Can an iconostasis in an Orthodox or Byzantine Catholic Church have more than one set of royal doors?

At the following link, www.saintjohnwonderworker.org/pilgrim.htm is the beautiful interior of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Our Lady, Joy of All Who Sorrow (ROCOR jurisdiction) in San Francisco, CA. You will notice that there are two additional sets of royal doors in addition to the central royal doors. The ROCOR cathedral in Los Angeles also has three sets of royal doors on its iconostasis as well.
In fact, so far I have only seen this among ROCOR parishes.

I take it that behind these extra sets of royal doors are altars as well. I was under the impression that there should only be one altar in an Eastern Orthodox/Byzantine Catholic church building.

I am curious to know:

1) Is this an influence from the Roman Catholic Church, which in their churches had several side altars in addition to the main altar or has this always been a part of Eastern tradition?

2)When would Divine Liturgy be celebrated on these "side altars"? Are they used for non-Sunday Divine Liturgies?

3)Are "side altars" common in the various Byzantine Catholic and Orthodox Churches or are they more common in the Slavic traditions(Russian, Ukrainian,etc.)?

Thank you for any information you may give. May Our Lord bless you.

griego catolico

[ 06-13-2002: Message edited by: griego catolico ]

Griego Catolico,

1. Starting in the Baroque period it was common for Russian and Ukrainian Churches to have additional altars. I would think this was due to Latin influence.

2. The canons stipulated one Liturgy on a given altar, not one Litrugy in a given Church, although this was the de facto practice because the majority of Churches had but one altar. If a Church had more than one altar more Liturgies weren't a problem, even on a Sunday. That is their purpose in the ROCOR Cathedrals, I believe, as the Cathedrals aren't big enough to hold all the parishioners at once.

3. The Ukrainian Catholics, the Basilians mainly, did have oratories/churches for multiple simple/low liturgies with multiple altars like their Latin counterparts. I am unaware of Greek Catholic/Orthodox churches in general having multiple altars like the ROCOR or Baroque era Cathedrals. There are a few exceptions. The Byzantine Seminary Chapel has a side altar on the right side which unusually faces directly south, which I presume was erected for low Liturgies. However, it is never used now. Our Cathedral in Munhall and St. Gregory's in Upper St. Clair have seperate chapels for weekday Liturgy, both have an Iconostasis which our liturgical law requires.

In Christ,
Lance

St. Michael the Golden Dome Monastery Church in Kyiv (KP) has 2 additional Iconostasis connect to the main one. The are almost like sepereate chapels seperated from the main nave with some pillars, yet from these side chapels, you can view the main nave.

Several other churches I have noticed other side altars: St. Volodymyr's Cathedral, Kyiv (KP), and Holy Transfirguration UC Church in L'viv. They were actually in the middle of the church but on the side and there was a step up and a small iconostas. It was a very nice church and the side chapels fit in very very well. Those who have been there in L'viv, you probably will agree. ( The book Ordo Celebrations by Serge Keleher and Jack Figel says they are "good ones") I have also seen several in Canada, one UCC in Montreal but I don't remeber the name.

Hope this helps.
-uc

The architectural term for "side chapels" or "side altars" is "parecclesiae", and these were present already in Constantinople well before the baroque period.

Later on nearly all of the famous larger churches in Kyiv have them, esepecally in the times of the consturction of St. George in L'viv, Rastrelli's St. Andrew Church in Kyiv, etc. Many of these famous larger churches are now museums or are in the hands of the MP, not as many belonging to the KP.

The practice of one Liturgy per altar on any given day on any of the altars in a church, is still strictly adhered to with the Orthodox and is possible since the paraecclesiae generally have their own smaller iconostasis. So there may be more than one Liturgy per day in the same church, but not more than one Liturgy per day per altar, at least in Orthodox practice. The addition of extra liturgies during the day on the same altar in Greek Catholic usage appears to be another later borrowing from the Latins.

:rolleyes:
GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST!
GLORY TO HIM FOREVER!

Diak wrote:"...The practice of one Liturgy per altar on any given day on any of the altars in a church, is still strictly adhered to with the Orthodox..."

St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC has Divine Liturgy at 9:00am and 10:45am on Sunday mornings.

St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral, also in Washington,DC has Divine Liturgy at 7:40am and 9:40am on Sunday mornings.

Each has only 1 altar and 1 ikonostas.

mark

Dear Friends,

The Pochaiv Lavra, while under the Basilians, did have side altars where Liturgies/Masses were often served at the same time.

I think that iconostasis is extremely beautiful and if the Orthodox use the side altars either for Liturgies during the week or else so as to enable the celebration of more than one Liturgy on a given Sunday/Day of the Resurrection, then more power to them!

But there is a qualitative difference between this and the serving of many Masses at side altars as used to obtain in the RC Church.

I was in the Trappist monastery at Oka where one may walk around the main nave and see about 15 side chapels, each dedicated to a different saint.

Alex

Wow, I've been to a lot of Orthodox churches but that is a first for me, Mark...Is that an OCA parish, by the way? That would suprise me less since many of the OCA are descended from Greek Catholics who left over the celibacy issue in the early part of this century.

Glory to Jesus Christ!

In Orthodox Churches where there are more than one Divine Liturgy Served in One day, there is a second Altar Table that can be placed direrctly over the other Altar, in this manner the Altar is considered to be a differient Altar thus not violating the canons of the Orthodox Church.

Your brother in Christ,
Thomas

I have only visited the Cathedral "Joy of All Who Sorrow" in San Francisco one time about 17 years, but I heard from a friend who was a regular attendee there that the Bishop celebrates Liturgy at the main altar, and when he is unavailable, the priests use the side altars.

Anyone else have any information about this?

Thanks and Best Wishes,
Stefan-Ivan

Very good disucssion. One more point. It is not our Eastern Christian tradition to follow the former Latin practice of private Masses, which was a reason for the development of side altars in many Latin temples.

Axios

GLORY TO JESUS CHRIST!
GLORY TO HIM FOREVER!

Hi Diak

St. Nicholas Cathedral is the seat of His Beautitude Metropolitan Theodosius. It is OCA but was founded by members of the Russian Embassy who were here during the Revolution in 1917. There is at least one member of the Romanov family who still uses the term PRINCE. This is currently the favorite church of the Russian Embassy which is only a few blocks away. They have Divine Liturgy in both English and Russian.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is ROCOR I believe. I don't know who founded it. They also have Divine Liturgy in English and Russian.

Both have GORGEOUS IKONS and wonderful websites but I don't have the addresses written down. I'll try to locate them and post them later.

the least servant of the servants
mark

St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Washington DC (ROCOR)
http://www.stjohndc.org

St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Washington DC (OCA)
http://www.stnicholasdc.org

Divine Liturgy in Russian, eh? Fascinating...

From what I read on the websites, both Cathedrals have English and Slavonic Divine Liturgy, I didn't see Russian.

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck