Colors of priests' vestments: what are they and what do they mean?

And also in blue, green, red. Church vestments represent all the colors of the rainbow. And each color has a deep symbolic meaning.

Church vestments represent all the colors of the rainbow. And every color has a deep symbolic meaning

White

You probably already know that white color is a combination of all the colors of the light spectrum. All cultures of the world attach special importance to it. In Orthodoxy, it is a symbol of Divine light. In church vestments, this color is used on those holidays when the appearance of the Lord and His Divine Light to the world is glorified. Let's remember these events of Sacred history.

Annunciation.

Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary about the coming of the Lord into the world, that Divine grace will overshadow Her and She will become the Mother of God.

Nativity.

On this greatest day for all mankind, the Savior appeared in the world.

Epiphany.

At the Baptism of Jesus Christ, the Heavens opened and a voice was heard from Heaven that this was the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove.

Transfiguration.

When Christ appeared to the disciples on Mount Tabor, they could not look at their Teacher - the Divine light emanating from Him shone so brightly.

Ascension of the Lord into heaven

. This holiday signifies the deification of Christ's human nature, when His body ceases to be visible to the human eye.

Holy Resurrection of Christ

. At the beginning of the Easter service, priests also put on white vestments. Why? In memory of such an event: Divine light shone from the Holy Sepulcher at the moment of the Resurrection of the Savior.

But then the priest changes his vestments, and not even once. Multi-colored clothes emphasize that Easter is a holiday of holidays, a great celebration, when everything in the world rejoices and the world itself shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow.

The priest also dresses in white robes at funeral services, singing the funeral service for the dead. This is due to the fact that in our prayers for the deceased, we ask the Lord to rest them with the saints, to grant them the Kingdom of Heaven, where, according to legend, everyone is clothed in the white robes of Divine light.

Red

This is the first color of the rainbow. It symbolizes Divine love. But this is also the color of the blood that the Savior shed for us, as well as the holy martyrs who suffered for the faith of Christ.

Priests wear red vestments for Easter. The change of clothes during the Easter service ends with red vestments, which emphasizes the great joy of the holiday and the triumph of life. For the next 40 days after Easter - before the celebration of this holiday - all services are performed in red vestments. On the days of remembrance of the holy martyrs.

Orange

The next color of the rainbow is orange. This color is very subtle, it can appear both yellow and red, so it is not used separately in church vestments. It can only be seen in combination with yellow or red.

Yellow

Yellow is the color of gold, which is why it is called Royal. And who does the Church call the Tsar? Christ the Savior. He established the Church on earth and placed His servants in it - the apostles and their followers.

It is in yellow robes that priests dress on Sundays, when Christ and his victory over the forces of hell are glorified. These vestments are also worn on the days of remembrance of the apostles, prophets, saints - that is, those saints who, through their service in the Church, reminded Christ the Savior: they enlightened people and called to repentance. This is why yellow liturgical clothing is most often used.

Green

It symbolizes life, renewal and is a combination of two colors: yellow and blue. Yellow, as we found out, is the color of Jesus Christ, and blue is the color of the Holy Spirit.

Priests wear green robes for the Holy Trinity. On this holiday we glorify the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church, on all believers in Christ. Such unity with God is a symbol of eternal life to which each of us is called.

On the days of remembrance of the saints. Reverends are saints who led a monastic lifestyle, paying special attention to spiritual deeds. Among them are Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and Mary of Egypt, and Seraphim of Sarov, and many other ascetics.

But why does the Church correlate their spiritual feat with the green color of their vestments? The ascetic life that the saints led changed their human nature - it was renewed, it became different. Divine grace descended on these people, and during their lifetime they united with Christ (yellow) and the Holy Spirit (blue).

Light blue and blue

These are the colors of the sky from where the Holy Spirit descends. This is a symbol of purity, which is primarily associated with the name of the Mother of God. The Church calls the Most Holy Theotokos the vessel of the Holy Spirit. She became the Mother of the Savior after the Holy Spirit descended on Her.

Blue color is a symbol of purity, which is primarily associated with the name of the Mother of God

That is why blue (blue) color is used in church services on holidays dedicated to the Mother of God. These are: the Nativity of the Mother of God, the Entry into the Temple, the Presentation of the Lord, the Dormition, the days of glorification of the icons of the Mother of God.

Violet

If all the colors of the rainbow are arranged in order and the first (red) is combined with the last (blue), that is, closing the ring, then as a result of mixing these two colors we will get purple. Its meaning is determined by the colors that we have already talked about - red and blue. This is a symbol of Divine love and a symbol of the Holy Spirit. That is why the color purple is particularly spiritual.

Priests wear purple vestments on those days when the Savior’s suffering on the cross, His death on the Cross (Sundays of Lent, Holy Week), as well as days of worship of the Cross of Christ are remembered.

Purple color is a symbol of Divine love and a symbol of the Holy Spirit

Shades of red in violet speak of God’s love for man, for the sake of which he accepted the suffering of the cross. The shade of blue means that Christ is God, He is inextricably linked with the Holy Spirit, being one of the hypostases of the Holy Trinity.

In the rainbow, purple is the last color - the seventh. It corresponds to the seventh day of the creation of the world. The Lord created peace for six days, but the seventh became a day of rest.

After the suffering on the cross, the Savior’s earthly journey ended, Christ defeated death, defeated the forces of hell and rested from earthly affairs.

There is another meaning of the color purple, associated with its special property - to connect the beginning and end of the rainbow. This corresponds to the words of Christ the Savior about himself: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the First and the last.” This must be understood this way: the end of the Savior’s earthly life became the beginning of a new life - in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Black

Black is also used in church vestments. In the minds of Russian people, it has long been associated with humility and repentance. That's why monks always wear black.

Black color is the color of humility and repentance

Such vestments are used during the days of Great Lent (except for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, when fasting is weakened). They remind us that Lent is a time of special repentance and humility.

Embroidered works of church art, including church vestments and temple utensils.

Essentially, in accordance with the established canon, color

The range of
church liturgical vestments
consists of two primary
colors
: white and black.
At the same time, the white color
contains all seven primary colors of the spectrum into which it is decomposed, and the black color personifies the absence of light, and symbolizes non-existence, death, mourning, renunciation of worldly vanity and wealth, and belonging to the “dark forces.”

The color
black represents hell, death, spiritual darkness. In icon painting, the image of the cave was painted over in black, in which the born Infant of God rests in white shrouds; images of a tomb from which the resurrected Lazarus emerges in white shrouds; the hole of hell, from where the risen Christ brings out the righteous (also in white shrouds). If it was necessary to depict something that is black in everyday life, then this color was replaced by another. For example, black horses were depicted as blue. For the same reason, in ancient times they tried to avoid the color brown, since it is essentially the color of “earth” and dirt.

Yellow

in icon painting and liturgical vestments it is predominantly a synonym, an image of gold.

White
color
is a symbol of Divine uncreated (uncreated) light. On the great holidays of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, Ascension, Transfiguration, Annunciation, they serve in white vestments. White vestments are worn during baptisms and burials. The holiday of Easter (the Resurrection of Christ) begins in white vestments as a sign of the Light that shone from the Tomb of the risen Savior, although the main Easter color is red and gold. On Easter, in some churches, at each of the eight songs of the canon, it is customary to change vestments, so that the priest appears each time in vestments of a different color. In icon painting, white color means the radiance of eternal life and purity.

The red
color
continues the Easter service after white and does not change until the Feast of the Ascension. This color is a symbol of the fiery love of God the Father for the human race. Services in honor of the martyrs are held in red or crimson vestments, because... red symbolizes blood. On Maundy Thursday, the color of the vestments is dark red, although all the decoration of the altar remains black, and there is a white shroud on the throne.

Yellow (gold) and orange

-
the colors
of glory, royal and episcopal greatness and dignity. They wear vestments of this color on Sundays—the days of remembrance of the Lord, the King of Glory. In golden (yellow) colored vestments, the days of God’s special anointed ones are celebrated: prophets, apostles and saints. In icon painting, gold symbolizes Divine light.

Green
a
fusion of yellow and blue. Green robes are adopted on the days of ascetics and saints and remind of their monastic feat, which unites a person with Christ (yellow) and elevates him to heaven (blue). On Palm Sunday, on the day of the Holy Trinity and on Monday of the Holy Spirit, they serve in green colors of all shades.

Blue

or
blue
-
the color
of the sky, ethereal forces, maidens and virgins. The blue color of the sky corresponds to the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit. The immaterial region of heavenly existence - the spiritual sky is a reflection of the material sky. The Holy Spirit is called the King of Heaven. Blue is the color of the feasts of the Most Holy Theotokos because the Ever-Virgin, the chosen vessel of the grace of the Holy Spirit, was twice overshadowed by His influx - at the Annunciation and at Pentecost. The blue color symbolizes Her heavenly purity and purity.

