heaven. When performing the ceremony, the Holy Spirit descends on the couple, and by an invisible force fastens their bonds. In order for the sacrament of the wedding to take place correctly, it is necessary to follow the rules:

• People who have a marriage certificate are allowed to get married
• A woman and a man should sincerely love each other, a man should play a leading role in the family
• The couple and their witnesses must be baptized Orthodox
• You can only get married three times in your life
• The wedding has an age limit. Men must be over 18, women over 16
• You can hold a wedding throughout the year, except for the days of Great Lent and important holidays (Easter, Christmas, Trinity and others). Wedding days of the week - Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday
• The best time for a wedding is considered to be the wedding anniversary or the time after the birth of children.

You can get married in the church:

If both newlyweds are members of the church, for if you are believers of different religions, the Church simply will not marry you. So you must be baptized and wear a pectoral cross.

Before you get married, you have to sign in the registry office, because you will have to provide evidence to the clergyman.
This is explained simply - if you were signed by the registry office, then there is confidence that any of you is not signed with someone else.
Also, the registry office does not register the insane and does not recognize closely related ties, just like the Church.

You cannot get married in the Church if:

1. L people who at one time accepted the spiritual San
2. Nuns and monks
3. The perpetrators of the dissolution of a previous marriage (for example, due to infidelity)
4. People who have already been married more than 3 times
5. They went beyond age limits. For men it is 70 years, and for women it is 60.
6. No parental consent. Children of Orthodox parents cannot get married without the consent of their parents.

Mystery of marriage. wedding ceremony rules

Priesthood

The priesthood is a sacrament in which a person receives a holy order, has the right to conduct Orthodox rites and sacraments. According to Orthodoxy, there are 3 degrees of priesthood:

1. Deacon. This rank allows a clergyman to assist a more experienced priest in administering the sacraments.
2. Presbyter (priest). A minister of this rank may perform the sacraments, but only on behalf of the bishop
3. Bishop (bishop). The highest rank in Orthodoxy. Only a bishop can administer the ordinance of the priesthood and ordain others to perform the ordinances

The sacrament of the priesthood is preceded by a sermon, a confession by the one accepting the dignity, and a sacred oath. Only after these actions, the bishop says whether the person is worthy to receive the dignity.

Priesthood

Unction is the oldest sacrament of the Christian Church. Its main mission is the healing of bodily and mental ailments. Unction operates on the principle of repentance, but frees a person even from those sins that he could forget about. Unction is held with the help of holy oil. That is why there is a second name for this rite - the consecration of the oil. The rite is usually performed by several priests.

Unction can be held at any age, starting from the age of seven. According to the rules, for seriously ill believers, it is allowed to conduct the ceremony at home. Such a sacrament is performed no more than once a year. It is carried out on sick people who want to be healed, as well as on household members. Unction may also take place in a church.

Sacrament of Unction or Unction

All seven sacraments carry sacred meaning which is available only to true believers. A sacrament should not be performed if it is not an act of good will, or if there is no understanding of its purpose.

Video: The Basics of Faith: 7 Sacraments in Orthodoxy

Church rites in Orthodoxy

In the life of Russian people, two categories of rituals can be distinguished: Orthodox and pagan. One is fundamentally different from the other. An example would be Christmas divination which have nothing to do with Orthodoxy. Believers define a church rite as a ladder that helps the human mind comprehend and reach heaven. Among the church Orthodox rites there are those that are held once and those that are repeated. Such ceremonies are intended to ensure that through them the Lord's blessing ascends to the Christian.

Church Orthodox rites are conventionally divided into three categories. The first category of rites associated with the Liturgy (taking out the shroud, consecrating the artos, anointing with oil, consecrating the water). The second type of rites is worldly (consecration of good undertakings, commemoration of the departed). Another type of rites is symbolic, which are perceived by the human mind as a way to communicate with God.

