Orthodox Temple as a Modality of the Sacred

• Main Author: G. D. Pankov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kharkiv State Academy of Culture 2020-03-01
• Series: Культура України
• Subjects: храмовий топос; сакральне; нуменозне; кратофанія; ієрофанія; ganz andere; феноменологія релігії
• Online Access: http://ku-khsac.in.ua/article/view/205631
• ISSN: 2410-5325; 2522-1140

The aim of this article is to reconstruct the sacred meaning of the Orthodox temple. Research methodology. The study is based on the experience of the phenomenology of religion, which is used as a hermeneutical procedure and combined with a cultural analysis of creativity in its focus on the semantic design of religious artifacts. Results. The use of the research experience of the phenomenology of religion made it possible to deeply comprehend the temple as a sacred phenomenon, as well as the mechanisms of its construction. The main mechanism is the meaning of the numinous, endowed with the meaning of spiritual kratophany. The significant symbolic instruments of sacralization of the temple identified with uranic and solar hierophany — heavenly and solar symbolism, the value of which is given a numinous status. It has been established that the sacred elevation of the Orthodox temple is achieved by endowing its topoi with eschatological and soteriological significance. From this follows a look at the temple with all its attributes as the most important sacred means of arranging the final destiny of a human being, and with this value its authority is created and maintained in the Orthodox tradition. The article demonstrates the high research productivity of the phenomenology of religion as a special religious discipline and at the same time as one of the approaches to the insight of the religious culture. The application of this approach enabled to have a better grip of the key aspects of the sacred phenomenon and the mechanisms of its modification in the Orthodox temple as a cultural artifact. The performed analysis enabled to overcome the narrowness of the usual view of the temple as a place of worship or a work of art and to reach the level of its comprehension as a cultural phenomenon that demonstrates the most important spiritual intentions of a human being and culture. Novelty. An attempt is made to have a better grip of the sacred modification of the temple with a significant emphasis on the mechanisms of meaning formation of the artifact under consideration. The practical significance. The results of this publication can be used in religious studies, cultural studies, theology, as well as in educational and upbringing practices in the formation in the minds of people of a humanistic attitude to the Orthodox culture.