However, on icons the Mother of God is often depicted wearing a purple (dark red, cherry) veil

, worn over dark blue or green robes. The fact is that in ancient times, along with golden robes, kings and queens also wore purple robes and crimson robes. In this case, in icon painting, the color of the veil indicates that the Mother of God is the Queen of Heaven.

Violet

combines red -
the color
of the blood of Christ and the Resurrection, and blue, indicating that the Cross opened the way to heaven for us. Adopted in the days of remembrance of the Cross of the Lord and used for the episcopal mantle, so that the Orthodox bishop, as it were, is fully clothed in the feat of the cross of the Heavenly Bishop, whose image and imitator he is in the Church. The award purple skufiyas and kamilavkas of the clergy have the same meaning. A special rite has been adopted for the Exaltation of the Cross. In the evening (before the removal of the Cross) the color is purple, and in the morning it is white, as on the Twelfth Feast of the Lord.

Black or dark brown

-
the color
of crying and repentance, adopted during the days of Great Lent, symbolizes renunciation of worldly vanity.

During the fasting period, the color
of vestments
is dark blue, purple, dark green, dark red, black. On the first week of Great Lent and on weekdays of other weeks, the color of vestments is black; on Sundays and holidays - dark with gold or colored trim.

In ancient times, the everyday clothes of the clergy of the Orthodox Church (especially monasticism) were black, but liturgical vestments were not black. In the Greek and Russian Churches, according to the Rule, during Lent they served in vestments of a dark red color (crimson). In 1730, to participate in the funeral of Peter II, the St. Petersburg clergy were first asked to dress in black vestments. Since then, black vestments

.

Full liturgical vestments

The priest's vestment consists of six vestments: a vestment, an epitrachelion, a bridle, a belt, a loincloth and a phelonion. The club is essentially the same as the gaiter, so it doesn't count.

During services, some priests wear a purple kamilavka - a cylindrical headdress. Kamilavka is the second award of priests after the legguard.

About the spiritual symbolism of color - Archimandrite Nazariy (Omelyanenko), teacher of liturgics at KDAiS.

– Father, please explain why the priest wears yellow, white, blue, and also green, red?.. Does each color have its own symbolic meaning? How many colors are used in liturgical vestments?

– According to the Church Charter, 7 colors are used during services in the Orthodox Church. Each color has a symbolic meaning. For example, in the services of the Catholic Church, 5 colors are used, but their use differs from the Orthodox tradition.

Liturgical vestments

Liturgical vestments are varied and depend on the rank of the priest, whether he is a priest at all (maybe a deacon, for example, or a sexton), and also on certain moments of the services.

We will definitely tell you in detail what the liturgical vestments of a priest consist of. But if we speak now in the most general terms, then it is distinguished by external solemnity, and without it - worn partially or completely - the priest cannot perform divine services or some of the Sacraments. For example, a priest cannot serve or confess without an epitrachelion.

Depending on the day the service takes place, the priest’s vestments can be of different colors: yellow, red, blue, purple, black, white or green. No other colors are used.

LiveInternetLiveInternet

Quote from Gella_Chara's message

Read in full In your quotation book or community!
COLOR OF VESTMENTS
The color scheme of liturgical vestments consists of the following primary colors: white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black. They all symbolize the spiritual meanings of the saints and sacred events being celebrated.

The same applies to wall paintings, decoration of temples and other attributes.

The Feast of Feasts - Easter of Christ begins in white vestments as a sign of the Divine light shining from the Tomb of the Risen Savior.

But already the Easter liturgy, and then the entire week, are served in red vestments, marking the triumph of God’s inexpressible fiery love for the human race, revealed in the Redemptive Feat of the Son of God.

In some churches it is customary to change vestments at Easter Matins for each of the eight songs of the canon, so that the priest appears each time in vestments of a different color. It makes sense. The play of rainbow colors is very appropriate for this celebration of celebrations.

Sundays, the memory of the apostles, prophets, and saints are celebrated in golden (yellow) colored vestments, since this is directly related to the idea of ​​Christ as the King of Glory and the Eternal Bishop and of those His servants who in the Church signified His presence and had the fullness of grace highest degree of priesthood.

Blue

The feasts of the Mother of God are marked by the blue color of the vestments because the Ever-Virgin, the chosen vessel of the grace of the Holy Spirit, was twice overshadowed by His influx - at the Annunciation and at Pentecost. Denoting the intense spirituality of the Most Holy Theotokos, the blue color at the same time symbolizes Her heavenly purity and innocence. Blue is also a high energy color, which represents the power of the Holy Spirit and His action.

Green

The holidays where the direct action of the Holy Spirit is glorified - the Day of the Holy Trinity and the Day of the Holy Spirit - are given not blue, as one might expect, but green.

This color is formed by a combination of blue and yellow colors, signifying the Holy Spirit and God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that has life is created by the will of the Father through the Son and is quickened by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the tree is shown as a symbol of eternal life both in the Holy Scriptures and in the church consciousness. So the ordinary earthly greenery of trees, forests and fields has always been perceived with religious feeling, as a symbol of life, spring, renewal, revitalization.

Violet

If the spectrum of sunlight is represented in the form of a circle so that its ends are connected, then it turns out that the violet color is the mediastinum of two opposite ends of the spectrum - red and cyan (blue). In paints, the color violet is formed by combining these two opposite colors. Thus, violet color combines the beginning and end of the light spectrum.

This color is appropriated to the memories of the Cross and Lenten services, where the suffering and Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of people are remembered. The Lord Jesus said about Himself: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the First and the Last” (Rev. 22:13).

The Savior's death on the cross was the repose of the Lord Jesus Christ from His works of saving man in earthly human nature. This corresponds to the repose of God from the works of creating the world on the seventh day, after the creation of man.

Violet is the seventh color from red, from which the spectral range begins. The purple color inherent in the memory of the Cross and Crucifixion, containing red and blue colors, also denotes a certain special presence of all the Hypostases of the Holy Trinity in the feat of the cross of Christ.

And at the same time, the color violet can express the idea that by His death on the Cross Christ conquered death, since combining the two extreme colors of the spectrum together does not leave any place for blackness in the vicious circle of colors thus formed, as a symbol of death. The color violet is striking in its deepest spirituality. As a sign of higher spirituality, combined with the idea of ​​the Savior’s feat on the cross, this color is used for the bishop’s mantle, so that the Orthodox bishop, as it were, is fully clothed in the feat of the cross of the Heavenly Bishop, whose image and imitator the bishop is in the Church. The award purple skufiyas and kamilavkas of the clergy have similar semantic meanings.

Symbolism of red

The feasts of martyrs adopted the red color of liturgical vestments as a sign that the blood shed by them for their faith in Christ was evidence of their fiery love for the Lord “with all their heart and with all their soul” (Mark 12:30). Thus, red in church symbolism is the color of the boundless mutual love of God and man.

Symbolism of green

The green color of vestments for the days of remembrance of ascetics and saints means that spiritual feat, while killing the sinful principles of the lower human will, does not kill the person himself, but revives him by combining him with the King of Glory (yellow color) and the grace of the Holy Spirit (blue color) to life eternal and renewal of all human nature.

Symbolism of white

The white color of liturgical vestments is adopted on the holidays of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, and Annunciation because, as noted, it signifies the uncreated Divine Light coming into the world and sanctifying God’s creation, transforming it. For this reason, they also serve in white vestments on the feasts of the Transfiguration and Ascension of the Lord. White color is also adopted for commemorating the dead, because it very clearly expresses the meaning and content of funeral prayers, which ask for repose with the saints for those who have departed from earthly life, in the villages of the righteous, clothed, according to Revelation, in the Kingdom of Heaven in the white vestments of Divine Light.

What does the color of priests’ vestments mean?

The set of colors that are used in the temple has developed traditionally in the Church - over two millennia. Moreover, not only the priest, but also everyone who serves him - deacons, altar servers, sextons - dress in different colors. Also, depending on the day, the color of the vestments of the throne and, if possible, other details in the structure of the temple change (for example, on Easter in some churches the lamps are changed to red - the color of this Holiday).

photo: patriarchia.ru

What does the color of a priest's vestment mean? On the one hand, each color really acquired its symbolic meaning in the Church and from this point of view, some unspoken rules were established. For example, priests serve all the feasts of the Mother of God in blue, and on Easter days - in red.

