About the accessories of the sacred church and worship

Contents A. About sacred things and vessels necessary for priestly service Conversation about sacred things and vessels necessary for priestly service B. About sacred clothes Conversation No. 1. About the clothes of priests and deacons during divine services Conversation No. 2. About the bishop's vestments V. About holy icons Conversation No. 1. About the veneration of holy icons Appendix to conversation No. 1. Evidence of the truth of icon veneration in the Orthodox Church Conversations 2. About why we venerate holy icons Appendix to conversation No. 2 A. The face of Christ the Savior and His appearance B. The appearance and moral height of the Most Holy Theotokos Conversation No. 3. About the symbolic signs with which holy crosses are depicted in our country Conversation No. 4. About the image of Angels with wings Appendix to conversation No. 4. Explanation of symbolic images in church painting of the holy seven Archangels Conversation No. 5. About symbolic images with the holy evangelists Conversation No. 6. About why the Apostle Peter is depicted on icons with keys, and the Apostle Paul with a sword Conversation No. 7. About what the image of St. Nicholas with a church and a sword in his hands means G. About liturgical books D. Ringing bells Appendix to the conversation. The use of bells in churches and their origin E. About church lighting Conversation No. 1. On the importance of using lamps during worship Conversation No. 2. About lighting candles and oil in church with moralizing conclusions A. About sacred things and vessels necessary for sacred service Conversation about sacred things and vessels necessary for priestly service I. Speaking in previous conversations about the church of God, we have not yet said everything. In order to be able to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in a church, there are sacred things and vessels necessary for the sacred service. And this is what we will now talk about. II. These sacred things and vessels are as follows: a) Antimins. This is a consecrated silk or linen handkerchief, which depicts the Entombment of the Body of the Lord Jesus. We already talked about him earlier, when we talked about the throne, therefore at the present time we will only say what complements our information about him. On it, during the Liturgy, the Holy Gifts are presented, after they are transferred from the altar to the throne. The consecration of the antimension must certainly be performed by the bishop. In ancient times, when, due to the persecution of Christians, it was impossible to have permanent thrones, antimensions were used instead of thrones. In those days they were made mainly of linen fabric (but there were also antimensions made of stone), in a small form (two to three inches), with the image of a cross. In the 17th century they began to arrange them in a larger form, but also from linen fabric and with the image of the Entry of the Lord into the tomb... Subsequently, in Russia they began to arrange them from silk fabric. Parts of the holy relics are placed in the antimensions, in remembrance of the fact that in ancient times Christians used to celebrate the Liturgy at the burial places of the holy martyrs. The antimension constitutes a necessary accessory to the throne, as evidence of the bishop's blessing and permission to perform sacred acts on it. It reminds us of the Shroud (cloth) with which the body of the deceased Savior was entwined. The antimension is kept on the throne in a special silk scarf called an iliton. In the spiritual sense, iliton means that sudarium (bandage) that was tied around the head of the Lord Jesus Christ during His burial. b) Gospel. This is a sacred book written, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by four evangelists: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The word gospel is Greek, in Russian - good news, or good news. This book contains the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, His earthly life, teaching, miracles, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. The Gospel depicts Jesus Christ, and reminds us that on the throne on which it is located, Jesus Christ Himself is mysteriously present. Christians of all ages and times have always had the deepest reverence for the Gospel. This reverence was expressed not only in respectful worship before it, kissing, burning incense and lighting lamps, but even in its external decoration. The custom of decorating the Gospels in gold and silver is very ancient. It is said that in the Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople there were 24 Gospels, and they were all gold, weighing 220 pounds each. You have probably noticed more than once on the top cover of our Gospels the faces of the evangelists with different images on them. Thus, with the Evangelist Matthew a young man is depicted, with Mark a lion, with Luke a calf (ox), and with John an eagle. These images are the symbols (images) of the Cherubim, and their use is very ancient. Cherubim in the form of four animals: a lion - the king of animals, a calf - the king of domestic animals, an eagle - the king of birds and man - the king of all animals, are found on the most ancient monuments of Christianity. The reason for this kind of images was probably the visions of the prophet Ezekiel and the apostle John the Theologian. The vision of the prophet Ezekiel was as follows: he imagined a bright cloud and in the middle of this cloud something similar to four animals; each of these animals had four wings and four faces, one human, the other a lion, the third a calf, and the fourth an eagle; Each animal had one wheel with high rims, and the rims were dotted with eyes. The animals and wheels moved where the Spirit wanted to go. Animals supported the vault: there was a throne on the vault; and on the throne, in the form of a radiant man, was the Lord... The vision of the Apostle John the Theologian was as follows: he saw the throne of the Lamb, around which there were four animals: the first of them was like a lion, the second was like a calf, the third had a face like a man, and the fourth was like a flying eagle; each of them had six wings around... Since the Gospel depicts the Lord Jesus Christ, it is quite appropriate to have symbolic images of Cherubim on it. These images remind us that the Lord Jesus Christ is constantly standing before the Cherubim, surrounding His throne and crying: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty!” As for why each of the said animals is associated with one or another evangelist, Blessed Jerome answers this as follows: Matthew depicts a young man because he begins his Gospel with the human genealogy of Jesus Christ; in Mark it is a lion, because he begins his Gospel with the strict preaching of John the Baptist, which rang out in the desert like a strong roar of a lion; in Luke it is a calf, because he begins his Gospel with the image of the priestly service of Zechariah, whose duty included the sacrifice of oxen; John has an eagle, because he begins his Gospel with the eternal Divinity of Jesus Christ, for the image of Whom the farsightedness of an eagle was needed... c) Cross. The cross is such a shrine of Christianity, which, being on the throne, reminds us that on the cross the Lord accomplished our redemption, and that the Sacrifice offered on the throne is undoubtedly saving. The Holy Church highly honors the cross, which is on the throne, and expresses its honor to it by censing, by solemnly removing it from the altar on certain days (for example: on the Sunday of the Cross, on the first day of August, on the Feast of the Exaltation and others) at the head of the clergyman, by lighting lamps before him, by worshiping, kissing, by using it during worship, during the performance of the Sacraments, for the blessing of water and for worn during religious processions. By this she instills in us that we too should reverently honor this cross and that, in the words of the fathers of the VI Ecumenical Council (canon 73), we should worship it in thought, word, and feelings. Looking carefully at our altar crosses, one cannot help but notice that these crosses are either four-pointed or octagonal. The Holy Church honors both crosses equally. At the same time, one cannot help but notice the images on these crosses. So, for example: in the middle of the cross the Savior is usually depicted either in the position of having just been nailed to the cross, with outstretched arms the width of the cross, or in the position of having already died, hanging with his head bowed; at the upper end of the longitudinal part of the cross, the Lord of hosts is depicted either with outstretched arms and at the same time bending down and looking from heaven to earth, or blessing with one hand and holding a scepter in the other; at the ends of the transverse part of the cross are depicted: on the right side - the Mother of God, and on the left - the Apostle John the Theologian; At the bottom of the cross is a human skull lying on bones. All these images contain a whole sermon, and it is very instructive for us. So the image of the Savior crucified on the cross seems to tell us: “Look, people of God! This is what you have brought your Lord and Master to! He is nailed to the cross, covered in wounds, suffers terrible torture and dies!” Why and for what? For our sake man and our sake for salvation. Shake your heart, repent and save your souls by faith in Him and love for Him! Further, the image of the Lord of Hosts, with outstretched arms, looking from heaven to earth, as if testifies to us that the justice of God by the death on the cross of the Son of God is now satisfied and the Father’s embrace is open for every Christian true believer, and the image of the Lord of Hosts with one hand blessing, and with the other holding a scepter, as if testifies to the reconciliation of God the Father Almighty with the human race for the sake of His Son’s merits on the cross and about His special favor to all Christians, true believers. Then the image on the cross of the Mother of God and the Apostle John, on the one hand, reminds us that when our Lord suffered on the cross, they were inseparably and closest to His cross and with all their being they sympathized with His suffering, and on the other hand, it seems to testify to our adoption of the Mother of God, which was given to us by the Lord from the cross in the person of the Apostle John the Theologian. This adoption lies in those precious words of the Savior that He spoke from the cross to His Most Pure Mother and the Apostle John. The evangelists narrate that Jesus Christ, when hanging on the cross, shortly before His death, turning to His Mother and pointing His gaze at the Apostle John, said: “Woman! Behold, Thy Son,” and then, turning to the Apostle John and pointing His gaze at His Mother, said: “Behold, Thy Mother!” The Holy Fathers, explaining these words, directly say that our Savior, adopting with these words the Apostle John to His Most Pure Mother, in the person of this Apostle adopted Her and all those who believe in Him. Finally, the image, at the bottom of the cross, of a human skull lying on bones, clearly inspires us with the truth that Jesus Christ by His death destroyed the dominion of death. d) Ark or tabernacle. This is the vessel in which the Holy Gifts are preserved for the communion of the sick and the Holy Lamb for the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. In a spiritual sense it means the tomb of Christ. This ark is a sacred thing. And an unsanctified hand, as it is said in one of our church books, will never touch this, under mortal sin. One day, a woman, says Saint Cyprian, decided to open the ark in which the Holy Place of the Lord was kept, and was immediately scorched by the fire that came out of it. e) Paten. This is a sacred dish on which the bread offered into the body of Christ rests. In a spiritual sense, it means the manger in which Jesus Christ, at birth, was laid with His Most Pure Matter, and the tomb in which His Body was buried. f) Chalice. The chalice is the Holy Chalice into which is poured the wine that is given into the Blood of Christ. He reminds us of the cup in which Jesus Christ, at the Last Supper, offered His Blood to His disciples under the guise of wine. Both the paten and the Chalice have been put into use since the times of the apostles. The paten was then made of wood, and the Chalice was made of glass. And now both of these vessels are made mostly of silver and gold. g) Star. These are two metal cross-shaped arcs. It was introduced into use by Saint John Chrysostom so that the coverings would not touch the Lamb and would not disturb the order of the particles on the paten. The star reminds us of the star that led the Magi to the birthplace of the Savior. h) Copy. This is a small knife, sharp on both sides, with a handle shaped like a triangle. Since the very times of the apostles, it has been used to carve the Holy Lamb and the particles placed on the paten. The spear reminds us of the spear that pierced the Savior’s ribs on the cross. i) Liar. This is a small spoon with which the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is taught to the laity. It is believed to have been introduced into use by Saint John Chrysostom. In ancient times, all Christians received the Holy Mysteries of Christ in the same way as clergy today receive communion: a portion of the Body of Christ was given to each person, and the Blood of Christ was given to each person from the Chalice. But in the time of St. John Chrysostom, it was noticed that some Christians, having taken part of the Body of Christ in their hands, did not partake of it, but took it home and treated it carelessly. As a result, Saint John Chrysostom established the same type of communion of the Holy Mysteries that is still used today. In a spiritual sense, the liar reminds us of the tongs of Seraphim, with which he took a burning coal from the heavenly altar, touched the lips of the prophet Isaiah, and thus cleansed his sins and sanctified him. j) Sponge (Greek). There are two of them: one is for wiping the sacred vessels, and the other is kept in the antimension, for collecting particles on the paten in one place. The sponge reminds us of the sponge that, with vinegar and bile, was given by one of the soldiers to the Lord crucified on the cross. j) Covers. These are quadrangular shrouds. There are three of them: one covers the paten, the other covers the Chalice, and the third covers both of them together. The last cover is called air, on the one hand, because just as the air covers the entire earth, so the Holy Gifts are covered with this cover, and on the other hand, because this cover, during the singing of the Creed, is then raised by the priests, then lowered, and through this vibration or movement of the air is produced. The veils remind us of the shrouds with which Jesus Christ was wrapped at birth, as well as of the linen (Shroud) with which His Most Pure Body was wrapped at burial. l) Censer. This is a small vessel on chains, used for burning incense or incense, or, in church language, for censing. Incense, or incense, is a fragrant wood resin. Burning incense, or censing, by the command of God, was used in the Old Testament Church, and from the Old Testament it passed into the New Testament and reminds us that with our hearts and minds we should ascend to the Throne of God, just as incense from a censer ascends to heaven. In a spiritual sense, incense is a symbol (sign) of the grace of the Holy Spirit and has the power of sanctifying and driving away unclean spirits. In addition to censers on chains, in some monasteries we also use so-called katsei for incense. These are hand censers, or censers with a handle. Before the incense begins, burning coals and incense are placed in the censer, at which the priest or bishop blesses the censer and reads a prayer in which he asks the Lord to accept the incense into the heavenly altar and send down the grace of the Holy Spirit on those who are to come. Burning coals remind us that our hearts should burn with love and reverence for God and that our prayer should be the most ardent. The censing itself, according to the church charter, is performed in a cross shape and with bows, that is, the one performing the censing creates two lines with the censer - one from top to bottom, and the other across - and at the same time bows. This cruciform movement of the censer expresses the idea that incense is performed in the Name of the Lord Crucified on the Cross; and by bowing, the humility of the one performing the incense is expressed, and at the same time his prayer to God and His saints for the sending down on him and those who are to come the grace of the Holy Spirit and for the acceptance of his and their prayers into the heavenly altar. As for the bows made by the clergyman during censing to those who are coming, to which those who are coming also respond with bows, then the first (i.e., the clergyman) with these bows seems to be asking the latter (i.e., the upcoming ones) to accept the grace of the Holy Spirit and to unremittingly lift up the mind and heart to God, and they (i.e., the upcoming ones) with their bows seem to express gratitude to the clergyman for the incense and readiness to perform what they asked for. Censing is usually done once, that is, the person doing the censing creates two lines with a censer in front of each object - one from top to bottom, and the other across, forming a cross with these lines. This is how censing is done on each side of the throne, on the altar, on the high place, on the icons, on the faces and on those present. But the Sovereign Emperor and the bishop are ordered to burn incense three times, which expresses the idea that, according to their high rank, special grace and great honor belong to them. In addition, on Mount Athos and in some Russian monasteries it is customary to burn incense twice on the faces, that is, on those singing. The reason for introducing such an order in censing was the following incident: once, during Matins, one pious monk of Mount Athos, named Matthew, had his spiritual eyes opened, and he saw that a certain Woman of Heavenly Glory had entered the church and with Her two young men in clothes as white as light. One of them held a burning candle and illuminated Her path, and the other followed Her, and both showed Her the greatest reverence. When these extraordinary visitors examined everyone present in the church, the wondrous Woman began to divide the gifts to the brethren, and to those who were on the choir she gave a gold piece, and to the rest of those present, a tsata, that is, a coin of about 20 kopecks. with our money. By this She showed that those who labor in singing are pleasing to Her and deserve special favor. Subsequently, on the basis of this vision, they began to introduce the custom of censing before the workers while singing twice, in consideration of their useful work. Then I consider it necessary to say here about those sacred things that are used during the bishop’s service, such as: about ripids, dikiriy, trikiriya and orlets. m) Ripida is a metal circle on a long handle, with images of Cherubim. Ripides are used to winnow over the Holy Gifts to protect them from insects. At the same time, they represent Angels and remind us of their participation in our priestly service. n) Dikiriy and trikirium are small candlesticks: the first with two candles, and the second with three. The bishop makes the sign of the cross over the people. Dikiriy reminds us of the two natures in Jesus Christ - Divine and human, and trikirium - of the trinity of Persons of the Divine. o) Orlets are small circles with the image of an eagle flying upward. They are placed under the feet of the bishop to remind him that he must forget everything earthly and strive for the heavenly. (See “Tambov Diocesan Gazette”, 1883, No. 7). III. Brothers Christians! Do not forget the church of God, take as much care as possible about decorating it, give at least a small contribution from your property - and you can decorate your holy church with expensive vessels and church things. Remember that by donating to decorate the church of God, you will do what is pleasing to the Lord, and He will pay you for this a hundredfold. Amen. Conversation No. 1. On the attire of priests and deacons during divine services I. In the church, brothers, everything is instructive. Not only what is read or sung, but also every thing in the church, if you look at it carefully, contains at least something instructive. At this time, I want to point out to you these clothes in which you are accustomed to seeing me and the deacon in church. Each of you knows that these clothes are not simple, that not everyone can dress in them - you know that these clothes are sacred, and since they belong to the church, they are kept here. And I will tell you even more about them. Each of these sacred garments contains a lesson, so that if you knew what each of them means, you would only have to look at the priest in full vestments to receive the instruction. II. There are five priestly vestments. The upper one is simply called a chasuble, under it is an epitrachelion, which is surrounded by a belt, on the arms there are armlets, or girdles, and the lower clothing is called a cassock. Let's see what each of them means. a) Let's start with the vestment, since the priest puts it on first of all other clothes when he prepares to serve mass. He puts on the vestment for mass, and during other services it is very rarely used, only seven times a year: five times at matins, namely: three times when we take out the cross - on the Exaltation, in the third week of Great Lent and on the first day of the Dormition Fast, - then, for the fourth time, on Great Saturday, when we take out the Shroud, and at matins on the Bright Resurrection of Christ; and two more times at Vespers - on the eve of Epiphany at the blessing of water and on the first day of Easter. You see how these clothes are made: – they are long with sleeves; this is almost the same clothing that you see on the deacon and which is called the surplice. Only there it is narrower and with wide sleeves, but on the priest it is wider and with narrow sleeves. The surplice reminds us that we must begin church services in simplicity and purity of heart, and the vestment, in addition, also reminds us of the tunic, or the clothing that our Lord Jesus Christ Himself wore on earth and in which He accomplished our salvation. That is why the Fathers of the Church from ancient times called the cassock the garment of Salvation, the garment of joy. That is why the priest, when he puts on his vestment, says the words: “Let my soul rejoice in the Lord, for he has clothed me with the robe of salvation and clothed me with the robe of joy.” b) After the vestry, the priest, as well as the deacon, puts on the braces. These are small sleeves that are used to tighten the wide sleeves of the surplice for the most convenient operation during the priestly service. In a spiritual sense, the bonds mean the bonds of Christ. In addition, the right hand indicates the strengthening Hand of God, which is why, when putting it on, the clergy read the 6th and 7th verses from the song that the Israelites sang upon crossing the Red (Red) Sea: “Thy right hand, O Lord, was glorified with power; Thy right hand, O Lord, smote the enemy. against You." And the left one reminds the clergyman that he is God’s creation, which is why he must turn to God with prayer, so that He Himself will enlighten and teach him worthy sacred acts. On this basis, when putting it on, it is necessary to read the 73rd verse of Psalm 118: “Thy hands have created me and formed me; teach me Your commandments” (Ps. 119:73). c) Having put on the brace, the priest puts on the epitrachelion. The epitrachelion, as you can see, is put on the neck and goes down to the feet. This is actually priestly clothing; a deacon cannot wear it. The priest puts on this clothing, no matter what he fulfills the sacred requirement: whether he confesses, whether he gives communion, whether he prays - everything is in it, and without it he cannot do any sacred work. Epitrachelion means yoke or heaviness. In ordinary life, when something is lifted and carried heavy, it is placed on the