Baptism

One of the most important church rites is baptism. Today it is carried out over newborns, thereby helping them to become a small particle of the Church and receive God's grace. One can become a true Christian only by being baptized. Previously, a person who was already an adult was baptized. This is explained by the fact that in adulthood he could choose his own religion. Baptism is carried out in several stages: announcement, repentance and baptism itself. A necessary church rite, which is carried out along with baptism, is also the naming of the name. The baby was usually named after the saints of the Orthodox Church.

Holy Bible tells that after the forty days of the flood, a dove brought an olive branch to Noah. She symbolized reconciliation and salvation. So now, consecrated oil is also used as a sign of the grace of the Lord. During the rite of baptism, oil is anointed on the hands, feet, ears, mezhdoramie, chest and forehead of the child. It is said that oil illuminates the thoughts and desires of a person.

The entry into the ranks of the believers of a new member ends with the Sacrament of Chrismation, which consists of two stages: the consecration of the world and the anointing.

marriage ceremony

The next very important rite in Orthodoxy is the sacrament of marriage. The customs and traditions of this rite take their roots from antiquity. The conclusion of marriage symbolizes eternal love, sanctified from above. In marriage, a man and a woman create ideal conditions for procreation. Over the centuries, the rites and traditions that accompany marriage have been laid down. Among the modern ceremonies, the most important are the following: the voluntary consent of the newlyweds, the blessing of the parents, gifts, witnesses, wedding dinner. On the eve of the wedding, the priest had to announce to the parishioners about the upcoming marriage in order to make sure that there were no obstacles to its implementation. The act of marriage had to be recorded in special church documents. Next to the marriage ceremony is the wedding ceremony, which highlights the bond between husband and wife.

Before the marriage itself, a betrothal ceremony is performed. It consists in the fact that the priest must bless the rings of the bride and groom so that they become a symbol of endless love, respect and patience for each other. They say that the rings should be even and smooth, then the life of the family will be the same. The crowns that are put on their heads during the wedding indicate that from today the newlyweds receive the blessed crown of the Lord, which they must worthily carry through their whole lives together.

burial rite

The final rite, which is carried out on the earthly path of a person, is his burial. This rite accompanies the transition from earthly life to the afterlife. In the Orthodox tradition, death is thought of as the birth of a person for eternal life. Human consciousness cannot comprehend the secret of the separation of body and soul. Preparations and prayers for the soul of the deceased help him calmly leave our world and move on to another. The burial rite is somewhat different depending on who is buried: an infant, a priest, a monk or a lay person.

A funeral ceremony is performed over the deceased once. Funeral services such as litia or memorial services are repeated. During the funeral, they pray for the deceased and ask for the remission of sins committed by him for life. The main purpose of the rite is to find spiritual peace for the deceased. Also, the funeral helps loved ones to survive the loss. The funeral of a worldly person takes place in three stages. So a person is buried at home, in a church, and the final prayers are read before lowering the coffin of the deceased into the pit.

Prayer for the dead takes place during memorial services, which are similar in composition to the morning one. They perform a memorial service after the death of a person on the 3rd, 9th, and 40th days. They can be general and individual. A full memorial service is called a parastas. Litiya is sung when the body of the deceased is taken out of the house. According to church custom, kutya is placed in the coffin of the deceased. This food is endowed with mystical meaning. After all, seeds planted in the earth germinate and gain life, so a person needs to enter the earth in order to be reborn for heaven.

Prayers for the departed intensify as church holidays approach. Christians believe that the soul of the deceased after death ends up in purgatory, where it is cleansed by fire from the sins committed on earth. Prayers, Liturgies and memorial services for the dead help to shorten the period of stay in purgatory and quickly enter heaven. In addition to the fact that prayers for the dead help the dead, they help and live.

In addition to the above church rites, there are a number of others. However, baptism, wedding and burial are considered the most important rites in the life of an Orthodox person. They have the power to change better side material and spiritual life of a person, thereby bringing him closer to the Lord. Numerous other rituals that originate from ancient times are also intended to benefit a person and protect his home, family, health and life from devilish influences.

KSENIYA