On the other hand, the color of vestments is precisely a tradition, not a dogma, therefore in certain cases, depending on the temple, the principles for choosing colors may differ slightly. But in general terms, the rules for forming the color of a priest’s vestments are the same everywhere and look like this:

What do the different colors on the icons mean?

Traditionally, icons shine with gold and bright colors. Each color has its own place, its own special meaning:

GOLD occupies a special place in the system of Christian symbolism. The Magi brought gold to the born Savior, the Ark of the Covenant of ancient Israel was decorated with gold, the salvation and transformation of the human soul is also compared with it. As the most precious material on earth, gold serves as an expression of the world's most precious spirit. They decorate the background, the halos of saints, the radiance around the figure of Christ, the clothes of the Savior, the Virgin Mary and angels - all this serves as an expression of holiness and belonging to the world of eternal values. Gold has always been an expensive material, so it was often replaced by other, semantically similar colors: red, green, yellow, ocher.

Why gold? Because it is a symbol of undying radiance, moreover, a praying Christian should not have any unnecessary or distracting associations, such as when looking at black, green, orange or purple.

GREEN symbolizes eternal life and flowering and is considered the color of the Holy Spirit. It is natural and alive. This is the color of grass and leaves, youth, blossoming, hope, eternal renewal. The earth was written with green; it was present where life began - in the scenes of the Nativity.

The YELLOW background, which is closest in spectrum to gold, is often a replacement or reminder of it.

BROWN is the color of bare earth, dust, everything temporary and perishable. Mixed with the royal purple in the robes of the Mother of God, it reminded of human nature, subject to death.

WHITE color and light at the same time. It symbolizes purity, holiness, innocence, and participation in the divine world. The clothes of Christ are written in white, for example, in the composition “Transfiguration”. “His clothes became shining, very white, like snow, as on earth a whitener cannot bleach.” (Mark 9:3).

BLACK - White is opposed to black, which has no light and absorbs all colors. Black, like white, is rarely used in icon painting, because it symbolizes hell, the maximum distance from God - the source of light. Hell in the icon is usually depicted in the form of a black gaping abyss, an abyss that opens up under the feet of the Risen Christ, standing on the broken gates. This is clearly visible in the “Resurrection”/”Descent into Hell” icon.

In the composition “Crucifixion”, a black hole is exposed under the Calvary cross; the head of Adam, the first person to sin, is visible here. Christ took upon Himself all the sins of the human race, “trampling down death by death”, sinless, resurrected “... in order to proclaim the perfections of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9).

RED - makes the icons very expressive, symbolizes the fire of the Spirit with which the Lord baptizes His chosen ones. In Russian, the word “red” means “beautiful,” so the red background was also associated with the imperishable beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem. This is the color of warmth, love, life, life-giving energy. That is why it became a symbol of the Resurrection - the victory of life over death. But at the same time, it is the color of blood and torment, the color of Christ’s sacrifice. Martyrs were depicted in red robes on icons; the wings of the seraphim archangels, close to the throne of God, shine for them. Sometimes a background was painted as a sign of the triumph of eternal life.

BLUE and BLUE - the colors mean the infinity of the sky, a symbol of another, eternal world. Blue was considered the color of the Blessed Virgin Mary - pure, heavenly, immaculate. The paintings in many churches dedicated to the Mother of God are filled with heavenly blue.

Red and blue often appear together, their combination represents the nature of the Savior, earthly, human, heavenly and Divine. Here is the mystery of the Incarnation, the mystery of the union of two worlds: created and uncreated, for He is a perfect God and a perfect Man. The colors of the Mother of God’s clothes are the same - red and blue, but are arranged in a different order: Heavenly and earthly things are considered differently in Her. If Christ is the Primary God who became man, then she is an earthly woman who gave birth to God.

It is worth noting that GRAY . Mixing black and white, good and evil, it became the color of obscurity, emptiness, and nothingness.

Color in an icon is inextricably linked with light. When painting a face, go from dark to light. First, sankir (dark olive color) is placed, swirling is done (overlaying ocher from dark to light), then browning is done, and lastly, spaces are written (whitening sliders). The gradual brightening of the face shows the action of divine light, transforming a person’s personality. Especially light flows from the eyes, illuminating the entire face of the saint. The light in the icon is expressed both through the halos and through the golden background. They say that an icon “dies” when its inner light disappears.

Icons are theology and revelation of God in the language of lines and colors. They tell people about the existence and direct presence of Heavenly forces. By the power of their unearthly beauty, they lead to the knowledge of God, are a source of grace and direct pious, prayerful thoughts to the depicted faces. Through icons, people are able to communicate with the Lord, His Most Pure Mother, angels, saints, ask for grace, pray for loved ones and relatives, be healed of illnesses, get rid of sins and temptations.

Pilgrim of Volgograd

Blue Priest's Robe

Here and below are photos of the vestments: pravmagazin.ru

Required for the Mother of God holidays. For example: Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 21) or Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 28). Or on the day of celebration of especially revered Mother of God icons.

(By the way, if a church has a blue dome, then it was also most likely consecrated in honor of the feast of the Mother of God. Although in general, for domes in relation to color, there are no rules at all... See text: how many domes are there temples and what are they?)

The Meaning of Flowers in Christian Art

Flowers are closely connected not only with culture, but also with religion. Flowers are widely used in various rituals; you can always buy their artificial analogues in the store www.ooo-oleandr.ru. A flower in Christian art is used to represent abstract ideas or concepts - a painting that represents an idea and foundation for understanding the icons and imagery found in Christian art. A religious icon is an image or symbolic representation with sacred meaning. The meanings, origins and ancient traditions surrounding flowers in symbols of Christian art date back to early times when most ordinary people could not read or write and printing was unknown. Many symbols or icons of Christian art were "borrowed" or taken from early pre-Christian traditions.

Early Christian artistic symbols - the meaning of flowers

• Anemone Flowers - Anemone symbolizes the Trinity, sorrow and death
• Carnation Flowers – Red Carnation Symbolizes Love
• Columbine Flowers - Columbine symbolizes the Holy Spirit
• Chamomile – Chamomile symbolizes the innocence of the Christ child.
• Dandelion – Dandelion symbolizes the suffering of Christ.
• Hyacinth - Hyacinth symbolizes prudence and calm.
• Iris flowers - Iris symbolizes the Virgin Mary
• Lily - The lily symbolizes purity and the Virgin Mary
• Myrtle - Myrtle symbolizes those converted to Christ
• Pansies – Pansies symbolize remembrance and meditation.
• Poppy - The poppy symbolizes sleep or indifference, often used in depictions of the Passion of Christ
• Rose - A red rose symbolizes martyrdom, a white rose symbolizes purity, and a wreath of roses symbolizes heavenly joy.
• Purple Flowers – Purple is a symbol of humility

Throughout history, certain flowers have been used in religious artwork to express abstract ideas and thoughts. Often these flowers serve as a reminder of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Additionally, several aspects of different flowers, such as color and shape, are used to represent the love and purity of Christ.

• The white lily, also known as the Easter Lily, is considered to represent the purity and divinity of Christ. This flower is depicted in many churches and Christian homes during the Easter holiday because it is believed that white lilies appeared where drops of blood fell from the body of Christ after the crucifixion. The white lily also serves as a symbol of Christ's resurrection because it rises from a single bulb, which represents Christ rising from the tomb.
• The narcissus flower symbolizes eternal life in Christianity. One reason for this is that daffodils are perennial flowers, so they appear year after year. Additionally, daffodils are one of the first flowers to appear in the spring, which is representative of rebirth, a process that some Christians believe occurs during the afterlife. There is also a belief that daffodils bloomed after Christ rose from the tomb, so this flower serves as a reminder of the resurrection.
• The rose has symbolic meaning in many religions, including Christianity and Catholicism. For Catholics, the Rose serves as a symbol of the rosary, which Catholics use during prayer and also to commemorate several important events in the life of Christ. In Christianity, the five petals of a rose symbolize all five wounds of Christ from the crucifixion. The color of the rose also has symbolic meaning. Typically, a white rose symbolizes the purity of Christ, and a red rose symbolizes the sacrificial blood of Christ. When a white and red rose are placed together, the composition represents the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

White Priest's Robe

Intended for the holidays of the Nativity of Christ (January 7), Epiphany (January 18), Ascension of the Lord (date depends on the day of Easter), Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19) and Circumcision of the Lord (January 14).

Priests, deacons and altar servers also dress in white on the days of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostle John the Theologian, and also on the days of remembrance of ethereal powers, virgins and virgins.

Burial, as a rule, is also performed in white vestments, and not black ones - because death in Christianity is not a tragic event, but on the contrary - a bright one, for the soul goes into Eternity.

White vestments are also used during the Sacraments of Baptism and Wedding.