shoulders, closer to the neck; But isn’t the priestly office a burden that a priest must bear in all difficulties? Will you happen to be sick; even at midnight they call the priest - and he must go; But are there not many other requirements that he must fulfill, abandoning all his work? So this difficult position is what the epitrachelion means. And for the priest to perform this task without sorrow and with love, it also reminds us of the cross that the Lord carried on His shoulders when they led Him to the crucifixion. In addition, this clothing reminds the priest of the grace that descended on his head at the time when he was ordained, that is, ordained as a priest. It is this grace that he remembers when, putting on his stole, he says the words: “Blessed be God, pour out His grace on the priests.” d) The cassock and epitrachelion are usually girded with a belt. It would be somehow inconvenient without a belt, in a wide cassock and stole. In general, in ordinary life, when you begin to do something, you gird yourself for strength and dexterity. But the belt was given to us not for convenience alone: ​​it reminds us of the power of God, which strengthens us in service; That’s why, when the priest girds himself, he reads the words: “Blessed be God, gird me with strength and make my path blameless.” This belt also means the ribbon or towel with which our Savior deigned to girdle when He washed the feet of His disciples. e) After all this, the priest puts on a chasuble, which is called a phelonion in church language. It resembles the robe in which our Savior was clothed during his suffering, when He was given over to the soldiers to mock him. The soldiers, not knowing who He really was, but knowing only that He called Himself a King, wanted to laugh at Him and put long red clothes on Him, beat Him with their unclean hands and cursed at Him, saying: “Hail, King of the Jews!” So they clothed us in such and such a robe so that, looking at it, you would remember how many insults the Lord suffered for us sinners. The Fathers of the Church called this robe the robe of righteousness, and that is why, when the priest puts it on, he reads the following words: “Thy priestesses, O Lord, will be clothed in righteousness, and Thy saints will rejoice.” Why, perhaps some will ask, these ribbons that are sewn on the chasuble, and on the chasuble, and on the epitrachelion? It is true that Christ’s garments did not have such ribbons; but when He prayed until He sweated blood, when they placed a crown of thorns on His head and beat Him on the head with a reed, streams of blood flowed through His clothes. It is these streams of blood that the Fathers of the Church wanted to remind us of when they introduced the custom of sewing ribbons on sacred robes. But if the priest is endowed with a special distinction or the highest rank of the priesthood, then he hangs to his right thigh a quadrangular, somewhat oblong cloth, called a loincloth and meaning the spiritual sword, that is, the Word of God, with which the shepherd arms himself against wickedness and other vices, why, putting it on, he says the words: “Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Mighty One.” f) But besides these vestments, you see, brothers, the deacon is wearing one more. This is an orarion, which is nothing more than a kind of narrow long towel that lies on his left shoulder and its ends in front and behind descend to the ground. Why does the deacon wear an orarion? Remember that when I told you about the priestly epitrachelion, I said among other things that it signifies the burden of service associated with the office of a priest; So the deacon’s orarion, lying on his shoulder, also reminds of the gravity of his position. But since his position is not as difficult as that of a priest, therefore the orarion, reminiscent of the difficulty of his service, lies on one shoulder, not like the priestly epitrachelion - on both shoulders and on the neck. In addition, orar has a higher meaning. The priest in his full vestments, when standing before the throne, represents the face of Jesus Christ, and the deacon serving him represents the Angels who serve the Lord. Look at the holy images: Angels are depicted with wings; so the deacon’s orarion resembles the wings of angels. The angels surrounding the throne of the Most High incessantly proclaim: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts”; therefore, in the old days, the same words were inscribed on the deacon’s orarions; and now in some churches there are orari with the same words (See “Teaching on the Divine Service of the Orthodox Church” by priest K. Stratilatov, ed. 1872). III. This is the significance of the sacred clothes in which the clergy wear! Therefore, brethren, understanding the meaning of each thing used in the church during worship, when looking at it, occupy your mind with reverent thoughts, which each thing resembles or expresses. In our Orthodox Church there is no subject, there is no thing that does not have its own special meaning. But in addition to reverent thoughts, when looking at any consecrated thing as a necessary accessory to worship, try to give it due honor. Sacred things used during worship cannot be handled by everyone and should not always be handled with their hands. For a true Christian, who enters the church of God with fear, even the threshold of the church should be sacred. Conversation No. 2. About the bishop's vestments I. Today I want to tell you, brothers, about the clothes in which our bishops or, what is the same, bishops dress. It is known that the bishop is the main priest in the entire diocese; he ordains everyone to sacred service and governs everyone, and therefore, when performing sacred services, he dresses in special clothes. If you have never seen a bishop’s service, then take a closer look at the images of the saints of God - John Chrysostom or Demetrius of Rostov: in what clothes they are written on the icons, our bishops also dress in the same. They also have a cassock, epitrachelion and guards - everything that a priest wears. And on top of them they put on the bishop’s clothes, of which there are four, namely: sakkos, omophorion, club, miter. II. Let's look at each of them. a) Sakkos is a garment somewhat similar to the deacon’s surplice, but shorter, so that both the saccos and the epitrachelion are visible from under the bishop’s sakkos. The bishop wears the sakkos the same as the priest wears the chasuble, that is, it symbolizes the chlamys, or clothing, in which our Savior was clothed in the court of Pilate, and therefore, putting on the sakkos, the bishop pronounces the same words as the priest pronounces when putting on the phelonion, or chasuble. b) On top of the sakkos is placed on both shoulders of the bishop and the ends descend low and in front and behind the omophorion. Just as a priest puts on his stole at every divine service, so a bishop puts on his omophorion, no matter what service he celebrates. And when he ordains deacons and priests, laying his hand on the head of the one being ordained, he also places the edge of his omophorion. What does it mean? All bishop's clothes, like priestly ones, resemble the clothes of Christ, and the clothes of the omophorion resemble more than the clothes of Christ. The Savior Himself says that He did with us the same thing that a shepherd will do when a sheep leaves his flock: he leaves the flock, goes, looks for it and, having found it, puts it on his shoulders and carries it to the flock. Human nature has sinned and gone astray. “The Son of God sought out our lost human nature, put it on his shoulders and brought it to the Father.” It is this human nature, taken by the Savior for the shoulder, that depicts the omophorion. And when the bishop puts it on, he reads the words: “Into the frame, O Christ, you took your lost nature, offering it to God and the Father.” Since the omophorion means human nature, which Christ Himself compares to a lost sheep, in the old days an omophorion was made from sheep’s wool. c) A club is hung on top of the sakkos on the right side of the bishop’s thigh. It has the form of a quadrangular or square scarf and is hung from one of the corners; Cherubs or a cross are usually depicted on it. Just as in everyday life, leaders carry weapons on themselves - a saber or sword as a sign of power, so the bishop, as having power, carries a club on himself. His power is not the same as the power of secular people; The bishop acts on the conscience of sinners with the Word of God, so that with him the Word of God is a weapon - a spiritual sword, with which vices and a vicious life are struck, this sword means a club. That’s why when the bishop puts it on, he reads the words: “Gird your sword on your thigh, O Mighty One.” In addition to bishops, archimandrites and some archpriests have a club. d) In addition, a miter is assigned to the head of the bishop. This sacred head covering is made either of silk or velvet and is embroidered with gold and decorated with stones; on all four sides there are sacred images made on it - the Savior, the Mother of God, John the Baptist, the evangelists, and at the top - the Image of the Lord of Hosts or a cross. Mithra symbolizes the crown of thorns that was placed on the Head of the Divine Sufferer - the Lord Jesus. Just as the club is given to archimandrites and honored archpriests, so is the miter given to them in order to show their dignity to the people. e) Among the bishop's vestments is a gold or silver reliquary with an image of Jesus Christ or the Mother of God on it; it hangs on a chain on the chest and is called panagia, which means “all holy.” Holy relics should be kept in this panagia; They are placed there so that the bishop, looking at them, remembers that he must adhere to the Holy Faith just as firmly as the martyrs who shed blood for it observed it, and must imitate their righteous life. f) I did not tell you about all the bishop’s robes, brethren. There is another garment called a robe. This is the kind of clothing that St. Mitrophan is depicted in on icons. This garment is long, wide and sleeveless, and the top and bottom edges are fastened with buttons. Both in the upper and lower parts of this clothing there are two rectangular velvet stripes with crosses, which are called tablets. The upper ones resemble the revealed Gospel, and the lower ones resemble those two stone tablets on which, even under Moses, the Lord inscribed the Law for people. They are sewn on in order to let them know that the teaching that the bishop offers to people is not borrowed from himself, but drawn from the Gospel and the Old Law, which was given by God on Mount Sinai to His chosen people. From these two tablets there are white and red ribbons running along the mantle, called sources; they depict the actual teaching of the bishops, similar to the sources flowing from the Gospel and the Old Law. The bishop puts on this robe when he enters the church, when he leaves it, when he serves the All-Night Vigil and on other occasions, except for mass. On all the sacred vestments of the bishop - both on the sakkos, and on the omophorion, and on the mantle - there are bells that ring when the bishop walks. Why is it done this way? All this, my brothers, so that the bishop constantly remembers his high service. You all know, my brothers, that priests and deacons put on sacred vestments in the altar, and none of you sees it; and the bishop, on the contrary, when preparing to serve mass, vests himself in the middle of the church, among the people. Why is this so? Remember that when Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven, He ascended with the solemn praise of the Angels and all the Heavenly Powers: so the bishop, depicting the face of Jesus Christ, having placed an omophorion on himself, among the people, with the congregational singing of his fellow servants and singers: “Come, let us worship,” goes from the middle of the church to the altar to the throne of God and, like Jesus Christ, seems to ascend from earth to heaven - for the altar, as you know, represents heaven itself - and there sits behind the throne during the reading of the Apostle, just as Christ sits at the right hand of God the Father. III. Now you know, my brothers, that all the sacred clothing that you see on the servants of the altar of the Lord reminds us of the clothing of Christ and calls them to perform the service of God with reverence and purity of heart. Amen. (Compiled from the “Teaching on the Divine Service of the Orthodox Church”, priest K. Stratilatov, ed. 1872). Conversation No. 1. On the veneration of holy icons I. Speaking in our previous conversations about the accessories of the Holy Church, we have not yet spoken about the holy icons, which also constitute a necessary accessory to every Orthodox service and are honored with special reverence by every Orthodox Christian. II. Holy icons are honored by the Orthodox not with the honor with which they serve God, but they reverently venerate them like the cross, the Gospel and other sacred things (from the “Tablet”, part 1, p. 76). The Holy Fathers anathematize those who idolize icons (“Stone of Faith,” part 1, p. 29). We honor in holy icons not boards and paints, but the very Image represented by them (“Tablets”, part 1, p. 78); for, according to St. Basil the Great, the honor given to the Image turns, ascends to the Prototype; looking at the holy icons with our bodily eyes, we spiritually contemplate the Image, and in this spiritual contemplation of Divine persons and things the soul receives the most gracious and saving impressions. a) The beginning of the veneration of holy icons was laid in the Old Testament - and by God Himself: He commanded Moses to place on both sides of the Ark of the Covenant two Cherubim, carved from gold (Ex. 25:18). b) Also in the New Testament, the beginning of the veneration of holy icons was laid by Christ our God on the following occasion: one Edessa prince, named Abgar, who suffered from a severe illness, desired to have the Image of Christ in the hope of receiving healing from him, and for this he sent a painter to Judea to copy the image of the Savior; but the messenger, with all his efforts, could not fulfill this order due to the extraordinary radiance emanating from the Divine Face; then the merciful Lord applied the cloth to His Most Holy and Life-Giving Face, which was miraculously imprinted on the cloth, and sent this image of Him not made by hands to Abgar, who received healing from it. c) The icon of the Most Holy Theotokos with the Eternal Child in her arms was first painted, as Tradition says, by the holy evangelist Luke; He then painted two other icons of the Mother of God, which he presented to the Mother of God herself. She mercifully accepted the icons presented to Her and consecrated them with the following words: “May the grace of My Son and Mine be with them.” That is why, brothers, every Orthodox Christian believes that the grace of God is inherent in holy icons and that every true believer receives this grace from them, like the bleeding woman of the Gospel, who with faith touched the robe of the Savior. III. Let us honor the holy icons with all possible reverence, looking at them as instruments of heavenly grace, and in our homes let us show them all signs of reverent veneration. a) Every Orthodox Christian must ensure that they are always in a clean and splendid state and that, at least on Sundays and holidays, a lamp is lit in front of them. Then especially reverent caution must be observed so that fire is not borrowed from the lamp lit in front of the holy icon to satisfy any reprehensible needs, because this would mean taking away the gift from God and giving it to the devil. b) The same feeling of reverence for holy icons requires us to touch them or light a lamp in front of them only in strict observance of bodily purity. c) Also, always and everywhere, holy icons must be presented with an open head, and no one should mock at incorrectly depicted icons, so as not to be hunted by the devil, so as not to suffer the fate of those crazy children who laughed at the prophet Elisha and were torn to pieces by she-bears. d) It must be especially strictly observed that there are no seductive images with the holy icons, because anyone who allows this clearly degrades and desecrates the shrine and in some way becomes like that Roman emperor who, out of hatred for Christianity, ordered to build a temple at the most holy place of the Crucifixion of the Savior for one pagan, shameless goddess. But, thank God, such examples are rare among us. We very often see special examples of true icon veneration; for example, many Orthodox Christians very often solemnly carry their holy icons from church to home, despite the remoteness of their homes, heat or cold and other changes in the air; and even their very children, young children, joyfully greet the holy icons and stretch out to kiss them. When you see these tender branches of the Church of Christ, so to speak, entwining it, you involuntarily imagine with deep heartfelt tenderness the heavenly angels surrounding the throne of the Heavenly King, or those blessed children whom the Savior blessed when they were brought to Him by their parents. Blessed is the house in which you can see such a touching sight! Undoubtedly, the Lord will bless such a house, as He once blessed the house of Abedar for accepting the Icon of the Covenant (2 Samuel 6). Amen. (Compiled from “Conversations on the Divine Liturgy” by Priest V. Razumovsky). Appendix to conversation No. 1. Evidence of the truth of icon veneration in the Orthodox Church a) First evidence: biblical evidence of icon veneration. Sacred objects (by which we must also mean holy icons in Orthodox churches and dwellings) were placed in the tabernacle and Church of the Old Testament: “And make two Cherubim of gold: with hammered work make them at both ends of the lid (the Ark of the Covenant),” the Lord said to Moses. (Ex. 25:18). - “And he (i.e., King Solomon) placed Cherubim in the middle of the inner part of the church. The wings of the Cherubim were spread out, and the wing of one touched one wall, and the wing of the other Cherub touched another wall; their other wings in the midst of the church met wing to wing” (1 Kings 6:27). Holy objects and images were worshiped to the ground: “And Moses and Aaron went from the people to the entrance of the tabernacle of meeting, and fell on their faces, and the Glory of the Lord appeared to them” (Num. 20:6). The veneration of sacred objects and images was expressed: a) in supporting the constant burning of lamps in front of a holy image or object: “Command (the Lord says to Moses) the children of Israel, that they bring you pure oil, beaten, for illumination, so that the lamp burns continually; outside the veil of the ark of the testimony in the tabernacle of the meeting, Aaron [and his sons] shall set it before the Lord from evening to morning always. This is an everlasting statute throughout your generations; on a clean candlestick they shall always set a lamp before the Lord” (Lev. 24:2–4); b) in incense: “On it (i.e., on the altar) Aaron will burn fragrant incense; every morning, when he prepares the lamps, he will smoke with them; and when Aaron lights the lamps in the evening, he will incense with them: this is the everlasting incense before the Lord throughout your generations” (Exodus 30:7–8); c) in storing sacred objects in churches: “Then the king said to the prophet Nathan: Behold, I live in a house of cedar, and the ark of God is under the tent” (2 Sam. 7:2); d) in keeping sacred objects in houses: “And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Abeddar the Gittite three months; and the Lord blessed Abeddar and all his house. When it was reported to King David, saying: “The Lord blessed the house of Abeddar and all that it had for the sake of the ark of God,” then David went and triumphantly carried the ark of God from the house of Abeddar to the city of David” (2 Sam. 6:11–12); e) in keeping sacred objects while traveling: “And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests [of Israel] and said to them: Bring up the ark of the covenant; and let the seven priests bear the seven trumpets of jubilee before the ark of the Lord” (Joshua 6:5). b) Proof two: testimonies of the Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church. I. St. John of Damascus, who struggled a lot for the holy icons (in the 7th century), explains the 2nd commandment of the Law of God in this way, from which we see that it does not at all prohibit the veneration of holy icons: “Just as a skilled doctor does not and does not always give one medicine to everyone, but to each one decent and useful, depending on the nature of the country, illness and time, another for an infant, another for an age: so does the most perfect The Physician of Souls (God) - to those who are still infants (ancient Jews) and suffer from the disease of idolatry, who reverence idols as gods and worship them like gods, but reject the worship of God and give the Glory due to Him to creatures, forbade making images: “Do not make yourself an idol, and do not worship them or serve them in any image” (Deut. 5:8-9 ). This law was given to the Jews because they were prone to idolatry. But we, who, as the Theologian says, by moving away from superstitious error, by accepting the truth, have been worthy to be united with God, to serve Him alone, to abound in the wealth of perfect knowledge of God and, after infancy, to achieve perfect husbandhood, we are no longer under the guidance of a teacher. We have received from God the ability of reasoning, by which we know what can be depicted and what cannot be depicted - for the law (of Moses) serves as a teacher to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith, but after the coming of faith we are no longer under the guidance of a teacher (Gal. 3:24-25). It is, of course, impossible to depict the invisible God, but when you see that the Incorporeal One has become human for you, you can already depict Him in human form. When He Who is the Image of God, Who, by the superiority of His nature, has no measure, nor quantity, nor magnitude, took on the form of a slave, and at the same time took on measure and quantity and was clothed with the properties of the body, then depict on the icon and present for contemplation the One Who wanted to be visible, depict His indescribable condescension, the birth of the Virgin, the baptism in the Jordan, the transfiguration on Tabor, the suffering that frees us from suffering, the saving burial of the Savior, the ascension into heaven - depict everything in word, and in paint, and in books, and on icons.” (Word of John Damascene III in Christian Reading, 1823, pp. 117, 124, 125). II. Saint Demetrius of Rostov teaches this about icon veneration, showing at the same time that there is a great difference between icon veneration and idolatry: a) The difference between icon veneration and idolatry. Iconoclasts dare to call Orthodox Christians idolaters, and holy icons idols. What wickedness and madness! - exclaims St. Dimitry Rostovsky. – What is an icon? – An image or icon is an image and likeness of a true thing that is, or was, or will be. For example, the Holy Trinity is depicted in the faces of three Angels; this actually happened when three Angels appeared to Abraham at the oak tree of Mamre. God the Father is depicted in the form of a certain most honorable Elder: and this actually happened when the prophet Daniel and the prophet Isaiah saw the Ancient of Days, sitting on a high and exalted throne, with Seraphim standing around Him (Dan. 7:9; Is. 6:1-2). God the Son is depicted, born on earth and living with man, suffering and buried and resurrected on the third day according to Scripture, and ascended into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of the Father, and again coming with glory to judge the living and the dead: and this was in fact, and is, and will be. The Holy Spirit is depicted in the form of a dove: and this actually happened when the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. It is also necessary to reason about other icons, which always agree with their Prototypes and serve as an image and likeness of true things. What is an idol? - an image of beauty. “For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens” (Ps. 