Orthodox crosses on graves. Making metal crosses with your own hands

If you decide to install a cross on the grave yourself, then first you will need to understand some details. Before installation and preparation, you need to decide on the material that you will use.

To a greater extent, the entire installation and preparation process will depend on it. The most popular are three types of gravestones: wood, metal and stone.

Installation of a wooden cross

Remember that wood is a short-lived material, and in order to best preserve it, it will need to be initially prepared for installation.

If you decide to make the cross yourself, then it is best to take coniferous species or oak. Coniferous trees are more resistant to climate change.

Due to the high resin content in the tree trunk, its durability initially increases. The strength of oak is not particularly resistant to weather conditions however, it will adequately withstand moisture when dug in.

There may be several installation methods. You know perfectly well what for reliable installation it is necessary to fix the cross in the ground, which means that we have only two ways out, or to fill it concrete mortar or initially attach support beams to the base.

If using concrete the process is more or less clear, then installing additional legs on a cross is best done 2 times. The legs should extend vertically and horizontally. It will be best if you attach two pairs of them, at the very bottom of the cross and shallow from the surface.

Having dug a hole of sufficient depth (depending on the massiveness and height of the cross, it can be different), place the cross with legs in it. Try to secure it in the ground as securely as possible.

It is best to fill the hole with clay, because of its viscosity, it will not sag much during rains and will not be washed out by the flow of water. You will have to wait a while to fill the hole again; it is best to wait until one rainy season has passed, and in case of severe drought, you can wait about six months.

The finished cross should be thoroughly treated before filling with clay. additional materials. Antifungal varnish or special remedy, repels moisture. In some cases, the surface can be coated thin layer glue.

Installation of the Iron Cross

The installation of a metal cross does not differ in the installation method. It is best to cover a metal cross alkyd paint or anti-rust. Try to ensure that when opening the material there are no unpainted areas left.

As for the installation of a metal cross, it is best to use a concrete solution. A sufficient amount of concrete poured into the hole is the best fastener underground.

Before pouring concrete into a dug hole, it would be a good idea to try to hammer the cross into the ground an extra 10 cm. After the concrete solution has dried, you can safely fill the hole with earth or clay. Due to the displacement of most of the earth by concrete mortar, there will not be much shrinkage of the earth.

Installation of a stone cross

A stone tombstone is quite simple to install. It is very difficult to install it yourself, but it is possible. The main problem is that the stone itself is a very heavy product, and setting it level will be your first and foremost task.

There is no need to pre-prepare the stone. Although if the cross is made of stone chips, after installation you can cover it with an antifungal solution so that wet weather does not cause plants of the moss family to grow on the monument.

When making a stone cross, craftsmen provide an option for installation, but, unfortunately, each craftsman makes fasteners in his own way.

The most common is screwing metal piles in length and width from the base of the cross, which are simply dug in and covered with earth. Due to its high weight, you don’t have to worry about the cross falling or moving after installation.

2018.03.02

In this article we will talk about all the installation features Orthodox crosses to the graves. You will receive answers to the following questions that relatives of the deceased often ask us.

• Where to place a cross on a grave after a funeral?
• When can it be replaced with a monument?
• What to do with the cross after installing the stele?

Where to put a cross on a grave

Many people ask where to place a cross on a grave (at the feet or the head of the deceased)? This is what the Orthodox Church says about this.

According to tradition, the dead are buried with their heads to the west and feet to the east (this is how the Savior was buried). Wherein the cross is placed at the feet. This symbolizes the following. Looking at the cross, the deceased prays.

According to the New Testament, before the End of the World, Jesus will resurrect and rise like lightning from the east. When the dead are resurrected after the Savior, they will be able to immediately see Christ. The cross at the feet of the deceased symbolizes support and eternal life.

Where to put the cross after installing the monument

The monument is usually erected six months to a year after the burial, since the earth must settle. We'll tell you what you can do with an old cross and what you can't.

What can you do with a cross?

The best option is to leave it. In this case, it is best to install the monument next to the cross. If you still decide to dismantle it, you can do it in several ways.

• Disassemble the cross and bury it in the grave of the deceased. This option is suitable for metal and granite crosses.
• Burn the wooden cross in a specially designated area in the cemetery or in a church oven. The ashes can be scattered over the grave.
• Lean or tie the dismantled cross to the fence.

Note! The cross must be treated with the utmost care.

What not to do with crosses

• Under no circumstances should you throw the cross into a landfill. Throwing away the symbol of victory over death is a grave sin.
• Selling the cross will also be considered a blasphemous act.
• A cross that has been dismantled but left on the site should not lie there.

When making a grave cross, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the size it will have, but also not to forget about Orthodox traditions. Many customers do not understand how to distinguish Catholic from Orthodox. It all depends on religion. Commonly used grave crosses from valuable wood. For them to serve long time, you must follow the manufacturing technology of the product. Under no circumstances should you use bad or damp wood, and it is also necessary to take into account the processing of the finished structure.

Differences between the Orthodox cross.

In shape and size they are similar to each other, but in the image of the crucified Christ there are some differences. Orthodox tradition says that our Savior's feet were nailed with two nails. And the Catholic one indicates that only one nail was used during the crucifixion. There are some other differences as well. For example, the shape of an Orthodox cross is most often eight-pointed or six-pointed. In the cemetery, Christian believers have mostly wooden grave crosses. In this way, they perpetuate the memory of the deceased. In the Orthodox faith, it is allowed to use the image of Jesus Christ on a wooden product. At the grave of the deceased it must be installed in in the right direction, this means to be at the feet of a deceased person, and his crucifix is ​​opposite his face.

