CHURCH STRUCTURE, MATERIALS

ALTAR

Altar - from Latin alta ara - a raised place of Sacrifice, in Church slavonic Oltar' in Greek Bema (elevated place) Altar is a general term signififying the Holy place for the bringing of sacrifice. In Latin, Church Slavonic and Russian translation of Holy Scripture, the word "altar" means a table of a sacrifice ie (Psalm 50:21b) then will lie on Thy Altar calves, (Ps 83,4b) Your altars, Lord of Power, King and My God. In Latin Christian texts the word "altar' is used to designate the Eucharistic table of sacrifice - called in Orthodox churches the Throne-Table, and in this meaning it has entered Western languages. In Slavonic texts the word "altar" in the meaning of "throne-table" is very rarely encountered. Usually the term "altar" signifies not the throne-table but that part of the church building which can also be called the altar space and where the throne-table is located, sometimes called the sanctuary.

By tradition, the altar is located in the Eastern part of the Church building, in a elevated position which is raised one or several steps about the Nave. It is further seprated from the Nave by the altar screen or Ikonostas. In the most ancient church buildings with altar space could be located directly in the Nave, even in its center (churches of a centralized plan). From the 3rd century, the altar was bordered by a low barrier and moved closer to the Eastern Apse, with which it became thereafter, a single unity. In the Altar, besides the Throne-Table often with a Balldachine, there is located a single or many leveled bench along the arch of the Apse (Sintron) with the Episcopal Seat in the center.

In Byzantia and in Rus, the Altar is connected with the Nave by central Doors in the Altar Barrier or Ikonostas called the Royal (Tsar) Doors and by smaller doors leading to the Prothesis table (proskomidnik) and the Diakonnik (for deacon preparation). By ancient tradition the Altar was connected by a bordered path along the axis of the church building with the Amvon, located often in the middle of the Church building. The apse of the Altar often contains windows, usually less than 3, occasionally large.

In the northern end of the Altar there is a place for the celebrating the preparation or Proskomedia at the table of giftsl; and to the south for the reserving the gifts, the diakonik. These developed from the ancient Pastophoria. In the Orthodox understanding of "Altar" both of these are included. From the outside are not part of the Apse curvature but from the inside, they have, like the Apse, a semicirdcular plan with arches (conches) On the walls of the Diakonnik, Prothesis and Apse. In the walls of the diakonnik, proskomednik and apse there are wall cupbards (small caves), a wash basin, niches for keeping coal and pouring ashes, shelves to keep liturgical books, and often accomodations for liturgical vestments and other things. Lateral apses which in a church building with many Naves could be more than two are often used for the placement of additional Throne-Tables which are called side-chapels (preedely)

In the Byzantine and Western Europen traditions the space under the Altar may contain a Crypt but this is not characteristic of Russian Orthodox churches. In the West there is occasionally a surrounding ambulatory. The walls and conches of the Altar usually have mosaic, fresco or other wall painting appropriate to the special sacred significance of this part of the church building.

By Canon Law of the Orthodox Church, only ordained sacred ministers of the Liturgy (Canon 19, Laodician Council) and Orthodox Emperors (Canon 69, 6th Ecumenical Council) are permitted to enter into the Altar. In practice an exception is made for Sacristans and Altar Servers, which is approved on the basis of Canon 14, 7th ecumenical Council. The right to receive communion in the Altar is limited to deacons, priests and bishops, and also an Orthodox Emperor. Women are forbidden to enter the Altar (Canon 14, Laodician council), although in convents of women, elderly nuns are permitted to enter the Altar to fulfill the duty of Sacristan.

In the symbolic liturgical explanation, the Altar is an elevated world, and also signifies the Room from which Christ proceeds to reach His Passions, Cross, Resurrection and Ascension. The Altar resembles the Holy of Holies of the Old Testament temple building (Simeon Thessalonica)

The connection of the Altar with the Mount Sion (the place of the first Eucharist-Mystical Last Supper) is expressed symbolically in the Sions or Arks in which are placed the Holy Gifts - the Body and Blood of the Lord.

Concerning the relationship of the Church building with the Altar, Father Pavel Florenskij wrote:, "The church building is the Stair Case of Jacob, from the visible world it leads to the invisible. But the altar, is the unseen world, the region removed from the world. The Altar is Heaven; a ratioinal, unatainable place. ... Corresponding to various symbolic meanings of the church, the Altar signifies and is various things, but always standing in relationship to the unattainable and transcendent."

The Soleja is the "elevation" of the Altar extending westward from the iconostas for a short distance into the church buidling toward the congregation. It is a continuation of the Altar space and can therefore be called the external throne in distiction to the internal throne-table in the middle of the Altar. The Soleja also is a place where the singers and readers or choirs are located. They symbolize the angels singing praises to God.

