Church society manifests itself first and foremost in public or church worship. In it, the members of the Church, entering into invisible communion with God, enter into visible unity with each other and by their participation in church worship testify to their union with the Church. In addition, a Christian, receiving invisible gifts from God, or grace, through the sacraments, acquires certain rights in church society and assumes certain duties in relation to it. This visible aspect of public worship constitutes one of the main subjects of church administration and is included in the field of church law.

General Regulations

Church society manifests itself first and foremost in public or church worship. In it, the members of the Church, entering into invisible communion with God, enter into visible unity with each other and by their participation in church worship testify to their union with the Church. In addition, a Christian, receiving invisible gifts from God, or grace, through the sacraments, acquires certain rights in church society and assumes certain duties in relation to it. This visible aspect of public worship constitutes one of the main subjects of church administration and is included in the field of church law.

On the Divine Service

a) Its executors. Any public worship can be performed only by those persons who are called to public service in the Church and are legally designated for this. This is required by the very essence of both church worship and the authority granted to the clergy. Public worship is offered to God on behalf of the entire Church, therefore, only persons authorized by it can be its performers. Public worship includes, as its essential parts, teaching and sacred actions, which bring to the faithful grace-filled gifts and sanctification; Such actions belong to the essence of the clergy's power. Public worship is an expression of the unity with the Church of its members present; unity with the Church requires their communion with the church hierarchy; separation from it in divine services is a violation of union with the Church. Therefore, any unauthorized assembly for liturgical purposes, composed not only by the laity, in addition to the lawful representatives of the Church, but also by clergymen who have arbitrarily separated from their bishop, and even more so who are under episcopal suspension, is considered a schismatic, rebellious assembly, an encroachment on church authority (Apostolic 31; Ganr. 6; Ant. 4:5; Carth. 10:11) and is strictly condemned by church laws. Not only the celebration of public worship and sacred rites, but even participation in its performance by performing certain secondary actions, for example, reading or singing on the ambo, is not allowed by church rules to everyone indiscriminately, but only to those who are ordained to this (Laod. 15; Trul. 33; 7 Ecumenical 14). However, church practice allows the laity, with the permission of the spirit. authorities, to the performance of those ecclesiastical duties during church services that do not belong to the exclusive competence of the clergy. b) Order of worship. Public worship should be performed according to the rules or statutes adopted by the Church, without arbitrary changes or innovations. The canons strictly forbid making changes in the liturgical rites based on the traditions of the Apostles and Holy Fathers (I Ecumenical 20; 6 Ecumenical 32), or using prayers other than those composed by the most enlightened people in faith and piety and accepted by the Church (Carth. 116; Laod. 18). By these canons, the Orthodox Church protects, among other things, the purity of the faith of its members, since heretics often tried to spread and root their false teachings among the people by means of the church hymns and prayers they introduced. Only the supreme ecclesiastical authority has the right to approve and introduce into church use newly composed rites, prayers and hymns; in the Russian Church, this right belongs to the Holy Scriptures. Synod. By giving the liturgical rule for guidance, the Church prescribed, in so doing, to observe the order of church services approved by it, the sequence of prayers, hymns, and rites indicated in the rule. If sometimes some deviations from the book liturgical rule are tolerated, they concern insignificant details of the liturgical order and, most importantly, not any innovations or changes, but only some abbreviations for the sake of human weakness (for example, concerning the repetition of one and the same song); Such insignificant deviations are based on the established custom allowed by the church authorities. c) Participants in public worship. All members of the Church who are in communion and union with her have the right and are called upon to participate in church services. Excommunication from this participation is one of the punishments imposed by the court of ecclesiastical authority; only it deprives a Christian of the right to communion with the Church, either in the sacraments or in all prayers. Those who do not belong to the Orthodox Church are not accepted into liturgical communion with her. Therefore, a clergyman of the Orthodox Church does not have the right to perform for them or for them those sacred actions and prayers that he is authorized to perform for Orthodox Christians. However, our Russian Church in some cases grants leniency to non-Orthodox Christians, for example, an Orthodox priest is sometimes allowed to escort a deceased heterodox Christian in sacred vestments to the cemetery. A member of the Orthodox Church is not allowed by the canons to take part in the public worship of those who have separated from the one Church (Apostolic 10:65; Laod. 33). Such communion with them would be a sign of either indifference or alienation from the Church. This participation is especially impermissible for the ministers of the Church (Apostolic 45:46), since it can serve to tempt the Orthodox. d) Deanery during divine services. The moral obligation to treat divine services with due reverence requires strict observance of external decorum during them. In particular, the employees are required to read or sing intelligibly, without haste or confusion, without double-voiced or polyphony (i.e. not to sing or read different hymns and prayers at the same time); so that the singers do not use disorderly shouts, do not force themselves to unnatural shouts, and do not introduce anything inconsistent and uncharacteristic of the Church (Trul. 75). In order to exclude singing that is not characteristic of the Church, it is forbidden to use arbitrarily other melodies, except for those approved by the church authorities. Every note spirit. A work may be used during divine services only after its prior approval by the Director of the Court Singing Chapel and with the permission of the Holy Synod. And only in printed form (Uk. Syn. of 1846 and 1852). Disorder during divine services is not only a crime against public order, but also blasphemy, an insult to religion. The performers of the divine services guilty of this are subjected to severe punishments (Ust. Cons. 179-181). Our laws, enjoining everyone to observe all kinds of decency and decency during divine services, make it the duty of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities to strictly preserve peace and quiet during the service not only in the Church, but also outside it (Statutes of Arrest 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, Code of Punishment 210, 211, 213; On the Order of the Peace Court, 35, 36. to whom special collectors were appointed to collect fines from those speaking during the Liturgy (P. S. Z. No 8583)), and pay special attention to incidents related to the interruption of the service or its cessation because of someone's actions or words that cause temptation. The spiritual authorities must immediately inform the Holy Synod about this. The Synod and make representations to the secular authorities. In the Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, for disorder during the Liturgy, which interrupted its celebration, the death penalty was laid down (Ch. I). St. The Synod at a certain time (every four months) makes representations about all such cases at the Highest discretion, and immediately reports the most important events to His Majesty. The clergy must not conceal from the civil police any incidents in the Church. Note. The laws forbid to conduct during the church. services, to move from place to place, to venerate the holy icons, and in general to distract the attention of those present from the service. A person who comes to church is forbidden to stand in a place intended for a sacred service and in general - where he can restrict the performance of divine services; who does not vacate this place immediately, after being reminded by the clergyman, is subject to trial (Ust. on the Suppression of the Crime).