95:5), as the holy Apostle Paul testifies in the Epistle to the Corinthians: “For although there are so-called gods, either in heaven or on earth, since there are many gods and many lords, yet we have one God the Father, from whom are all things, and we are for Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we through Him” ( 1 Cor. 8:5–6). After this, who would dare to call holy icons idols? Do you not hear the terrible thunder emanating from the Seventh Ecumenical Council, as if from a cloud exalted, and loudly thundering: “Holy icons to those who say to be idols: anathema, anathema, anathema!” But let us turn to the Holy Scriptures and from there we will draw evidence of the truth. b) Evidence from Holy Scripture about the correctness of icon veneration. The Scripture says that the Lord God commanded Moses to create the image of two golden Cherubim and place them on the Ark of the Lord. Therefore, those who bowed to the Icon of the Lord also bowed to the Cherubim who stood on the Icon, but therefore they were not idolaters, on the contrary, they were God’s chosen people. The Scripture also speaks of the copper serpent, which was lifted up on the tree by Moses and healed all those who worshiped him and looked at him. This serpent, lifted up by Moses on the tree, was the image of Christ Himself, our Savior, Crucified on the tree, as He testifies of Himself: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3.14). c) Evidence from St. Traditions of the truth of icon veneration. Church traditions say that Christ our Savior Himself, depicting His Most Pure Face on the shroud, sent it to the sick king Abgar, who wanted to see Jesus Christ and receive healing from Him. We call this image Not Made by Hands. d) Evidence from reason of the truth of icon veneration. According to the verb of the holy Apostle Paul, Christ our Savior is called the Image of the Eternal Father: “He is the radiance of glory and the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1:3). In Scripture, man is also called the image of God, according to the saying of God: “Let us make man in our image [and] likeness” (Gen. 1:26). Why do they dare to humiliate the holy Images of God? e) How should holy icons be venerated? Let us listen to how our Holy Fathers discussed the honest icons of the Church. Saint John of Damascus says that the honor of the image returns to the Archetype, and whoever bows to the image worships the Image depicted on it, whoever honors the image honors the Image depicted on it. All the Holy Fathers and their entire Most Honorable Council say the same thing. By this reasoning, Saint Stephen, who suffered for the holy icons, defeated the iconoclasts, as they say in his life. They bring him before the very chief of the iconoclasts, the evil Leo the Isaurian, who commands him to trample underfoot the icon of the Savior. What is the holy man doing? - He demanded a kinson gold coin and asked: “Whose image and writing is this?” When they answered him that he was Caesar’s, he struck the gold plate on the ground, began to trample it with his feet and spit on the image of Caesar depicted on the gold plate, in front of Caesar himself. Looking at this, the king and all his elders became angry; and the holy man said with boldness: this is your judgment, you fools! You are angry that I have trampled upon the image of your earthly king, who is dust and ashes; How then will the King of kings and Lord of lords not be angry, whose image you trample underfoot! Have you not read the apostolic rule: what you yourself do not want, do not do to others? You don’t want your own images to be trampled: why do you trample on icons depicting our Savior Himself and His saints? In the commandments of the Lord it is written: “You shall not make for yourself an idol or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; do not worship them or serve them” (Ex. 20:4–5). We know, we kiss with faith and love, and we confess and must keep the commandments of the Lord: but we are seduced, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God, those who consider the worship of honest icons to be a violation of the commandments of the Lord are seduced. For that commandment: do not make yourself an idol (and the rest) is directed not against icons, but against idols. The Omniscient God saw that the Jews had a great tendency towards idolatry: “but they mixed with the pagans and learned their works” (Ps. 105:35), “they made a calf at Horeb and worshiped the idol; and they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox eating grass” (Ps. 106:19–20). The Lord God saw this and gave them commandments through Moses, which begin like this: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; May you have no other gods before Me. Do not make for yourself an idol” (etc.) (Deut. 5:6–8). Are we not also fulfilling these commandments of the Lord? Do we have other gods than the God who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt and us out of the work of the devil? Do we create idols for ourselves instead of God? – If we have and venerate icons, then we do not have them as gods and we ourselves, apart from their Prototype, do not bow down and do not give divine honor. But there is no need for us to argue with wicked people: the Holy Church will not prevail against the gates of hell. The Church is the pillar and ground of truth. We, her children, are with her, together with all the Holy Fathers, the universal luminaries - Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Athanasius, Cyril and other saints, with the entire Ecumenical Council gathered against the iconoclasts - all unanimously with the verb and our blood are ready to confirm: “We worship Your Most Pure Image, O good one, asking forgiveness of our sins, O Christ our God!” (From the words of St. Demetrius of Rostov on the 1st Sunday of Great Lent. See “Resurrection Thursday,” 1885, No. 7). c) Third proof: the redefinition of the VII Ecumenical Council regarding the veneration of icons. The VII Ecumenical Council defined the dogma of the veneration of holy icons as follows: “Following the gracious teaching of our Holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that she learns from the Holy Spirit living in her), with all certainty and careful consideration we determine: like (decent) the image of the Honest and Life-giving Cross, it should be placed in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and clothes, on the walls and on the decks, and on the paths, honest icons, painted with paints and from fractional stones and from other substances capable of doing so, like the icons of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ and our immaculate Lady, the Holy Mother of God, as well as honest angels, and all saints and reverend men. Since they are often visible through the image on icons, those who look at these ascetics remember and love the prototypes of them, and honor them with kisses and reverent worship, not true, according to our faith, worship of God, which befits the only Divine Nature, but veneration in that image, like the image of the Honest and Life-giving Cross and Honor is given to the Holy Gospel and other shrines, with incense and the lighting of candles, as was the pious custom of the ancients. For the honor given to the image passes to the Prototype, and the one who worships the icon worships the being of the One depicted on it. Thus is the teaching of our Holy Fathers affirmed, and this is the tradition of the Catholic Church, which has received the Gospel from end to end of the earth." (Dogmas of the VII Ecumenical Council). d) Proof four: evidence from church history about the veneration of holy icons. History testifies that in the most ancient times the Christian Church venerated sacred images and used them in Christian churches. aa) The church historian Eusebius, who lived in the first half of the 4th century, tells us the legend about the Image of Christ the Savior Not Made by Hands. Edessa Abgar, or prince, named Ukhomo, being stricken with leprosy and learning about the miracles of Jesus Christ, asked Him in a letter sent with Ananias to visit him and heal him from the disease. The Savior, taking the cloth, wiped himself with it, depicted His Face and sent it to the prince of Edessa, promising to completely heal him through one of His disciples. The prince reverently accepted the Holy image of the Lord, bowed to him, kissed him and felt great relief from his illness. After the Ascension of the Lord, one of the seventy apostles, Thaddeus, came to Abgar and completely healed him of his illness. The prince placed the ubrus on the wall of the city, above its main gate. Christians from distant countries came to worship before this shrine and some received healing. In addition to Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, book 1, chapter 13), this testimony is conveyed by Evagrius the scholastic (book 4, chapter 26), Nikephoros Callistus (book 2, chapter 7; book 17, chapter 16), Baronius and others. Subsequently (in the 9th century) this shrine was moved to Constantinople, and from there to Rome. bb) Historians: Theodore the Reader, Nicephorus Callistus and Metaphrastus testify that the Evangelist Luke painted three icons of the Mother of God (one of them is in the Smolensk Assumption Cathedral). cc) Eusebius testifies that in Caesarea Philippi, formerly called Paneada, there was a bronze statue of Christ the Savior, erected by a bleeding woman healed by the Lord (Matthew 9:20), that he himself saw this statue (book 7, chapter 18). This image of the Savior was considered miraculous by Christians and was greatly revered. And the historian Sozomen testifies that during the time of Julian the Apostate, the pagans smashed this statue (Book 5:21), and the Christians who honored it collected pieces of copper and placed them in the temple. d) The same Eusebius testifies that through paints and paintings the faces of the apostles Peter and Paul and Christ Himself were preserved (book 7, chapters 16–17). dd) Saint John of Damascus testifies that the apostles Peter and John in Lydia built a church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos, in which there was a miraculous icon of the Mother of God. her) In the ruins of the city of Pompeii, buried in the year 70 after the Nativity of Christ, under Emperor Titus, skeletons are found with a cross on their neck as a distinctive sign of Christians. Many censers, bowls, vessels for peace and crosses were dug into the graves. Many of these things date back to ancient times and have sacred images (some of these things are in the Vatican Vault in Rome). lg) On the cups used in the second century, we see images of Jesus Christ with a lamb on his shoulders (Tertullian, “On Modesty,” 10). 33) However, due to the persecution of Christians by pagans, in the first centuries of Christianity sacred images were used in churches with such caution that anyone unfamiliar with these images could not find anything reprehensible in them from a pagan point of view. In the image of a palm tree, fish, birds, a bowl, an anchor, deer drinking water, a dolphin with a basket of bread and wine on its back, the pagan could not find anything strange, however, these images reminded Christians of the basic truths of their teaching: a palm tree - about victory over sin, fish and bowls - about rebirth through Baptism, birds and anchors - about Christian hope, deer drinking water - about quenching spiritual thirst Gospel teaching, dolphins with a basket of bread and wine on their back - Christ, teaching us His Body and Blood as saving food. The Greek name for the fish “ichphys” (ἰχθύς), which combined the first letters of the words: “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior,” reminded every Christian of Christ the Savior. ii) This symbolic painting was followed by painting that was more direct and understandable. Particularly common is the image of the good shepherd, carrying a sheep on his shoulders or tending his flock in green meadows. This simple image of the good shepherd was depicted in a circle of various details borrowed from the gospel stories. The tenth chapter of the Gospel of John about the good shepherd in the wall images of underground Rome is exhausted in every detail. Almost always, on the shepherd’s belt hangs a seven-barrel sword, hinting at the seven Christian Sacraments, the seven Christian virtues and the sweet sounds of Christian teaching, which curb the wild passions of people. The last idea is explained by symbolic images of animals that converge on the sweet sounds of the shepherd's lyre, forgetting their bloodthirstiness and anger: the lion, according to ancient prophecies about the peaceful times of the Messiah, lies peacefully near the sheep, and the snake curls up into a ball without harming its neighbors. These symbols inspire the idea that the world of the Christian soul is surrounded from the outside by troubles and dangers, but they are not terrible and with help from above they will be defeated. Here, next to it, with the same meaning, young Daniel is depicted between two lions, telling the Christian community about persecution, among which it does not perish. Against Daniel, the young man David with a sling is the conqueror of Goliath. Near them is Moses pouring out water from a rock. Against him, in his youth, Christ resurrects Lazarus. Very often in the catacombs there are images of the story of the deliverance of Jonah (a prototype of the Resurrection of Christ) and the salvation of Noah releasing the turtledove from the ark (a prototype of Baptism). The sacrifice of Isaac replaces the picture of the suffering on the cross and death of Christ. Christ blessing the loaves recalls the story of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves, and the blessing of the vessels of wine is reminiscent of the miracle in Cana of Galilee. You can see images of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the apostles. Some of these images, found in the crypt of Lucina and the tomb of Domitilla in Rome, by the Protestants themselves, who do not venerate icons, date back to the first century after the birth of Christ 1. jd) Since the time of Constantine the Great, when the Christian faith is declared dominant, painting has changed. Images of primitive Christian painting, hidden and characterized by simplicity, are replaced by real images, and icon painting now acquires more splendor. Historical fidelity requires precise details concerning the great figures of the early history of Christianity. Careful information is collected about their appearance, facial features and even their clothing. According to the testimony of Saint John of Damascus, Constantine the Great depicted Christ with converging eyebrows, beautiful eyes, a long nose, long hair, a slightly bent figure, young in age, with a black beard, with a face the color of wheat, like His Mother. The image of Christ, the Mother of God, the apostles Peter and Paul and others during the time of Constantine the Great were established in exact outline. Now Christ began to be depicted no longer in the humble form of the Good Shepherd; but as the King of kings, seated on a throne, majestically extending his blessing right hand and surrounded by winged angels. The sacred images of the ancient Church were frescoes, mosaics, and there were statues. Sacred images decorated not only the inside of the churches, but also the squares of Constantinople, on one of which stood a sculptured image of King Constantine and his mother Helen holding the Life-Giving Cross, and the other square was decorated with statues of the Good Shepherd and Daniel with lions. Churches are now decorated not with allegorical or allegorical paintings, but with historical ones from the Old and New Testaments. kk) From the Holy Fathers of the Church of the fourth century, the following testify to the apostolic antiquity of the use of holy icons by Christians, to their veneration and worship of the invisible God before them: Basil the Great (see his Epistles to Julian the Apostate), Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Epiphanius of Cyprus, Asterius of Amasia (in Pontus), Ambrose of Milan and others. The extent to which holy icons were useful in arousing religious feelings, St. Gregory of Nyssa, who received a comprehensive philosophical education, writes about this, by the way: “I have often seen a picturesque depiction of Abraham’s offering of his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God, and I have never passed by this spectacle without tears: art represents this story so vividly.” (Creations of Gregory of Nyssa, part 8, pp. 200–202, Russian translation). Asterius, Bishop of Amasia, testifies that he could not look without tears at the picturesque depiction of the torment of Saint Euthymius (see “Acts of the VII Ecumenical Council”, Kazan, p. 240; see the brochure of priest N. Kutepov “On the veneration of icons”, pp. 23–26). e) Fifth proof: the soul-saving power of looking at holy icons and things. aa) When the prophet Daniel, in captivity in Babylon, prayed to God three times a day, each time he opened the window doors in his house facing the side of Jerusalem. Для чего ж он это делал? In order to mentally, from a thousand miles away, look at the ruins of the magnificent church and, with great contrition and humility, kneel, praying and confessing before one’s God (Dan. 6:10). bb) Patriarch Jacob wept bitterly when he listened only to the story of his sons about his brother Joseph, that it was as if he had never come to them at all, that they found bloody clothes in the field and wondered if he had been torn to pieces by a beast. No matter how terrible the story he heard was for his father, he could still calm himself with hope. But when the elder saw with his own eyes the multi-colored clothes of his precious son, and behold, they were all covered in blood! – was it possible to express Jacob’s grief and tears? cc) Grand Duke Vladimir listened with emotion to the creed of the Greek philosopher, and the words of the Gospel fell vividly and effectively on the heart of the Equal-to-the-Apostles. And when the Christian philosopher unfolded before him the picture of the Last Judgment, and the prince saw the hellish torment of sinners, how strongly it struck his heart! d) The Russian ambassadors sent by Vladimir to find out about different faiths, returning from Constantinople, talked about the Orthodox service: “We, they say, did not know whether we were on earth or in heaven when we stood in the Greek church and looked at the Orthodox service.” What struck them so much about Orthodox worship? Not words, of course, or prayers, which they did not yet understand. They were struck by the majestic sight of holy icons, vessels and vestments of gold and silver, church images. dd) St. Gregory of Nyssa says about himself: “Whenever I see the image of Abraham sacrificing his only son Isaac to God, every time I cannot leave him without tears.” her) Mary of Egypt told about herself: “When, in a moment of fear and horror that struck me while some invisible force did not allow me into the church of God, I saw an icon of the Mother of God in the vestibule of the church, I burst into bitter tears, looking at Her meek, innocent, virgin face and at the same time thinking about all the abomination and defilement of my soul. “Mother of God, I cried, save the lost, cleanse the filthy!” And we know that from that time on, from a great sinner, she became a great and wondrous ascetic of faith and piety. Looking at holy icons has such a beneficial and saving effect on prayer and Christian life! (See the book “Molokan Sect”, Archpriest E. Ostromyslensky). f) Sixth proof: miracles from holy icons, as evidence of the truth of icon veneration. The most important, irresistible proof in defense of holy icons is the miracles performed by God Himself through holy icons. If icons were ungodly idols, as the iconoclasts say, then the Lord would not perform signs and wonders through them; on the contrary, He demonstrated through miracles many times and in many ways that the veneration of holy icons is pleasing to Him. I. Often the saints of God appeared to those living on earth in the form in which they were depicted on holy icons. From this it is clearly clear that their veneration through holy icons is pleasing not only to them, but also to God Himself, even if the images of the faces are distinguished from each other, as we see in many different miraculous icons of the Mother of God. Thus, Saint Ambrose of Milan himself testifies in his letter (55) that before the discovery of the relics of the martyrs Gervasius and Protasius in 396, the holy Apostle Paul appeared to him in the form as depicted on the holy icons. In the 5th century, an educated monk from Sinai, a former prefect (mayor) of Constantinople, described the following miracle of the holy martyr Plato, whose memory is celebrated on November 18th. The Saracens attacked the Sinai ascetics and, together with other monks, took into captivity the son of a monk, originally from Galatia. “The elder, having hidden himself at that time in a secret cave, shed tears, unable to bear the loss of his God-loving son, and begged Christ to bow to mercy, at the intercession of the Russian martyr Plato. At the same time, the son, bound in captivity, asked God, through the prayer of the same holy martyr, to have mercy on him and perform a miracle. The prayers of both - both the father in the mountain cave and the son in captivity - were heard - and so Plato (the martyr), suddenly appearing sitting on a horse and leading another horse, appears to the awake youth, who recognizes him because he has often seen the image of the saint on icons, immediately orders him, rising from the midst of everyone, to take the horse and mount it. And when, like a cobweb, the bonds on the youth were released, he, freed by prayer and standing up at the behest of God, rides boldly on a horse, and rejoicingly follows the guiding holy martyr. Soon both Saint Plato and the young monk, as if inspired, reach the dwelling in which the old man prays and cries, and the victorious martyr, who saved his beloved son to the grieving father, becomes invisible.” (The Works of St. Nile, Russian translation, part III, p. 436; “Acts of the VII Ecumenical Council,” p. 257). Это место прочитано из творений преподобного Нила на VII Вселенском соборе. Самое чудесное событие совершилось в IV или в начале V столетия. II. At the end of the 5th century, the Christian maiden Mary, who spent 17 years living a sinful life in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, arrived in Jerusalem on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross; on the holiday itself, wanting to enter the church among the crowd of people, she was warmed for a long time by an invisible force that did not allow her into the church. Seeing the icon of the Mother of God in the vestibule of the church and turning to Her, she began with tears to beg the Most Holy Lady to allow her to venerate the Cross of the Lord Jesus. Her prayer was heard - and she unhinderedly entered the church and kissed the Life-Giving Tree of the Cross of the Lord. Returning to the porch, she again began to pray before the icon of the Mother of God and heard a voice from her: “Beyond the Jordan you will find peace for yourself.” Having crossed the Jordan, she spent 47 years in the desert amidst difficult feats of repentance and was rewarded by God with the gift of signs and wonders. After reading about the above-mentioned miracle from the icon of the Mother of God at the VII Ecumenical Council, John, a presbyter and representative of the eastern bishops, said: “We saw this icon in the holy city of Christ our God and often kissed it.” (“Acts of the VII Ecumenical Council”, p. 312). III. From the life of St. The following was read by Theodore Sikeot at the VII Ecumenical Council: “When he was 12 years old, a deadly ulcer appeared in his homeland, so that he also fell ill and was close to death. He was sent to the prayer house of St. John the Baptist, who was located not far from the village, and was placed at the entrance to the altar, at the top of which, above the place where the cross was placed, stood the icon of our Savior Jesus Christ. When he was suffering from illness, suddenly drops of dew began to fall on him from the icon, and he immediately, by