Clergy and ranks
Reader
A church servant set apart to read the psalms, hours and Epistle at services, vested in a sticharion.
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
Clergy and ranks
Rector
The senior priest of a church, answerable to the bishop; in a monastery the bishop is often rector while a vicegerent governs day to day.
Vestments
Riassa (outer cassock)
The wide outer garment with long flaring sleeves worn over the podriasnik.
Ranks of sanctity
Right-Believing
The rank of princes and rulers glorified for holding the right faith and governing by it — literally 'rightly believing'.
Ranks of sanctity
Righteous
A sainted layperson — one who lived an ordinary life in the world, in a family and at work, and lived it holily.
Church utensils
Ripidion
A metal disc bearing a six-winged seraph on a long handle, held over the holy gifts at a hierarchical service.
The church building
Royal Doors
The double doors in the centre of the iconostasis leading to the holy table; used only by clergy at set moments of the service.
Sacraments
Sacrament
A church action in which something invisible is given through something visible — water, bread, wine, oil, the laying on of hands. There are seven of them.
Vestments
Sakkos
The bishop's outer vestment in place of the phelonion, its edges hung with small bells.
Clergy and ranks
Schema
The highest monastic degree: the great-schema monk takes stricter vows, receives a new name again and wears the kukol and analavos.
Feasts and fasts
Sedmitsa and nedelya
In church language nedelya means Sunday, while the seven-day week is a sedmitsa — without this no notice board in a church makes sense.
Church utensils
Seven-branched candlestick
A lamp-stand with seven lights standing behind the altar table, visible through the open royal doors.
The church building
Side chapel (pridel)
An additional altar with its own holy table inside the same church, with its own dedication and patronal feast.
Parish practice
Sign of the Cross
How to make the Sign of the Cross: three fingers joined, forehead, stomach, right shoulder, then left.
Vestments
Skufia
A soft pointed cap: black for everyday clerical wear, purple as an award to a priest.
Books and chant
Sluzhebnik (Priest's Service Book)
The book of the priest and deacon: their prayers and parts at Vespers, Matins and Liturgy.
The church building
Solea
The raised platform running the full width of the iconostasis — the sanctuary floor extended into the church.
Parish practice
Sorokoust (forty-day commemoration)
Commemoration of a name at forty consecutive Liturgies, most often for the newly departed.
Vestments
Sticharion
A long straight garment with wide sleeves: outermost for deacons and readers, undermost for priests.
Books and chant
Sticheron
A hymn sung after a verse of a psalm; stichera come in groups and make up much of what is sung at the vigil.
Clergy and ranks
Subdeacon
The bishop's liturgical attendant: he vests him, carries the staff and candles, and is not one of the three degrees.
Feasts and fasts
Svyatki (Christmastide)
The days from the Nativity to the eve of Theophany, 7–17 January — the longest fast-free stretch of the year.
Ranks of sanctity
Synaxis of saints
Here 'synaxis' means neither a building nor a council of bishops but the joint commemoration of a whole group of saints.
Church utensils
Tabernacle
A church-shaped ark standing permanently on the altar table, holding the Reserved Gifts for the gravely ill.
The church building
Table of oblation (prothesis)
The table in the north part of the sanctuary where the bread and wine are prepared before the Liturgy.
Feasts and fasts
The Apostles' Fast
The fast before the day of Peter and Paul. It begins a week after Pentecost and always ends on 11 July, so its length varies from eight to forty-two days.
Feasts and fasts
The church year
The yearly round of feasts and fasts. It begins on 14 September and is woven from two overlapping cycles: one fixed to calendar dates, one moving with Pascha.
Divine services
The daily cycle of services
The nine services spread over the day, from Vespers to the Ninth Hour. The church day begins in the evening, not in the morning.
Feasts and fasts
The Dormition Fast
A two-week fast before the Dormition, 14–27 August: the shortest of the multi-day fasts and as strict as Great Lent.
Divine services
The Hours
Four short services of three psalms each, tied to the hours of the day; the Third and Sixth are read before the Liturgy.