THE SACRED AND THE SECULAR IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: ON THE PROBLEM OF BORDERS AND INTERACTION
DOI: 10.23951/2312-7899-2021-1-142-156
The article analyzes the interaction of sacred and secular elements in the space of the Christian Church, the problem of the boundary between the secular and the sacred, and options for its solution in the history of the Christian Church. The nature of the interaction between the sacred and the secular is determined by the cosmic character of Christianity. Christianity seeks to sanctify the surrounding world and change it by divine principles, since the world was created by God and has His image. The highest form of transformation of the world is the sacrament of the Eucharist. The final transformation of the world, according to the Christian doctrine, is possible after the Second Coming of Christ. Since the first centuries of Christianity, the border of the sacred and secular spaces in the temple was mobile, and the service involved the active participation of the laity. In the first centuries of Christianity, the altar of the temple stood out from its space, but was not separated from the faithful. Lay people were able to see what was happening in the altar and participate in the sacraments through offerings. Such features are typical for both Byzantium and Russia of the 10th–13th centuries. Later, the problem of disturbing the balance of the secular and sacred elements appears; it is solved differently in the West and East. The Christian West has taken the path of integrating the sacred into its secular life. Initially, this was manifested in the performance of prayers and sacraments “facing people”. There was an idea that such a performance of prayers corresponds to the Last Supper of Christ and the apostles. For the same reason, the bishop’s place in the church was moved closer to the praying lay people. Later, there was a transition to perform liturgy in national languages. All this led to the progressive desacralization of liturgy. In the East, liturgy developed in a different way. The separation of the sacred and secular spaces became a priority, which was manifested in the increase in the height of the altar barrier and in the appearance of a high iconostasis. Then the activity of lay participation in liturgy decreases, and, in the 17th century, the final separation of the sacred and secular spaces takes place. As a result of Patriarch Nikon’s liturgical reform, the position of the priest changes. A priest is understood as a bearer of grace, whose position is higher than that of a lay person. Words that have a secular meaning are removed from the texts of the service. The sphere of secular life that is separate from church life appears. This leads to the secularization of culture. Thus, Western and Eastern Christians came from the Christian idea of sanctifying the world in different ways to the secularization of culture and worship rather than to the sanctification of the space of people’s lives. But liturgy and the arrangement of the temple in the Christian East, with its tendency to separate its space from the secular, still preserve the sacred content of Christianity to a greater extent than the West.
Keywords: sacred space, secular space, liturgy, liturgical text, temple, laity, priests, Western Christianity, Eastern Christianity, Patriarch Nikon’s liturgical reform
References:
Adamova, T. V. (2019). History of liturgical vestments through the analysis of monuments of visual art. Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svyato-Tikhonovskogo gumanitarnogo universiteta. Seriya 5: Voprosy istorii i teorii khristianskogo iskusstva – St. Tikhon’s University Review. Series V: Problems of History and Theory of Christian Art, 35, 9–32. (In Russian).
Bel’shov, A. (2018). Kak molilis’ Bogu drevnie pskovichi [How the ancient people of Pskov prayed to God]. St. Petersburg.
Belting, H. (2002). Obraz i kul’t (istoriya obraza do epokhi iskusstva) [Likeness and presence: A history of the image before the era of art]. Translated from German by K.A. Piganovich. Progress-Traditsiya.
Bogatova, G. A., Deryagin, V. Ya., & Malkova, O. V. (Eds.) (1978). Slovar’ russkogo yazyka XI-XVII vv. [Dictionary of the Russian language of the 11th–17th centuries]. Vol. 5. Nauka.
Bulgakov, S. (2005). Evkharistiya [Eucharist]. Russkiy put’.
Chukova, T. A. (2004). Altar’ drevnerusskogo khrama kontsa X—pervoy treti XIII v. Osnovnye arkhitekturnye elementy po arkheologicheskim dannym [The altar of the ancient Russian temple of the end of the 10th – first third of the 13th centuries. Basic architectural elements according to archaeological data]. Peterburgskoe Vostokovedenie.
Deryagin, V. Ya., F. P., Malkova, O. V., & Bogatova, G. A. (Eds.) (1982). Slovar’ russkogo yazyka XI-XVII vv. [Dictionary of the Russian language of the 11th–17th centuries]. Vol. 9. Nauka.
Dimitry of Rostov. (2004). Zhitiya svyatykh. Mesyats avgust [Lives of the Saints. August] (pp. 167–169). Eksmo.
Doronina, N. V., & Kozlyuk, E. A. (2011). Simvolika organizatsii vnutrennego prostranstva pravoslavnogo khrama [Symbolism of the organization of the internal space of an Orthodox Church]. Regional’nye arkhitekturno-khudozhestvennye shkoly, 1, 264–268.