the grace of God, received relief from his illness, became healthy and went to his home.” This was in the second half of the 6th century after the birth of Christ. (“Acts of the VII Ecumenical Council”, p. 316). IV. John Moschus in “The Spiritual Meadow” writes the following what eyewitnesses of the event, the fathers of the monastery of Theodosius on the mountain between Seleucia and Ross of Cilicia, told him: “One God-loving wife in the country of Apamea was digging a well. She spent a lot of money, dug very deep, but there was no water. She mourned her futile labors and expenses. One day someone appeared to her and said: “Send to the mountain for the image of Abba Theodosius, and God, through his prayer, will give you water.” The woman immediately sent two slaves for the holy image. When they brought the image to her, and she took it and lowered it into the well, water immediately appeared and filled the well to half. They brought this water to us (says John Moschus), and we drank it, and gave thanks to the Lord” (§ 80). V. In Egypt, in the city of Tennessee, there was a layman, Theodore, who belonged to a heretical sect. In his youth he suffered a terrible disease - gout, his torment was great, his fingers looked like stones, and his shins looked like blocks of earth. Having received no help from doctors, he prayed to the martyrs Cyrus and John, whose relics were in Abukir (that is, Abba Cyrus), 18 versts from Alexandria. The martyrs first converted him to the Orthodox faith through miracles. Finally they appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to follow them. Having come, he says, to one church that constitutes the pinnacle of perfection, in appearance terrible and majestic, and in height reaching to the very heavens, and having entered inside it, we saw the greatest and amazing icon, on which Christ was depicted in colors in the middle, and the Mother of Christ, our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, on His left, and on the right John the Baptist and the Forerunner of the same Savior; Here were also depicted some of the glorious face of the apostles and prophets and from the host of martyrs: including these martyrs - Cyrus and John. They prayed to God, kneeling and bowing their heads on the platform, interceding for the healing of the young man. But Jesus Christ did not answer them, they began to pray again and again did not receive an answer, finally for the 3rd time they prayed for a long time and, lying prostrate, only exclaimed: Lord, command! The Lord Christ, as truly merciful, made a wave and proclaimed from the icon: “Give it to him!” Then the martyrs rose from the earth, first brought thanks to Christ our God for hearing their prayer, and then with joy and delight they said: “It is for our sake that the Lord has given you grace. So, go to Alexandria, stay there fasting in the great tetrapyl, then take a little oil in a bottle from the lamp burning before the image of the Savior, and again, without eating food, come here, anoint your feet with it and receive healing.” After this vision in a dream, he went to Alexandria, took oil from the lamp, returned to the church of the holy martyrs, here he anointed his hands and feet with it - and the disease disappeared, and he was awarded healing and the gifts promised to him, and for all this he gave thanks and diligently served the martyrs. Upon recovery, he was made a subdeacon. This miracle is described among the other 70 miracles of the martyrs by Sophronius, who was in Egypt at the beginning of the 7th century with John Moschus, took monasticism here and was later made Patriarch of Jerusalem. The description of the miracle that happened to Theodore was read at the VII Ecumenical Council, and Thomas, the most venerable monk and presbyter and representative of the bishops of the East, said: “This icon, venerable fathers, still stands in Alexandria in a tetrapyl and heals all sorts of diseases.” (“Acts of the VII Ecumenical Council,” pp. 285–286). The healing of Theodore took place at the end of the 6th or at the beginning of the 7th century, and the Ecumenical Council was in 787, therefore this icon of the Savior was more than 180 years old. VI. At the VII Ecumenical Council itself, Manzon, Bishop of Prakan, said: “When I left the reigning city last year (786) and went to the city assigned to me as a place of service, a very serious illness befell me, so that it forced me to call my relatives and make a will. In their presence, under the oppression of illness, I brought the icon of Jesus Christ to me and said: “Lord, who has given grace to His saints, look upon me.” And as soon as I applied this venerable icon to the suffering member, the illness immediately left me - and I became healthy.” Then Theodore, Bishop of Seleucia, stood up and said: “The news of this has reached us, because the distance is small.” (“Acts of the VII Ecumenical Council”, p. 292). (See the book “Orthodox teaching on the veneration of holy icons,” Doctor of Theology, Bishop Sergius of Mogilev, 1887, pp. 94–96; 98–103). VII. In the life of the Holy Great Martyr George, the following story is conveyed about the miraculous punishment for insulting the holy icon: “When the Saracens captured the Syrian city of Ramelliea, several of these barbarians, out of curiosity, entered the church of the Holy Great Martyr George. One of them, seeing a priest on his knees praying before the image of St. George, said with mockery to his comrades: “What a madman, worshiping a board!” and, taking an arrow from the quiver, he shot it at the icon; but the arrow, contrary to the direction given to it, rushed upward and, quickly falling from there, pierced the barbarian’s hand. Feeling unbearable pain, he hurriedly went home; the illness intensified every minute, and soon the whole hand was swollen. Fortunately, he had a Christian woman living in his employ. Having learned what happened in the church, she told him: “I am a simple person, I don’t know how to talk about holiness and miracles of faith, but I know that your offense deserves death; if you want to be healthy, then call the priest and ask him what you should do.” No matter how fierce the Saracen was against Christians, he, seeing the danger, joyfully agreed to the maid’s proposal - and invited the priest. “What power does the image have that you so diligently worshiped when we were in the church?” - the Saracen asked him. “Only God has all the power,” answered the priest, “I worshiped Him; and the Holy Great Martyr George, depicted here, prayed that he would be an intercessor for me to God.” - “So, George is not your God; who is he?” – the barbarian asked again. “He is a beloved servant of God,” said the priest, “he was a man subservient to us, but, for the glory of the Name of Jesus Christ, having endured torture and death, he received from Him the grace to perform miracles; loving the saint of God, we venerate his icon, and, looking as if at himself, we worship, embrace and kiss his holy image. Your insolence, so obviously punished, testifies that Christians with It’s not just a simple tree that one falls with emotion.” “What do you advise me to do?” asked the barbarian, wavering in disbelief; “look at my hand: I am suffering and, without a doubt, I will die.” “If you want to be alive,” answered the priest, “then have the image of Saint George brought into your house, place it over your bed and light a lamp of oil, let it burn all night; and the next day, anoint your hand with oil, and believe that you will be healed.” Immediately the holy icon was brought. The Saracen did as the priest said and saw that the swelling had subsided and the wound had closed. In surprise and admiration, he wanted to listen to the story of the holy great martyr, and while the priest was reading his life and suffering, the Saracen, hugging the icon, said through tears: “Oh, Saint George, you were young, but wise, - and I am old, but mad; you are young, but dear to God, - and I am long-lived, but vile before God: pray to the Lord God for me, yes He will make me His servant!” “Then he fell at the feet of the clergyman and begged to grant him Holy Baptism. That same evening the barbarian became a Christian, and the next day, fearlessly preaching the name of Christ, he died the death of a martyr at the hands of his former co-religionists.” (Compiled from the “School of Piety,” vol. I, p. 329). VIII. St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria, tells that in the city of Virite, where there were many Jews, one Christian lived in a poor hut, and in his front corner hung an icon of the Savior. After some time, this Christian bought himself a new house and left the hut, forgetting in it, at the discretion of God, the icon of the Savior. A Jew settled in this hut; he didn’t notice the icon. One day a friend of his, a Jew, comes to visit him. This one, sitting at the table, noticed the icon and asked the owner how he, being a Jew, kept a Christian icon in his house? Although the owner assured that he had not noticed the icon before, the guest was not appeased by this and went to his bishop and elders and announced this to them. In the morning, all the Jews of the city gathered in the hut where the icon of the Savior was, took it down from the wall, began to curse at it, and then, like their fathers, they nailed it to a tree, and one of the Jews hit the rib of the image of the Lord with a spear; but, miracle! - blood and water immediately flowed from the icon and filled the whole vessel. Great fear gripped all the Jews who were here. They drew up a council and decided on it that if they saw any miracle from this blood, then everyone would believe in the Crucified One. First, the one who was lame from birth was brought; They anointed his feet with blood - and he immediately became healthy. The rumor of this miracle spread throughout the city; They brought the blind, the demon-possessed, the paralytic and the lepers - and everyone received healing. All the Jews of that city believed in Christ, told the local bishop about it and received Baptism from him with all their families, and built a church in this city in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every Christian must worship holy icons with faith and love, honor them honestly and with reverence. (From the works of St. Athanasius of Alexandria). IX. One lover of Christ commissioned Blessed Alipius, an icon painter of Kiev-Pechersk, to paint an icon that was to be ready for the church feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Alypius fell ill, and the icon had not yet been painted; the lover of God began to bother him, and the Monk Alipius said: “My son, do not come to me, but cast your sorrow on the Lord, and He will do as He pleases: your icon will be in its place on this holiday.” Believing the word of the blessed one, that man joyfully went to his home. On the eve of the Feast of the Dormition, he came again to take the icon. Seeing that it was not written, and the blessed one was very ill, he began to annoy him, saying: “Why didn’t you let me know about your weakness? I would have given someone else to paint the icon so that the holiday would be bright and honest, but now, by holding back the icon, you have put me to shame.” The blessed one meekly answered him: “My son, did I do this out of laziness? Is it really impossible for God to paint an icon of His Mother with a word? I, as the Lord revealed to me, am leaving this world, and God will comfort you.” And the lover of Christ left him with sadness. After he left, a bright young man appeared and, taking paints, began to paint the icon. Alypius thought that the owner was angry with him and sent another scribe; At first the one who came was like a man, but the speed of the matter showed him to be ethereal. Either he laid out the icon in gold, then he ground the paints and wrote with them. At three o’clock he finished the icon and said: “Father, is there anything else that needs to be done? Am I wrong? The monk said: “You did well: God helped you skillfully paint this icon; He Himself made it through you.” Evening came, and the young man became invisible along with the icon. The owner of the icon spent the whole night awake from sadness that there was no icon for the holiday; called himself a sinner and unworthy of such grace. He got up and went to church to mourn his sins there. And opening the doors of the church, he suddenly saw the icon shining in its place, and fell in fear, thinking that this was some kind of vision that had appeared to him. But having recovered from his fright, he realized that this was really the icon that he had ordered to be painted by the Monk Alypius. In great horror and anxiety, he remembered the words of the monk and went to wake up his family. They joyfully went to the church with candles and censers, and, seeing the icon shining brighter than the sun, they fell prostrate to the ground and bowed to the icon, and kissed it in spiritual joy. The lover of Christ came to the abbot and told about the miracle that had happened to the icon. And they all went together to the Monk Alypius and saw that he was already moving away from this world. And the abbot asked him: “Father, how and by whom was the icon painted?” He told them everything that happened and added: “An angel wrote it. And here he stands next to me and wants to take me.” And having said this, he betrayed the spirit. They prepared his body for burial, carried it into the church, performed the usual singing over it, and laid it in a cave with the reverend fathers about Christ our Lord. (“Kievo-Pechersk Patericon”). X. About the monk Erasmus, who spent his property on holy icons and for that received salvation. There was a monk in the Pechersk Monastery named Erasmus. He had great wealth, which he spent on church needs and on decorating holy icons. Finally, he reached the point of extreme poverty, and everyone began to neglect him. And so he began to despair that he would not receive a reward for the wealth he had spent, because he gave it away to the Church, and not to alms: the devil put it in his heart. And he began to neglect his life: he began to spend his days in all kinds of negligence and disorder. One day he got so sick that he finally stopped speaking and lay with his eyes open; my chest could barely breathe. He stayed like that for seven days. On the 9th day the brothers came to him, and, seeing his terrible breathing, they all marveled and said: “Woe, woe to the soul of this brother! She lived in laziness and in every kind of sin, and now she sees something like this, she is restless and cannot get out.” But suddenly Erasmus stood up, as if he had never been ill, sat down and began to tell them: “Brothers and fathers, listen, truly I am a sinner, as you yourselves know; and has not repented even to this day. And now the saints appeared to me - Anthony and Theodosius, and said: “We prayed to the Lord, and He gave you time to repent.” And then I saw the Most Holy Theotokos: She was holding Her Son, Christ our God, in her hands, and all the saints were with Her. And She said to me: “Erasmus, because you have decorated My church and magnified it with icons, and I will glorify you in the Kingdom of My Son. But you always have the poor with you (Matthew 26:11). Only, having risen from illness, repent and accept the great angelic image: on the third day I will take you to Me, pure, having loved the splendor of My house." And having said this, Erasmus began to confess the sins he had committed before everyone, not ashamed, but rejoicing in the Lord. Then he got up, went to church and was tonsured into the schema; on the third day he went to the Lord in good confession. (“Kievo-Pechersk Patericon”). XI. In the days of Grand Duke Dimitri Ioannovich Donskoy, under Metropolitan Pimen, in 1383, the icon of the Mother of God with the Eternal Child on her left hand appeared over the waters of Lake Ladoga, illuminated by a wonderful light. An invisible hand carried her through the air over the waters. As she continued her journey, countless believers saw her and accompanied her; and at the place where she stopped (on the Tikhvinka River), they built a wooden church in the name of the Dormition of the Mother of God. Many times this church was reduced to ashes by fire, but the miraculous icon was always found unharmed. Miraculous healings from this icon are still performed today for those who come to it with faith. (“Cheti-Minei”, June 26). XII. The following is known about the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God. In 1559, the Greek Metropolitan Neophytos, who was traveling in Russia, in gratitude for the hospitality shown to him in the house of Anna Goiskaya, blessed her with an icon of the Most Holy Theotokos: God was pleased to glorify this icon. The radiant light from her attracted the attention of many; little by little they began to flock to her with prayer, and healing was given to many sick people; Finally, when Goyskaya’s brother, blind from birth, received his sight, his sister, by agreement with the local authorities, conveyed this miraculous icon to the Pochaev Monastery. Not only Russians, but also Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews came to worship this icon, received healing from it and converted to the Christian faith. (Materials for statistics of the Russian Empire - Volyn province). XIII. During the occupation of Moscow by the French in 1812, according to Napoleon's plan, the entire Kremlin was to be blown up. From five terrible explosions, the walls of buildings trembled, glass cracked, doors fell; iron, stones, logs of the Nikolskaya Tower, the arsenal and the Kremlin walls, like feathers, flew into the air. But on the wall of the same Nikolskaya tower, the image of St. Nicholas remained unharmed - the rope on which the lantern with a candle hung did not even break. The fragile glass of the icon case bent, but did not break. (Snegirev “Monuments of Moscow antiquity”, 1, pp. 100–102; 2, pp. 339–340; see “History of the Russian Church”, F. Gumilevsky, period 5, p. 200; see “Lessons and examples of Christian love”, priest G. Dyachenko, ed. 3). Conversations 2. About why we venerate holy icons I. Our churches and homes are decorated with images of the Savior, the Mother of God, the Honorable Cross and saints of God, both to excite the spirit of piety and the most convenient raising of thoughts to God and His saints, and for our edification, because holy icons are monuments of history and Christian life; they present to us images of the most sacred truths of our faith and, by worshiping them, we give honor to those depicted on them. II. a) Holy icons received their origin from the Lord God Himself. In the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant was a visible image of the presence of the Invisible God, an image that reminded the Jews of the Invisible and raised their thoughts to the Prototype, that is, to God. God Himself commanded Moses to make graven images over the ark and woven images on the veil that separated the Holy of Holies. He commanded that a copper serpent be erected in the desert to heal those bitten by serpents (Num. 21:7–9), and this serpent was a prototype of our Savior, ascended to the cross (John 3:14). And Solomon, having built a church to God, decorated it with images of Cherubim, and the Lord not only did not condemn him for this, but also expressed special favor to the builder of the church and to the church itself: “I have heard your prayer and your request,” said the Lord. – “I have consecrated this church, which you have built, so that My name may dwell there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there always” (1 Kings 9:3). b) In the New Testament, the first icon, according to ancient tradition, is known to us under the name of the Image of the Savior Not Made by Hands, miraculously imprinted from His Most Pure Face; the second is the holy icon of the Mother of God, painted by the Evangelist Luke; then follow many other sacred images, famous for their miraculous powers. Many sacred icons, painted in the first centuries of Christianity, have survived, confirming the antiquity of the worship of icons from the very beginning of Christianity, when it was persecuted by pagans. Ancient icons found in catacombs, caves and tombs bore sacred images of the Savior, the Most Pure Virgin with the Child of God, various events from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, His sermons and miracles; also from the Old Testament - images of Abraham, Noah, Moses, Job, etc. The holy icons were then given proper honor, they worshiped before them, lit candles, smoked incense; such veneration was given, of course, not to the boards and paints, but to what was depicted on them. c) The motivation to more diligently honor the holy icons are those countless miracles and signs that the Lord was pleased to perform through them for believers. Church chronicles are full of stories about these signs, especially the chronicles of our Church – the Orthodox Church. Some icons of the Savior, the Mother of God, St. Nicholas and other saints of God, due to the abundance of miracles, have been called miraculous since ancient times and, being in different places of our Orthodox Church, do not cease to be, as it were, channels of the miraculous power of the Lord. For the sake of the holy icons, many suffered from the iconoclasts and with their blood sealed and established the veneration of icons in the Universe. d) Holy icons are living history, a book without words: educated and uneducated will read it in an instant, and this book can act more powerfully than writing, influencing directly our mind and heart. They are often amazed by holy images, and the impression remains deep. So, for example, Saint Mary of Egypt, having once seen the image of the Mother of God, shining with purity and immaculateness, was so amazed that she immediately decided to leave her vicious way of life. e) The VII Ecumenical Council defined the dogma of the veneration of holy icons, and defined it in the following terms: “Like the image of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross, place in the holy churches of God, on consecrated vessels and clothes, on walls and on decks, in houses and on paths, honest and holy icons, painted with paints and from fractional stones and from other substances capable of this are constructed, like the icons of the Lord and God and our Savior Jesus Christ, our immaculate Lady, the Holy Mother of God, and also the honest Angels and all the saints and reverend men. Because they are often visible through the image on icons, those who look at them remember and love the prototypes of them and honor them with kisses and reverent worship, not true, according to our faith, worship of God, which befits the only Divine Nature, but veneration in that image, like the image of the Honest and Life-giving Cross and honor is given to the Holy Gospel and other shrines, with incense and the lighting of candles, as was the pious custom of the ancients. For the honor given to the image passes to the Prototype, and he who worships the icon worships the being depicted on it” (Dogmas of the VII Ecumenical Council). Consequently, in the holy icons we have not only an understandable book of the history of the Church and Christianity, but also a source of admonition, encouragement and consolation in the happiness and sorrows of our lives. f) The beneficial effect of holy icons is reflected in everything. Thus, the history of our Fatherland speaks eloquently about the countless miracles that occurred from holy icons. The icon of the Savior brought Andrei Bogolyubsky victory over his enemies; the icon of the Sign of the Most Holy Theotokos protected defenseless Novgorod; the icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir turned back Tamerlane and his hordes; the icon of the Mother of God of Kazan delivered the reigning city of Moscow from Lithuanian captivity and saved Russia from enslavement by infidels; The Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God strengthened the regiments with courage during the time of the French invasion. g) And in our private life, how important are holy icons! This is the icon that your mother looked at when she was languishing in mortal pain, giving birth to you and entrusting you to her for safekeeping. In front of this same holy icon, your parents prayerfully