The Ambo - is a semicricular extention of the Soleja in front of the Royal gates, directed to the interior of the Church builidng to the West, and which particularly has the name of External Throne.

On the throne inside the Altar the Mystery of the transformation of bread and wine to the Body and blood of Christ is celebrated, but on the Amvon the Myhstery of Communion is celebrated with the Holy Gifts to the Believers. The greatness of this Mystery demands this elevated position from which is given Communion and this place resembles in a certain aspect the Throne-Table inside the Altar. In this construction of elevation is headed a unique idea. The Altar does not end in reality at the Ikonostas - it extends beyond it toward the people, giving the possiblity for all to understand those standing in the Nave, and to celebrate all that is occuring in the Altar. The Amvon calls to mind the Mount of Olives and the Boats from which The Lord Jesus Christ preached. The Amvon also announces the Resurrection of Christ, signifying the stone displaced from the doors of the Tomb of the Lord. For the sake of the Resurrection the Faithful receive from the Amvon the Body and Blood of Christ - " for the remission of sins and life eternal."

The central portion of the church building - the nave- represents the entire created world, where the ecumenical Church of Christ is found. In Greek it is called Atholikon - the universe. In the expression of the Apostle Peter, all the believers who enter the church are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy people, persons chosen in separation." (I Peter 2-9). The Nave encloses those preparing to receive the grace of the Mystery of Communion, and symbolizes the created world, already divinized, sanctified and justified. It is in a true sense it is "the new heaven." and the "new earth." In the words of St. Maxim the Confessor, just as in a man are united a corporal principle and a spiritual principle, such that the first does not swallow up the latter, nor is mixed in it, but causes a spiritual influence on it, so that the body becomes an expression of the soul, just so the Altar and the nave of the church act together. In the Church building, the Altar informs and leads the Nave and the Nave becomes a rational expression of the Altar.

In this way, the barrier between the altar and the nave does not divide, but unites the two parts of the church building.

In Russia, Belarus and Ukraina the barrier has taken the form of an iconostas and has a complex structure and symbolic meaning. The iconostas shows the form and life of the church in time, it is usually a multi-leveled structure which in the final analysis reveals nothing else than the concept of the first and basic icon - the image of Jesus Christ. A full Iconostas consists of mutiple levels of icons in a well defined order.

The highest level - is the level of icons of the Biblical Ancestors representing the Old Testament Church from Adam to the Law of Moses: Adam, Eve, Abel, Noah, Sem, Melchisedek, Abraham and so forth.

The second highest level - on this level are icons of those people who were under the law - the Old Testament Church from Moses to Christ - the priests, Judges, Kings, David, Solomon, Daniel, etc.

The third highest level - is that of the icons of Church Feasts. These were positioned here in the Iconostas from the 14th century. Previously these icons had ben located lower, under the Diesis level. In this level are icons of the earthly life of Christ now Feasts of Church - Birth of Mother of God, entrance into Temple, Annunciation, Birth of Christ, Meeting in Temple, Baptism of Lord, Transfiguration of Lord, Entrance into Jerusalem, the Ascension, the Trinity, The Dormition of Mother of God, The Elevation of the Cross - from the yearly liturgical cycle.

The fourth level is the Deisis or prayer level. It symbolizes the completion of the Old and New Testament Church, the existence of which is illustrated in the three higher levels of the Iconostas. These are the icons of the prayer of the Church for the whole world.

The lowest level (local level) contains icons of locally revered saints and also the icon of the Saint or Feast to which the Church is dedicated. In the center of this level are the Royal Doors, to the left of which as viewed from the congregation is the icon of the Mother of God, to the right of the doors is the icon of the Savior Jesus Christ.

In the Iconostas from top to bottom can be traced the path of Divine Revelation and realization of Salvation and also the path of salvation of each person: from reception of the Evangelical good news (the Evangelists' icons are on the Royal doors), the conforming of the human will with the will of God (also on the Royal Doors is the Icon of the Annunciation, which is an image of the conforming of these two wills), through prayer and finally through communion, man realizes his elevation to what is shown in the Deisis level - Unity with the Church.

The Western part of the church building - the Vestibule - symbolize the land of the dead or hell. The vestibule is the symbol of the un-resurrected world, still lying in sin, and also of Hell. Therefore, the Vestibule is at the opposite end of the Church building from the Altar, which is the symbol of Paradise. Here originally the catechumens would stand who are preparing to enter the Church, penitent members of the church and those who the Church did not permit to Communion. These are those who are betwen the world and the Church - they can remain in the church until a definitive moment, but they cannot participate in the interior life of the Church and its Mysteries.