Symbolism of liturgical flowers

The vestments of the Throne, the altar, the liturgical vestments of the clergy and even lecterns can be of one color or another, depending on the day of remembrance of a saint or sacred event celebrated by the Holy Orthodox Church. There are no developed dogmatic institutions in this area, but the Church has an unwritten tradition that assigns a certain symbolism to the various colors used in worship. The same applies to wall paintings and Orthodox icons in general.

Holidays of the Orthodox Church, which are associated with certain colors (white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple, black

) robes can be combined into six groups.

1

.
A group of holidays and days of remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ (primarily Sundays), as well as special anointed ones of God - prophets, apostles and saints. The color of the vestments is gold (yellow),
which is the color of glory, greatness and dignity.

2

.
A group of holidays and days of remembrance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Ethereal Powers, virgins and virgins. The color of the vestments is blue and white,
the color of the sky, mysteriously and symbolically expressing the teaching of the Church about the Mother of God, who contained Christ the Celestial in Her Most Pure Womb.

3

.
A group of holidays and days of remembrance of the Holy Cross. The color of the vestments is purple
or
dark red.
The
violet
combines two colors -
red
(the color of the blood of Christ and the Resurrection) and
blue
(symbolically expressing the idea that the Cross opens the road to heaven).

4

.
Group of holidays and days of remembrance of martyrs. The color of the vestments is red,
which is a symbol of God’s inexpressible, fiery love for man.
But since this is the color of blood, services in honor of the martyrs are held in red
vestments.

5

.
A group of holidays and days of remembrance of saints, ascetics, holy fools, as well as the Day of the Holy Trinity, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem and the Day of the Holy Spirit. The color of the vestments is green,
combining two colors:
yellow
and
blue.
It testifies that the monastic feat revives a person through union with Christ (
yellow
color) and the grace of the Holy Spirit (
blue
color) and elevates him to heaven.

6

.
During the period of fasting, the color of vestments is dark blue, purple, dark green, dark red and black,
which is used during the days of Lent, being a symbol of renunciation from the pomp of worldly vanity, the color of crying and repentance.
On Sundays and holidays of Lent, purple
.

White

the color that combines all the colors of the rainbow is a symbol of Divine uncreated light.
In white
vestments they perform the services of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, Ascension, Transfiguration; Easter Matins begins in them. They are also used for baptisms and burials.

White

the color is adopted for commemorating the dead because it very clearly expresses the meaning and content of funeral prayers.
They ask for repose for the dead with the saints in the villages of the righteous, clothed in the Kingdom of Heaven in the white
robes of Divine light.

In icon painting, the Divine light was symbolized not only by white,

but also
the golden
color, symbolizing the radiance of eternal life and purity in contrast to
the black
color of hell, death and spiritual darkness.
In connection with such symbolism black
, icon painters tried to avoid its use and, where the depicted object was naturally
black
, replaced it with another
dark
color of the spectrum.
For the same reason, brown
, which is the color of earth and dirt, was avoided in ancient icon painting.

There is a division of the colors that make up the spectrum of the rainbow into two groups:

1. Non-derivatives (
red, yellow, blue).
2. Derivatives (
green, purple, orange, blue).
Given the availability of conventional dyes of three non-derivative colors, the artist can obtain the remaining derivative colors by combining them.

The seven primary colors of the rainbow (spectrum) correspond to the mysterious number seven, placed by God in the order of heavenly and earthly creaturely existence. They symbolize the Trinity and the Four Gospels; the seven Sacraments of the Church; seven lamps in the heavenly temple, etc.

* * *

The second part of the “Handbook of an Orthodox Person” will be devoted to the Holy Scripture: the history of its creation, the composition of the Old Testament and New Testament books, the classification of biblical manuscripts (papyri, uncials, minuscules and lectionaries), the current state of affairs in biblical archeology, interpretations of sacred texts, etc.

The reader in this part will be able to glean information about ancient technologies for creating writing materials; storage and use in worship of biblical texts recorded on parchment or papyrus. The book will provide information about the famous Sinai, Vatican

and
the Alexandrian Codex, the Papyri of Bodmer, Chester Beatty
and many other ancient manuscripts known to biblical science. The most important archaeological finds made in the last and the century before last will be considered: Qumran manuscripts, manuscripts of the monastery of St. Catherine (at Sinai), Cairo Genizah scrolls. The second part of the Handbook will maintain the principle of systematization and structuring of publicly available material on these topics and the accessibility of its presentation.

Red Priest's Robe

Clergy wear red on days of remembrance of martyrs. In addition, it is the color of Easter week. Although during the Easter service itself it is customary that priests alternately put on vestments of different colors, and greet the Resurrection of Christ itself and the first message “Christ is Risen!” proclaimed in white.

On Maundy Thursday - the last Thursday before Easter - the priest also dresses in red (the memory of the Blood given by Christ to his disciples at the Last Supper) - but in a dark red shade, so that it is not Easter.

Login to the site

The most significant difference between the “pagan” period of color symbolism and the “Christian” period lies, first of all, in the fact that light and color finally cease to be identified with God and mystical forces, but become their attributes, qualities and signs.

According to Christian canons, God created the world, including light (color), but it itself cannot be reduced to light. Medieval theologians (for example, Aurelius Augustine), praising light and color as manifestations of the divine, nevertheless point out that they (colors) can also be deceptive (from Satan) and their identification with God is a delusion and even sin.

White color only

remains an unshakable symbol of holiness and spirituality. Particularly important was the meaning of white as purity and innocence, liberation from sins. Angels, saints, and the risen Christ are depicted in white robes. White robes were worn by newly converted Christians.

Also, white is the color of baptism, communion, the holidays of the Nativity of Christ, Easter, and Ascension.

In the Orthodox Church, white is used in all services from Easter to Trinity Day. The Holy Spirit is depicted as a white dove. The white lily symbolizes purity and accompanies images of the Virgin Mary. White does not have negative meanings in Christianity.

In early Christianity, the positive symbolic meaning of yellow ,

as the colors of the Holy Spirit, divine revelation, enlightenment, etc. But later, yellow takes on a negative meaning. In the Gothic era, it begins to be considered the color of treason, betrayal, deceit, and jealousy. In Western church art, Cain and the traitor Judas Iscariot were often depicted with yellow beards.

Golden color

used in Christian painting as an expression of divine revelation. The golden radiance embodies the eternal divine light. Many people perceive the golden color as starlight descending from heaven.

Red

in Christianity it symbolizes the blood of Christ, shed for the salvation of people, and, consequently, his love for people. This is the color of the fire of faith, martyrdom and the passion of the Lord, as well as the royal triumph of justice and victory over evil.

Red is the color of services on the Feast of the Holy Spirit, on the days of remembrance of the martyrs who shed blood for their faith. The red rose (in Catholicism) indicates the shed blood and wounds of Christ, the cup that receives the “holy blood.”

Therefore, it symbolizes rebirth in this context. Joyful events dedicated to Christ, the Mother of God and the saints were marked in red on the calendar. The tradition came to us from the church calendar to highlight holiday dates in red.

Easter of Christ in churches begins in white vestments as a sign of Divine light. But already the Easter Liturgy (in some churches it is customary to change vestments, so that the priest appears each time in vestments of a different color) and the entire week is served in red vestments. Red clothes are often used before Trinity.

Blue –

it is the color of heaven, truth, humility, immortality, chastity, piety, baptism, harmony. He expressed the idea of ​​self-sacrifice and meekness. The blue color seems to mediate the connection between the heavenly and the earthly, between God and the world. As the color of air, blue expresses a person’s readiness to accept for himself the presence and power of God, blue has become the color of faith, the color of fidelity, the color of desire for something mysterious and wonderful.

Blue is the color of the Virgin Mary; she is usually depicted in a blue cloak (in Catholicism). Mary in this meaning is the Queen of Heaven, who covers with this cloak, protects and saves believers (Pokrovsky Cathedral). In the paintings of churches dedicated to the Mother of God, the color of heavenly blue predominates. Dark blue is typical for depicting the clothes of cherubs, who are constantly in reverent reflection.

Green color=

was more “earthly”, meaning life, spring, flowering of nature, youth. This is the color of the Cross of Christ, the Grail (according to legend, carved from a whole emerald). Green is identified with the great Trinity. On this holiday, according to tradition, churches and apartments are usually decorated with bouquets of green twigs. At the same time, green also had negative meanings - deceit, temptation, devilish temptation (green eyes were attributed to Satan).