encouraged you to begin your life’s career. And you yourself, in the terrible moments of your life, when you couldn’t find any joy in the whole world, when everything left you and you were on the verge of death, didn’t you then kneel before the holy icon, making vows of Christian life, with tears praying to God for forgiveness and admonition? And how often joy flowed into the tormented, grieving soul when looking at the holy image of the Suffering Savior! It was involuntarily recognized that salvation and life are in the cross. The cross, barely bearable, became a source of consolation and firm hope! Finally, when you lie down on your deathbed, will not the icon stand guard at your head, as a sign of your Christian hope and the excitement of those about to pray for you? And when they lower you into the grave, will not the Honest Cross overshadow your ashes? Holy icons consecrate our homes, fill our life with holy memories, elevate and spiritualize it; the absence of holy icons would turn our very churches into places of simple gatherings. (See “Sunday Thu.”). III. In view of this, brothers, let us venerate the holy icons and turn away from those madmen who, contrary to the word of God, the teaching of the Church, the evidence of church history and common sense, teach that icons should not be venerated. Such are the pathetic Stundists. May the Lord deliver us from their delusion! A. The Face of Christ the Savior and His Appearance The oldest document containing a description of the image of the Savior is a letter from Publius Lentulus, who was proconsul of Judea during the time of Octavius Augustus. Here is an accurate translation of this letter sent by the proconsul to the Roman Senate during the earthly life of Jesus Christ. “To the great and venerable Roman Senate, Senator Lentulus, ruler of Judea, wishes health. At present, a man has appeared - He is still alive - with high qualities, calling himself Jesus Christ. The people say that He is a mighty prophet in His deeds; the disciples call Him the Son of God. He raises the dead and heals all illness and sickness. This man is tall and slender. His physiognomy is stern and very expressive, so that those who look at Him are unable not to love Him and not to be afraid. His light brown hair falls smooth to the bottom of his ears and from there falls in wavy curls to his very shoulders; they are divided at the top of the head, like the Nazirites. The forehead is smooth and calm, the face is completely clean. His cheeks are covered with a light blush, with a slight darkness. The look is pleasant and open. The nose and mouth are very correct. The beard is quite thick, small, the same color as the hair on the head, and is divided into two parts on the chin. The eyes are blue and extremely lively. Something menacing is noticeable in Him when He reprimands or reproaches, while meekness and gentleness always accompany His instructions and teachings. His face has an amazing pleasantness combined with importance. He was never seen laughing, but he was seen crying. His figure is slender, his arms are long and beautiful, his shoulders are beautiful. His speech is important and smooth, but He says little at all. Finally, having seen Him, one cannot help but admit that this is one of the most handsome men.” The 14th-century Greek historian Nikephoros Callistus makes the same description of the Savior’s personality. “His face,” he says, “was remarkable in beauty and expressiveness. He was at least seven palms tall (5 feet, 4 inches and 2 lines). His hair looked like blond; they were not too thick, but somewhat curly at the tip. His eyebrows were black, but not quite round. The eyes looked like black, were full of liveliness and had an inexpressible charm. The nose was long. The brown beard was quite short, but the hair on his head was long. He never cut his hair. No one's hand touched Him except the Mother's hand, and that was when He was a Baby. He tilted his head a little and therefore seemed somewhat shorter. His complexion was almost wheatish, when the wheat begins to ripen. His face was neither round nor long. He looked a lot like His Mother, especially in the lower part of his face, and was gently rosy. Gratitude, prudence, meekness and constant mercy were expressed on His face... In a word,” Nikifor Callistus finishes his description, “He resembled His Divine and Immaculate Mother in everything...” These descriptions are quite similar to what eyewitnesses say about the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, who saw His Image Not Made by Hands on the ubrus, sent by the Savior Himself to Abgar, King of Edessa, and first preserved in Edessa, then in Constantinople. At the head of these eyewitnesses is Saint John of Damascus. Of the later witnesses who saw the Image Not Made by Hands, we give a description of the Italian Picconi. “This Image,” says Picconi, “has a majestic and wonderful appearance: Divine greatness and glory are reflected on it, so that the one who looks at It is enchanted and in awe of Him. From the middle of the wide and rather large forehead, dark and almost, one might say, black hair descends on both sides, right and left, which, covering the ears, connects with the beard. The beard, along with the other hairs of the head, seems to be divided into three parts or branches, of which the right one is directed slightly upward, the left one also leans slightly towards the right side, while the middle one consists only of beard hair and is directed slightly to the left. The eyebrows are black, the eyes are shiny, penetrating, as if they are emitting light rays, so that you think that they are looking at you from all sides with some kind of pleasant and gentle gaze. The nose is straight, slightly long, but proportional; the mustache barely covers the upper lip, but the lower is completely open, so that the beautifully defined and pleasant lips are visible unobstructed. The coloring of the face is blackish and dark, so that it is difficult to recognize its real color, especially on the forehead, on the nose, between the eyes and in the middle of the cheeks, but on the other hand you can easily see that this Image has something supernatural that human art cannot imitate. For many artists admitted this, and especially one of them, named Luke, who had the opportunity to examine this Image as best as possible, often argued that there was no way with our paints to convey the color of the Holy Image even in any way similar to the original, and therefore, no matter how much they begged him to make a copy from it, he never agreed.” Such is the historical evidence on the basis of which a Christian artist can imagine the Most Pure Face of the God-Man. (See “Russian Pilgrim”, Year V, No. 1, January 1, 1889). B. Appearance and moral height of the Blessed Virgin Mary The church historian Nicephorus Callistus has preserved for us the legend about the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. “She was,” we read from him, “of average height, or, as others say, somewhat more than average; golden hair; eyes are fast, with pupils the color of olives; the eyebrows are arched and moderately black, the nose is oblong; blooming lips filled with sweet speeches; the face is not round and not sharp, but somewhat oblong; arms and fingers are long.” But, let us say together with the holy father, “truly what amazes us in the Most Holy Virgin is not only the immaculate and pure beauty of the body, but especially the perfection of Her soul.” And how could it be otherwise, when “in Her face the whole treasure of grace is concentrated,” and She was “holy in body and spirit”! “The clothes are modest, alien to luxury and bliss; the gait is sedate, firm; a stern look combined with pleasantness; quiet and submissive to parents; gentle speech flowing from a kind heart.” “She has a mind controlled by God and directed towards God alone; all desire is directed towards the One Worthy of desire and love; hatred only towards sin and its culprit. All Her thoughts are beneficial to the soul, free from everything superfluous, moving away from everything destructive to the soul; Her eyes are always directed towards the Lord, contemplating the eternal and unapproachable light; the ears are tuned to listen to the word of God, they delight in the sweet-voiced soul of the Spirit; lips praise the Lord; the tongue discusses the word of God and pours out Divine sweetness; Her heart is pure and immaculate, seeing and desiring the Pure God. Everything is the palace of the Spirit; all is the city of the Living God, all is good; everything is before the eyes of God, for, having ascended above the Cherubim and being exalted above the Seraphim, She united with God.” “She,” says the historian Nicephorus Callistus about the Blessed One, according to ancient Tradition, “in conversation with others maintained decency, did not laugh, did not become indignant, and was not especially angry; completely artless, simple, She did not think at all about Herself, and far from effeminacy, she was distinguished by complete humility; Regarding the clothes that she wore, She was content with their natural color, which is still proven by Her sacred head covering. In short: in all Her actions a special grace was revealed.” “Everyone here knows,” wrote Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer, “that the Ever-Virgin Mother of God is filled with grace and all the virtues. They say that She was always cheerful in persecution and troubles; in need and poverty she was not upset; Not only was she not angry with those who insulted Her, but she even did good to them; in prosperity meek; she was merciful to the poor and helped them as much as she could; in piety she is a teacher and instructor in every good deed. She especially loved the humble, because She herself was filled with humility. Those who have seen Her give Her much praise. People worthy of every belief told us about Her, that according to Her holiness, the angelic and human natures were apparently united in Her. All this arouses in us an immense desire to see this Heavenly Miracle and such amazing holiness.” Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, three years after his conversion to Christianity, was honored to see the Blessed Virgin Mary face to face in Jerusalem, describes this meeting as follows: “When I was brought before the face of the God-like, most luminous Virgin, such a great and immeasurable Divine light bathed me from the outside and inside, and such a wondrous fragrance of various aromas spread around me that neither my weak body nor my spirit itself were able to bear such great and abundant signs and firstfruits of eternal bliss and glory. My heart fainted, my spirit fainted from Her glory and Divine grace! The human mind cannot imagine any glory and honor (even in the state of people glorified by God) higher than the bliss that I tasted then, unworthy, but honored by mercy and blessed beyond all understanding.” (See “Tales of the earthly life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos. St. Petersburg, 1869, pp. 261–263). Conversation No. 3. About the symbolic signs with which our holy crosses are depicted I. In the Russian Orthodox Church there are often crosses surrounded by the instruments of the Lord’s suffering, as well as some symbolic signs and images, such as: a spear, a cane, a sponge, a titlo at the top, a head or skull at the bottom, the moon, the sun and others. The meaning of symbolic signs and other images with which we surround crosses is little or completely unknown to many Orthodox Christians, and therefore we find it useful to say a few words about this subject. II. a) Crosses are sometimes crowned with a royal crown or a double-headed eagle. Such Crosses can be seen on the heads of some churches, for example, in the Kiev St. Michael's Monastery and in other places. It is not difficult to understand the meaning of such crosses: they indicate that Orthodox Russian churches, like the entire Orthodox Russian Church, are under the patronage of the supreme autocratic power of the Tsar; In addition, it should be noted that some churches, on the heads of which crosses crowned with a crown or a double-headed eagle were erected, were built at the royal expense or were under the special patronage of the sovereigns. b) At the foot of the cross, a sign is often depicted in the form of a crescent or a new moon with horns raised upward. According to popular opinion, crosses with a crescent have appeared in our country since the overthrow of the Tatar yoke, as a symbol of the triumph of Christianity over Mohammedanism. But the fact is that crosses with a crescent, or more correctly, with two horns of an anchor below, were known in Russia before Tatar rule; for example, on the Dmitrievsky Cathedral in Vladimir on Klyazma, a cathedral built in the 12th century, and on other churches of pre-Tatar times, crosses were placed with the likeness of a crescent at the base. Therefore, it is fairer to believe that crosses with the likeness of a crescent got their origin in the Ancient Christian Church. Indeed, crosses with the likeness of a crescent, or more precisely, crosses with two horns of an anchor below, are found on the most ancient monuments of Christian art, for example, on tombstones dating back to the first centuries of Christianity. Anchor crosses can also be seen on other ancient monuments, for example, on coins minted for Sicily under the Greek emperors (7th century), as well as on the coins of the Latin emperors in Constantinople - Baldwin (at the beginning of the 13th century) and his successors. The use of such crosses from Constantinople could have passed to the West and to us (“On Russian churches” - an archaeological essay in the collection “Spiritual Food”, Archpriest V. Nechaev, M., 1884, p. 201). What is the significance of anchor crosses? An anchor, understood in its direct and natural meaning, is hope and often the only benefit for sailors during thunderstorms and storms. Therefore, among all ancient peoples, the anchor had a religious meaning and was considered a symbol of salvation and deliverance. And the first Christians loved to depict an anchor on their religious monuments and on other objects, as a symbol of hope for God’s help among the troubles and misfortunes inseparable from human life, and among the persecutions that, like the stormy waves of the sea, constantly kept the boat (Church) of Christ in danger. That the image of an anchor for the first Christians served as a symbol of hope or hope in Jesus Christ, this can be seen from the words of the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews (6:19), from the testimonies of the Holy Fathers (Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, etc.), who compared Christian hope with an anchor; the same can be seen from the inscriptions made by ancient Christians on images of anchors, for example, in the Pretextata cemetery there are marble slabs marked with an image of an anchor, on the crossbar of which the letter E is written, apparently forming an abbreviation for the word “ἐλπ ί ς” - hope. Considering the anchor a symbol of hope, or trust in Jesus Christ, the ancient Christians could naturally attach the sign of the anchor to the images of the cross and thereby clearly express that their hope for temporal and eternal blessings, their confidence in the irresistible power of Divine intercession is affirmed in the merits of Jesus Christ on the cross. There is no doubt that, following the example of ancient Christians, even in later difficult times for the Church of Christ, for example, during the struggle of Byzantium and other peoples with Muslims, crosses with two horns of an anchor below were used as the best, most visible symbols of Christian hope, hope and confidence in the irresistible power of Divine intercession, affirmed on the merits of Jesus Christ on the cross. c) In addition to the sign of the anchor, at the foot of the Cross of the Lord a skull and two crossed bones are often depicted. This image is based on the legend that Adam was buried on Calvary. About this legend of St. Basil the Great, in his interpretation of chapter 5 of the prophet Isaiah, says this: “There is a legend, preserved from unwritten memory, that the first inhabitant of Judea was Adam, who, after being expelled from paradise, was in this country to console himself for his losses. And so, she was the first to accept a dead man when the condemnation of Adam was fulfilled. The head bone, on which the flesh had disintegrated, seemed like some kind of new sight to the inhabitants of that time, and they, placing the skull in this place, called it the Place of the Execution. Meanwhile, it is likely that Noah also knew the coffin (grave), the beginning of the leader of all people, and that he conveyed information about this to them after the flood. And the Lord, having sought out the beginnings of human death, accepted suffering at the so-called Place of Skull, so that in the same place where the corruption of people began, the life of the Kingdom would begin, and so that death, as it became strong in Adam, would become weak in the death of Christ.” This opinion of Saint Basil was shared by many of the Fathers of the Church, such as: Saint Athanasius in the word “On the Passion and Death on the Cross of Jesus Christ”, Saint Ambrose in the Commentary on Chapter 10 of the Gospel of Luke, Saint Chrysostom in the 84th conversation on the Gospel of John, Saint Epiphanius in Book 1 of Heresies, Chapter 46, and others. Since, according to the surviving tradition, the second Adam, the second Head of humanity, the Gracious, All-Reviving One - our Lord Jesus Christ died, rose again and resurrected with Himself all of humanity where the first Adam died, was buried and rested in anticipation of the resurrection - this is the first and natural head of all humanity, then some are inclined to think that the very name of Golgotha ​​received its origin from the burial on it of the world's first human skull and forehead. For example, the Most Reverend Zephanius, Bishop of Turkestan, says: “One should think that the name of the mountain: Gulgolet (in Hebrew), Gulgolt (in Syriac), Golgofta (in Chaldean), Kranion (in Greek), given to it by the ancient inhabitants of Palestine and meaning: skull, forehead and head, originates from this significant fact - the burial here of the first human in the world skull or forehead." (“From the diary of service in the east and west”, His Grace Zephanius, Bishop of Turkestan and Tashkent, St. Petersburg, 1878, pp. 80–81). d) On the sides of the cross (the Crucifixion itself), the sun and moon are sometimes depicted. What does this image of the cross mean? Some believe that the image here of the sun and moon indicates the eclipse of the sun and the darkness of the night that followed the last breath of the Crucified Lord. This explanation seems somewhat artificial and far-fetched. It is more correct to attach symbolic meaning to the sun and moon depicted at the Crucifixion. The sun is a body shining with its own light; the moon is a dark body, borrowing its light from another, subject to changes of age and deterioration; therefore, the image of the sun at the Crucifixion serves as a symbol of the Divine, and the moon - the weak human nature, united with the Divinity in Jesus Christ, who suffered death on the cross for us. (See “Guide for Rural Shepherds,” No. 11, 1886, March, pp. 315–319). III. These, brethren, are the symbolic signs with which the cross is depicted among us. Let us note their meaning so that we can be conscious of what we see. Conversation No. 4. About the image of Angels with wings I. By their nature, Angels are disembodied spirits, and if they are depicted in bodily form, it is not because they had a body, but because when they appeared to people, they temporarily took on a bodily image, mostly the image of a person. On the icons, Angels are depicted with two wings, and Seraphim even with six wings, in accordance with the vision of the prophet Isaiah during his call to prophetic service. There is no doubt that the wings with which all Angels are depicted have a symbolic meaning. They indicate such properties and actions of Angels that correspond to the properties and actions of birds or birds. II. a) Wings are given to birds to fly above the ground. This detachment of birds from the earth is an image of the relationship of Angels to our earth. Due to the duty of their service, they are on the ground, just as birds descend from the heights of the air to the ground; but descending from heaven to earth, Angels do not cling to it with partiality, they hover on earth as in heaven. They are not worried about the joys characteristic of the inhabitants of the earth - they know joy only in communication with the Lord - they are not seduced by earthly blessings, for from the heights of heaven they can see their vanity and corruption most clearly, they do not experience sorrows similar to those that we experience among diseases, troubles and misfortunes, for as unearthly beings, they do not know earthly diseases, troubles and misfortunes; temptations from the world do not attack them, for they are not of this world, - from the flesh, for they are incorporeal, - from the devil, for he fears them, as His servants close to God. They love people, but they love about the Lord, because they love the Lord who loved them; they grieve for the perishing sinner, but do not indulge in inconsolable grief - their grief is overcome by complete devotion to the Lord; they rejoice over the sinner who repents, but they rejoice in the Lord, in His mercy towards those who repent. But if even in contact with the earthly world, they are detached from it, if in the moments of their soaring on earth on duty they continue to breathe heavenly air and live in complete communion with the Lord, then what can we say about their state when they are exclusively occupied with the glorification of the Lord, when, surrounding the throne of His Majesty in heaven, they find their bliss only in the fact that they sing to him: Hallelujah? In this state, the earth and the entire visible world do not exist for them. The detachment from the world characteristic of them as premium beings then reaches the highest degree. The position of the birds of heaven, joyfully singing in the heavenly heights, in which they rest on their wings as freely and calmly as we walk on earth, is a certain semblance of the state of the Heavenly Forces, soaring on the wings of love for God above everything earthly and sensual and declaring the heavenly world with their praises. b) Further significant in relation to the Angels is the flying of birds from top to bottom and from bottom to top. This is an image of those relations of Angels to people, which are indicated in Jacob’s vision of the mysterious staircase connecting heaven with earth. Angels of God ascended and descended along these stairs. This vision confirmed to Jacob that those who trust in the Lord are not left without help by Him, that the Lord sends His Angels for everyone who wants to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14). Angels, at the command of God, descend to them to protect them from evil and ascend from them to God with a report on the fulfillment of His commands and to accept new ones. Wings, as instruments for the movement of birds from top to bottom and bottom to top, serve as an image of communication with people of Angels, no less expressive as the ladder seen by Jacob. The wings with which the Angels are depicted in this case are all the more significant because they clearly represent the cover of the Angels over people. Wings serve for birds not only as instruments of movement, but also as means of protection. With their wings, birds protect themselves and their chicks from attacks by other animals, and with their wings, birds warm their chicks when they sit above them in the nest. Likewise, the Angels, especially the Guardian Angel, protect the souls entrusted to their care from demonic attacks. People do not notice these attacks, do not see the hordes of demons filling the air around us and rushing at us from all sides and tempting us. But they are seen, the Angels of God watch them vigilantly, and partly through direct action, partly through their prayers, like birds with their wings, they repel invisible enemies from us. True, these enemies, despite