About Sacred Places

a) The concept of them and separation. Sacred buildings are those that are created in the name of God and consecrated for public worship or for the preservation of shrines. That sacred building in which, according to the rules of the Church, all the sacraments, any divine service, in particular, the Divine Liturgy (i.e., having an altar and an altar), can be performed, is called a church (the house of God, the temple of God); Other buildings intended for prayer and worship, or for the maintenance of holy icons, are called either prayer houses or chapels (the latter name is from the name of the type of worship that can be performed in them instead of the Liturgy, i.e. the service of the hours). According to the department to which the churches belong, according to their external significance, according to the conditions of their material existence, they are divided into court, synodal, military, monastic, parish, house, assigned, and so on. - There are also field churches in the army, in the navy, with missionaries. A cathedral is the main church in a city or in a well-known department or institution. A cathedral intended for the service of a local bishop is called a cathedral (from the bishop's cathedra). b) Construction of churches and chapels. With regard to the construction of churches and chapels, both ecclesiastical and civil laws have in mind chiefly that these sacred buildings should fulfill their purpose - to be places of prayer, schools of faith and piety, and that they should preserve the decency befitting a sacred place. Since the bishop has the main concern for the improvement of church affairs in the diocese, the canons forbid the construction of churches and prayer houses without his will and blessing. The construction of sacred buildings is considered by Christians to be a matter of special piety, a sacrifice acceptable to God, and the Orthodox Church always offers prayer for the ever-memorable founders of holy churches and for those who do good to them. That is why church laws forbade both in the Greco-Roman Empire (Just. Nov. 67; Helmsman 42 A.D. 27), so in our country they forbid the multiplication of the number of churches and chapels beyond the actual need for them, so that they would not subsequently remain in desolation and neglect, unbecoming of the sanctity of the church. The diocesan authorities are obliged to see to it that superfluous churches are not built, and that new churches of God are built only where Orthodox Christians have a need for them because of the remoteness of their place of residence from other churches, the inconvenience of communication, or when the existing parish church does not accommodate all the parishioners. If, under these circumstances, it becomes necessary for a new parish to be formed together with the new church, with the establishment of a special parish, then it is first necessary to ensure the maintenance of the clergy. (Ust. Const. 45-46). Note. In the latter case, as well as in the construction of a church in the capital, the permission of the Holy Synod is required. Synod (Articles 46, 47, 92). To have churches with a separate parish in their homes was forbidden by the spiritual regulations to all lay persons, with the exception of the surname of the Tsar's Majesty, "for this superfluous thing comes from the unity of arrogance, and is reproachful to the spiritual rank; the lords would go to the parish churches and would not be ashamed of the brethren in Christian society." Now, for persons who have received the right to special respect and are unable to attend parish churches because of old age or illness, diocesan bishops have the right to authorize the construction of house churches, which must be attached to the nearest parish church (Ust. Cons. 49). For the construction of house churches in the capitals or for the continuation of their existence after the death of persons for whom they were permitted, the permission of the Holy Synod is requested. Synod. After the abolition of the house church, all its property, by order of the diocesan authorities, should be turned into the property of the parish church, since this property is already dedicated to God (ibid.). The construction of chapels in honor of certain holy icons or in the pious memory of church and national events is permitted only for the most respectable reasons, and only with the permission of the diocesan authorities, and in the capitals - with the Highest permission. It is also permissible, with the permission of the diocesan authorities, to build prayer houses for an indefinite time: in those areas where, due to the remoteness from the parish church, parishioners cannot attend it (in such houses, parish priests themselves either perform divine services from time to time, except for the Liturgy, or may entrust one of the laity with the reading of prayers); in rural cemeteries, for performing rites over the bodies of the dead and pronouncing prayers over them; where the parish church has burned down, and the nearest other is far from the parish (Ust. Cons. 56-58). All chapels and houses of worship must be attached to a monastery or parish church, and be under the supervision of the abbot and churchwarden (Article 59). Those who built a chapel or a prayer house without the permission of the spiritual authorities are subject to trial, and the building itself is subject to destruction, if it turns out that it was built in violation of the above-mentioned rules. Both are done by the final decision of the diocesan authorities (Ust. Cons. 60). The place chosen for the building of the church should be convenient and decent, so that it does not serve as a temptation or threaten the existence of the church. The spiritual authorities consult with the civil authorities about whether there are any obstacles to the construction of a church on the chosen site (Ust. Cons. 46). c) The exterior and interior of sacred buildings. The ancient Church attached a certain symbolic meaning to this or that external appearance of the church, but did not make it an indispensable rule to observe any one form in the construction of the temple. Our ecclesiastical and civil laws make it a general rule that sacred buildings, while satisfying the conditions required by the building regulations, should observe decorum and dignity in their appearance. At the same time, the preference for observing the ancient Byzantine style is indicated (Ust. Cons. 48, 50; St. Zak. XII; Mouth. Builds. 