Church utensils
Dikirion and trikirion
Two hand-held candlesticks, of two and of three candles, with which a bishop blesses the people.
Церковный справочник
Что означают слова, которые звучат в храме: облачения, богослужения, таинства, устройство храма.
Разделы
Sacraments
The seven sacraments of the Church: Baptism, Confession, Communion, Marriage, Unction and the rest.
Divine services
Liturgy, vigil, vespers, moleben, panikhida — what each service is and how they differ.
Vestments
Cassock, riassa, phelonion, epitrachelion, mitre — the clergy's garments and what they mean.
Parish practice
How to submit a commemoration note, light a candle, ask a blessing and prepare for confession.
The church building
Narthex, altar, iconostasis, solea, ambo, kliros — the parts of a church and their purpose.
Church utensils
Chalice, diskos, censer, lampada, antimension, epitaphios — the objects used in worship.
Clergy and ranks
Patriarch, bishop, archpriest, deacon, reader — who is who in church and how to address them.
Icons
What an icon is, how it differs from a painting, and how to recognise the most common images.
Feasts and fasts
The Twelve Great Feasts, the patronal day, the four fasts, old and new style.
Books and chant
Typikon, Menaion, Octoechos, Triodion; troparion, kontakion, sticheron, litany.
Ranks of sanctity
Martyr, hierarch, venerable, blessed — why saints are titled differently and what it means.
Found: 229
Church utensils
Diskos (paten)
A round footed plate holding the Lamb — the portion of prosphora that becomes the Body of Christ at the Liturgy.
Divine services
Divine Liturgy
The principal service of the Church, at which the Eucharist is celebrated and the faithful receive Communion. Served in the morning, lasting one and a half to two hours.
Divine services
Divine service
The common prayer of the Church served according to a fixed order: an evening service the day before, and the Liturgy in the morning.
The church building
Dome (cupola)
The vault over the nave, crowned outside by a cupola and cross; the number of cupolas always carries a meaning.
Icons
Eleusa (Tenderness)
The Child presses his cheek to his Mother's — the warmest of the types, including the Vladimir, Don and Feodorov icons.
Vestments
Epigonation (palitsa)
A diamond-shaped cloth at the hip: always worn by bishops, awarded to senior priests.
Vestments
Epimanikia (cuffs)
Cuffs that bind the sleeves at the wrist, worn by every rank of clergy.
Church utensils
Epitaphios
A large cloth depicting Christ laid in the tomb, brought out to the centre of the church on Great Friday.
Sacraments
Epitimia (penance)
A spiritual exercise given after confession — a prayer rule, prostrations, abstinence, sometimes a temporary abstaining from communion. It is medicine, not punishment.
Vestments
Epitrachelion
A long stole around the neck — the chief sign of priesthood; no service is served without it.
Ranks of sanctity
Equal-to-the-Apostles
A saint who brought a whole people to Christ — the apostles' work done centuries after the apostles.
Feasts and fasts
Fast-free weeks
Weeks on which the Wednesday and Friday fast is lifted. There are five, each standing beside a great feast or at the threshold of a fast.
Feasts and fasts
Fasting
A time of restraint — in food, amusements and habits — set aside for prayer and repentance: four multi-day fasts, several single days, and most Wednesdays and Fridays.
Icons
Feast icon
An icon of an event rather than a person — the festal tier of the iconostasis, and the icon laid on the analogion on the day itself.
Ranks of sanctity
Fool for Christ
A saint who deliberately took on the appearance of madness — renouncing even a good name, and free to tell the powerful what no one else would.
Ranks of sanctity
Forefather
An Old Testament righteous one who lived before Christ, above all His ancestor after the flesh; women of this rank are called foremothers.
Divine services
Funeral service
The order of Christian burial, served over the body of the departed once and once only. It is constantly confused with the panikhida.
Parish practice
Godparents
Sponsors who receive the baptised from the font and answer for their Christian upbringing.
Parish practice
Govenie (preparation week)
Several days of preparation for confession and Communion: fasting, services and prayer at home.
Feasts and fasts
Great feasts
Feasts served almost like the twelve, yet not counted among them: the Protection, Peter and Paul, two days of the Forerunner, and the Circumcision.
Feasts and fasts
Great Lent
The longest and strictest fast of the year: 48 days before Pascha, made up of the Forty Days, Lazarus Saturday, Palm Sunday and Holy Week.
Ranks of sanctity
Great Martyr
A martyr whose sufferings were especially long and severe and whose veneration is widespread — George, Panteleimon, Barbara, Catherine.
Icons
Hagiographic icon
An icon of a saint framed by small scenes telling his life in order — read like a page.
Clergy and ranks
Hegumen
A senior title of a monastic priest, tied above all to heading a monastery; the sign is the staff given at appointment.
Ranks of sanctity
Hierarch
A sainted bishop. The word applies to hierarchs only — Nicholas the Wonderworker, Basil the Great, John Chrysostom.
Clergy and ranks
Hieromonk
A monk ordained to the priesthood: he serves exactly as any priest does, but lives under monastic vows.
The church building
High Place
The place at the east wall of the sanctuary behind the holy table, with the bishop's seat.