the protection of good Angels, tempt us not without success; but this success would have been incomparably greater if the good Angels had not protected us. By removing demonic temptations from us, Angels promote the growth of spiritual life in us. Nothing cools zeal for spiritual achievements so much as the secret intrigues of the spirits of evil. But as long as we take refuge under the wings of the Guardian Angels, like chicks under the wings of a kokoshi, we are safe from these intrigues and can unhinderedly succeed spiritually. The only pity is that we ourselves do not value the angelic cover: with the stench of sins we ourselves drive away the Angels from ourselves, just as the stench drives away bees. c) In addition to the indicated meanings of Angelic wings, there are also particular meanings for the wings of Seraphim and Cherubim. Thus, the Seraphim are depicted with six wings, in accordance with the vision of the prophet Isaiah. They flew on two wings - a sign of the spiritual properties and actions we indicated, common to them with other Angels. And the fact that each of them covered his face with two wings, and his legs with two, signified their reverence for the Lord of Glory, reverence for which they did not dare to look directly with open eyes at the Face of the King of heaven and earth and appear to be standing on their feet before Him. As for the Cherubim, their wings (sometimes two wings, like the Cherubim above the Ark of the Covenant, sometimes four - in the vision of Ezekiel) had the meaning of the Thrones of the King of Glory, on which He appears to be sitting, carried and flying as if on the wings of the wind (Ps. 7:11, 79:2; Isa. 37:16; 1 Sam. 4:4). In accordance with this meaning, Cherubim are the closest manifestations of the Glory of the Lord as the King. III. People, as beings created in the Image and likeness of God, are not much less than the Angels; they are similar to Angels in their spiritual nature and therefore can imitate them in those properties and actions that are symbolically indicated by the image of Angels with wings. a) Thus, the wings of Angels denote their detachment from everything earthly and sensual, despite their closeness to us. Like them, we, living on earth, must renounce attachment to earthly and sensual things, not attach our hearts to earthly goods and pleasures, place the main good in communion with God, look at earthly life as a time of preparation for eternal life, direct all deeds, thoughts, desires and feelings to the Glory of God. b) The wings of Angels serve as an image of their speed and fiery zeal in fulfilling the will of God. We too must strive for equal angelic perfection in zeal to fulfill the will of God. And this is possible under the condition on our part of renunciation of our will, complete submission to the will of God, no matter how difficult God’s commandments may seem to us - and the grace of God on the other hand, for without grace-filled help we cannot hope for success in pleasing the Lord. We are taught to beg God for this help with the words of the prayer: “Thy will be done as it is in heaven and on earth,” that is, help us, Lord, to fulfill Your will on earth just as unquestioningly and successfully as the Angels unquestioningly and successfully fulfill it in heaven. c) The image of Angels with wings further indicates their readiness to serve people in their spiritual and physical needs, to protect them with their cover. Like them, each of us must take an active part in our neighbors - through prayer, advice, admonition, and charity, to protect them from sinful temptations, from troubles and misfortunes. He who lovingly fulfills this sacred duty towards his neighbors is truly their Guardian Angel. d) The wings of the Seraphim, covering their faces and legs, arouse in us that reverence and humility before God, the image of which is served by the fact that they cover themselves with wings. If they, sinless and pure and incomparably more perfect spirits than us in all respects, stand before the Face of God with fear and trembling, can we, unclean and sinful, be free from this fear and trembling? e) On the wings of Cherubim, as if on Thrones, the King of Glory sits and walks. Likewise, when we are present at the Liturgy, we must mysteriously portray the Cherubim and open our hearts to receive the King of all in them and for this purpose put aside all worldly cares. (Compiled from “Soulful Reading”, 1885, December). Appendix to conversation No. 4. Explanation of symbolic images in church painting of the holy seven Archangels Archangels are the leaders and leaders of the angelic ranks - for even in Heaven, despite the mutual love, joy and bliss of each and every one, there is, however, not that equality that some, out of extreme foolishness, seek on earth: and there some rule and precede, others obey and follow. Essential and complete equality is found only between the three Persons of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Although the number of Angels is extremely large, there are thousands of them, according to the expression of Scripture, but there are only seven Archangels. “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy Angels,” said the Archangel Raphael to the righteous Tobit, “who offer the prayers of the saints and ascend before the Glory of the Holy One” (Tov. 12:15). And Saint John, in his wondrous Apocalypse, pronouncing grace and peace to the Churches from “He who is and was and is to come,” then pronounces a blessing from the seven spirits who are before His throne (Rev. 1:4). Why are there only seven main Angels - no less and no more? This is the secret of Creation, known to the Lord and Creator of Angels. We can note with reverence only in this case that the number seven constitutes one of the most important laws of the origin and existence of creatures both in the spiritual world and in the material world. For if we look at the Kingdom of Grace, we receive the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, the seven Sacraments. Let's look at the kingdom of nature - we find seven rays of light, seven tones of sound, seven days of Creation, and so on. I. Of the seven Supreme Spirits, the Holy Church is the first to recognize Michael, which is why his celebration is called the Council of the Archangel Michael and other ethereal Powers. Who is like God - means his name: who is like God - expresses all his deeds. He was the first to rebel against Lucifer when he rebelled against the Almighty. It is known how this first terrible battle ended - with the overthrow of Dennitsa from the sky. Since then, Michael has not ceased to fight for the Glory of the Creator and Lord of all, for the cause of salvation of the human race, for the Church and her children. This is why he is always depicted in a warlike form, with a spear or sword in his hand, with a dragon under his feet, that is, the spirit of evil. The white banner, a copy of it decorating the top, means the unchanging purity and unshakable loyalty of the Angels to the Heavenly King; and the cross with which the spear ends makes it known that the battle with the kingdom of darkness and the victory over it by the Archangels themselves is accomplished in the name of the cross of Christ, accomplished through patience, humility and self-sacrifice. Therefore, for those who are adorned with the name of the first of the Archangels, it is most fitting to be distinguished by zeal for the Glory of God, loyalty to the King of Heaven and the kings of the earth, constant warfare against vice and wickedness, and constant humility and self-sacrifice. II. The second place in the rank of Angels belongs to Gabriel - a name meaning the Power of God. Since among the celestials the name always expresses the thing itself, then this Archangel, in the work of serving human salvation, is especially the herald and servant of the omnipotence of God. So, whether the Power of God will be revealed in the miraculous conception of the Forerunner, from elderly parents, the news of this conception rests with Gabriel. Will the seedless conception of the Son of God Himself occur? The honor of preaching about this goes to Gabriel again. This same Archangel, in the opinion of godly men, was sent to reinforce the Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane and to announce to the Mother of God Her all-honorable Dormition. Therefore, the Church calls him a minister of miracles. But, serving miracles, he is therefore a special servant and the Mysteries of God, for one presupposes the other. Therefore, when it was necessary to reveal future events to Daniel the prophet, he heard a voice: “Gabriel! Explain this vision to him” (Dan. 8:16). Bearing in mind such a service of Gabriel, the Holy Church sometimes depicts him with a branch of paradise in his hand, which he brought to the Mother of God, and sometimes in his right hand with a lantern, inside of which a candle burns, and in his left hand with a mirror. Depicts with a mirror, since Gabriel is the messenger of God's destinies about the salvation of the human race; depicts from candles in a lantern, since the destinies of God are closed until the time of their fulfillment and, after their fulfillment, are comprehended only by those who steadily look into the mirror of the word of God and their conscience. Thus, if anyone, then those bearing the name of Gabriel, has that faith of God (Mark 11:21-23), for which, according to the word of the Savior Himself, nothing is impossible; and if from anyone, then from them should be as far as possible the punishment that this Archangel was once forced to impose on the father of the Forerunner for the poverty of faith (Luke 1:20). III. Raphael, or God's help and healing, is the name of the third Archangel, and therefore the most dear name to all who suffer. There is a whole book in the Holy Scriptures that describes how this Archangel in the form of a man accompanied the righteous Tobiah, freed his bride from the evil spirit, restored sight to his elderly father Tobit, and then ascended from them to heaven. Therefore, this Archangel is depicted with a medical vessel in his left hand, leading Tobias with his right. The words spoken by this Archangel during separation from Tobit’s family are very instructive. “A good deed is prayer with fasting and almsgiving and justice,” Raphael said, “for alms delivers from death and can cleanse all sin. When you and your daughter-in-law Sarah prayed, I offered up the memory of your prayer before the Holy One, and when you buried the dead, I was also with you. And when you were not lazy to get up and leave your dinner to go and remove the dead, your charity was not hidden from me, but I was with you” (Tov. 12:8, 12-13). Therefore, whoever wants to be worthy of Raphael’s heavenly help must first of all be merciful to those in need. Those who are merciful are most likely to be pardoned themselves. Moreover, the virtues of mercy and compassion should distinguish those who bear the name of Raphael; otherwise they will not have a spiritual union with the Archangel. IV. The Fourth Archangel is depicted with a sword turned against the Persians, and in Shuyts with a flame descending to the bottom; his name is Uriel, i.e. light or fire of God; like an Angel of light, he enlightens the minds of people with the revelation of truths that are useful to them; like the Angel of Divine fire, he inflames hearts with love for God and consumes impure earthly attachments in them. So, this is your Archangel, people who have devoted themselves to science! How gratifying it should be for you to know that your nightly vigils and your labors over the collection of knowledge are illuminated not just by the spontaneous flickering from the lamp, but also by the light from the flame of the Archangel. And here, of course, is the source of many truly useful and great discoveries in the field of science - those discoveries about which those who made them themselves notice that they came to mind suddenly, as if by revelation from above. Is it surprising to have sudden insights from above when there is a special Archangel of light and knowledge? What, however, can one expect from this premium Mentor? Revelations of the secrets of nature, beyond our reason and our needs? Foreshadowing of future events or something like that? No, this is not the Archangel's business. Listen to what Uriel answered to one pious, but too inquisitive man, when, in the heat of his passion for knowledge, he wanted to learn from him the secret of the Divine world government. The Archangel refused to answer questions, but demanded that Ezra (as this man was called) do one of three things for him first: weigh the flame of the fire, or indicate the beginning of the wind, or return the past day. When Ezra denied the impossibility of doing this, the Archangel said: “If I had asked you how many dwellings are in the heart of the sea, or how many springs are in the very foundation of the abyss, or how many lived above the firmament, or what are the limits of paradise, perhaps you would have told me: “I have not descended into the abyss, nor have I ever ascended to hell.” Now I asked you only about the fire, the wind and the day that you experienced, and about what you cannot be without, and you did not answer me. And he said to me: you cannot know what is yours and with you from youth; How could your vessel contain the path of the Most High and in this already noticeably corrupted age understand the corruption that is obvious in my eyes? ( 3Ezra 4:7-11 ). Note this lesson, people devoted to science, and do not forget, following the example of your Archangel, to be servants not only of the light of truth, but also of the fire of divine love. “Knowledge puffs up” and “love edifies” (1 Cor. 8:1). V. The fifth Archangel is the supreme minister of prayer and is called Salafiel. Pure and fiery prayer itself can serve instead of a Cherub for the soul, protecting it from all hostile forces. But what are our prayers? Weak, short, unclean, cold. And so the Lord, knowing how necessary prayer is for each of us, gave us a whole face of prayerful Angels with their leader Salafiel, so that with the pure inspiration of their lips they warm our cold hearts and encourage them to pray, so that they instruct us about what, when and how we will pray, and so that they may lift up our very petitions to the Throne of Grace. When you see, brethren, on the icon the Archangel standing in a position of prayer, with his eyes downcast, with his hands placed reverently on his chest, then know that this is Salafiel. And seeing the Archangel of prayer himself in this position, try yourself during prayer to always be in a position appropriate for the one praying. Decent - I say, because many do not have even this. Looking at how some of us pray, you would think that they do not ask, but command and threaten the One from whom they ask. Is this a prayer?.. VI. The sixth Archangel has a golden crown in his right hand, and in his shuyts a scourge of three scarlet ropes. This is because the duty of this Archangel with the face of the Angels entrusted to him is to encourage with the reward of eternal blessings and to protect in the name of the Holy Trinity and the power of the cross of Christ people working in various types of service for the Glory of God; which is why it is called Jehudiel, or the praise of God. There are no people among us who bear this name, but each of us, young and old, is obliged to live and work for the Glory of God: and since he works at this, it truly cannot be that he does not encounter various obstacles. For on our sinful earth, among us sinful people, every good deed is not accomplished except with difficulty, and many with great and difficult work. What needs? Our Lord and Master “God is not unjust, that He should forget” any good deed of ours and no labor of love (Heb. 6:10) in His name; The greater the feat, the higher and brighter the reward. In the right hand of the Archangel the crown is not in vain: this is a reward for the warrior who, during battle, does not spare his life for the Church and the Fatherland, and during peace does not offend anyone, being content with his salary (Luke 3:14), - for the city ruler, who does not sleep, falls asleep below, guard the city entrusted to him, - for the judge, who firmly holds the scales of righteousness, judges without partiality is sir and humble; this is a reward for the shepherd of the Church, the right to rule the Word of truth, for the householder who sets an example of fear of God to his household, for the slave who bears his lot with faith and patience. VII. The last Archangel - the last in order, and not in dignity and power - is given the name Barachiel by the godly Teachers of the Church. This is the Angel of God's blessings, as his name means and expresses the form in which he appears on holy icons; for he is depicted with many rose flowers in the depths of his clothing. since the blessings of God are varied, the ministry of this Archangel is varied: through him the blessing of the household and the improvement of the family is sent; through him the blessing of the fruits of the earth is received; through him one is granted blessed success in purchases and other everyday affairs. But when are they worthy? - Then, without a doubt, when they want to accept earthly blessings to acquire heavenly and eternal blessings; when, for example, they want to have children in order to raise them in the fear of God; they expect an abundance of the fruits of the earth in order to share them with the poverty that is melting away from famine; They are looking for an increase in income in order to be able to decorate the church of God, look after the orphan, redeem an innocent debtor, and the like. Otherwise, the Lord will not send, and the Archangel will not bring blessings. How, you say, do peace lovers who have completely forgotten God sometimes enjoy all the gifts of earthly happiness? - For the unrepentant, this is a gift of wrath, and not of Divine love: the minister of these gifts is not the Archangel, but that ruler of the darkness of this age, who dared to say to the Son of God Himself: “I will give all this to You, if you fall to worship me” (Matthew 4:9). This is the Council of the Archangels! This is true for us and our salvation! For what he is like in his heavenly strength, majesty and greatness, this is not given to us now to know. We will see when we are worthy to stand at the right hand of the Throne of God and enter into the Council of Angels itself. (From the sermon of Innocent, Archbishop of Kherson and Odessa). Conversation No. 5. About symbolic images with the holy evangelists I. The divine personality of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Founder of Christianity, His life, deeds and teachings became the subject of many stories even in the time of the holy apostles, as Saint Luke points out in the preface to his Gospel (Luke 1:1-4). But, despite the abundance of Gospels in the first centuries of Christianity, the Church of Christ, already at the end of the first century, recognized as undoubtedly divinely inspired only four truly apostolic writings, namely the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Recognizing in these our Gospels the undoubted works of the Spirit of God, the Church rejected many other Gospels that differed from them in presentation. Representatives of the Holy Church attributed a special mysterious meaning to the very fourfold number of our Gospels. Thus, Saint Irenaeus (at the end of the 2nd century), in refutation of the heretics who boasted of a large number of Gospels, says among other things: “It is impossible for the Gospels to be more or less in number than they are. For since there are four countries of the world in which we live, and four main winds, and since the Church is scattered throughout the whole earth, and the pillar and foundation of the Church is the Gospel and the Spirit of life, then it must have four pillars, spreading incorruption from everywhere and reviving people.” II. It is known that in the ancient Christian period of art, symbols and allegories were in great use. Thus, on the most ancient monuments, Jesus Christ was depicted in the form of a Lamb (John 1:29, 36) or in the form of the Good Shepherd (John 10:1–16), carrying a lost sheep on his shoulder (Matthew 18:11–13), or in the form of a fish, etc. The holy apostles were also symbolically designated, for example, in the guise of sheep (Lk. 10:3), doves (Matthew 10:16) or fishermen (Matthew 4:18–19), also in the form of palm trees, etc. Among such symbolic images of the apostles, the sacred writers of our four Gospels have since ancient times used the images of four cherubim, seen by the prophet Ezekiel and the evangelist John the Theologian: a man, a lion, a calf and an eagle ( Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 4:2–3, 6–8, 5:5–6). In church iconography there are faces of the evangelists themselves, sitting with books, and their symbols are depicted next to them: in Matthew - a man, in Mark - a lion, in Luke - a calf and in John - an eagle. The holy evangelists are depicted with such symbols in all subsequent periods of the Church of Christ to this day. Looking with reverence at these sacred images of the Gospel writers, not every Christian can give himself a clear account of both the origin and the very meaning of symbolic images. What do they mean? What special meaning is connected with the symbols depicted by the holy evangelists? Let's try to clarify this. The image of the Cherubim seen by the prophet Ezekiel with the holy evangelists or on the books of the Gospel can, of course, mean, in general, the deep reverence of the Cherubim for the shrine of the Gospel. Likewise, the images of Cherubim placed above the Tablets of the Testament also testified to their reverence for this Old Testament shrine. But already from ancient times, Christian theologians considered the high mysterious meaning of symbolic images with the holy evangelists in relation to the face of the Savior, which constitutes the essence of their stories. Thus, they believed that through these four Cherubim it is symbolically indicated those four properties in which our Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to people and acted for the salvation of mankind. Having descended from heaven, He became a man; as a calf, he was a sacrifice of atonement and appeared as a great Intercessor for the human race; like a lion, He smote His enemies with the might of a king; and like an eagle, the Son of God ascended to heaven. Indeed, in the Holy Gospels, Jesus Christ is depicted primarily from one of these properties. Therefore, the ancient interpreters found that symbolic images with the holy evangelists could visually serve to characterize each of the holy Gospels, and moreover, as much in relation to the main presentation of the Savior in it, so much in relation to the very beginning of the narrative. a) Thus, from ancient times Saint Matthew was depicted with an angelic man. The Fathers of the Church adopted this symbol on the basis that the holy evangelist Matthew, who wrote his Gospel for the Jews, begins it with an image of the human origin of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1). Then, in the whole Gospel of Matthew, the predominantly human side of the Savior’s face is depicted, the character and actions of Jesus as the promised Son of David, the King of the Messiah, in whom, for this purpose, the fulfillment of Old Testament promises and prophecies is indicated (Matthew 1:22–23, 2:5–6, Matt. 4, etc.). b) The oldest image of St. Mark has hitherto been preserved on the official seal of the Patriarch of the Alexandrian Church (founded by Mark) - which shows a winged lion holding the Gospel, a symbolic image of the writer himself - Mark. But since the 4th century, the evangelist himself has been depicted on icons with a lion. This symbol is depicted in relation to the beginning of the Gospel of Mark. It begins with the story of the appearance of John the Baptist, whose preaching rang out in the Judean desert like the voice of a lion living in the desert. Narrating more about the miraculous actions of Jesus Christ than setting forth His teaching speeches, the holy evangelist Mark primarily depicts that royal (lion is the king of animals) power over the elements and people, diseases and