218). This style, in addition to the fact that it corresponds to the sacred dignity of churches, also indicates the unity of the Russian Church with the Greek Church. A general and obligatory rule regarding the appearance of a church should also be that the altar of the church should be turned to the eastern side, where, according to the apostolic tradition, Christians should turn when praying (Vas. B. 91), and that a cross should be erected on every sacred building. When renovating or repairing ancient Churches built no later than the beginning of the 18th century, or, if not ancient, then outstanding in their architecture or historical significance, our laws require the careful preservation of their former external and internal appearance, and no corrections or alterations are allowed without the knowledge and permission of the Holy Synod. Synod. At the same time, the diocesan bishops are charged with the duty to see to it that nowhere, under any pretext, in the ancient churches, the slightest alteration, renewal or change of painting and other attributes of ancient times is allowed, except by asking for permission from the Holy Synod. Synod, in preliminary relations with the archaeological or historical Society (Ust. Cons. 47, 50). According to their internal structure, churches in ancient times were divided into three parts: the narthex, the middle part of the temple and the altar. The narthex was intended for catechumens and penitents (i.e., those excommunicated from communion with the faithful in prayers and sacraments), as well as for baptism; it was internal and external (vestibule). Later, when there were almost no catechumens left in the Church, and public repentance began to be used rarely, there was no need for an internal narthex. In some cases, it is replaced either by the vestibule of the church (porch), or by a place at its entrance doors (western). In antiquity, the altar had three sections: the middle (sanctuary), with the altar in the middle and the high place or co-altar (seats for bishops and presbyters behind the altar); offering with an altar in it, and a vessel storage (deacon). Now there is almost nowhere such a three-part division of the altar; but the holy table, or altar, and altar must be its essential accessories; The altar should be separated from the temple by an iconostasis, instead of which in ancient times there was a lattice, then a curtain. The altar is usually arranged on a raised platform, the part of which, protruding in front of the iconostasis, replaces the ambo, which in ancient times towered in the middle of the church. Church rules (Trul. 69) do not allow anyone from the category of laymen to enter the sacred altar; but (as the canon says) "according to some ancient tradition, this is by no means forbidden to the power and dignity of the king, when he wishes to bring gifts to the Creator. Only those who are sanctified are permitted to enter the altar and commune there" (Laod. 19). These canons, as can be seen, speak of the part of the altar where the altar is located, access to which was through the so-called Royal Doors. With the current arrangement of the altar, the above-mentioned prohibition applies to entering through the royal doors (which the clergy are allowed to do only during divine services at the time specified by the rule) and approaching the altar. Nevertheless, according to our civil laws, a layman does not have the right to stand in the altar and in general in the place intended for the sacrament, during the performance of the divine service. It is also customary not to enter the altar with weapons; In ancient times, when entering the church itself, sovereigns and military commanders took off their weapons and other signs of dignity. d) Consecration of churches. If ordinary buildings and structures are consecrated by the demand of religious feeling, then all the more so do buildings built in the name of God, as well as all the objects in them, require the highest consecration. Only the bishop has the right to consecrate the place where the bloodless sacrifice (i.e., the altar) is to be offered. A presbyter is not an independent celebrant of the sacraments; he receives the right to do so from the bishop; His service in a place consecrated by the bishop is evidence of this dependence. In accordance with ancient tradition, the canons require that at the consecration of the altar a part of the holy relics must be placed under it (VII Ecumenical 7), following the example of how in the first centuries Christians performed the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at the tombs of martyrs, thereby giving honor to the sufferers for the faith and imitating the Church of Heaven (in it, as it appeared to the Apostle in revelation, the souls of those killed for the word of God were at the foot of the heavenly altar (Rev. 6:9). the bishop himself, he sends for the altar a consecrated antimension, with the holy relics enclosed, and then entrusts the consecration of the church to the presbyter. According to