The Dome or Cupola is located over the central Nave portion of the Church building which symbolizes the transfigured created world - the new heave and the new earth - that is the Church. Therefore, the Cupola represents the head of the Church - Jesus the Almighty. In the Cupola is the image of Christ the Head of the Ecumenical Church. On the four walls supporting the Cupola are the icons of those who preached the word of God, those who spread, confirmed with word and actions the image of the life of Christian faith. These true pillars of the Church are apostles, bishops, confessors, martyrs. The Byzantine form of the dome is a hemisphere - the symbol of the light of God shinning down from heaven upon the created world. In Russia the dome is rather called either helmet-shaped, onion-shaped or poppy-head shaped. It has had this shape since the time of the Mongol hordes. Churches may have many domes. the number is a representation of the structure of the Heavenly Kingdom. One dome signifies the Unity of God. Two domes signifies the two natures of the God-Man Jesus Christ. Three domes signifies the Holy Trinity. Four domes signify the four evangelists. Five domes signify the Lord surrounded by the four Evangelists. Seven domes signfies the seven Mysteryes of the Church, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit and the seven Ecumenical Councils. Nine domes is connected with the image of the Heavily Church composed of nine ranks of angels and nine ranks of the just. Thirteen domes means the Lord Jesus Christ along with twelve Apostles. Twenty five domes might be the apocalyptic vision of the Throne of the Holy Trinity and Twenty four elders, or the praise of the Holy Mother of God (25 prays of the Akafist of the Mother of God). Thirty three domes - corresponding to the age of the earthly life of the Savior.

CHURCH VESSELS

The chalice is a rounded cup on a stem with a rounded base. The stem uniting the cup with the base is a frequent thickening in the center called the apple. The chalice, like the diskos, consists of two circles - a superior and an inferior - having the same significance. The chalice is a distinct spiritual significance. The chalice is used during the Liturgy when changing wine to the true Blood of Christ. During the Proskomedia (preparatory liturgy) the chalice is filled with wine.
During the liturgy, the wine is changed to the true Blood of Christ. Into the chalice is place, in the image of the Resurrection of the Lord, one of the four pieces of the Prosfora "Lamb", which has become the Body of Christ. The chalice then becomes truly the container of what cannot be contained, and in this way is a symbol of the All Holy Mother of God and Ever-vrgin Maria, in whose womb was formed the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. The chalice is the image of chalices in Holy Scripture: the chalice which the Lord Jesus Christ at the Mystical Last Supper gave to his disciples with the words, "Drink from this all, for this is my Blood of the New Testament, poured out for many to the remission of sins." (Matt 26,27, 28). It also symbolizes the mystical chalice in which the Wisdom of God mixed with wine at his feast (Proverbs 9, 1,3).
It is a symbol also of that chalice which Christ referred to praying saying, "My Father, if possible, yes deliver this chalice from me, but then not as I desire, but as You." (Matt 26, 39).

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The Diskos or plate consists of a small flat, round plate, on a stand consisting of a stem and a rounded base. The base is smaller than the plate it holds. On the Diskos are placed in a special pattern the pieces of bread cut from the center of the Prosporas The large cube of bread cut from the center of the prosphora is called the Lamb and is prepared in order to be transformed into the true Body of Christ, which will occur on the Diskos. The diskos is the image of that plate that Jesus Christ at the Last Mystical Supper took bread and made it His Most Immaculate Body, gave it to his disciples. Although there is nothing in the Gospels about this plate, probably it was just like bread, present at all meals in antiquity, since bread was only offered on a plate. Secondly the round plate of the Diskos signifies the completeness of All the Church and the Eternity of Christ's church. A circle having no beginning and no end and is the symbol of eternity. During the Liturgy the Diskos has various significances. At the Proskomedia, it is the manger crib in Bethlehem where the newborn Christ was laid. Therefore often on the base of the Diskos is carved in image of the Emmanuel, lying in a manger. It also reminds us in the liturgy after the transfer of the Holy Gifts from the Prothesis table to the Throne table of the Tomb in which the Body of the Lord rested and from which he arose at the Resurrection. The diskos cover or star cover (zvezditsa) is made of two rounded arches united at the center with a small bolt or screw forming a cruciform structure. The Slavic name (zvezditsa from zvezda or star) comes from the fact that at the kind of the preparatory liturgy it is incensed with placed over the diskos with the words from the Gospel, "and there came a star standing over where was the child." (Matt 2:9). This is because under the arches of the diskos cover is the Lamb lying at the center of the diskos.

The Spoon is a small spoon with a cross on the end of the handle used for giving Communion from the Chalice to the Laity. Just as the Diskos, Chalice, Small Star cover, the Spoon is made from Gold, Silver, Tin or other metal alloy that does not rust. The laity receive communion in this way, the Body and Blood united together. Therefore, the spoon signifies the role of the Church in the spiritual feeding of people.