Fedotova, R. A. (2010). Ikona v liturgicheskom prostranstve khrama (po materialam Pskovskoy ikonopisi) [Icon in the liturgical space of the church (based on Pskov iconography)] [Art History Cand. Sci. Dissertation, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia].
Filimonov, G. (1859). Tserkov’ sv. Nikolaya Chudotvortsa na Lipne, bliz Novgoroda. Vopros o pervonachal’noy forme ikonostasov v russkikh tserkvakh [Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on the Lipna, near Novgorod. The question of the original form of iconostases in Russian churches]. Tipografiya Katkova i K.
Florenskiy, P. A. (1993). Ikonostas. Izbrannye trudy po iskusstvu [Iconostasis. Selected works on art] (pp. 1–174). MIFRIL; Russkaya kniga.
Florenskiy, P. A. (2004). Sobranie sochineniy. Filosofiya kul’ta (Opyt pravoslavnoy antropoditsei) [Collected Works. Philosophy of the Cult (Experience of the Orthodox Anthropodicy)]. Mysl’.
II Vatican Council. (2004). Sacrosanctum Concilium. In V. Shaykevich (Ed.), Dokumenty II Vatikanskogo sobora [Documents of the II Vatican Council] (pp. 17–60). Translated from Latin by A. Koval’. Paoline.
Ivanov, A. V. (2002). Rukovodstvo k izucheniyu knig Svyashchennogo Pisaniya Novogo Zaveta [A guide to the study of the books of the Gospel]. Voskresenie.
John Chrysostom. (1904). Tvoreniya v russkom perevode [Writings in Russian translation]. Vol. X, Book 2 (pp. 628–634). Saint Petersburg Theological Academy.
Lebedintsev, P. (1875). O Sv. Sofii Kievskoy: [o vremeni postroyki i arkhitekture Sofiysk. sobora v Kieve] [About Saint Sophia of Kyiv: [about the time of construction and architecture of Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv]]. Universitetskaya tipografiya.
Lidov, A. M. (2013). The luminous disc and the whirling church. The icon of light in byzantine culture. Vizantiyskiy vremennik, 72(97), 277–292. (In Russian).
Lidov, A.M. (2009). Ierotopiya. Prostranstvennyye ikony i obrazy-paradigmy v vizantiyskoy kul’ture [Hierotopy. Spatial icons and images-paradigms in Byzantine culture]. Feoriya.
Muratov, P. P. (2008). Russkaya zhivopis’ do serediny XVII veka. Istoriya otkrytiya i issledovaniya [Russian painting before the middle of the 17th century. History of discovery and studies]. Bibliopolis.
Rattsinger, J. (2017). Bogoslovie liturgii [Theology of liturgy]. Translated from German by O. S. Aspisov. St. Gregory The Theologian Charity Foundation.
Rozhnyatovskiy, V. M. (2006). Rol’ sveta i teni v inter’ere Spaso-Preobrazhenskogo khrama Mirozhskogo monastyrya [The role of light and shadow in the interior of the Transfiguration Church of the Mirozhsky monastery]. Izvestiya Ural’skogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2: Gumanitarnye nauki, 47(12), 101–110.
Russian Church Council. (1863). Stoglav [Book of One Hundred Chapters]. Imperial Academy of Sciences.
Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. BMST/SPK 5657. Trebnik [Breviary]. (1658). Pechatnyy dvor.
Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. SPK 3518. Trebnik [Breviary]. (1651). Pechatnyy dvor.
Sazonova, N. I. (2018). “Za edinyy Az...” Knizhnaya sprava pri patriarkhe Nikone (1653–1666 gg.) i tserkovnyy raskol [“For a unified Az . . .” Book correctiond under Patriarch Nikon (1653–1666) and Church Dissent]. Tsentr gumanitarnykh initsiativ.
Simeon Of Thessalonica. (2010). Ob”yasnenie pravoslavnykh bogosluzheniy, obryadov i tainstv [An explanation of the services conducted in the Orthodox church]. Oranta.
State Historical Museum. Shchapov Collection No. 177. Trebnik [Breviary]. (1647). Pechatnyy dvor.
Theophylact of Bulgaria. (2013). Blagovestnik: V 4 t. [Explanations of the Holy Gospel: In four volumes]. 3rd edition. Vol. 4. Sretensky Monastery.
Zeyfert, M. G. (2018). Features of formation and development of the christian churches’ altar part. Izvestiya Kazanskogo gosudarstvennogo arkhitekturno-stroitel’nogo universiteta – News of the Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering, 3(45), 35–44. (In Russian).
( 322.21 kB ) 
( 318.33 kB )
Issue: 1, 2021
Series of issue: Issue 1
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 142 — 156
Downloads: 776