the rules of the Russian Church, on any altar, consecrated even by the bishop himself, there must be an antimension, signed by the bishop who consecrated it, as evidence that on this altar the right is given to perform the sacrament of the bloodless Sacrifice. The altar, removed from its place, and then re-installed, must be re-consecrated (1753, August 13). The consecration of a church takes place, according to the rule, during its restoration, as well as when its holiness is insulted by bloodshed or some kind of outrage on the part of heretics and pagans. e) Reverence for temples. The Church demands of its members due reverence for the consecrated temple as for the house of God (Gangr 21). Thus, the canons severely condemn those who treat sacred places carelessly (Trul. 97) and even more so those who turn them into an ordinary dwelling (VII Ecumenical 13). The Church also forbids the celebration of the so-called ancient supper of love in them, since it is unseemly to arrange meals in the house of God, to drink and to recline on couches (Laod. 28; Trul. 74). It is also strictly forbidden by the canons to bring animals into the holy temple (Trul. 88) and even to bring into it any offerings, except for those necessary for divine services (grape wine, wax, oil, frankincense) or except for the fruits of the earth (but not inside the altar) for their consecration at a certain time (Ap. 3); it is especially forbidden to bring meat offerings into the temple and thereby violate its purity (Trul. 99). However, the church canon, following Christ's teaching that the law of love for mankind is higher than the ceremonial law (Mark 2:27), does not consider it an insult to the sanctity of the Church to deviate from some of the above-mentioned canons, which is forced by cases of extreme necessity. Such a case, for example, is indicated by the Council of Carthage (51 canons on rest in the church during the journey) and especially the Council of Trull (88 canons on the introduction of animals into the fence of the church during the journey in a remote area). The very material of the consecrated temples of God is considered sacred; Therefore, in the event of the abolition of a church because of its dilapidation, the material of the church building can be used only for decent use, in accordance with the sacred object, for example, for the construction of another sacred building, for church heating, for baking prosphoras. St. the altar is usually burned. It is also customary for the church not to build other buildings on the site where the church stood, and to erect a cross on the site of the altar. Commanding Christians to observe reverence for churches, the canons require a respectful attitude to the area itself. surrounding the temple of God. They forbid, in accordance with the words of the Savior (John 2:15-16), to conduct any trade inside the sacred fences, or to arrange obscene rites. place of establishment, e.g., taverns (Trul. 76). Our church canons, however, do not forbid the sale of wax candles, prosphoras, and holy icons in the narthex, since these items serve the cause of piety and the profit from their sale goes to the benefit of the Church as a donation to it. According to our church laws, the spiritual authorities are obliged to monitor not only the cleanliness and order of the churches themselves, but also of everything on their territory, in particular: bell towers, church and cemetery fences, tombstones and places in the fences and outside them must be kept clean and tidy (Ust. Cons. 39:42). Our civil laws, for their part, require a respectful attitude towards the priests. places are strictly persecuted, any outrages in them are strictly persecuted, the neighborhood of indecent, seductive houses and establishments, for example, drinking and gambling, etc., and even the neighborhood of heterodox churches and prayer houses. Note. Drinking establishments should be located at a distance of not closer than 40 sazhens; baths and forges - no closer than 25 sazhens, and all other buildings - no closer than 10 sazhens. Church houses can be closer; but then they cannot be leased for secular dwellings or worldly needs (Stroit. Ust. 29; decision of the Senate of May 1, 1886 - see Ts. V. No 40). Jewish synagogues should be no closer than 100 sazhens. from the church along the same street with it, and not closer than 50 sazhens. according to another (Mn. Gosud. Sov. 1844, Jn. 26). c) The ancient right of asylum. In ancient times, Greco-Roman state laws gave Christian churches the right of refuge (jus asyli), according to which the guilty of a crime who came to the temple could not be taken from it by force. The bishops, taking the guilty under the protection of the Church, interceded for him before the secular government, asking for mercy for him from the death penalty or self-mutilation. Such a right prompted judges to consider the cases of the defendants more thoroughly, to decide them more fairly, and softened the cruelty of the previous laws. Theodosius the Great deprived the churches of the right of refuge for state criminals; Arkady abolished it altogether (and the first victim of the abolition of this law was its initiator, the nobleman Eutropius). Theodosius II again restored the right of asylum, and even extended it to the narthexes and church courtyards. Justinian I limited it, not allowing it to be used in certain serious crimes, and generally expressed the opinion that this right should be given not to those who cause offenses, but to those who endure them. (Novell. 17, p. 7). In the Russian Church, the right of asylum was replaced in antiquity by the fact that hierarchs could petition the sovereigns for mitigation of punishment for the unfortunate guilty and grieve for the disgraced.

