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After revolution the majority of the churches in Russia were used for a
variety of non-religious purposes. Some were turned into museums, some
used as warehouses, some were allowed to decay, some were demolished. After
the fall of communism many churches have been returned to the church authorities
and they are gradually being reinstated as working churches.
A visit to a church during a service can be a very moving experience.
The Orthodox church has very different rituals from a Catholic of Protestant
Christian service. The congregation is separated from the priest by a door
and screen of iconostasis and there are no statues of three-dimensional
images in the church. Instead the walls are covered with icons which are
revered by the members of the congregation.
The most famous of icon painters was Andrey Rublev, who loved and worked
around the beginning of the 15th century. His work is to be found on many
church interiors in and around Moscow, and this masterpiece is the icon
of the Trinity. There were earlier icon painters, notably Theophanes the
Greek, who arrived tin Novgorod from Constantinople in the 1370s. Many
icons are of unknown origin and have miraculous powers ascribed to them.
The nave of the church is usually open, and the rich decorations add
to the atmosphere. The language used for prayers is called Church Slavonic.
Be careful, Russian church services can go on for a very long time and
there are no seats in an Orthodox church.
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