The attitude towards black was predominantly negative, as the color of evil, sin, the devil and hell, as well as death. In the meanings of black, as among primitive peoples, the aspect of “ritual death”, death for the world, was preserved and even developed. Therefore, black became the color of monasticism. For Christians, a black raven meant trouble. But black has not only such a tragic meaning. In icon painting in some scenes it means divine mystery. For example, on a black background, signifying the incomprehensible depth of the Universe, the Cosmos was depicted - an old man in a crown in the icon of the Descent of the Holy Spirit.

Violet –

mysterious color in Christian art. It is formed by mixing red and blue (cyan). Thus, violet color combines the beginning and end of the light spectrum. It symbolizes intimate knowledge, silence, spirituality. In early Christianity, purple symbolized sadness and affection. This color is appropriated to the memories of the Cross and Lenten services, where the suffering and Crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of people are remembered. As a sign of higher spirituality, combined with the idea of ​​the Savior’s feat on the cross, this color is used for the bishop’s mantle, so that the Orthodox bishop, as it were, is fully clothed in the feat of the cross of the Heavenly Bishop, whose image and imitator the bishop is in the Church.

Brown and gray

were the flowers of the common people. Their symbolic meaning, especially in the early Middle Ages, was purely negative. They meant poverty, hopelessness, wretchedness, abomination, etc. Brown is the color of earth, sadness. It symbolizes humility, renunciation of worldly life. Gray color (a mixture of white and black, good and evil) is the color of ash, emptiness.

After the ancient era, during the Middle Ages in Europe, color again regained its position, primarily as a symbol of mystical forces and phenomena, which is especially characteristic of early Christianity.

Interesting and unusual things nearby

Black color of vestments

Black vestments are required for fasting. Moreover, on some days it can be not only black, but dark blue or dark green. However, during Lent - especially during Holy Week - the vestments are exclusively black.

The exception for “Lenten” vestments are Great Feasts or Sundays, when priests also wear purple vestments or black, but with gold or colored trim.

The meaning of the colors of church vestments

White color
White is a symbol of Divine light. That is why white vestments are used on such holidays when the appearance of the Lord, His Divine light to the world is glorified: Annunciation (Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that Divine grace will overshadow Her and She will become the Mother of God), Nativity of Christ, Epiphany (when At the Baptism of the Savior in the waters of the Jordan, the Heavens opened and a voice was heard from Heaven that this was the Son of God, and apparently the Holy Spirit descended on Christ the Savior in the form of a dove), the Transfiguration (when Christ’s disciples could not even look at Christ - so shone emanating from him Divine light), the Ascension of the Lord into heaven.

It is no coincidence that on Easter, on the day of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, the divine service begins in white vestments. This means the Divine light that shone from the Holy Sepulcher at the moment of the Resurrection of the Savior. During the Easter service, the priest changes the color of his vestments several times. This is due to the fact that Easter is a holiday of holidays, it is a great celebration. And the play of colors emphasizes this. The Easter service begins in white vestments.

The priest also dresses in white robes during funeral services for the dead and funeral services. This is connected with what we ask the Lord for in prayers for our deceased relatives: to rest them with the saints, with the righteous, to grant them the Kingdom of Heaven, where, according to legend, everyone is clothed in the white vestments of Divine Light.

Red color

Red color is a symbol of the love of God and man. This is the color of the blood that Christ shed for us. It is also a symbol of the blood that was shed for Christ by thousands of martyrs who suffered for the Orthodox faith. Red vestments are associated, first of all, with the Easter holiday: during the Easter service there is a change of vestments, which ends in red. And then, within 40 days after Easter - before the celebration of this holiday - all services are performed in red vestments. And, secondly, red vestments are associated with the days of remembrance of the holy martyrs.

Orange color

Orange color is a combination of red and yellow. It is not used separately in church vestments, only in combination with yellow or red.

Yellow

Yellow is the color of gold. That's why yellow is called the Royal color. In its hymns, the Church calls Christ the Savior King, Who established the Church of Christ here on earth and placed His servants in it - the apostles and their followers.

It is no coincidence that one of the Magi brought gold as a gift to Christ as a King. And the gates through which Christ invisibly passes during the Divine Liturgy are also called royal.

It is no coincidence that yellow is the most commonly used color for liturgical vestments. It is in yellow robes that priests dress on Sundays, when Christ and His victory over the forces of hell are glorified. In addition, yellow vestments are also worn on the days of remembrance of the apostles, prophets, and saints - that is, those saints who, through their service in the Church, resembled Christ the Savior: they enlightened people, called to repentance, revealed Divine truths, and performed the sacraments as priests.

Green color

Green is the color of life, the color of renewal. Green color is a combination of two colors - yellow and blue. Yellow symbolizes Christ the Savior, while blue is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. These meanings of the color green determine its use in church worship.

Green vestments are used on the days of remembrance of the saints - that is, saints leading an ascetic, monastic lifestyle, who paid special attention to spiritual deeds. Among them are St. Sergius of Radonezh, the founder of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and St. Mary of Egypt, who spent many years in the desert, and St. Seraphim of Sarov, and many others.

This is due to the fact that the ascetic life that these saints led changed their human nature - it became different, it was renewed, it was sanctified by Divine grace. In their lives, they united with Christ, who is symbolized by the color yellow, and with the Holy Spirit, who is symbolized by the second color - blue.

Clergymen also wear green robes on Trinity Day, when we glorify the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Church of Christ, on all believers in Christ. This is exactly what the Lord promised the apostles and happened on the 50th day after the Resurrection of Christ. The Holy Spirit sanctifies everything, everything is renewed under His influence - and an excellent example of this is the first miracle that occurred after the descent of the Holy Spirit: the apostles spoke in different languages. This unity with God is the symbol of Eternal life to which each of us is called.

Blue and blue colors

These two colors have the same meaning and are used either alone or in combination. Blue is the color of Heaven, from which the Holy Spirit descends upon us. Therefore, blue color is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, a symbol of purity. That is why the blue color is used in church services on holidays associated with the name of the Mother of God.

The Holy Church calls the Most Holy Theotokos the vessel of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit descended on her, and She became the Mother of the Savior. Since childhood, the Most Holy Theotokos was distinguished by a special purity of soul. Therefore, blue became the color of the Mother of God. We see clergy in blue vestments on the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God, on the day of Her Entry into the temple, on the day of the Presentation of the Lord, on the day of Her Dormition, on the days of the glorification of icons of the Mother of God.

Purple

The value of the color purple is determined by the values ​​of the red and blue colors combined in it. Red is a symbol of the Love of God and man, blue is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. This means that Christ is God, He is inextricably linked with the Holy Spirit, with the Spirit of God, He is one of the hypostases of the Most Holy Trinity. It is no coincidence that the color purple is particularly spiritual. It is used on days of remembrance of the Savior's suffering on the cross and His death on the cross (Sundays of Lent, Holy Week - the last week before Easter) and on days of veneration of the Cross of Christ.

Purple is the seventh color in the rainbow. This corresponds to the seventh day of the creation of the world. The Lord created the world for six days, but the seventh day became a day of rest. After the suffering on the cross, the Savior’s earthly journey ended, Christ defeated death, defeated the forces of hell and rested from earthly affairs.

The color purple connects the beginning and end of the colors of the rainbow (red and blue). This corresponds to the words of Christ the Savior about himself: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the First and the last.” The death of the Savior, the end of His earthly life, became the beginning of a new life - life in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Black color

Usually the color black is attributed to the meaning of death. In the minds of Russian people, black color has acquired the meaning of humility and repentance since ancient times. This is why we see black robes on monks.

Black vestments are used during Lent (except for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, when fasting is relaxed).

The black vestments remind us that Lent is a time of special repentance and humility.

Christianity color symbols

The most significant difference between the “pagan” period of color symbolism and the “Christian” period lies, first of all, in the fact that light and color finally cease to be identified with God and mystical forces, but become their attributes, qualities and signs.

According to Christian canons, God created the world, including light (color), but it itself cannot be reduced to light. Light, especially visible light, is only one of the hypostases of God. Therefore, medieval theologians (for example, Aurelius Augustine), praising light and color as manifestations of the divine, nevertheless point out that they (colors) can also be deceptive (from Satan) and their identification with God is a delusion and even sin. There is practically no strict connection between a certain color and mystical powers, as was previously observed. The Divine essence must be comprehended by internal, transcendental contemplation, and not be deceived by external brightness and beauty.

Perhaps only white remains an unshakable symbol of holiness, purity and spirituality. The angels in heaven are in white robes, like the saints who suffered for their faith. Particularly important was the meaning of white as purity and innocence, liberation from sins, as stated in the “Revelation” of John. White does not have negative meanings in Christianity, even a white shroud means, like among primitive peoples, a transition to another, “better” world, cleansing from sins, and this is the only thing that constitutes its “mourning.”

