Temple

A Hindu temple can be a separate building or part of a building. The main distinguishing feature of the Hindu temple is the presence of the murti , to whom or to whom the temple is dedicated. During the rite of consecration of the temple, God in one of His forms or a virgin is invited to "incarnate" in a stone, metal or wooden murti and begin to accept worship. The temple is usually dedicated to the murti of one of the forms of God or one of the virgins . This murti appears as the main deity , along with which the "secondary" murtis of other forms of God or virgins are established. However, there are also many temples in which several murti play the role of the main deities at once.

Typically, temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated. In them, the Egyptians performed all kinds of religious rituals , made offerings to the gods, reproducing scenes from mythology through various holidays, and performed actions aimed at diverting the forces of chaos. All these rituals were considered necessary for the gods, to maintain the Maat - the divine order of the universe. Providing housing and caring for the gods was the responsibility of the pharaoh, who collected great resources for the construction and maintenance of temples. If necessary, the pharaoh transferred most of his ritual duties to the priests . Ordinary Egyptians could not take part in ritual ceremonies and they were forbidden to enter the most sacred places of the temple. However, the temple was an important religious place for all classes of Egyptians who came there to pray, made offerings, and tried to receive prophetic directions from the god who lived there.

One of the temple’s most important sites was the sanctuary , which usually housed cult images and statues of the gods. The rooms located outside the temple grew and became more and more complicated over time, so the temple turned from a small sanctuary at the end of the Dynastic period into a gigantic temple complex in the New Kingdom (c. 1550-1070 BC). These structures are an example of the largest and most stable structures of ancient Egyptian architecture . Each element and detail of the temple is made in accordance with the religious symbols of the Egyptians. The design of the temple included a number of indoor halls and open areas. At the entrance were massive pylons , which were aligned along the path along which the festive processions passed. Behind the walls of the temple were fences and a number of additional buildings. ^[3]

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In Orthodoxy, a church (synonymous with the word “ church ”) is called only that building in which there is an altar and the Eucharist is celebrated, in contrast to the chapel . This is due to the fact that the Eucharist is understood as real participation in the one-time sacrifice performed by Christ , and therefore is often called the "bloodless sacrifice." Catholic buildings have the same status as Catholics , although in Western European languages ​​they are usually called according to rank - chapel , church , cathedral . Directly to the temples sometimes adjoining the house of worship.

For most Protestants who do not consider the Eucharist a sacrament , church buildings are interpreted only as a place of assembly and general prayers, but not religious services (like the Orthodox chapel ). Some Late Protestant denominations prefer to gather and conduct services not in churches, chapels or houses of worship , but in rented halls, various rooms, in homes, explaining this by the fact that the book of Acts depicts the life of the early Christians ^[8] .

Other Abrahamic religions currently lack temples. So, in Judaism there can only be one Jerusalem Temple , which is currently destroyed . In Islam, temples as such are absent. The main religious buildings in these religions - the Jewish synagogue and Muslim mosque - are not temples, but serve for prayer purposes. In their religious functions, they are similar to Protestant houses of prayer .

One of the rare exceptions to this rule is the parachristian doctrine of Mormonism , in which there are temples for special ceremonies performed only there (as in non-Abrahamic religions and temple Judaism). Functionally (and architecturally) such temples are completely different from ordinary houses of worship (“chapels”, “tabernacles”).

• Nizametdinova, R. R. The idea of ​​space in the architecture of the Ancient East: the temple as a model of the universe // East. African-Asian Societies, 2011, No. 1, 117-123.
• Ali-zade A. A. Masjid // Islamic Encyclopedic Dictionary . - M .: Ansar , 2007 .-- 400 p. - (The Golden Fund of Islamic Thought). - ISBN 5-98443-025-8 .
• Temple - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
• Vlasov V.G. Mosque // New Encyclopedic Dictionary of Fine Arts: In 10 vols. - St. Petersburg. : ABC classic, 2006. - T. V: L - M .. - 768 s: ill. + on with
• Zhukovsky V.I. , Koptseva N.P. Art of the East. India: Textbook. allowance .. - Krasnoyarsk: Krasnoyarsk. state Univ. , 2005 .-- 402 p. - ISBN 5-7638-0575-5 .

• The history of temples on worldtemples.ru