Translated from the Greek language "pulpit" - elevation. In an Orthodox church, with a small ledge in the center of the salt, the priest gives Sunday sermons. During the liturgy, the Gospel is read, the deacon pronounces the words of pure prayer - litany. Pulp is used for all these actions.
What is salt? This is a ledge in front of the iconostasis, several steps above the floor. During the service with the participation of the bishop, a pulpit is located on the pulpit to appeal to the people.
Church - ship
The Orthodox Church is a thoughtful symbolic structure. The church represents the “ship of salvation”, which, like the ark of righteous Noah, will deliver its passengers from the raging ocean of the modern world. The interior of the temple, architecture and interior details are arranged in strict accordance with Orthodox tradition. That is why the house of the Lord is not like other earthly structures.
The internal architecture of the temple
Everyone who has ever been to the Orthodox Church noticed an unusual, unearthly atmosphere reigning there. This effect is achieved through the construction of the temple in accordance with the records in the tradition, which originates from the laws of the Old Testament. The first temple was created before the coming of the Savior. In those days, Jews were nomads and breeders, so their temple was located in a tent and was portable. The canons of the interior of the tabernacle were given to Moses by the Lord Himself on Mount Sinai.
This is how Josephus describes the first temple:
“The interior of the tabernacle was divided in length into three parts. This three-part division of the tabernacle represented in some way the appearance of the whole world: for the third part, which was between the four pillars and inaccessible to the priests themselves, meant in some way Heaven, consecrated to God; a space of twenty cubits, as if representing the earth and sea, over which people have a free path, was determined for some priests ”(Judean antiquities, book III, chap. 6)
Ritual victims
The main place of the church that has survived to this day was the altar - the altar. Before the coming of Christ, ritual killing of animals was practiced. Usually the breeders sacrificed the lamb, the farmers laid the fruits of their labors on the altar: vegetables, cereals and fruits. Animal sacrifice was necessary in those days so that people would not destroy each other, God does not need the blood of an innocent animal, but seeing the aggressive nature of the Old Testament people, He established the law of sacrifice. The last sacrifice, the Lamb crucified on the cross, was the Son of God. Since then, the New Testament began, and the sacrifice in the liturgy became bloodless.
Detailed recommendations for the construction of the temple are found in texts from the beginning of the fourth century. Details reveal the writings of the holy fathers of the period of the fourth or eighth century from the birth of Christ. What is Pulpit and how it looks, are well described in their writings by Maxim the Confessor, Andrew of Crete, John of Damascus. And other revered righteous.
Church pulpit (photo below) shows a priest standing on it, behind his back, in the open Royal doors, you can see the altar - the altar.
The Resurrection of Christ
On the third day after the crucifixion of the Savior, the myrrh-bearing wife found a stone blocking the entrance to the tomb. An angel sat on a stone, telling the startled women about the Resurrection of Christ. From that moment on, all believers became involved in His immortality. The victim made salvation possible. Since then, the Body and Blood of Christ has been served to the parishioners from the pulpit.
What is the Eucharist: Communion and confession, following the example of the disciples at the Last Supper before the arrest of the Savior, the Orthodox receive the remission of sins and the opportunity to get after death into a better world, the Kingdom of Heaven. It was this stone that became the prototype of the pulpit. The priest, like an angel at the sepulcher, announces to the flock the good news of the salvation of man.
Sermon on the Mount
During his ministry, Christ spoke with people on the mountain. The people all arrived and arrived, about five thousand people gathered, not counting women and children. Everyone wanted to listen to the Messiah. The time in conversation with God passed quickly, people were hungry, and there was only a little bread and fish from the food.
Jesus called the disciples and ordered them to give each half of the fish and bread. The disciples marveled, but fulfilled the will of the Master. They broke off half, and the food did not end. As soon as everyone was full, the half-eaten was stacked in large baskets. It is difficult to believe in a miracle, but it is precisely described in several ancient manuscripts. Interestingly, the mountain with which Christ spoke the sermon also represents the pulpit.
What this structure is, we have already learned - it imitates the exaltation from which Jesus addressed the flock.