demons, which was demonstrated on earth by the One who in the Apocalypse (Rev. 5:5) is called “behold the lion of the tribe of Judah.” c) Saint Luke the Evangelist is given the symbol of a calf on icons. This sacrificial animal, offered in the Old Testament at the consecration of priests and at the sacrifice of sin (Lev. 4:8), most closely points to the ministry of the priest Zechariah, the story of which begins the third Gospel. Then it primarily depicts such actions and sets forth such speeches of Jesus Christ, which contain indications of the calling of all people - Jews and Gentiles - to bliss by the Lord the Redeemer (Luke 7:36, 9:51, 10:25, 12:37; Ch. 15, etc.). He Himself is presented primarily as the Intercessor and the Great Atoning Sacrifice for the sins of the human race. d) Finally, the fourth evangelist on the icons has an image of an eagle, which, as is known, soars high and is distinguished by farsightedness. The application of this symbol to Saint John is determined by the special character of his Gospel. Compiling a narrative about the Lord to complement the first three Gospels, which primarily convey His activity as the God-man, John set out as his task to lead Christians to the knowledge of His highest Divine origin and to convey to us the history not so much of His great deeds accomplished on earth, but of His sublime Divine teaching about the Father, about Himself, about the Holy Spirit, about the Church, etc. That is why the Gospel of John, for its sublime character, is ancient The Church Fathers called it spiritual. The fourth Gospel, primarily before the first three Gospels, contains those sublime conversations of the Lord, in which His teaching about the entire Mystery of the Redemption is set forth. Already at the beginning of his Gospel, depicting the Divinity of Jesus Christ (John. 1:1–18), John, like an eagle, soared towards the sun and, with the eye of an eagle, penetrated into the heavenly heights of knowledge of God, inaccessible to the natural mind. To signify this distinctive character of the fourth Gospel, Saint John adopted the image of an eagle, which is an excellent symbol of his sublime teaching about God the Word. (See "The Helmsman", 1895, No. 20). III. These, brethren, are the symbolic images of the holy evangelists. Let us remember the explanation of their meaning, so that we can subsequently treat rationally what we see on the Holy Gospel and the holy icons in the church. Conversation No. 6. About why the Apostle Peter is depicted on icons with keys, and the Apostle Paul with a sword I. Our real conversation will be about why on icons the holy Apostle Peter is depicted with keys in his right hand, and the holy Apostle Paul with a sword. II. a) The keys on the icon of the Apostle Peter mean “the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,” which the Lord Jesus Christ, during His earthly life, promised to give to the Supreme Apostle for His firm and decisive confession as the Son of God. It happened like this. Having come to the countries of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked His disciples: Who do people say that I, the Son of Man, am? They said: some for John the Baptist, others for Elijah, and others for Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He says to them: Who do you say that I am? Simon Peter, who differed from the other apostles by his special ardor and determination of spirit, alone, anticipating them, confessed Christ with a new Christian confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And for such a firm and decisive confession, the Lord not only praises him, but also pleases him: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah,” He said to the apostle, “for it was not flesh and blood (not people and not your mind) that revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Therefore, as a reward for the first and new confession of Christ, Peter alone, mainly before the other apostles, heard from Christ a new word about the Church and on the original universal Foundation Stone - Christ (1 Peter 2:4) - was laid as the first of the subsequent, smaller foundation stones, that is, the apostles (Eph. 2:20). “And I tell you,” the Lord said to him, “you are Peter, and on this rock [on the rock of your faith and confession] I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,” the Lord finally tells him (Matthew 16:18–19). The Kingdom of Heaven, from which the keys are given to the Apostle Peter, here, as in other places of the Gospel (Matthew 3:2, 4:17, 13:24), is called the Kingdom of the Lord of grace, or His Church, which He promised to create on the stone of Peter’s faith and confession. The earthly Church is called the Kingdom of Heaven because the Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus, is not an earthly, but a Heavenly King, and because the members of the Church, while living on earth, must prepare themselves for heaven. How should we understand the handing over of the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Church, to the Apostle Peter? According to the custom of ancient peoples, and, in particular, the Jewish one, the presentation of keys served as a sign of giving someone authority over the house (Isa. 22:22; Rev. 3:7). In accordance with this, the figurative expression of the Savior: “and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven,” must be understood in the sense of giving the Apostle Peter the power to open and close the entrance to this Kingdom, to accept into communion with the Church and excommunicate from it. But this power is necessarily connected with another, the power to bind, that is, to declare the sins of people unforgiven, and to resolve, that is, to forgive them. For only he can become a member of the Church who, through repentance, receives remission of his sins, granted by church authority; Likewise, excommunication from church communion threatens only those who remain unrepentant in their sins and therefore do not receive forgiveness for them. Therefore, having entrusted to the Apostle Peter the power of the keys, the Lord Jesus authorized him to bind and decide, promising that his judgments about sinners would be confirmed in Heaven: “and whatever you bind on earth (i.e. whatever sins you declare unforgiven will be bound in heaven, and whatever sins you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Thus, the holy Apostle Peter, as the first to confess Christ as the Son of God, the first of the apostles receives from Him the promise to have the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, the first is invested with the power to bind and loose human consciences. But was he the only one of all the apostles to receive this power? No, soon after this the Lord promised the power to bind and loose to all the shepherds of the Church (Matthew 18:18). And after His glorious Resurrection, He solemnly affirmed this power over all the apostles, and consequently over the successors of their service as shepherds of the Church (John 20:23). For what purpose, writes St. Chrysostom, “Jesus Christ entrusted them (the apostles) with the keys? For if they do not judge, they will have no importance, and therefore they received the power to bind and decide in vain.” So, seeing on the icon of the Apostle Peter the keys in his hand, we must, firstly, remember and praise his firm and decisive confession of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, for this very confession was the reason for giving him the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to the first of the apostles; secondly, in the person of the Apostle Peter, holding the keys in his hand, we should see the image of the church authority, which has the authority from the Lord Jesus to bind and loose, forgive and not forgive, open and close the entrance to the Church (Matthew 18.18). “The Church binds,” writes Blessed Augustine, “The Church resolves. The Church, founded on the cornerstone - Jesus Christ Himself (Eph. 2:20), binds and looses. Let both those who are bound and those who are freed be afraid - those who are freed - so as not to fall again into the same thing, and those who are bound - so as not to remain forever in the same state, for “in the bonds of his sin,” says the Wise One, “he is kept” (Proverbs 5:22); and besides this Holy Church, permission cannot be obtained anywhere.” b) The Apostle Paul is depicted on the icon holding a sword. What does this sword represent? Signifies the tireless, most zealous preaching of the Word of God by the holy Apostle, which he himself twice in his Epistles represents under the image of a sword. Thus, in the Epistle to the Ephesian Christians, speaking about the constant battle ahead of them with the rulers, authorities and world rulers of the darkness of this age - with the spirits of wickedness in high places, the apostle, for success in this battle, advises them to stock up on spiritual weapons and among these weapons offers them a spiritual sword, by which he commands to understand the Word of God (Eph. 6:12-17). In the Epistle to Jewish Christians, to show the special power and effectiveness of the Word of God, the apostle compares it to a two-edged sword and shows the superiority of the first over the last: “The Word of God is living and active,” he says, “and sharper than any two-edged sword: it penetrates to the dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a judge of the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Saint Paul, later than all the chosen disciples of the Savior, entered into apostolic service to His Word; in preaching this Word, in using this spiritual sword to convert the Jews, especially the pagans, to the faith, he, as he testifies about himself, worked more than all the apostles (1 Cor. 15:10). Having previously breathed threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord (Acts 9:1), he, through the miraculous enlightenment of his spiritual eyes, devoted all the time of his life, all his strength and all his zeal to using the sword of the Word of God for the greater acquisition of disciples for Christ, for the defeat and cutting of wickedness and unbelief in the Lord. How much before he was a persecutor of the Lord, so much later, and even more so, he became His champion. He instructed some in the faith orally, others through Epistles, of which there were fourteen. Just as in preaching the word of God he surpassed the other apostles, so in overcoming various difficulties and dangers from the enemies of his preaching (2 Cor. 11:23–28). And it is remarkable that this ardent champion of the Lord Jesus Christ, who from the time of his conversion did not cease day or night to act with the sword of the Word of God (Acts 20:27-31), who commanded others, as we have seen, to arm themselves with this sword, is one of all the apostles, as a Roman citizen, free according to the laws of that time from corporal punishment (Acts 16:37-39, 22:25-29 ), ended his earthly career from beheading by the sword. III. So, seeing on the icon of the Holy Apostle Paul in his hand a sword, which means in the spiritual and moral sense the Word of God, - firstly, let us remember and appease his fiery and tireless zeal, stopped only by beheading by the sword, in preaching the Word of God for the good and salvation of his neighbors; and secondly, we will, as much as possible, imitate this jealousy. When we passionately love our Lord and our neighbors, there will always be opportunities for us to wield the spiritual sword for the glory of the Lord and for the good of our neighbors. “Imitate me,” the apostle tells us, “as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 4:16). (Compiled from “Soulful Reading,” 1863, June). Conversation No. 7. About what the image of St. Nicholas with a church and a sword in his hands means I. The entire Universe solemnly blesses St. Nicholas the Wonderworker as a quick helper, a warm intercessor and a faithful representative of all those in need. It seems that there is no country or place where some event has not happened between Christians connected with the name of St. Nicholas of Myra. Both individuals and entire states remember with great reverence the various benefits and gracious actions revealed from the valuable and multi-healing relics of the great Wonderworker. Compassion for the poor, intercession of the downtrodden, quick help in needs and dangers - all these traits of the honored Saint Nicholas glorified him even during his earthly life and created great reverence for him not only throughout the entire Church of Christ, but even among non-believers. So great and abundant is the grace of God bestowed on this great saint of God and warm intercessor of the Christian race! II. Here is one example of the miraculous help of St. Nicholas, revealed in ancient times to the city of Mozhaisk (present-day Moscow province). Local legend tells that when this city was invaded by enemies and threatened to destroy the local St. Nicholas Cathedral, St. Nicholas, as a quick defender of the innocent sufferers, miraculously appeared in a formidable form, standing in the air above the cathedral and holding a sword in one hand, and in the other an image of the fortress-enclosed cathedral. This miraculous phenomenon encouraged the inhabitants of the Mozhaisk region, and frightened the enemies, so that they immediately fled. In grateful remembrance of the powerful intercession of St. Nicholas for them, the citizens of Mozhaisk soon made a carved image of this miraculous phenomenon. This image now constitutes the church icon and the main shrine of the Mozhaisk St. Nicholas Cathedral, revered throughout the entire surrounding area. Saint Nicholas is represented on the icon in full growth, in ancient bishop's vestments; in his right hand is a sword, and in his left hand is a view of the cathedral surrounded by a fortress. III. Looking at this image of the great Wonderworker, you too, Orthodox Christian, learn to love the Holy Orthodox Faith and the Church with all your soul. G. About liturgical books I. Liturgical books are called all those books according to which divine services are performed in our Orthodox Eastern Church. Judging by historical data, it should be thought that the full range of liturgical books was compiled in Greece no earlier than the 9th century. Until the 9th century, time was considered the time of collecting church books. What books were used for worship in the Ancient Church? In the first centuries of Christianity, there were scrolls of sacred books at the churches; church songs and prayers were sung and read, either composed during the service itself, or memorized. The Council of Carthage, by its 116th Rule, decided to read prayers and sing songs only legalized ones. The consequence of this conciliar determination was the collection of prayers and songs and the compilation of liturgical books. In our Russian Church, liturgical books appeared soon after the adoption of Christianity in a Slavic translation from the southern Slavs, for whom they were translated by Sts. Cyril and Methodius. Before the advent of printing, these books were copied, and when copied, errors, corrections and additions naturally crept in, which were corrected by knowledgeable, learned people. Particularly remarkable in the matter of correcting our liturgical books are: Metropolitans Cyprian, Alexy and Macarius, Patriarchs Philaret and especially Nikon, Archimandrite of the Trinity Monastery Dionysius and the monks - St. Maxim the Greek and Epiphanius Slavinetsky. II. By nature, liturgical books can be divided into sacred liturgical books and church liturgical books. a) The sacred liturgical books include: the Gospel, the Apostle, the Simple Psalter and the Psalter with hymns. The liturgical gospel contains the printed stories of the four evangelists. The Gospel, arranged in biblical order, in former times was usually called the Tetroevangelium; when the legends were arranged in the order of weekly readings, starting from the day of Easter, from the Gospel of John, it was called aprakos, apraxos or opraxos 2. An apostle is a book containing the Acts of the Apostles, the seven conciliar Epistles and the fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul. The simple Psalter contains the book of biblical psalms, only with a division into kathisma and glory. At the end of the Psalter there are specially placed: 1) polyeleos psalms with magnifications for holidays and saints’ days; 2) songs - two prophets of Moses, Anna, the prophet Habakkuk, Isaiah, Jonah, three youths, the Mother of God, Zechariah, the father of the Forerunner, Hezekiah and Manasseh, kings of Judah, and Simeon the God-Receiver. The Psalter with Recitation is a book in which first the Psalter is printed, and then the great Book of Hours, which is called the recitation. b) Church liturgical books include the following - the most necessary books for a priest: the Service Book, the Breviary and the Canon; the most necessary books for the cleric: Book of Hours, Menaion and Octoechos; the most necessary book for both is the Church Charter. The missal is a book according to which the priest performs the daily service, i.e. Vespers, Matins and Liturgy; at the end of the book there is a monthly book, the so-called prokemenons and dispensations, as well as rules regarding the Liturgy and Communion, and indications of special cases during the celebration of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This book always lies on the lectern, on the side of the throne. The Bishop's Service Book is called the Official. In addition to the Liturgy, it also contains the Rite (i.e., order) of initiation into various church degrees and the Rite of consecration of antimensions. Trebnik (in the old days Potrebnik) is a book that sets out sacred rites and prayers performed according to the needs and needs of one or more persons. It can be small and large. The large one consists of two parts: in the first part, the Consequence of the Sacraments, in addition to the Liturgy, and other services, for example, the Rite of Communion to the sick; The rite of small and great consecration of water, the rite of tonsure into monasticism, the rite of burial of the dead; in the second part - prayers for various needs, for example, for the consecration of desecrated things, and for the consecration of buildings, churches, vegetables, the blessing of foods on Holy Easter, etc. The small breviary is an abbreviation of the large one: it sets out such rites, sequences and prayers, the performance of which is most often required for Christians. With the small breviary, the priest performs all the so-called services in the parish. The canon concludes mainly the canons, in addition, morning and evening prayers, before and after Communion, Akathist to the Sweetest Jesus and the Mother of God. There are two types of menaea: Menstrual and General. The monthly consists of 12 books, according to the number of 12 months, and contains services to holidays and saints in the order of the month. The general one contains services for those saints for whom there is no special service in the Menaion of the Month, in other words: it contains services not special for each saint, but common to many saints. Oktoich, in Russian osmiglasnik, contains stichera, songs and canons for Sunday and weekday services, in the order of eight voices, or church chants. The Rule, or Typikon, serves as a guide for the performance of worship. From this guide we can know on what days and hours, during what services and in what order we should use those sacred songs and prayers that are contained in liturgical books. Our charter is very ancient. It was compiled in the 5th century by the Monk Savva the Sanctified and supplemented (in the 7th-9th centuries) by Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, Saints John of Damascus, Theodore the Studite and Mark. Now I won’t mention to you about other liturgical books. III. All these books, which you know, brethren, were written in the Slavic language and originally translated from Greek by the holy Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers, educators of the Slavs, Cyril and Methodius. Some complain that not everyone understands Slavic. Whose fault is it that not everyone understands? This is no honor for the Russians! There are Russians who even understand their native language, the Russian language, worse than French or German: but what of that? As if the language is to blame?.. No, my brother, in our opinion, the Slavic language must certainly remain a liturgical language forever, and here’s why: 1) this language is the beginning, the root of the Russian language and therefore already deserves our full respect; 2) he is extremely strong and expressive, and therefore very capable of expressing the lofty truths with which our worship abounds. “God said: let there be light, and there be light”; or: “it was spoken, and it was, it was commanded, and it was created” - how much power and expressiveness there is here! But if you translate this into Russian, it won’t be the same at all; 3) for worship we use a special building, special persons, special clothes, special vessels: how can we not wish that a special language would be used to express service to God, a language that would be different from everyday, petty conversation? After all, a beautiful thought also requires a beautiful form, and the Slavic language represents such a form. After all, for a prayerful conversation with God, Angels, saints, the language must be sacred, and this language is the Slavic language. In it, this sacred language, all our Holy Fathers and teachers of the Church performed divine services, in it they prayed to the Lord to deliver our Motherland from troubles and sorrows, and indeed, Holy Rus' owed its salvation more than once to their prayers. This means that this language is a precious treasure, a shrine for us! It is the duty of each of us to study it in school, which is not at all difficult, so as to understand the service of God, to understand the language of our mother - the Holy Church. I. Among us, in the Orthodox Church, it has already become a custom for churches to have a special kind of tower or bell tower for bells, so that now there are almost no churches without bell towers and bells. The purpose of the bells is: a) to let Christians know about church services through them and to call them to church to participate in these services, b) to express through them the triumph of the Church and its divine services, and c) to let Christians who do not have the opportunity to be in churches during church services and remain in their homes know about important minutes of worship or about the time of famous prayers and readings in churches, and through this to excite them to offer prayer. (See “A Guide to the Study of the Charter,” by Priest Nikolsky, ed. 1874, p. 36). In the first centuries of Christianity there were no bells or bells, and believers in Christ were called to worship through specially sent persons. But after the end of the persecution, a beat or riveting was introduced for this purpose: these are wooden and iron boards. Then bells were invented, which first appeared in Italy (around the 7th century), and then, from the 9th century, under Emperor Michael and Patriarch Photius, they were introduced into use in the Greek Church. And since then, in the Orthodox Church it has been customary to call Christians to the churches of God for worship by ringing the church bell. Probably from that time on, the construction of bell towers also became a custom. However, in some monasteries in Palestine and on Mount Athos, beaters or rivets are still used. In Russia, bell towers and bells are probably contemporary with the introduction of Christianity. Meanwhile, in some monasteries, along with bells, in certain cases, beaters are also used. II. The bell by which Christians are called to the churches of God was and is called blagovest, i.e. good news that the time has come for worship, that it is time to go to the church of God to pray. The Good News invites Orthodox Christians to the Divine Liturgy. The ringing of the Liturgy is especially appropriate to call the gospel, because the Holy Church announces to us through it that the time has come to offer God the Bloodless Sacrifice for our sins, and invites us to participate in this Sacrifice, to partake of the Divine Table of the Body and Blood of