Sergius (Golubtsov), bishop. Searching for way to bolster the liturgical life of the entire Orthodox Church, which was handed down through Church Tration and which finds its expression in iconography and church architecture

Publication of Hegumen Andronik (Trubachev)

Abstract

The present text comes from the archive of bishop Sergius (Golubtsov), it deals with the problem of recreating the canonical liturgical life of the Orthodox Church, based on the material which the Church tradition provides. Such material is found in church art and architecture. According to bishop Sergius, iconography is the true expression of the Orthodox dogmatic and moral teaching, because it is an inseparable part of the church Tradition. Despite its divinely inspired nature, iconography reflects an interpretation of Christian truths by a national conscience in various periods of historical development of any given nation. There are two styles: the realistic style, which is spiritual milk for the simple folk at all periods of the existence of the Church. The second style is iconographical, which truly reflect the potential and depth of Orthodoxy. Bishop Sergius expresses the same ideas in regard to church architecture, where the church, by definition, has a divinely ispired character and bears the prototype of the Old Testament tabernacle, as an image of the heavenly Jerusalem. The architecture of the church has a tripartite structure, which points to the Holy Trinity. It also symbolized а boat, Noah’s ark and a prototype of the Church itself. The appendices contain the theses written by bishop Sergius about this topic, which are the subject matter of this research paper.