Consecration - Various Christian Churches

Various Christian Churches

Church buildings, chapels and altars are consecrated to the purpose of religious worship, baptismal fonts and vessels are consecrated for the purpose of containing the Eucharistic elements, the bread and wine/the body and blood of Christ.

A person may be consecrated for a specific role within a religious hierarchy, or a person may consecrate his or her life in an act of devotion. In particular, the ordination of a bishop is often called a consecration. In churches that follow the doctrine of Apostolic Succession (the historical episcopate), the bishops who consecrate a new bishop are known as the consecrators and form an unbroken line of succession back to the Apostles. Those who take the vows of religious life are said to be living a consecrated life.

Among some religious groups there is a service of "deconsecration", to return a formerly consecrated place to secular purpose (for instance, if the building is to be sold or demolished). In the Church of England, an order closing a church may remove the legal effects of consecration.

Read more about this topic:  Consecration

Famous quotes containing the words christian and/or churches:

    My object will be, if possible, to form Christian men, for Christian boys I can scarcely hope to make.
    Thomas Arnold (1795–1842)

    People fall out of windows, trees tumble down,
    Summer is changed to winter, the young grow old
    The air is full of children, statues, roofs
    And snow. The theatre is spinning round,
    Colliding with deaf-mute churches and optical trains.
    The most massive sopranos are singing songs of scales.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)