So, the use of lamps in worship goes back to the first and glorious centuries of Christianity, when valiant sufferers saved the faith by wandering through deserts, mountains, caves and gorges of the earth. With the end of the persecution of Christians, the use of lamps was not only not eliminated, but, on the contrary, it received the most extensive use. Not a single divine service or sacred act was performed, as now, without lamps: the font of a newly baptized person, the bed of a terminally ill person, the bed of a deceased person were constantly surrounded by more or less of them.
It would be unnecessary to count all those cases in which, according to the charter of the Church or pious custom, it is customary to light lamps, and therefore we will limit ourselves to only indicating the meaning of the lighting that is used in churches during ordinary daytime services.
All the lamps with which all three parts of each church are decorated, i.e., the altar, the church and the vestibule, according to their different positions and the greater or lesser number of candles in them, have different signs. Thus, Simeon of Thessaloniki, the polykandile hanging in the middle of the church, learns the meaning of the firmament of heaven, dotted with myriads of stars; other multi-candlesticks placed in the vestibule and other parts of the church depict; and the pillar of fire that led Israel in the wilderness, and the Bush of Sinai, and the chariot of fire that carried Elijah into heaven. Three-candle lamps raise our thoughts to the three-candle light of the Most Holy Trinity; seven-branched - reminiscent of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, who appeared in the form of tongues of fire; twelve-candlesticks - the face of the apostles, likened to heavenly lights, illuminating the darkness, and finally - candlesticks hanging on a high place in the altar, or high in front of the royal doors - signifies Christ Himself - the Father's Radiance, enlightening every person coming into the world!
In addition to these main lamps, which are mostly lit only on major holidays, the Church also installed lamps in front of the local icons of the Savior, the Mother of God and the Saints in the iconostasis. These lamps are lit at all the main daily services and burn either throughout their duration, or are extinguished and relit at a certain time, in accordance with the content of the service being performed. Thus, the evening service, which in the opening psalm depicts the wisdom of God in the grandfathers of the universe, begins without a general lighting of the lamps, recalling through this absence of light, the original darkness that preceded the Creative voice: let there be light, but with the touching psalm of the Vespers Sacrifice, all the lamps are lit as a sign of the light that shone on the first day of peace and grace God, who illuminated the human race with words of promises and prophecies about Christ. Morning worship, continuing in the darkness of the night, would apparently require constant full illumination; but even here the lamps are lit only for the meaning of this service.
When reading the Six Psalms, the charter commands to extinguish the candles in order to, through this darkness, without providing entertainment for the eyes of those praying, to encourage them to reverently listen to the reading, placing them, as it were, in solitude, to arouse in them tenderness and repentant feelings. At the end of the Six Psalms and the proclamation of God the Lord and the appearance of us, the lamps are lit again as a sign of the Radiance of the glory of the Incarnate Lord, and they increase even more during the polyeleos, when the celebrants, as a sign of spiritual joy, with lamps in their hands excite those praying to confess to the Lord, for it is good, for His mercy endures forever. The candles at Matins are finally extinguished only after the Doxology, because this the time, as we have already said, according to the ancient rite of the Church, coincided with the morning dawn.
The Liturgy begins and continues with all the lit lamps, not only because one of the most sacred Sacraments of Christianity is celebrated in it - the Eucharist, but also because it, depicting all the most important features from the earthly life of the Savior, as the sacred memories of Christians, cannot but illuminate their hearts with the constant light of the glory of their Teacher and God, and with that fiery love for Him, the symbols of which can be the burning lamps. Regardless of the lighting of the lamps, during the Liturgy, in all parts of the church, the Church Charter also prescribes that they should be presented at the small exit - the Gospel, and at the major one - before the Holy Gifts: signifying with them, - in the first case - the coming of the Savior to preach and the fulfillment through this of the prophecy of Isaiah: people sitting in darkness, seeing the great light, and in the second - the procession of the Savior on the Cross Golgotha, as the King and Lord of Glory, bringing and being offered. In this sense, she calls on the faithful in the Cherubic song: Raise Him as a King, gifted by the invisible ranks of Angels.
In ancient times, burning lamps were presented before kings and rulers as a sign of respect for their rank and person.
Thus, the lighting of lamps and candles during worship, in addition to all historical memories and material necessity, also has its own highest, inner meaning and significance, so that in all fairness one can say about it the same thing that was said by the teachers of the Church about other rites of Christian worship: It was not for nothing, and it was not by chance that St. The Fathers passed this on to the Church; but with reason (that is, with a higher, rational meaning), so that as a result of this we have just thoughts!
Ripids - held over the Gospel and the Holy Gifts during the Bishop's service - long shafts with the image of six-winged Cherubim at the ends, signify the invisible presence of these highest disembodied Spirits over these Shrines, and by their vibration over the Holy Gifts, they signify the reverent co-service of their priests.
Trikirium and Dikirium are candlesticks with three and two candles, with which the Bishop overshadows those present during his service. The first of them depicts the Sacrament of the Most Holy. Trinity, and the second - two natures in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gospel - reclining on the throne, depicts the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, abiding on the throne of His Majesty; and the reading of the Holy Gospel marks the preaching of Christ during His earthly life.
The Cross is necessary on the Throne and behind the Throne, because here the saving sacrifice of the cross is constantly performed, although verbal and bloodless.
Tabernacle - there is a special container for spare Gifts, standing constantly on the throne. The Holy Gifts stored in it serve both for giving communion to the sick at all times, and for performing Presanctified Liturgies with them during Lent. — It depicts the cave of the Holy Sepulcher, from which Christ emerged.
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The sacred garments are: surplice, handrails, orarion, epitrachelion, belt, legguard, club, phelonion, sakkos, omophorion and miter. Of these, the deacon owns: surplice, handrails and orarion; To the priest - in addition to them: a belt, a phelonion, and, as a special distinction, a legguard and a club, and, finally, to the Bishop, on top of all this: a sakkos and an omophorion; the latter is the primary distinction of his rank; As for the miter, by the permission of the Sovereigns, in addition to Bishops, it is worn by Archimandrites and some Archpriests.
The surplice is the first garment among the sacred, and since the Priest or Bishop places other garments on top of it, it is called the surplice in relation to their vestments. The surplice is: white, speckled and striped: in the first case, it depicts the luminous clothing of the Angels, or in general the proper purity and immaculateness of the priestly rank; in the second, it recalls the ulcers of the body of Christ, and in the last, the Divine blood flowing through His most pure Body during the torture and crucifixion.
Handrails are small pieces of fabric laced with braids and placed on the hands of both hands of the clergy, where they are held by tightening and wrapping these braids. They depict the bonds of the Savior in which he was led to the judgment of the High Priests of the Jews.