On Sacred Things

Reverence for the Holy Temple and reverence for the sacred actions performed in it should also extend to those utensils of the church, or things that are intended for use during the sacred rites. Those of these things that are in direct contact with the Holy Gifts (such as: chalice, diskos, star, spoon, tabernacle), as well as the altar table itself, the antimension, the altar cross and the Gospel, the veils on the altar, the holy relics, are considered sacred; Our laws rank among the Holy Scriptures. there are also spears (used during the proskomedia), images and decorations with them, the covers of holy vessels, and the covers of the altar. The church statute does not allow anyone except the clergy to touch them. Other things that are consecrated for use in divine services (e.g., vestments, fonts, censers, etc.) are called consecrated. To the consecration. Our laws also include liturgical books, ladles, sprinkles, vestments, lecterns, chandeliers, candles, lamps, water-blessing chalices, etc. it was also given to pagan temples in the pagan world of the Greeks and Romans. The canons forbid the ordinary, unconsecrated use of all liturgical utensils (as the rule puts it: "built outside the altar"); Such actions concerning consecrated things (according to the rule: "from among those in the altar") as the desecration of holy things are subject to especially severe condemnation (Dvukr. 10, Apostolic 73). The same feeling of reverence for the holy church and the sacraments obliges, as far as possible, to make sacred and consecrated things from worthy and best materials, and to preserve them in order befitting their sacred purpose. The most sacred things used not only in churches, but also outside of them, are holy icons. Regarding them, there are special private decrees in the church statute and civil legislation. Icons are the images of the Faces of the Lord God, the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mother of God, the Holy Angels and the holy people glorified by God. The use and veneration of holy icons, which has always existed in the Church from its beginning, was confirmed by church law at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (II of Nicea), during the iconoclastic troubles. According to the definition of this Council, icons should be one of the means to maintain, strengthen and express true faith and piety, namely: a) icons, as books written not in letters, but in persons and things, should teach Christians the truths of faith and piety; b) they should support the attention of the praying person, raise his thoughts and feelings to what is depicted on them; c) they should serve as an expression of the worshipper's reverent feelings and love for the persons depicted on the icons, which are manifested through worship, kissing, incense, lighting lamps, and so on. (Dogma of the Seventh Ecumenical Council). Therefore, the Church demands that icons be in accordance with their important purpose both in their content and in the nature of art. Thus, the following are not allowed to be used: 1) Icons painted according to superstition, i.e. those in the images of which there is something contrary to the truths of the faith, superstitious, arbitrarily invented; Such icons would contribute to the maintenance and spread of delusions more than books. In this sense, the spiritual authorities are also charged with the duty to see to it that no fictitious miracles are ascribed to the holy icons, and thus that true piety is not harmed, and that those who think differently are not given a pretext for defamation of the Orthodox (Spiritual Reg. 1). Icons proclaimed miraculous without investigation by the highest ecclesiastical authority are ordered to be removed from private homes and transferred to cathedrals or monasteries. 2) It is forbidden to depict on icons instead of the holy faces only their symbolic images, for example, instead of the Face of Jesus Christ, to paint a lamb, or instead of the Evangelists - only animals that symbolically depict them (Trul. 82; St. Zak. vol. 14, p. 102). Some symbolic images are allowed (but not on icons) as instructive decorations in churches and on church accessories, for example: the all-seeing Eye, snakes on bishop's staffs, symbols of covenants. Such icons, when honored, can confuse religious feelings, and give unenlightened people a reason to confuse symbols with the objects that are meant by them, and to other similar errors. 