Nina
02-10-2007, 08:53 PM
As for not seeing what the clergy do, that was not the case in the early Church. In Sami, on the Greek island of Kefalonia, the village church was rebuilt after an earthquake and the design of the iconostasis and sanctuary appear to have been modelled on designs from the early Church (there is a reconstruction in the Byzantine Museum in Athens). There are marble stands for the icons and just a low marble ballustrade marking off the sanctuary so everything in there can be seen.
The early Church was not static and un-evolving. It had to slowly define its metaphysical character in human history. The early church was the church of martyrs and saints. For example up to some point they did not even have altars; the priest would choose an elder with spiritual attitude from the community and he would lie down for the duration of the Liturgy with the Holy Gifts standing upon his chest. Later it became the basis of our standard and the practice, which is, having a consecrated altar with relics of the Martyrs, upon which the Holy Gifts are consecrated. The early church was militant in the raw meaning of the word and in all aspects, because of the persecution. This period made the Church strong and built Its foundations on the blood, bodies and lives of martyrs and saints of those times.
Based on the circumstances, such were the practices in the early Church. The Church evolved not in the meaning of changing its dogmatic nature, but rather in the meaning of defining more clearly Her many aspects as needed. For instance, every rule in the Pedalion (Rudder) is written because of the need that presented itself in the community. The same it was for the Divine Liturgy, the book of New Testament, many prayers we have today, and hymns like Agni Parthene, etc. which were decided for us later by the Holy Fathers, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Who led and leads the Church always.
The first community did not have the book of NT, Pedalion, several prayers hymns etc. as we have those today, because the first community was the community of the Word. They had direct contact with Christ, Panagia, or His Apostles and Disciples. The first Christians addressed each other with the word: saint, and they were such not only because they produced many saints and martyrs.
Those people in addition to being very fertile spiritually, and fervent believers, were in direct contact with the Word of God and received the Words of Life, spiritual direction, advise from Christ Himself, or His Apostles and Disciples, who heard with their own years and saw with their own eyes Christ our God. Their lives and actions also indicate the humility and obedience with which they followed the teachings of Christ and His Church.
It is the same with Iconostasis.
The Iconostasis has a physical and metaphysical aspect within. This is explained in the book Iconostasis which is written by Father Pavel Florensky.
The wall that separates two worlds is an iconostasis. One might mean by the iconostasis, the boards, or the bricks, or the stones. In actuality, the iconostasis is a boundary between the visible and invisible worlds, and it functions as a boundary by being an obstacle to our seeing the altar, thereby making it accessible to our consciousness by means of its unified row of saints (i.e., by its cloud of witnesses) that surround the altar where God is, the sphere where heavenly glory dwells, thus proclaiming the Mystery. Iconostasis is a vision. Iconostasis is a manifestation of saints and angels - angelophania - a manifest appearance of heavenly witnesses that includes, first of all, the Mother of God and Christ Himself in the flesh, witnesses who proclaim that which is from the other side of mortal flesh. Iconostasis is the saints themselves. If everyone praying in the temple were holy spiritualized, if everyone praying were truly to see, then there would be no iconostasis other than standing before God Himself, witnessing to Him by their holy countenances and proclaiming His terrifying glory by their sacred words. p. 62
The early Church was not static and un-evolving. It had to slowly define its metaphysical character in human history. The early church was the church of martyrs and saints. For example up to some point they did not even have altars; the priest would choose an elder with spiritual attitude from the community and he would lie down for the duration of the Liturgy with the Holy Gifts standing upon his chest. Later it became the basis of our standard and the practice, which is, having a consecrated altar with relics of the Martyrs, upon which the Holy Gifts are consecrated. The early church was militant in the raw meaning of the word and in all aspects, because of the persecution. This period made the Church strong and built Its foundations on the blood, bodies and lives of martyrs and saints of those times.
Based on the circumstances, such were the practices in the early Church. The Church evolved not in the meaning of changing its dogmatic nature, but rather in the meaning of defining more clearly Her many aspects as needed. For instance, every rule in the Pedalion (Rudder) is written because of the need that presented itself in the community. The same it was for the Divine Liturgy, the book of New Testament, many prayers we have today, and hymns like Agni Parthene, etc. which were decided for us later by the Holy Fathers, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Who led and leads the Church always.
The first community did not have the book of NT, Pedalion, several prayers hymns etc. as we have those today, because the first community was the community of the Word. They had direct contact with Christ, Panagia, or His Apostles and Disciples. The first Christians addressed each other with the word: saint, and they were such not only because they produced many saints and martyrs.
Those people in addition to being very fertile spiritually, and fervent believers, were in direct contact with the Word of God and received the Words of Life, spiritual direction, advise from Christ Himself, or His Apostles and Disciples, who heard with their own years and saw with their own eyes Christ our God. Their lives and actions also indicate the humility and obedience with which they followed the teachings of Christ and His Church.
It is the same with Iconostasis.
The Iconostasis has a physical and metaphysical aspect within. This is explained in the book Iconostasis which is written by Father Pavel Florensky.
The wall that separates two worlds is an iconostasis. One might mean by the iconostasis, the boards, or the bricks, or the stones. In actuality, the iconostasis is a boundary between the visible and invisible worlds, and it functions as a boundary by being an obstacle to our seeing the altar, thereby making it accessible to our consciousness by means of its unified row of saints (i.e., by its cloud of witnesses) that surround the altar where God is, the sphere where heavenly glory dwells, thus proclaiming the Mystery. Iconostasis is a vision. Iconostasis is a manifestation of saints and angels - angelophania - a manifest appearance of heavenly witnesses that includes, first of all, the Mother of God and Christ Himself in the flesh, witnesses who proclaim that which is from the other side of mortal flesh. Iconostasis is the saints themselves. If everyone praying in the temple were holy spiritualized, if everyone praying were truly to see, then there would be no iconostasis other than standing before God Himself, witnessing to Him by their holy countenances and proclaiming His terrifying glory by their sacred words. p. 62