The symbolism of other colors is ambivalent, and in various periods of the Middle Ages, one color or another came to the fore either positive or negative meanings. Thus, in early Christianity the positive symbolic meaning of yellow prevailed, as the color of the Holy Spirit, divine revelation, enlightenment, etc. But later, yellow acquires a negative meaning, which is often attributed to this color even today. In the Gothic era, it begins to be considered the color of betrayal, deceit, etc.

Red in Christianity symbolizes the blood of Christ, shed for the salvation of people, and, consequently, his love for people.

As in Imperial Rome, purple was considered a royal color in the Middle Ages. Members of the royal family, even in mourning, wore purple robes (but in darker shades, with a predominance of blue). Nowadays, when royalty no longer overuses purple in their clothing, the custom of “purple mourning” has been preserved in Western European royal houses.

Purple and blue were considered mystical, transcendental colors. The theologian and philosopher N. Kuzansky called purple “the harmony of contradictions.” The purple amethyst stone was considered a sign of cardinal dignity. For Christians, blue symbolized the sky, was the color of eternity, encouraged humility, piety, and expressed the idea of ​​self-sacrifice and meekness.

Unlike transcendental blue, green was more “earthly” and meant life, spring, flowering of nature, youth. He dominated Christian art (E. Levi - 1920). At the same time, green also had negative meanings - deceit, temptation, devilish temptation (green eyes were attributed to Satan, which perhaps underlies the belief about green eyes as a sign of a person’s envy and greed).

The attitude towards black was predominantly negative, as the color of evil, sin (red in certain situations also symbolized sin - unrighteous blood), the devil and hell, as well as death. In the meanings of black, as among primitive peoples, the aspect of “ritual death”, death for the world, was preserved and even developed. Therefore, black became the color of monasticism.

Brown and gray were the colors of the commoners. Their symbolic meaning, especially in the early Middle Ages, was purely negative. They meant poverty, hopelessness, wretchedness, abomination, etc.

The attitude towards color as a magical remedy also continued to exist. This applies, first of all, to medieval alchemy. Colors in alchemy were divided into “higher” and “lower”. The “highest” colors included the colors of the “triad” known to us - white, black and red. They symbolized the three stages of the “Great Transformation”: primary matter (black), mercury (white) and sulfur (red) which resulted in the creation of “stone” (gold). Black corresponds to the stage of fermentation, decay, darkening, repentance; white - the state of enlightenment, ascension, revelation and forgiveness; red - the stages of suffering, exaltation and love. Gold meant glory (H.E. Kerlot - 1994). The main, initial color (generating all other colors) in this triad was considered black. The remaining colors were included in the group of “inferior” or “secondary”. In alchemy, there was a color taxonomy of chemical elements and specific color names. For example, silver was called the “white queen” (V.L. Rabinovich - 1979).

Color symbolism of Islam.

In Islamic countries, color symbolism reaches an extremely high level of development, is characterized by ambiguity and bears the imprint of the influence of both the Ancient East and the West. At the same time, there is a lot of originality in the color symbolism of Islam. Islam prohibits images of people, animals, etc. contributed to the fact that color becomes one of the main means of expression. Color patterns and carpet patterns are a system of color symbols that reflect Muslim ideas about earthly and heavenly life.

In the Koran, light, as well as the lightest and brightest colors, are symbols of goodness, the divine principle, but, as in Christianity, they are not identified with God.

White expresses purity and spirituality. In the dispute between the slave girls from The Arabian Nights, white is called “the best of colors.”

Gold (yellow) symbolizes fame, success, wealth, celebration, etc. It was considered a healing color (Omar Khayyam). At the same time, yellow also had negative meanings, in particular as a symbol of stomach diseases.

Red for Muslims is not as ambivalent in content as in other cultures. This color was considered sacred, magical, having great “vitality.” Therefore, red precious stones were valued - rubies, etc. It was believed that they gave the owner strength, energy, and fearlessness. It also symbolized love passion. The belief in the “great power of red” was so strong that it was considered best not to show red stones to small children, or to animals that might be frightened or excited by it. “Red symbols” were widespread in the poetic work of Muslims, for example, a red rose meant passionate love (L.N. Mironova - 1984).

The green color (the green banner of the prophet) was considered revered and “sacred”. Green symbolized an oasis, nature, life, relaxation. Green stones meant vitality, happiness and prosperity in business. According to A.E. Fersman (1975), green gemstones were loved by Muslims more than any other.

Blue and violet (shadow colors), as in Christianity, were valued for their transcendental, mystical character. Blue and violet are the colors of mystical contemplation, communion with the divine essence. The color violet also had the meaning of the deceitfulness of earthly life, a mirage (Khosrow).

A very significant feature of Islamic color symbolism was the not so negative nature of the color black. Night, darkness, shadow complemented the light. The sacred stone of the Kaaba temple is black. Black is the color of the earth. It was also the color of the clothes and banner of the Abbasid caliphs. At the same time, black also retains negative associations: dirt, sin, evil deeds.

The prevalence of a positive attitude towards pure, light, shining colors is one of the features of Islamic color symbolism. But if the color is cloudy, unclean, “dirty,” then it loses all attractiveness for a Muslim. As in Medieval Europe, this primarily refers to gray and brown. They are the colors of misfortune and poverty. Gray is the color of dust and ashes, the opposite of the bright, colorful world, reminding mortals of the frailty of their existence.

Renaissance

With the beginning of the era of the first bourgeois revolutions, reformation, and the formation of the capitalist form of economy, color gradually lost its mystical associations in Western Europe. The content of color symbols becomes more everyday, and the attitude towards color becomes more practical. The impressive color of the Catholic Church is contrasted with the colorful asceticism of Protestantism. The bourgeoisie prefers discreet, practical shades to the rooster brightness of noble clothes. Artists and scientists are beginning to comprehend the physical nature of light and color, using, by no means, theological categories. If Leonardo da Vinci talks about the “primary” colors (white, yellow, green, red, blue and black) and connects them with the elements, then for him these are more likely associations of the artist than metaphysical taxonomy.

There are attempts to connect color with the physical properties of matter. Thus, Bernandino Telesio in his work “The Origin of Flowers” ​​associates colors with two “indestructible substances” - heat and cold.

At the same time, metaphysical concepts of color were also created during the Renaissance. Light in them was interpreted as a spiritual substance, and darkness symbolized inert matter. Marsilio Ficino, in the spirit of Plato, introduces the category of “ideas of color.” Each (of 12) colors in his taxonomy symbolized some element or force. For example, black is matter, brown is earth, blue is air, white is spiritual light, brilliance and radiance is God. It should be noted that such symbolism had a noticeable influence on many outstanding artists of the Renaissance (in particular, Raphael), who relied on it when creating their works (L.N. Mironova - 1984).

Descending from the heights of metaphysics, one can also discover the everyday side of color symbolism in Europe. For example, there was a “color code” for clothing. According to Coronato Occolti (16th century), white and red colors in clothing express courtesy, confidence, and dignity. Brown and gray in everyday life were no longer considered symbolically negative. They meant moderation, practicality, sober calculation.

During the Renaissance, the first color systems of human psychological properties arose. This marked a new stage in the development of color symbolism. Gian Paolo Lomazzo (15th century) put color in accordance with one or another temperament. According to Lomazzo, white has a phlegmatic temperament, black has a melancholic temperament, red has a sanguine temperament, and yellow has a choleric temperament. He associated dark, earthy, leaden shades with sadness and melancholy. Green and light red - with fun and joy. Like Telesio, Lomazzo sees a connection between colors and temperature sensations. He considered white to be the “coldest”, and black to be “warm”.

Color, descending from the “highest” heights, begins to increasingly become a symbol of a person, his feelings, thoughts and relationships, which laid the foundation for future research into the relationship between color and the psyche.

1.7. Forms and content of color symbolism in the 17th-19th centuries

The achievements of physical optics of the 17th century in the person of I. Newton (“Lectures on Optics”) led to the fact that during the Enlightenment in Europe, the color symbol practically lost its theological content. The theological stage of color symbolism has finally ended, and if the connection of color and light with the supersensible world was mentioned, then mainly in a metaphorical sense. I. Newton himself, in the traditions of the Pythagorean school, associated seven spectral colors with seven notes of the octave. Based on this idea, Louis Bertrand Castel created the “color organ”.

The color symbolism of the Enlightenment is characterized by eclecticism, the replacement of the traditional content of color symbols with new associations and connections. Thanks to this, color symbolism goes from being slender and generally accessible to becoming more individualized and influenced by various cultural traditions. If among the common people the content of the color symbol remains “simple” and traditional for a long time, preserving its ancient roots, then among the intellectual elite of the Enlightenment, new variants of color symbolism are actively being formed. Abstract color systems are created in abundance - “color wheels, triangles”, etc. Both physical phenomena and processes, as well as physiological sensations, moral categories, etc. are assigned to color.