3) Icons are also not tolerated if they are capable, instead of inducing reverence, of giving rise to blasphemy. The Church condemns any images whatsoever "that charm the eye, corrupt the mind, and inflame impure pleasures"; and those who dare to make such images he commands to be excommunicated (Trul. 100). It is all the more criminal to make such images on icons and allow them to be used. Also indecent are those icons that are painted ugly, in some strange unnatural form. In general, not approving of icons painted in a secular style, the Church instructs to follow in iconography the ancient Greek models, which are distinguished, as is known, by the strict spirit of faith and piety and the sacred grandeur of the holy faces depicted. The style of iconography and examples of holy images in the ancient Greek Church were preserved according to tradition from the first centuries, as can be seen from the invariable unity of iconography on existing ancient icons. Together with Christianity, samples of ancient icon painting passed to Russia. In order to better preserve the examples of ancient iconography in the Greek Church, from the ninth century some iconographers began to compile collections of rules concerning icon painting, with facial images or originals. Where icons are found that are not skillfully painted, in a strange and seductive form, the clergy must, with the assistance of the local police, immediately take away such icons (Statute of the Suppression of the Prest. Art. 127. (Pl. State Soviet, May 3, 1884).) 4) The Orthodox Church also considers the use of sculpted and carved icons inappropriate, as it does not correspond to the nature of icon veneration indicated to her. Such icons represent the object more sensual and bind the thought more to its sensual forms, while the pictorial icon represents more the spirit of the venerated person and better contributes to the elevation of the mind from the image to the depicted object. The conversion of the holy face into a statue and the veneration of it in this image has always been alien to the Eastern Church also because it served as a pretext for the rapprochement of Christian icon-veneration with pagan worship of God and could have given rise to temptation for people inclined to idolatry. According to our laws, it is forbidden to have carved and cast icons not only in churches, but also in homes, except for a crucifix of skillful carving and small crosses and panagias worn on the chest; and similar icons that remain from former times are ordered to be withdrawn from use (St. Law on the Suppression of the Prest. p. 123-125). Statues depicting sacred objects and stucco images are allowed to decorate the church only at the top, so that they are not accessible for veneration by visible signs (kissing, lighting candles, etc.). Icons and crosses used in prayer are consecrated according to the rule of the church; but even independently of the consecration of the Church, according to the very subject of their images, icons and crosses should enjoy due reverence. Therefore, the canonical rules forbid the drawing of the image of the cross on places trampled under foot (Trul. 73), which was also confirmed by Christian Greco-Roman legislation (Cod. Justin. tit 8). Likewise, our laws, protecting reverence in general for all sacred images, forbid making them on everyday things and selling them (e.g., on dishes, seals, cloth for clothes). Things with sacred images brought from abroad, such as pocket utensils, table or wall utensils, etc., are ordered to be confiscated, and those who bring them are fined (St. Zak. XIVb on pres. prest. Articles 131-132). Out of respect for icons, our laws forbid them to be sold at auction if the creditor does not accept them as payment for the debt, and to give them to the heterodox (Uk. Sep. 1827, September 28; May 11, 1836). A non-Christian who has received holy icons by inheritance is obliged to transfer them to the Orthodox Church or to the hands of the Orthodox; otherwise they must be withdrawn by the authorities and transferred to the spiritual Consistory, at the disposal of the spiritual authorities. This rule also applies to particles of holy relics and other consecrated objects of reverence of the Orthodox Church (Holy Law X. Part I., pp. 1188-1189). Non-Christians are forbidden to make things that are the object of honoring Christians, and to trade in these things (Ust. on the Suppression of the Prest. 107, Uk. of the Holy Synod of 1885 No 28, Decree of the World Court 48, 1.). The supervision of the decent maintenance of holy icons in homes and the witness to the decency of icon painting is the duty of parish priests, and the supervision of the publication of all holy images in general through printing, lithography, etc. - spiritual censorship (Statutes of Suppression of Articles 127, 129, 130).

