Everyone had to hear the word "canon." But few people know what it means, what is the history of its origin. In Western Semitic languages, the canon is cane, reed. This has nothing to do with the present meaning of the word, is it? Although in fact, the most direct connection can be traced.
In the ancient world, a reed pole of a certain length served as a standard for measuring land. And in modern times there is also a device that sets the rhythm and
musical intervals. It is called the monochord, or canon.
Gradually, the meaning of the term expanded. From a standard for measuring length, the canon turned into a set of some established rules. They can relate to different areas of life and the sphere of activity of people. For example, in art, the canon is a set of certain rules for constructing a composition, image, etc. It is another matter that modernist art often deviates from forms, protests against them, breaks the established framework. The same applies to other areas: science, religion, ethics, aesthetics. We can say that this set of rules is traditional, not negotiable. Nevertheless, under the pressure of innovators, it changes from time to time. A striking example is the development of the canon of iconographic art.
In Christianity, especially in Orthodoxy, the term has acquired a particularly broad meaning. The most broad is a set of church rules and dogmas. There is also a Bible canon - these are the books of the Old and
New Testaments that the Church recognized as inspired. And those Gospels and other texts that are not included in this list are called apocrypha. There is also the Eucharistic canon, also called anaphora - clearly defined rules for the conduct of the liturgy. The list of priests and monks of a certain diocese is also called the canon. It is understood that these people share the teaching of faith and follow the prescribed rules. Therefore, such ministers of the Church are also called canons.
But in Orthodoxy there is another meaning of the term, absent in other Christian denominations. Canon is a genre of church poetry, a form of hymnography. She appeared in the VII century. It was at that time that such Fathers of the Church, as John of Damascus and Andrew of Crete, created the first canons. Since then, such chants and performances
hymns firmly entered the liturgy of Orthodoxy. They are read at the matins, supper, midnight, and also in prayers. The laity is instructed, before accepting the sacrament, to read the canon repentant of Jesus Christ, as well as to the Mother of God and her Guardian Angel, before accepting the sacrament. These hymns are read at home before bedtime. After their utterance, nothing should be eaten, since the sacrament should be taken on an empty stomach.
Another canon to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary is pronounced by a priest on behalf of a dying believer. This wording expresses the appeal of a seriously ill patient to his family to pray for his soul. This is not a prayer for healing the body, but a request to God and the saints to help the soul of the dying person to overcome the posthumous ordeals, forgive all sins and open the way to the gates of paradise.