One of the little-known authors of such a color system is the German scientist I. Zahn (17th century). Tsang proceeded from the already well-known idea (correspondence theory) that color is in a certain (rigid) connection with practically all phenomena and categories and, therefore, the whole world can be expressed through color (cf. the theory of the bead game in the novel by Hermann Hesse) . In table 1.7.1. similar color connections are given (According to I. Guerike and K. Schon - 1970).

Table 1.7.1.

Thanks to artists and scientists, the list of color associations is expanding. Thus, the French scientist Roger de Pille (“Dialogues on Color”) divides colors into “heavy” and “light,” “receding” and “approaching,” “earthly” and “airy,” “impressive” and “inconspicuous.” Using his “semantic system”, Roger de Pille gives fundamentally new descriptions of colors, in many ways reminiscent of the language of description of the semantic differential of Charles Osgood (1957). Thus, brown color was defined by Roger de Pille as “heavy, earthy, protruding” (cf. factors “A” and “P” of Osgood’s semantic differential).

In the 18th century, another science emerged whose area of ​​interest included the problem of color - physiological optics. J. Buffon introduced the concept of “subjective colors”, i.e. those that do not correspond to any external object. Subjective colors were understood as various color illusions, for example, color sensations that arise when pressing on the eyeball. This century can be taken as the starting point for the third component of the teachings about color - the psychology of color, the emergence of which is associated with the name of the great German poet J.W. Goethe (“The Doctrine of Color”). Goethe's work has not lost its relevance today. Goethe's observations and conclusions about the relationship between color and psyche were and are referred to by many outstanding scientists and thinkers (Hegel, V. Kandinsky, N. Bohr, A.F. Losev, M. Luscher, etc.).

The doctrine of color J.V. Goethe

It is known that Goethe himself valued his color work above his poetic creativity. The great poet did not agree with Newton’s theory of light and color and, in contrast, created his own. Goethe's interest in color has been noted since childhood. As V. Voigt and U. Zucker (1983) note, Goethe’s sensory-visual method was the reason that Goethe’s concept was met with hostility by his contemporaries. Goethe was accused of amateurism and advised to mind his own business. Goethe complains about the cold attitude of his contemporaries towards his theory in one of his letters to Schiller. We are primarily interested in that part of Goethe’s teaching, which he calls “The sensory-moral action of flowers.”

Goethe believed that color “regardless of the structure and form of the material (to which it belongs - author’s note) has a certain effect ... on the mental mood” (#758). Thus, the impression caused by color is determined, first of all, by itself, and not by its subject associations. “Individual colorful impressions... must act specifically and... cause specific states” (#761). And further, in #762: “certain colors evoke special mental states.” According to these provisions, Goethe associates certain colors with certain psychological states of a person. Goethe illustrates this property of color by describing those changes in the “state of mind” that occur when a person is exposed to color for a sufficiently long time, for example, through colored glass.

Based on these basic provisions of the psychological section of his teaching, Goethe divides colors into “positive” - yellow, red-yellow (orange) and yellow-red (red lead, cinnabar) and “negative” - blue, red-blue and blue-red. The colors of the first group create a cheerful, lively, active mood, while the second group creates a restless, soft and melancholy mood. Goethe classified green as “neutral”. Let us dwell in more detail on the psychological characteristics of flowers given by Goethe.

Yellow. If you look through the yellow glass, then “the eye will rejoice, the heart will expand, the soul will become more cheerful, it seems that ... there is warmth” (#769). Pure yellow is pleasant. However, when it is contaminated, shifted towards cold tones (the color of sulfur) or applied to an “ignoble” surface, yellow acquires a negative sound and a negative symbolic meaning. According to Goethe, such yellow symbolizes debtors, cuckolds and belonging to the Jewish nation.

Orange. What is said (positively) about yellow is also true for orange, but to a higher degree. Orange is “more energetic” than pure yellow. Perhaps this is why, according to Goethe, this color is more preferred by the French than by the British and Germans.

Yellow-red. The pleasant and cheerful feeling evoked by orange grows to an unbearably powerful feeling in bright yellow-red (#774). The active side in this color reaches its highest energy. As a result of this, according to Goethe, energetic, healthy, severe people especially “rejoice” (prefer) this paint. This color attracts savages and children. Causes a feeling of shock.

Blue. “As color it is energy: however, it stands on the negative side and in its greatest purity is a kind of exciting nothingness” (#779). Goethe subtly senses the “mysticism” of blue and writes about it as creating a strange, inexpressible effect. Blue, as it were, entails, “leaves” a person. Blue as the idea of ​​dark is associated with the feeling of cold. Rooms with a predominance of blue appear spacious, but empty and cold. If you look at the world through blue glass, it appears sad.

Red-blue (lilac). This color evokes a feeling of anxiety. The color is vibrant, but joyless.

Blue-red. The impression of anxiety increases significantly. Goethe believed that it was very difficult to maintain this color for a long time if it was not diluted.

Goethe views pure red as a harmonious combination of the poles of yellow and blue, and therefore the eye finds “ideal satisfaction” in this color (#794). Red (carmine) gives the impression of seriousness, dignity or charm and benevolence. The darker one symbolizes old age, and the lighter one symbolizes youth.

Speaking about purple, Goethe points out that it is the favorite color of rulers and expresses seriousness and grandeur. But if you look at the surrounding landscape through purple glass, it appears in a terrifying form, as on the day of the “Last Judgment” (#798).

Green. If yellow and blue are in equilibrium, green is produced. The eye, as Goethe put it, finds real satisfaction in it, the soul “rests.” I don’t want to and can’t go further (#802).

The influence of individual colors, causing certain impressions and states in a person, thereby, in Goethe’s terminology, “limites” the soul, which strives for wholeness. Here Goethe draws a parallel between color harmony and mental harmony. As soon as the eye sees any color, it comes into an active state. It is in its nature to give birth to another color, which, together with the given one, contains the integrity of the color wheel (#805). Likewise, the human soul strives for wholeness and universality. These provisions of Goethe largely anticipate the results of experimental studies by S.V. Kravkova connections between color perception and the activity of the human autonomic nervous system (ANS). Goethe identifies the following harmonious color combinations: yellow - red-blue; blue - red-yellow; purple - green.

Based on Goethe's teachings about color harmony and integrity, we can conclude that the psychological impact of, say, yellow, requires the impact of red-blue (violet) to balance it. There is a complementary relationship between a harmonious color pair. These six colors make up Goethe's “color wheel,” where harmonious combinations are located diagonally opposite each other.

In addition to harmonious color combinations (leading to integrity), Goethe distinguishes between “characteristic” and “uncharacteristic”. These color combinations also evoke certain emotional impressions, but unlike harmonious ones, they do not lead to a state of psychological balance.

Goethe calls “characteristic” color combinations that consist of colors separated by one paint in the color wheel.

Yellow and blue. According to Goethe, it is a meager, pale combination that lacks (for integrity) red. The impression it creates is what Goethe calls “ordinary” (#819).

The yellow and purple combination is also one-sided, but fun and gorgeous (#820).

Yellow-red in combination with blue-red causes excitement, the impression of brightness (#822).

Mixing the colors of a characteristic pair produces a color that is (on the color wheel) between them.

Goethe calls combinations of two adjacent colors of his circle “uncharacteristic.” Their proximity leads to an unfavorable impression. So Goethe calls yellow and green “vulgarly cheerful,” and blue and green “vulgarly nasty” (#829).

Goethe assigns an important role in the formation of the psychological impact of color on a person to the lightness characteristics of colors. The “active” side (positive colors), when combined with black, gains in the power of impression, while the “passive” side (negative colors) loses. And, conversely, when combined with white, the passive side benefits more, becoming more “cheerful” and “cheerful” (#831).

Goethe also touches on cross-cultural differences in color symbolism and the psychological effects of color. He considers the love of bright and colorful to be characteristic of savages, “uncultured” peoples and children. Educated people, on the contrary, have a certain “aversion” to colors, especially bright ones. Goethe associates the color of clothing with both the character of the nation as a whole and the individual. Lively, lively nations, Goethe believes, are more fond of the intensified colors of the active side. Moderates are straw and red-yellow, with which they wear dark blue. Nations seeking to show their dignity are red with a bias towards the passive side. Young women prefer light shades - pink and blue. Old men - purple and dark green (#838-848).