On the Sacred Times

According to God's commandment, Christians are obliged to devote feast days to serving God. In addition to the weekly feast - Sunday, which replaced the Old Testament Saturday, the universal Church established several more feasts, which are divided into great, medium and minor. The veneration of great feasts is obligatory for all Orthodox Christians; the reverence of others is left to their choice. Incidentally, some of the middle feasts are made obligatory for Christians in local Churches, and even in some individual localities, partly by virtue of the law of these Churches or state decrees, partly by virtue of the established ancient custom of the Christian people. The right to establish new feasts in a local Church, in addition to those already existing, belongs to the supreme authority of the local Church (in our country, the Holy Synod). Church and state laws in our Fatherland include the highly solemn birthdays and namesdays of Their Majesties and the Sovereign Tsarevich, the days of the accession to the throne of the Sovereign Emperor and the Holy Coronation. Calling on its members to sanctify the days of feasts with God-pleasing deeds (prayer, Christian teaching and charity), the Church imposes on the obligation to attend public services on these days, especially the Liturgy. Neglecting this duty would be alienation from the Church; therefore, the canons commanded the excommunication of those laymen who, having no urgent and valid reason or obstacle, did not appear in church meetings for three Sundays over the course of three weeks; and the canons threaten those who act in this way with expulsion from the clergy (Trul. 80). At the same time, commanding to spend feast days in spiritual joy, the Church condemns those Christians who on these days indulge in worldly amusements (e.g., go to spectacles or games, see Carth. 72). In order that public spectacles should not distract the Christian people on great feasts and Sundays from the Church and works of piety, the Councils found it necessary to ask the secular government to abolish public performances on these days (Carth. 72). Greco-Roman state legislation did forbid public spectacles on great feasts (Theodosius and Justinian); in addition, it ordered the cessation of legal proceedings and community service on such days. Our Russian laws, by allowing Christians to devote the legal and official days of feasts to rest from labor and pious reverence, make them free from meetings and studies in public places and educational institutions, eliminate everything that could distract the people from divine services or give occasion and opportunity to spend time inconsistent with the sanctity of feast days (e.g., forbid trade before the end of the Liturgy, excluding the trade in food supplies as necessities; it is especially forbidden to open drinking establishments; and also to start games, dances, music, singing songs in houses and on the streets, do not allow even theatrical performances on the eve of holidays). On the highly solemn days of civil and royal feasts, our laws oblige all officials to be present at molebens in cathedrals or other churches, at the direction of the appropriate authorities.

Baptism

From a dogmatic point of view, baptism is a sacrament in which a person is born of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit into a new spiritual life and becomes the heir of the kingdom of heaven; without receiving this sacrament, no one can enter the kingdom of God - according to the word of the Savior (John 3:5). From the canonical point of view, baptism is absolutely necessary in order for a person to become a member of the grace-filled kingdom of God on earth, i.e. the Church, and to enjoy the rights granted in it to each of its members. Since the Church is a universal society, everyone can be admitted to baptism, but on the necessary condition that the person who receives baptism freely and consciously accepts the faith supported by the Church and confesses it. "He who has faith and is baptized will be saved," said Jesus Christ and commanded the Apostles first to teach, and then to baptize (Mark 16:16; Matt. 28:19).

Baptism of children of Christian parents