19. The Concept of the Temple

A temple is a building that differs in appearance from other buildings and is intended for worship. Temples are also called churches, because the faithful who gather here for prayer constitute the Church (i.e. an assembly or society). Churches are consecrated by the bishop or, with his permission, by priests during a special service for the consecration of churches (§ 148). All churches are dedicated to God and in them the Lord is invisibly present by His Grace. In addition to these general names, each church has its own particular name, depending on the sacred event or person in whose memory it was built, for example, the Church of the Nativity of Christ, the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, in honor of St. Trinity, in the name of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine and Helena. If there are several churches in the city, then the main one is called a "cathedral": the clergy of various churches gather here on solemn days, and the service is performed by a "council". The cathedral at which the bishop's cathedra is located is called "cathedral".

20. The Origin of Temples

Originally, in the Old Testament, under the patriarchs (Adam, Noah, Abraham, etc.). Divine services were performed on altars in the open air. For sacrifice, places were chosen where God appeared to man and where He showed some kind of beneficence, or places, by their greatness, mystery and beauty, which involuntarily disposed a person to think about God's power and God's wisdom, etc. After the Jews left Egypt, the prophet Moses, during the time of the Sinai law, received from God a command to build a portable temple, which was called the tabernacle, which was divided into a court, a sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies. The Jews had only one temple in order to maintain in the Jewish people the consciousness of the "One" God. Under King Solomon, instead of the tabernacle, a stone temple was built, which had the form of a quadrangle with a semi-sloping roof, without windows, with two high columns near the entrance4 and with a large courtyard around the temple (Fig. 1, sheet 1). Inside, Solomon's temple was divided, like the tabernacle, by a curtain into two parts: the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. The Temple of Solomon was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar before the Babylonian captivity. On their return from captivity, the Jews built a second temple on the model and plan of the first, but much poorer in decoration. Shortly before the birth of Jesus Christ, King Herod decorated this temple and made some additions in comparison with the first temple (Fig. 2, sheet 1). During His earthly life, Jesus Christ visited this temple, taught in it, took care of order in it (twice expelled the merchants from the temple – John 2:13-20 and Matthew 21:12-13) and its splendor (He Himself brought a denarius to the temple – Matt. 17:24-27; He set as an example a willing donation, the mite of the Gospel widow – Luke 21:1-4). By His example, the Savior approved the custom of performing divine services in the temple, sanctified the very thought (or idea) of the church and the need for it. He performed Communion in a private house. In a conversation with the Samaritan woman, Jesus Christ said that the time would come when God would be worshipped not only in the temple of Jerusalem, but also in other places (John 4:21).

21. Exterior view of the temple

After the ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven, the Apostles and the first Christians in Jerusalem, following the example of the Savior, dwelt in the temple, glorified and blessed God (Luke 24:53, Acts 2:46), visited the synagogues of the Jews, and, on the other hand, formed their own Christian meetings in private homes (Acts 5:42; 12:12; 20:8). Outside and beyond Jerusalem, Christians celebrated divine services in their home churches. (Romans 14:4; Col. 4:15) As a result of the persecution of Christians, the liturgical meetings of Christians became more secretive. For prayer in general and especially for the celebration of the Sacrament of Communion, Christians gathered in the homes of rich coreligionists. Here the room furthest from the outer entrance and the noise of the street was usually set aside for prayer, which was called by the Greeks "ikos" (in Greek ????? — ikos), and by the Romans "ekus". In appearance, the "ikos" were oblong (sometimes two-storeyed) rooms, with columns along the length, sometimes dividing the ikos into three parts; The middle space of the ikos was sometimes higher and wider than the lateral ones (Fig. 3-4, p. 1). During the persecutions, Christians gathered for prayer even in underground churches set up in the so-called catacombs (which we will talk about later). In the same places and in the same periods when there was no persecution, Christians could and did build their own separate churches (from the end of the second and the beginning of the third century), although sometimes they were again destroyed at the whim of the persecutors.

When, by the will of the Holy Spirit. Equal-to-the-Apostles Emperor Constantine (at the beginning of the IV century), the persecution of Christians finally ceased, then Christian churches appeared everywhere and constituted not only an indispensable accessory of Christian worship, not only the best decoration of every city and village, but a national treasure and shrine of every state.

From these III-IV centuries, the open Christian churches took on a certain external and internal form or appearance, namely: - (somewhat reminiscent of a ship) the shape of an oblong quadrangle with a small protrusion at the entrance and a rounding on the side opposite to the entrance (Fig. 5, sheet 2). The interior of this quadrangle was divided by rows of columns into three and sometimes five compartments, called "naves" or ships. Each of the side compartments (naves) also ended in a semicircular ledge, or apse. The middle nave was higher than the side ones; In the uppermost, protruding part of the middle nave, there were windows, which, however, were sometimes located on the outer walls of the side naves. On the side of the entrance there was a vestibule, called a "vestibule" (or narfix) and a "portico" (porch). An abundance of light and air is noticed inside. The distinctive features of the plan and architecture of such a Christian church are, starting from the IV century, the division into naves, apses, narthex, an abundance of light, and internal columns. The whole such church is called a church basilica or a longitudinal church (Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10, sheets 2 and 3).

22. The origin of the basilica

In the history of the Church of Christ, everything is dear, valuable and instructive. In particular, it is instructive to ask: under the influence of what model did Christian churches begin to be built in the form of a quadrangle? How did the Christian basilica originate? In order to resolve this question, it must be remembered that the Christian faith and morality in no way stifle man's spiritual powers and talents, for example, poetic talent, inclination to music and drawing, scientific aspirations, including man's ability to build his dwellings and sacred buildings skillfully, firmly and comfortably. Talents are given by God and, with God's help, can be improved and strengthened. (Let us remember the Savior's parable of the talents!). Any talent and art are pleasing to God, if a person does not lose faith in God and does not deviate from a good and pious life. Naturally, therefore, there was also an architectural talent to attract to the service of God. But the abilities, taste, and ability of Christians to build buildings and churches in the space of the millennium of the existence of the Church of Christ were different, and therefore their appearance was not the same. At the time when the Christian faith began to spread widely among the Greeks and Romans, i.e., in the third and fourth centuries, the most beautiful buildings were still considered to be those built according to the plan of an oblong quadrangle with naves, columns, apses, and porticoes, which were called "basilicas," and it was this best kind of construction that was given to the service of God.