The significance of the “Teaching of Color” for the psychology of color is very great. What Goethe was accused of - artistic method, subjectivism - allowed the great German poet to consider the subtle relationships between color and the human psyche. The metaphor of the “luminous soul of man” received convincing confirmation in Goethe’s work. For Goethe, color is no longer a symbol of divine, mystical powers. It is a symbol of the person himself, his feelings and thoughts, and, moreover, the symbol is not poetic, but psychological, having a certain, specific content.

Temple floristry. Features and symbols.

Believers who attend church often see and know that in addition to icons, there are also fresh flowers in Orthodox churches. But what are the features of temple floristry, and what is the significance of flowers in Divine services? - you will learn about this from this review article by Veronica Gug.

First of all, it should be noted that flowers in the temple are not the main thing. The temple is the House of God; Divine services and church sacraments are performed in it. In Orthodox churches, everything is justified by the Church Charter and canons.

Briefly about the structure of the temple

The altar is the most important part of the temple; it houses the main shrine - the throne, to which only clergy have access. The altar is separated from the main part of the temple by a special partition, which is lined with icons and is called an iconostasis. It has three gates. The central, largest doors are called the royal doors, because through them the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and the side doors are called deacon's doors.

To the right of the royal doors there is an icon of the Savior, to the left - the Mother of God, then - images of especially revered saints. To the right of the icon of the Savior is usually a temple icon; it depicts a holiday or a saint in whose honor the temple was consecrated. Icons are also placed on the walls of the temple in frames - icon cases and on lecterns - special tables with an inclined lid. The temple also has a kanunnik (kanun) with an image of the Crucifixion and rows of candlesticks. Before him, funeral services are served - requiem services. Huge temple chandeliers with many candles are called chandeliers, now the candles in them are electric, and are lit during solemn moments of services. In front of the festive lecterns and revered icons there are candlesticks on which believers place candles. Also in churches there may be relics of holy saints of God and other shrines.

Floral accents in the temple

Temple floristry should be meaningful, according to the principle: joy for the eyes and food for the mind and heart. Flowers in the temple are not just decorations, they are a sacrifice to God and respect for the saints depicted on the icons. The floral decoration of modern churches sometimes amazes with its splendor, and at the same time, flowers remind the worshiper of paradise and the beauty of the Kingdom of Heaven. Also, flowers, especially when fading, help people think about the fact that our earthly life is temporary. However, the temple is not a greenhouse, and flowers are not the main elements of the temple atmosphere. Moreover, floral accents should not take the main attention in the temple interior, and should not obscure the icons, so as not to distract the worshipers. Temples are usually decorated with flowers on holidays. The icon on the lectern, the royal gates, the shrine with holy relics, miraculous and revered shrines are decorated florally. At the same time, you need to try to maintain harmony, leaving the main visual emphasis on the shrines; in this case, flowers are always secondary. You also need to take into account the floral scent, which should be moderate so as not to overwhelm the aroma of incense. Floral compositions should not interfere with the clergy during the Divine service, and flowers should also not interfere with parishioners kissing the icons. In general, flowers in a temple should not cause any inconvenience. It is important to remember that in the Church everything begins with a blessing and, it is desirable that those performing obedience in temple floristry be a member of the Church and understand Orthodox symbolism. After all, even after mastering the theoretical foundations of arrangement and having practical skills, “it is difficult and painful to move from the letter to the spirit,” since Christian culture can only be created by a Christian soul, and therefore the inner state of the artist (florist) is valuable. It is impossible to penetrate the mystery of Orthodox art without faith.

Floristic symbolism in Orthodoxy

As for symbolism, much depends on the Christian holiday to which the floral decoration is dedicated. Before you begin selecting colors for composing a particular church composition, you need to refer to the “Liturgical Instructions,” which may contain very specific information in this regard. According to the Charter, there are holidays on which the presence of certain plants is mandatory: the Nativity of Christ, the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, the Day of the Holy Trinity, the Transfiguration (flowers and fruits). The main floristic aspect when composing compositions is the color of the holiday, which is in harmony with the vestments of the clergy and, accordingly, with the clothes of the throne, altar, curtains, lecterns, air, covers and bookmarks in the altar Gospel. On Easter and on the days of remembrance of martyrs it is red. White - on the day of the Nativity of Christ, Epiphany, Presentation, Transfiguration and Ascension, on Lazarus Saturday, also on days of special veneration of the ethereal Heavenly Powers. Green – The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem, as well as on Trinity and on the days of remembrance of saints and ascetics. Blue - for the Mother of God holidays. Purple - for the holidays of the Life-Giving Cross of the Lord. In the Orthodox tradition, not only the interior of churches is decorated, but also the exterior: burial rites, religious processions, open-air services, meetings of hierarchs, the entrance to the temple, carpets, paths, etc. are decorated. Christian floral symbols are also used today taking into account the territorial location of the church relative to the map world and seasons.

For example, at Christmas, the floral decoration of churches is traditionally based on spruce branches. And on the holiday of “The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem” - based on palm branches, by the way, hence the second name of the holiday “Palm Resurrection”, in the Slavic common people called “Palm Sunday”. Two thousand years ago in Jerusalem, white fabrics were placed under Christ’s feet, as befits a king entering the city. He was greeted with palm branches. Palm trees are a symbol of triumph, a greeting with which the people greet their king. When this holiday came to the Slavic lands, a question arose, because palm trees do not grow here. Therefore, it so happened that the palm branches were replaced with flowering willow. This is perhaps the only plant that blooms everywhere by the time of fairly early spring. Believers have long noticed that this process is interconnected: whenever the holiday of Palm Sunday is (and it moves in accordance with Easter), no matter how cold the weather is, even if there is still snow, the willow will definitely bloom. By the way, the symbolism of the feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 19), which is popularly referred to as “Apple Savior,” is also interesting. The Orthodox tradition of blessing apples on this day in Rus' appeared along with the introduction of the Greek calendar of festivities. On this holiday, the Greeks blessed “new fruits of the vine,” i.e. the grapes that were ripe for them by this time. Since in Slavic latitudes the typical seasonal fruits of that time were apples, they became the symbol of this holiday. As for flowers, the lily is the most common flower of the church, followed by the rose and others. The beauty of lilies is also praised in the Holy Scriptures: “Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow: They neither toil nor spin; But I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like any of these” (Matthew 6:28-29). Flowers and fruits, as an expression of Christian love and heavenly bliss in the art of the first Christians, and floral images of biblical subjects, represent a single sacred image, as evidenced not only by the architectural and literary heritage of the Church, but also, of course, by the iconographic one. On some icons of the Mother of God, as well as icons of saints, you can see flowers.

Flowers on icons

In the icon “Unfading Flower,” the Most Holy Theotokos holds Her Divine Son in one hand, and in Her other hand is a white lily flower. This flower symbolically marks the unfading color of virginity and purity of the Most Pure Virgin, to Whom the Holy Church addresses itself: “You are the Root of virginity and the Unfading Flower of purity.” The name of the icon “Unfading Color” is associated with the tradition of chanting the Most Holy Theotokos in the words of the Great Akathist, written in the 7th century in Constantinople, as well as with the hymns of the canon of Joseph the Hymnographer dedicated to the Mother of God. The iconography of the image is associated with the image of the Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since ancient times, in prayer books there has been a symbolic comparison of the Most Holy Theotokos with an “unfading, fragrant flower.” Also, the appearance of some copies of the “Unfading Flower” icon in the 16th - 17th centuries is associated with the desire of the monks to symbolically depict the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in an iconographic image with flowers that cover the slopes of Holy Mount Athos. There are different icons that depict flowers and plants. One of the most famous Belarusian icons is the Zhirovichi Icon of the Mother of God. Several scenes of this icon are known: in addition to the photo of the truly revealed stone icon, the Appearance of the miraculous tiny icon is picturesquely depicted on a pear tree in the forest, and a larger plan of the icon is canonically framed in a beautiful frame of flowers.

Important to remember

Floral decorations are harmoniously introduced into the interior of the temple, taking into account its architectural style, shape, size and other conditions. This also applies to containers for compositions and vases for bouquets. The church floral arrangement is included in the temple space and is inseparable from it, existing for and for prayer. A reverent attitude towards living plants should be at all stages of working with them: at the stage of preparation, use, and maintaining freshness. And after celebrating the holiday, plants cannot be thrown away with the garbage: used flowers are dried and distributed to believers, and in some cases burned. Trinity greens and willow are traditionally stored all year round. Composing floral compositions in an Orthodox church is not just copying the beauty in the plant world around us, but co-creation. After all, a person who subtly feels the influence of nature in his soul can taste a particle of eternal existence while still on earth... Thus, temple floristry contributes to an atmosphere of celebration and grace.