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The Temple

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In the Orthodox tradition, we refer to our parish Church as the "Temple" ("Khram" in Ukrainian).

Christ Jesus is our Temple - the locus of our sacrifice of Praise and Atonement.

Our Church buildings are symbols of the Christ - since they are the places where we gather to celebrate the Holy Mysteries and Divine Services.

The very word "church" comes from "Kyriakon" (the Lord's House [greek] - cf. "Kirche" in German or "Kirk" in Broad Scots).

Thus our Temples are architectural proclamations of the Salvation and Love of the Messiah God, who is Himself the Prototype and referent of the Old Testament Temple and the Mosaic Tabernacle.

Architecturally and theologically, you will find many parallels between the Church building and the Old Testment Temple-Tabernacle, cf. I Kings 6:1ff.

"The Doors the Doors"

So, given that we pray facing East, the front entrance is at the Western end of the building (just follow the path up past the Bell Tower and through the front couryard.

On the Lintels of the front doors of our Temple are inscribed the words of Psalm 5:7 - the same used in the introductory prayers of the clergy as they enter into the Altar: "I will enter Thy House, I will worship toward Thy holy Temple in fear of Thee." (If you are having trouble making it out, clue: it's in Old Church Slavonic)

The front door of the Church are properly called the "Royal Doors", since our Churches, following the Orthodox Tradition, are modeled on Hagio Sophia, the Church of Holy Wisdom in Constantinople.

The main front doors there are called the Royal Doors since those were the Doors by which the Emperor entered the Temple.

(Nowadays, the "Royal Doors" are often conflated with the Holy Doors of the Iconostas.)

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Ukrainian version
Українська версія

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