Iconostasis

Overview

• The iconostasis is the screen of icons standing between the nave and the altar in an Orthodox church, with the Royal Doors at its centre. It both marks and joins the boundary between the congregation and the holy place, presenting Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints to the worshippers in image.

Summary

The iconostasis grew out of the low chancel barrier of the early Church — a simple screen or railing dividing the sanctuary from the nave — into the tall, tiered wall of icons familiar in Orthodox churches today. Even in its developed form it was never fixed or uniform: St. John of Kronstadt, for one, is remembered for using a lower screen. Its icons — Christ and the Theotokos beside the Royal Doors, with the feasts and the saints ranged above — make visible that the worshipper prays in the company of the whole Church of heaven.