Proper Church Decor Essay

Proper Church Decor

Proper church décor is necessary for proper worship. Anyone who witnesses an Orthodox liturgy for the first time will be struck by its appeal to the senses. The central actions of the Liturgy are the consecration and distribution of the bread and wine that make up the Lord's Body and Blood, but the images everywhere around are not mere embellishments. Holy icons are an essential aspect of the whole liturgical event. They enhance the beauty of a church. They instruct us in matters pertaining to the Christian faith. They remind us of this faith. They lift us up to the models that they symbolize. They provoke us to imitate the virtues of the holy figures depicted on them. They help to transform and bless us.

The church is a house of God, which means that it should be decorated as beautiful as possible. The interior should be especially striking because it is where faithful worshipers gather. The pleasure evoked from the icons must be a holy and spiritual experience. Icons serve to instruct the faithful. The workings of the Lord should be represented through icons because all people are not literate. Sometimes icons are more vivid than written accounts. Icons can present many things simultaneously and concisely. It could take a long period of time to describe the same event in words. We often forget things that are extremely important to us. We may know many things about the Christian faith, but we often forget them because we become preoccupied with everyday worldly matters. Icons remind and awaken us to our Christian faith. We also remember pictures better than we do words. Icons lift us up to the models that they represent. They lift us up to a higher level of thought and consciousness. The people shown in the icons were at a higher level than we are in our everyday lives. When we see their icons, we recall their superior character and deeds. In doing this, we think pure thoughts and experience higher feelings. It is designed to lead us from the physical to the spiritual realm (Whiteford

It is a means of worshipping God and venerating His saints. It is symbolic, leading us from the material to the spiritual. When a person enters the Orthodox Christian Church, they light a candle and put it on the icon-stand on which is set the icon representing the sacred person, persons or event specially celebrated by the particular church. Then they bow before the icon, make a sign of the cross, kiss the icon, and say a brief prayer. This is not an act of worshipping the icon. Worship is only given to God. It is an act of honorable veneration (Copple