The word church holds several meanings. It may refer to the Holy Orthodox Church as a whole or a jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church, such as the Antiochian Orthodox Church, Greek Orthodox Church, or Orthodox Church of Japan. It may refer to a local community of Orthodox faithful in a particular city or town. The word church may also refer to the Orthodox temple, the church building where Orthodox Christians gather regularly for prayer, worship, education, fellowship, and service. The Orthodox temple is the physical, tangible center of the life of the living church who gathers there.
The presence of an Orthodox temple in a city, town, or countryside is a statement that the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe is present in that place, cares for all the inhabitants, and calls each one to take refuge in the Church so that they may be healed. For Orthodox Christians, the temple reminds us who we are, who we are called to be in the world, and our future destination.
The inside of the Orthodox temple is divided into three parts:
- The Narthex
- The Nave
- The Holy Sanctuary
When you go into the temple through the main doors, the Narthex is the first room you enter. Since Orthodox temples are oriented toward the East, the Narthex is the westernmost room. The Narthex is particularly associated with catechumens, who have left the ideologies, distractions, and sinful lifestyles of the fallen world to seek the motherly protection of the nurturing Church. This room is a place of transition between the world outside, corrupted by death and ignorance of the true God, and the temple inside, a place where people hear the Truth, encounter the living God, and seek salvation from death.
As a catechumen, you have willingly entered a time of transition on a journey toward reception into the Church. Feel at home in the Narthex as you prepare yourself for reception into the Holy Orthodox Church in due time.
The Narthex provides a space for Orthodox Christians to prepare themselves for entering beyond the Narthex into the central and largest room in the temple, the Nave. As the Narthex represents the catechumens, the Nave represents the faithful, who are members of the Orthodox Church.
The Nave symbolizes a ship. In fact, the word nave means ship. We are reminded of how God saved humanity during the Great Flood by safely preserving Noah and his family in the Ark (a large ship) and by ensuring secure passage to dry land. Orthodox Christians enter into the safety of the Church, securely passing through the chaotic storms of the world toward safe harbor in the Kingdom of Heaven.
At the east end of the Nave stands a large screen, called an Iconostasis, that holds Holy Icons (sacred images) and separates the Nave from the most sacred room beyond it, the Holy Sanctuary. In some Orthodox temples (Western Rite) a Rood Screen bearing a Cross, but without icons, may serve the purpose of an Iconostasis.
The Holy Doors in the middle of the Iconostasis lead from the Nave into the inner Sanctuary, which is often overshadowed by an apse (a half-dome). Representing the Kingdom of Heaven, the Sanctuary is reserved for the clergy and those altar servers blessed to work in the Sanctuary to assist the clergy. Typically, only Orthodox men with a blessing from the Bishop or Priest should enter into the Sanctuary.
At the center of the Holy Sanctuary sits the Holy Altar, where the Bishops, Priests, and Deacons stand during the Divine Services. On top of the Holy Altar lays the Holy Gospel Book. Underneath the Gospel Book, rests the Antimens, a folded cloth signed by the Bishop and bearing an icon of Christ’s Body. The signature of the Bishop verifies that this particular congregation is truly an Orthodox church, under the pastoral authority of an Orthodox Bishop. A Blessing Cross lays next to the Gospel Book. The Tabernacle and a Seven Branch Lampstand stand at the far end of the Altar.
The Censor, used by the clergy to offer incense to God, remains near the Altar. At appointed times, incense, usually frankincense, is placed on the fiery charcoal in the censer. The Priest blesses the smoking incense, offering it as a sweet-smelling gift to God and asking God to give us His Grace in return. After the incense is blessed, the Priest or Deacon censes the Altar and all the temple, including the Icons and the people, who are living Icons made according to the image (icon) of God. Since God has appeared to human beings as smoke or cloud throughout salvation history, the smoke helps us remember that God is present with His people in His temple. The incense is also a visible sign of our prayers rising to God, mingled with all the prayers of the Saints. Of course, in the eyes of God the purity of the offering is not determined by how pleasant the incense smells, but by the purity of heart of the faithful who offer their prayers. In addition to smelling the fragrance and seeing the smoke of the incense, we also hear the twelve bells on the Censer ring, which encourage us to keep proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world in the spirit of the Twelve Apostles.
Arches are often part of our temple architecture. Heaven can be symbolized as a circle, such as a dome in the ceiling, and the earth symbolized as a square. An arch, the union of a circle and square, reminds us that when Orthodox Christians worship, heaven and earth meet. The Icons of the Saints and Angels in the temple also emphasize this realty. This sacred space where heaven and earth meet is the hospital where we offer to God ourselves and, in return, He gives us the Divine Medicines, the Holy Mysteries, that we might be healed from sin and death.
Orthodox temple architecture, designed for people to gather, also teaches us that we are not saved alone, but together as the Church. We are on the Ship together because we all need saved from the chaos, death, and darkness of the outside world. It helps us remember that we are on a journey. In order to reach our destination we must stay on the proper course. While we each have individual problems and needs, we are all healed together by the same Medicines in the same Hospital by the One Physician.
Make the Orthodox temple your spiritual home, your family home, and the tangible, geographic center of your spiritual life, around which everything you do revolves. Bring yourself here regularly and often to offer your whole being to God that He may give to you in return His Divine Grace.
Read: Exodus 3; 13.21-22; 19; 25-30; 33.7-23; 40.1-38; 2 Kingdoms (2 Samuel) 7; 3 Kingdoms (1 Kings) 6-8; Isaiah 6.1-8; Psalm 84, 140 (141); Ezekiel 10; Luke 1.5-25; 1 Peter 2.1-10; Isaiah 56.1-8; Malachi 1.11; Revelation 4; 8.3-4; 21.1-27
Text copyright © 2017 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees