Why do I never see windows?

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Ite_ad_Ioseph

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Whenever I see an Eastern Catholic Church, that is, it looks like an Orthodox church inside, with an iconostasis, etc, why do I never see windows? Is that a policy of an Eastern church, like the iconostasis?
Pax
 
What do you mean by windows? Stained glass, any at all ???

God Bless,
Rosemary
 
Is it because they use Macintosh computers and not PCs? Perhaps they do not like Microsoft?
🤷

(Sorry. I could not resist the joke.)
 
I mean stained-glass windows, in the actual church section of the church, the nave. I don’t know of any church that has windows that do not have religious pictures on them.
Pax
 
rpp said:
Is it because they use Macintosh computers and not PCs? Perhaps they do not like Microsoft?
🤷

(Sorry. I could not resist the joke.)
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Tha’t what I thought at first and then I realized that the Orthodox think Eastern Catholics are in to UNIX…🤷

😃
Okay I’ll keep my day job.

On a serious not now. I wonder if it’s because stained glass windows are more expensive.
 
On a serious not now. I wonder if it’s because stained glass windows are more expensive.
 
The greek Orthodox church here in Roanoke has windows, they are blue and yellow colored glass.
 
I mean stained-glass windows, in the actual church section of the church, the nave. I don’t know of any church that has windows that do not have religious pictures on them.

**The Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Birmingham, Alabama has stained glass windows in iconographic style.

But stained glass windows are also rather expensive, especially if they show any kind of picture at all.**
 
Putting in windows means less room to paint frescoes of the saints on the walls 😉

John
 
I would guess that an exploration of the development of architecture in the east vs the west would answer the question. I don’t know, but in the East do public buildings in general and churches in particular built in a classic style generally have windows at all? when were windows introduced in western architecture, and how were churches in the east being built at that time?
 
I would assume you mean stained glass windows with images, not just regular windows, because every Orthodox or Eastern Catholic church I’ve seen does indeed have regular windows!

Stained glass windows, especially custom ones, are expensive. So, too, are icons. Most churches commission icons from trained iconographers, and they do not come cheap. The Orthodox church near me is raising money to have icons added to their sanctuary walls, and I believe they are trying to raise $100,000 for the project. This is just for painting and adding icons to the already well-decorated walls, mind you.

So an Eastern church, given the choice between icons written on the walls of their sanctuary or stained glass windows, is going to choose the icons. It’s practically a no-brainer. 🙂
 
rpp said:
(Sorry. I could not resist the joke.)
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What joke? Ohhh, wait, I get it. I don’t want it, but, I get it.

All right, I’ll go back to the Curmudgeon Thread in a little bit, but first,

I don’t know if this counts for what you are looking for, but my Great Grandparent’s Armenian Apostolic Church has stained glass windows in it of Armenian Saints.
 
vocatio said:
Tha’t what I thought at first and then I realized that the Orthodox think Eastern Catholics are in to UNIX…🤷
Click to expand...
The Eastern Churches use a specialized version of Unix: UNΙΧΘΥΣ.

There seems to be an argument, though, whether Windows NT supplements or supplants Windows OT.

Many religious orders use Mac OSX, although the Benedictines apparently dislike version X and prefer version B.
 
In order to understand this one has to understand the purpose of the stained glass windows. Originally they were catechetical in nature – in fact, the term “stories” in reference to the number of floors in a building was originally applied to the number of “stories” told by the windows. The Latin Church used stained glass windows as part of the teaching of the people (since, at the time, most were illiterate). The Eastern Churches tended to use icons to teach – they were considered “windows into heaven”. This, coupled with a different architectural approach to building churches is the primary reason you will not find many Eastern Catholic (or Orthodox) churches with stained glass windows. When you do it’s usually because they bought the building with them already in, because of Latinizations, or because the congregation wanted them.

Deacon Ed
 
Deacon_Ed said:
The Eastern Churches tended to use icons to teach – they were considered “windows into heaven”. This, coupled with a different architectural approach to building churches is the primary reason you will not find many Eastern Catholic (or Orthodox) churches with stained glass windows. When you do it’s usually because they bought the building with them already in, because of Latinizations, or because the congregation wanted them.
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Actually, it depends on when the church was built and where the church was built.

The Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches that were built at the turn of the 20th century until 1929 have incredible stained glass windows showing all kinds of ikongraphy. The vast majority of these churches were built in the Northeast and across the great lakes regions where the immigrants settled. They were built with the stained glass windows as a way of the people of the congregation giving thanks to the Almighty for His blessings by making His church the most beautiful and “modern” as they could afford.

The new St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic church in Hazelton, PA was built in the 1960’s and they did not install an ikonostas. The priest told the congregation that the stained glass windows were the ikonostas. Thankfully, this was remedied a couple of years ago when a new ikonstas and new ikons were finally installed.

There are Orthodox churches built in the 1950’s & 1960’s, St. Nicholas OCA Cathedral in Wasihngton,DC, being one example, that do not have stained glass windows. I’ve been told by one priest from St. Nick’s that they didn’t put in stained glass windows because they are not a “pure substance” since the glass has “additives” to make the colors. Another priest from St. Nick’s told me that the style of the church, Northern Russian, they did not use stained glass because it was not found in Russia.

The new OCA church that was just consecrated on the Feast of the Myrrh-bearing women also does not have stained glass windows, just “clear” glass with enough protection to keep the UV rays from fading the new ikons.

hope this helps…
 
Ite_ad_Ioseph said:
Whenever I see an Eastern Orthodox church I never see windows?

Pax
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As has been said colored windows are uncommon in Orthodox churches. Largest one in Russia is that in the St. Isaak of Dalmatia Sobor in St. Petersburg, made by German firm. It can be seen when Tsar gates are open:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
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