The Meaning of Shapes and Colors of Orthodox Churches
The outer color
of the church often reflects to whom it is devoted: to the Lord, to the
Mother of God, to a saint or a feast. For example:
White – the church
in honor of the Mother of God;
Red – devoted to
a martyr (or martyrs);
Green – to a venerable
saint;
Yellow – to a
bishop saint;
However, we
should point out that this is not a dogmatic rule, but a tradition, which is
not always followed.
The number of
the domes on the church is also symbolic of:
One –
symbolizing the One True God;
Three – the Holy
Trinity;
Five – the Savior
and four evangelists;
Seven – the
seven sacraments of the Church;
Nine – the number
of the angelic hosts;
Thirteen – the Savior
and His twelve apostles;
Thirty-three –
the number of years the Savior lived on earth.
The shape of
the domes has its own meaning as well:
The shape of a helmet recalls about the warriors and the spiritual fight that the Church
leads against the dark powers.
The shape of an
onion is a symbol of candle light, which refers to the words of the Savior: “You
are the light of the world”.
An intricate
shape and a bright coloring of the domes on the church in honor of St. Basil
the Blessed symbolize the beauty of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
The color of
the domes is also a part of the church symbolism:
Gold – a symbol
of the heavenly glory. The main churches devoted to Christ and the Great Feasts
had the domes of such color.
Blue domes with
stars can be seen on the churches in honor of the Mother of God because the
star recalls that Christ was born from Virgin Mary.
The churches in
honor of the Holy Trinity had green domes since green is the color of the Holy
Spirit.
The churches
dedicated to saints often have green or silver domes.
You can also
see black domes on the churches in monasteries for black is the color of
monasticism.
Translated
from: http://www.hram-feodosy.kiev.ua/struct_color.htm