Christ, to unite with Jesus Christ and through Him to grace-filled sanctification. The invitation is extremely joyful! In the good old days, pious Christians, when the church gospel reached their ears, immediately made the sign of the cross and at the same time remembered the sermon of the apostles, which swept throughout the entire Universe, as well as how the Archangels, on the last day of the existence of this world, would blow trumpets and with this trumpet sound they would tremble the whole earth, wake up those lying in their graves and gather everyone for the Last Judgment Christ (Matthew 24:31). And then, without any delay, they gathered and went to the church of God. Being in church during the Divine Liturgy or any other church service was considered their greatest happiness. (See “Tambov Diocesan Gazette”, 1883, No. 7). III. This is what we should do too. And first of all, when we hear the church gospel, we must immediately, with faith and reverence, sign ourselves with the sign of the cross, that is, cross ourselves, adding to this some short prayer: either “Glory to Thee, God...”, or “Lord, have mercy and make me worthy to be in Thy church”; or “Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom,” etc. Then, when we hear the church gospel, let each of us remember with gratitude the preaching of the apostles, which swept throughout the Universe and to which we owe our church services, as well as the trumpet sound of the Archangels, which is to come at the end of this visible world. All this can produce a pious mood in our hearts and strengthen our disposition towards the church of God. And then, without any delay, we must, like the holy king and prophet David, go joyfully to the church of God, and go without fail with the thought of being present at the performance of the divine service, consciously, with faith and love, with the fear of God and reverence, with zeal and attention. Application to the conversation. The use of bells in churches and their origin Bell, a corruption of the Latin word clossa, actually means ringing. The time of origin of the bells is not known with certainty, but it dates back to pagan times. Some archaeologists claim that bells first appeared among the Chinese long before the birth of Christ. Small bells were also known to the Jews: Moses mentions bells that were tied to the hem of the high priest's robe. But in the form in which bells are now used in Christian churches, they came into use no earlier than the 7th century. The leading Christians, due to persecution, could not use bells to call to worship. The ringing of bells could attract the attention of the pagans to them, from whom they always tried to move away. In the first period of the Christian Church, Christians were called to worship by the bishops and priests themselves who performed the service. After each service, Christians consulted about the place and time of the meeting. The deciding vote in these meetings belonged to the bishops or presbyters. In their absence, or in the case when it was impossible to gather at the appointed place, Christians were called to worship through deacons and deaconesses, who went from house to house and announced the time and place of the meeting. With the cessation of persecution, various signs began to be used to call people to worship. The monotonous call to worship was primarily established in the eastern monastic monasteries - in the monasteries. But there were also different signs in them. In Egyptian monasteries and in the monasteries of Mount Sinai, monks were called to worship with the sound of a trumpet, like the Jews (Num. 10: 1–10); in other monasteries in Palestine, monks were awakened by knocking on the doors of their cells, and in women's monasteries special nuns were chosen to call to worship, who approached each cell and sang hallelujah in a loud voice. In some monasteries, mainly in Greece and Palestine, currents, beats, rivets and deer or bull horns were also used to call to worship. A toka was a long narrow board made of dry wood with a round interception in the middle. A bill was a short board hanging on a rope. Sounds were extracted from the current and beat with a wooden hammer. The rivet was made of iron in the form of a thin half-arc. The sounds of the riveting were subtle and gentle, while the current and beat produced strong sounds, similar to the trill of a drum. In some monasteries on Mount Athos, Sinai, Bulgaria and Serbia, beaters and rivets are still used. In the East, bells were introduced into use no earlier than the 2nd half of the 9th century. Bells in the Western Church became known much earlier. Some of the archaeologists, based on the Latin names of the bells - sotrana and nola, attributed their introduction into church use to Bishop Paulinus, who lived in the 5th century in the Roman province of Campania, in the city of Nola. But this opinion is rejected by the famous Greek jurist Balsamon, who derives the word compan from campus - field and explains the name of the bell as follows: “Just as the field does not present obstacles for those who want to travel, so the high sound of the copper-mouthed bell is heard everywhere.” Most archaeologists agree that Campanian got its name from copper mined in the Roman province of Campania, since this copper was considered the best and large bells were mainly cast from it. At first, bells were used in small volumes, so there was no need to build separate bell towers for them. At the door of the church there were usually two pillars with a crossbar, to which a wooden circle and several bells were hung. When it was necessary to ring, the circle was set in strong motion, and the bells made strong and varied sounds. From the 7th century, separate bell towers began to be built; The introduction of bells into general use should also be attributed to this time. In the Middle Ages, in some countries, for example, in Italy, movable bell towers were built for the army. From this bell tower various signals were given to the troops - for battle, march or prayer. Large bells had intricate inscriptions expressing the purpose of the bells; For example: “I mourn the dead, turn away thunder, glorify holidays, excite the indifferent, dispel the winds, calm the irritated.” In Russia, bells appeared along with Christianity; they were brought from Byzantium and Korsun. But since at first there were few of them, and the art of foundry was not yet known in Russia, many churches used beats and rivets for calling to worship. Rivets were usually hung at the entrance doors of churches. These rivets were either hit with a stone, or tongues were hung from them. For the first time, according to the chronicles, a bell was cast in Russia in 1558, for the Novgorod Church of St. Philip. But one might think that bells began to be rung in Russia much earlier. The Novgorod veche bell was mentioned back in the 12th century; in the same way, it is known about Daniil Galitsky and Vladimir Vasilkovich, who lived in the 13th century, that they took care of decorating churches with bells. At first, in Russia, small bells were used and hung in the same place as the riveting, that is, under the roof of the entrance to the church. But from the 14th century large bells appeared, and separate bell towers began to be built for them. The shape of bell towers in Ancient Rus' was narrow and long, and sometimes they were built round, like low towers, with a pointed top. There were very few individual bell towers, and most of them were attached to churches. It is remarkable that the casting of large bells was influenced by the idea of ​​the imminent end of the world, which took possession of the minds of the Russian people at the end of the 15th century. From that time on, churches multiplied in Rus' and large bells began to appear. In the 16th century, bells weighing more than 3,000 pounds were found. The largest bell not only in Russia, but in the whole world, was cast in Moscow in the 18th century. This is the famous Tsar Bell, weighing 10,000 pounds, lying on a granite pedestal near the Ivanovo Bell Tower in Moscow. In ancient Russia they liked to decorate bells with various ornaments, including relief images of saints and sovereigns, coats of arms and other symbolic figures, arabesques or herbs. Muscovites gave some ancient bells special nicknames, expressing either their origin or the quality of the sounds, for example, reut, bear, nemchin, deaf, wide, Godunov, perespor, kornoukhiy and others. In eastern churches, if there are bells, then mostly one or two at a time, while in Russia the poorest church has at least three bells, and in the bell towers of rich churches there are up to ten or more. The collection of all the bells in the language of the Church Charter is called ringing. This ringing replaces, so to speak, the mouth of the Church, with which it proclaims and arouses in Christians feelings corresponding to various church actions or events in civil society. Through the bell, the Church calls Christians to worship; through him he expresses his triumph in cases of joy for the Church or society, or sadness on the occasion of death, burial and commemoration of the dead; through the bell, it announces to Christians not present in the church about the most important moments of the service. In accordance with this purpose of the bells, the ringing in them is not the same. The Church Charter mainly distinguishes between two types of ringing: blagovest, i.e., ringing one bell before the start of the service, which turns into chiming, when several bells are struck, but not at once, but one by one, and ringing itself, when several bells are struck at once. Sometimes the ringing of several bells occurs in three stages, and then it is called trezvon. The time for ringing various bells was established gradually in Rus'. So until the 17th century there was no ringing for “Worthy...”. This ringing was established around 1689, under Patriarch Joachim, on the occasion of disputes that were occurring at that time about the time of the Transubstantiation of the Holy Gifts. Since the bells had important religious significance, the Church, when hanging them on the bell tower, always consecrated them according to a special Order. In the prayer read during the consecration of the bell, the Church asks the Lord for special grace, “infusing strength into the company, as if the faithful servants heard the voice of its sound, they will be strengthened in piety and faith and courageously resist all the devil’s slander... so that the attacking wind storms, hail and whirlwinds and terrible thunder will cease and evil-dissolved lightning and harmful air through his voice” and so on. In the Western Church in the Middle Ages, bells were considered to be living beings; the Sacrament of Baptism was performed over them, as over infants, and a name was given to the bell, in the presence of recipients. The recipients of the bells were either donors, or representatives of the society at whose expense the bell was cast, or even the kings themselves. In ancient Russia, in addition to religious significance, bells also had civil and political significance. In large cities there were so-called alarm bells, the sole purpose of which was to call people to the fire. Known from history, for example, is the alarm bell of the city of Uglich, exiled by Godunov to Siberia because the alarm bell was rung when Dimitri Tsarevich was killed. In the free cities of Novgorod and Pskov, before their conquest by the Moscow kings, there were veche bells, the ringing of which convened citizens to discuss public issues. (See “Tauride Diocesan Gazette”, 1890, No. 10). Conversation No. 1. On the importance of using lamps during worship I. The use of lamps during worship was primarily due to necessity, since in the first times of Christianity, Christians, out of fear of attack by persecutors, performed their worship mostly at night. But there is no doubt that the use of lamps even then was no longer considered only a consequence of necessity, but also had a symbolic meaning. Traces of the latter can be found in the book of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 20:8), where it is said that in the upper room, which accommodated those gathered for worship on Sunday, many lamps were lit - a remark indicating that there were more of these lamps than were needed for one lighting. In particular, the symbolic meaning of the use of lamps during worship is revealed in the fact that from the very first times of Christianity they were used not only during evening and night services, but even during daytime services, as can be seen from the testimony of Paulinus, Bishop of Nolan (IV and early V centuries). According to him, the bright altars during both evening and daytime services were lined with lamps standing close to each other. In response to the reproach of the heretic Vigilantius against Christians for burning a whole mass of candles in churches during the day, Blessed Jerome said that Christians in this case are not acting senselessly: they use lamps during worship, especially when reading the Gospel, as a symbol of joy. Candles were used at Baptism, when the person being baptized, and sometimes the recipients and those present at Baptism, held burning candles in their hands, were lit during burial, placed at coffins and in front of images or remains of martyrs. The so-called unquenchable lamps were also in use. Such a diverse and very widespread use of lamps in worship forces us, brethren, to take a closer look at the meaning of their use and find the most appropriate meaning for them. II. Light, on the one hand, presents the world to us with all its innumerable advantages, on the other hand, it protects us from the danger of stumbling into something, getting lost, or damaging our body. This significance of light for the physical world can be likened to the significance of Jesus Christ for the spiritual, moral world. Christ, in the sense that He was and is for the world, is called in the Gospel the Light of the world, the Light in the enlightenment of languages, the true Light that enlightens every person, etc. Whoever follows Him, says the Gospel, will not walk in darkness (errors and vices), but will have the light of life, because in it lies life, and this life is light for people. Calling Christ Light is quite fitting for Him also because in Him alone lies the truth that guides a person to salvation, helping him to take the path of truth and steadily follow it, just as the visible light does not allow the traveler to stray from the straight path. III. This lofty thought about the truth contained in Christ, which enlightens the being and life of man, finds a decent image in the lamps burning during worship. a) The light shed by them serves for us as a symbol of the great Light of the world - Jesus Christ and should remind us that for the sake of liberating us from the power of darkness, He gave Himself up to death and with this self-sacrifice introduced human beings into the realm of light, that we, therefore, became followers of the religion of Light. Further, this light reminds us to stand firmly in faith in Christ, to be faithful disciples of the light and to strive to ensure that the light of faith always fills and enlightens our spirit. b) But the burning flame not only shines, but also warms us, which is why it can symbolize Christ’s love for humanity and serve as a reminder that we, for our part, should have love for the light of truth, which (love) warms our soul - arouse in ourselves reverence, which, like fire rising to heaven, raises our thoughts to the Throne of the Most High. c) And when a person is in the heat of reverence, feels in the realm of light, then his soul is joyful and light, which is why lamps during worship can also signify the joy of a reverent Christian, as Blessed Jerome explains. In general, church lighting especially helps to arouse a solemn, prayerful mood in the future. And during an ordinary worldly festival we feel ourselves in a good mood when it takes place in bright sunlight; church lighting gives us even more joy - spiritual joy, and we feel more capable of praying to the Father of lights when we stand before the altar, as if the sky is strewn with stars. Thus, brethren, lamps in worship have a deep and sublime meaning and are adopted not only for the sake of necessity or beauty, although they enhance the latter. If we remove the lamps from the church, then, one might say, it becomes empty and lifeless; there is a lack of that joy and splendor that is characteristic of worship with lamps. (Compiled from “Resurrection Thursday”, 1875, vol. 2, p. 401). Conversation No. 2. About lighting candles and oil in church with moralizing conclusions I. In Orthodox churches, candles and lamps with oil are usually lit during each service. This custom, brothers, is very ancient: it existed even in the Old Testament Church. The Lord commanded Moses: “Command the children of Israel to bring you pure oil, beaten for illumination, so that a lamp may continually burn outside the veil of the Ark of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting before the Lord from evening to morning always” (Lev. 24:2–4). And the Old Testament priests fulfilled this: before the sun rose, they cleaned and prepared the lamps in the tabernacle, and after the sun set they lit them (Ex. 30:7–8). There were also lamps in Solomon's temple. In the New Testament, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, it is said that on the first day of the week (i.e., Sunday), when the disciples gathered in Troas to break bread (i.e., to celebrate the Liturgy) and the Apostle Paul talked with them and continued the word until midnight, in the upper room where they gathered for prayer, there were many lamps. At the end of the 2nd century, in the Jerusalem Church there was the following miracle from God due to the lack of oil: at the onset of the Easter holiday, there was no oil at all to light the lamps in the church for worship; Bishop Saint Narcissus ordered water to be drawn from the well and poured into the lamps, and these lamps, filled with water, burned as clearly as if they were filled with the best oil. In the first three centuries, when Christians, due to persecution, gathered for worship at night and in dark places, that is, in caves, candles and lamps were necessary during worship. In subsequent times, and after the end of the persecution, when worship began to be performed in daylight and in bright churches, the custom of lighting candles and lamps during services did not cease in the New Testament Church. In this case, she followed the example of the Old Testament Church: in the Jewish synagogue, an unquenchable lamp burned in front of the book of the Law of Moses as a sign that the Law of God serves as a lamp for man in life, as David says about this: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105). Now, instead of the Law of Moses, the Gospel, in general the Scripture of the New Testament, serves as a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. The Gospel, as containing the lofty dogmas of Christ's teaching, is worthy of high veneration and great reverence. Therefore, both to signify the light of the Gospel, which enlightens every person coming into the world, and to give due honor to the Book of Life, they began to light candles and lamps in front of the Gospel and carry candles and lamps in front of it, which is still done when the Gospel is carried out. Later, to express reverence and zeal, they began to light candles and light lamps in front of the tombs of the martyrs, in front of the icons of the Lord, the Mother of God and the holy saints. Blessed Jerome, who lived in the 4th century, also testifies to the custom of lighting candles. He says: “In all the Eastern Churches, when the Gospel is read, candles are lit in the sunshine, truly not to drive away darkness, but as a sign of joy, in order to show, under the image of sensual light, that light about which we read in the Psalter: “Your word is a lamp to my feet.” Others do the same in honor of the martyrs” (“Message against Vigilance”). In the Orthodox Church, various lamps are used during worship. Trikiria, or three-candlesticks, are lit on the throne, reminding us that we serve the One God in the Holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. In front of the icons, polykandila are lit, i.e., multi-candlesticks with from 7 to 12 candles. Here the 7 candles resemble the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 11:2); and 12 candles mean 12 apostles who enlightened the Universe with the light of the Gospel teaching. In our churches, a panikandilo is also lit, that is, an all-candle candle with more than 12 candles. Under the dome of the church there is also a chandelier, which replaces the chandelier and signifies the firmament of heaven, and the candles on it point to the stars. When serving as bishops, special dikirias and trikirias are also used, i.e., a two-candlestick and a three-candlestick, the upper ends of the candles on which are connected together. The bishop usually blesses the people with these lamps. Dikiriy - a two-candle lamp, means the Incarnate Son of God, in Whom two Natures - Divine and human - shine for our salvation, and trikirium - a three-candle lamp, resembles the Tri-radiant Trinity of the Divine, from which our sanctification comes. The ends of the candles are connected together, as a sign that these Three - the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit - are One. II. a) When we light a candle in front of the icon of the Lord, then we must pray to the Lord that His grace will enlighten our minds to the knowledge of God’s Law, warm our hearts with love for Him and burn away sinful habits in us, just as tares are burned with fire, so that our hardened souls will soften, like fire wax, to accept its saving suggestions. b) Just as the flame of a candle tends upward, towards the sky, so the hearts of those praying should strive towards God. c) Just as a lit candle burns until it is all burned out, so we must sacrifice our entire lives to God until the very end. d) One lamp, not lined with wax, will not burn, but will immediately go out. Likewise, true faith, not accompanied by good deeds, can soon fade away. Wax alone without a lamp is not suitable for combustion and illumination, just as good deeds done not for God, but for earthly glory and benefit, have no value before God. e) When the lamp is thin, the candle burns dimly; just as impure goals in our apparently good deeds make them fruitless. f) Lighting a candle in front of an icon of some saint of God, we must pray to him that his holy life will be a lamp for our lives, so that we, too, can lead our holy lives according to the life of the saint. g) And when lighting oil in the lamp in front of the icon, we must remember God’s mercy, abundantly poured out on us at every time, in every place and in every state, and ask that this mercy not depart from us for our sins, and for this we ourselves must be merciful to other people. h) Candles lit in churches are usually made of wax, as the cleanest material for burning. The wax is made together with honey by industrious bees from countless and varied, fragrant and non-fragrant flowers. What is the edification here? This is it: love to work tirelessly for salvation, and from all the various favorable and unfavorable cases of your life, learn for yourself a lesson in virtue, and using this lesson, do the good that is prescribed for them; but when doing good, do not attribute it to your own strength, but attribute everything to God, who works in you to will and to act according to His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13), and thus sacrifice both the good you do and yourself to God. Do this always, and your life will be a lamp that God will set on the candlestick, that it may give light to all. (See “Riga Diocesan Gazette”, 1889, No. 1). III. These, brethren, are those lofty thoughts and feelings that must certainly be born in a true Christian at the sight of burning candles or lit lamps in the churches of God. All this evidence regarding sacred images is taken from Fricken's work "Roman Catacombs", Part II, pp. 162-164. Note. The name apraxia - inaction, immobility - is applied by some to any large format Gospel with massive decorations and intended specifically for decorating the throne.