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I'm not sure this sentence is correct: "The word iconostasis is also often mistakenly used to refer to the templon in an Orthodox Church. However, in modern American usage it is the templon which is a wall of icons separating the nave from the sanctuary."
Templa have not been built since about the fifteenth century; a templon is carved of marble usually, and has columns and an architrave, a lot like a temple (hence the name). An iconostasis, on the other hand, though it serves a similar purpose to the templon, is quite different in terms of composition -- they're almost exclusively made out of wood, have strict hierarchies of icons (some of them permanent) and almost fully obfuscate the sanctuary. Though iconostasis means "icon stand", it actually IS the chancel barrier in almost all Eastern Orthodox churches since the 15th century. Anyway, I wanted to hear everyone else's ideas on it before I change anything back. Okay, thanks. --The PNM 02:51, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Uh, I don't believe the iconostasis is intended to preserve "ecclesastical secrecy", and I can give at least two counterexamples. In many Orthodox churches, it is not uncommon for laymen and even young boys to serve in the sanctuary, behind the iconstasis. Access is generally restricted to those who need enter the sanctuary, but that extends far beyond the ordained clergy. Second, these days it's not uncommon to find photojournals of special church services, such as ordinations or Liturgies being concelebrated by multiple hierarchs. These photojournals often include photos of different significant parts of the Eucharist that take place behind the iconostasis, thus making it open to the world. Third (I said at least two), in some churches, the iconostasis isn't even a solid wall, but merely some vertical pieces of wood with maybe some cross pieces, enough to hold some icons. In these churches, everyone in the nave has a reasonably clear view of everything that goes on. If they choose to stand near the sanctuary, they can also hear most or all of the priest's prayers. (This is probably more common in smaller churches and missions that may not be ready to afford a "full" iconostasis.) If "secrecy" were important or essential to the Divine Liturgy, no bishop would permit this to happen.
With this in mind, I'm removing the bit about secrecy and the comparison with the use of Latin. Wesley 16:45, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)
I've made some relatively minor corrections to some of the terminology. The only one that might look a bit odd is the substitution of "east" for "typically just east". It's true that not all churches are correctly oriented, but even where they're not the altar is always considered 'liturgically' east. If one were to follow the rubrics literally in a church that was oriented with the altar to the geographic north, the services would look strange indeed. --Csernica 00:41, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I'll be reverting the most recent change. It's not clearer, contains one made-up word and is less accurate than what was there before. Phiddipus, we might call the Deacon's Doors "Angel Doors" if the Archangels are depicted on them, but despite your no doubt extensive experience this is not universal. ("Mistakingly" is in some dictionaries, but it's inelegant and of very recent coinage, most likely a misspelling due to writing it out by ear. It's also inconsistent with your "mistakenly" earlier in the article, which is better English. I have left the "templon" issue alone since it's still an issue under discussion. Csernica 00:02, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
"I assume the Greeks know how to use their own language" makes sense, but says nothing about the use of English, even in words borrowed by English (accurately or not) from the Greek! Deipnosophista (talk) 12:28, 3 January 2023 (UTC)
In Oriental Orthodoxy, or at least in the Ethiopian Othodox Church, the church uses an iconostasis or something based on a similar concept. I don't imagine it's called by the same name, though. I am assuming the structure serves the same purpose as the iconostasis, as it obscures part of the altar (particularly the area where the tabot rests), and the priests conducts portions of the mass from behind this structure. I wonder if the use of the iconostasis goes all the way back before the Chalcedonian schism? Perhaps someone could elaborate. But if it's based on the same tradition then Oriental Orthodoxy's use of the iconostasis should be mentioned in this article. -- Gyrofrog (talk) 23:48, 25 February 2006 (UTC)
The image of the icon display in Winchester doesn't seem to fit the definition of an iconostasis given at the beginning of the article, since it doesn't separate the nave from the sanctuary. Should we simply remove the image? Or tweak the definition? 65.213.77.129 (talk) 19:59, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
The gallery is now too large, especially as the captions give nothing beyond the location. The Commons category is the place for collections of all the images we have. A gallery here should be carefully selected & explained in the captions. Johnbod (talk) 04:22, 23 December 2009 (UTC)
There is inconsistent reference to whether the sanctuary starts at the iconostasis or at the solea. There seem to be no reliable sources referred to in either instance. So which is it? TMLutas (talk)
I have placed the POV section and no-reference section templates for this section of the article. It is written in wikivoice, and yet it clearly is saying that the Orthodox view on what the iconostasis represents is factually correct, even going on to say what it means for "us". It also has no citation whatsoever. It could be fixed by finding citations for it, and making sure to add qualifiers such as "according to such-and-such Orthodox tradition, it is believed that..." and so on. BirdValiant (talk) 23:02, 12 February 2022 (UTC)