Decorated Iconostasis and the Venerated icon at Easter

Decorated Iconostasis and the Venerated icon at Easter
«Decorated Iconostasis and the Venerated icon at Easter»

Interior of the Transfiguration Church of Our Savior in the village of Radonezh during Easter week of April, 2015.

The Holy week and Easter are the most important events in the Orthodox Christian calendar, which culminates with the reflection of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

In the Russian Orthodox Church the venerated icon of the church's feast days are usually placed on a stand in front of the iconostasis for veneration. On Easter Sunday, and during Easter week, the icon of the Resurrection of the Christ is displayed. The custom of veneration is to bow twice before the icon while making the sign of the cross, kiss the icon, and then bow a third time, making the sign of the cross again.

Iconostasis is a word of Greek origin, literally meaning "icon-stand". One of the main functions of the iconostasis is to divide the sanctuary from the nave.

In Russian we call Easter "Pascha" (Пасха) which also comes from the Greek language - ?????. At Easter (Pascha) the iconostasis in the Russian Orthodox Church is decorated with illuminated traditional religious symbols, such as the "Chi Ro" motif, a three-bar cross, and the letters X and B (Cyrillic letters which stand for "Христосъ Воскресe", which is the Slavonic form of the traditional Easter greeting: "Christ is Risen!").

All of these religious decorations symbolize Christ's Passion and Resurrection.

Photo #270 taken on April 24, 2015 during countryside tour to Sergiyev Posad with my Dear clients from Philippines, John and Felicity Blando and their beloved daughters, Julia and Bernie.


About Me in Short

Guide, Driver and Photographer Arthur Lookyanov

My name's Arthur Lookyanov, I'm a private tour guide, personal driver and photographer in Moscow, Russia. I work in my business and run my website Moscow-Driver.com from 2002. Read more about me and my services, check out testimonials of my former business and travel clients from all over the World, hit me up on Twitter or other social websites. I hope that you will like my photos as well.

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