Lay people - are we?

Often people think that lay people are all living in society, in the world, unlike monks. But this is fundamentally the wrong idea. A layman can be called one who lives in church life. Visits Sunday and festive divine services, takes part in the sacraments of the church, such as confession, the sacrament of the Holy Christ's secrets. If a person was baptized in the Orthodox faith in infancy, but he visited the temple only as a tourist, he can not be called a layman.

Life of the laity

Lay people are not only visiting the temple. They also in everyday life try to follow the canons of the Orthodox faith and fulfill the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the modern world, there are many temptations and temptations from the enemy of the Lord - Satan, so no one can live a clean and unblemished life in the world. In some way a person still sins, even if in thought. To save your soul from sins, Orthodox people go to confession to the priest. But most of the baptized people do not even wear a cross, thereby denying the Lord. Lay people are people who respect God with reverence.

There is one more distinctive feature. Lay people are Orthodox Christians who do not have a spiritual order. The clergy also have a name like the clergy. Even the faithful Christians who serve in the temple (altar man, light bearer, porter, headman) also belong to the laity.

The laity and the clergy

In the modern world, the word "laity" is considered obsolete, denoting the whole people living in the world (in a secular society), in opposition to the monastics who have left the world in a monastery. But in the monastery a layman can be called those who did not take the Holy Vows of monastics.

In our time, the laity in the church are more lenient than it was two or three centuries ago. At that time, a pass of Sunday or holidays without justifiable reason was punished by penance, and more serious offenses even by excommunication from the church for a certain time. Now this practically is not present.

Now you know who the lay people are. The meaning of the word is discussed in detail in the article.