Advantages of a wooden product.

The most accessible and the best option considered to be a grave Orthodox cross made of wood. Only valuable tree species are used for its production. Wood is mainly obtained from aspen, bog oak, pine, cypress, and iroko. IN modern world There are a variety of designs for graves, and the choice can be made based on what is available and what you like.

A wooden cross for a grave is worthy alternative ordinary tombstones of regular shapes and sculptural statues. This type of burial design has been used since ancient times. It is believed that it is most correct to install a cross on the grave of a Christian believer. What material to choose from for this element of cemetery decoration and what rules should be followed during installation?

Choosing wood

If you are faced with the need to arrange a final shelter for loved one, you probably want the result of your work to look decent. Many workshops specializing in this offer the manufacture of wooden crosses for graves. Wood looks noble, however, choosing this material for the manufacture of elements and structures under open air, its special characteristics should be taken into account.

Only aspen is not afraid of water and does not rot. However, this breed is not used for making Christian paraphernalia, as it is considered cursed. It was on an aspen tree that Judas hanged himself, and therefore the tree does not have the best reputation in the Orthodox world. Oak is considered one of the most durable species; over the years it becomes stronger and acquires a noble dark shade. Products made from beech, teak, and ash can last approximately 30 years. If you wish, it is not at all difficult to find a wooden cross for a grave made of pine, it undeniable dignity - low cost, but will also lose attractive appearance it is much faster than more expensive analogues.

Wood processing

No special protection wooden crafts outdoors can maintain their attractive appearance within 5-7 years. Over the years, under the influence of precipitation and temperature changes, the wood rots, darkens, and cracks may appear. Wooden grave crosses are treated with special antiseptics and protective impregnations. However, there is no composition that can completely prevent wood rotting. Even the most expensive and high-quality wooden cross on a grave will have to be replaced after some time. In the best case, this period will be 30 years.

Rules for installing grave crosses

Previously, all elements of burial decoration were painted. Today the most popular are crosses made of natural wood, made while maintaining its shade and texture. Such products can have a laconic form or be decorated carved elements. You can see in the cemetery christian symbols with additional upper crossbars - these are old Russian wooden crosses for the grave. A photo of the deceased can also be attached to a tombstone crucifix, sometimes instead they are limited to a plaque with the name and years of life or an icon.

When placing a cross on the grave, do not forget to keep an eye on it. Remember that this is a sacred element of decoration and should always look appropriate. It is useful to treat wood once a year protective composition. The cross should stand straight and point its top straight to the sky. Over time, the crucifix may become askew, in which case it should be carefully adjusted and secured in the correct position.

Good to know before placing a wooden cross on a grave

Install orthodox symbol possible at the burial site of a believer. The issue of choosing such a monument for an unbaptized person or someone who has committed a grave sin should be discussed separately with the clergyman. It is not customary to place crosses on the graves of suicides, but today some priests agree to perform funeral services for those who died of their own free will, and bless the installation of Christian monuments at their graves.

What to choose: a traditional monument or a cross? This is a matter of personal taste and faith, but it is increasingly common to see graves containing both. More often, a cross is placed at the head of the deceased, and a monument at the feet. Funeral crucifixes today are made not only from wood; if desired, you can order interesting option made of metal or stone. However, wood products amaze with the variety of shapes and design options and look no less solemn.

The customer can independently choose the size of the wooden cross for the grave; the location of neighboring monuments and the surroundings of the grave as a whole should be taken into account. Standard height crucifixes - 180-200 centimeters, and the length of the crossbars can vary significantly depending on the characteristics of the shape of the product.

For one book in our publishing house it was necessary to depict Orthodox cross. There are many images of crosses in Yandex, but the quality of the image required that the cross be drawn initially in a graphics editor. We tried to draw, but it didn’t work, the proportions weren’t right. We began to look for the required proportions - it turned out that there were such. And all the crosses that are made for the needs of the Russian Orthodox Church are made only according to these proportions. And we are talking here not only about the holiness of the Cross, as one of the main symbols of Orthodoxy, but also about its symbolism, clearly linked to proportions. But first things first...

The cross is a symbol of God - our Lord Jesus Christ. For every believer Orthodox man the cross is associated with memories of the Lord's death throes for the sins of all people from the fall of Adam and Eve until the end of time. Even if there is no image of the crucifixion on the cross, it is invisibly present there. Therefore, the proportions of the cross are related to the proportions of a person.

Creating living organisms from the simplest to man, the “Creator of all things” used a single matter and the universal proportion of the “golden section” to give shape to living beings. “Gold” is present everywhere: in the form of a mollusk shell, a turnip in the garden, and in the proportions of the crown of creation - man. For example, the ratio of a person's height to the height from the heels to the navel is the same as the ratio of the size from the heels to the navel to the height from the navel to the crown of the head, and the same as the sequential ratio of the sizes of the phalanges of any finger to each other. This universal ratio is 1:0.618.

The proportions of the “golden section” are present in all harmonic phenomena of life; they used to be present in human creations, for example, in classical music (in the culminating “nodes” of works), but these proportions no longer exist in jazz or rock. The same can be said about modern architecture.
God is Perfection, therefore, the symbol of God must be built according to the laws of His creation: in the “golden” proportion. In other words, the proportions of the cross are the division of a straight line segment in the “golden” ratio. The cross must also reflect the history of its origin, as a three-part Honest and Life-giving Cross The Lord's.

Greek (Korsun cross)

Picture 1.

The cross is the tree of life, the guardian of the Universe, therefore, it is no coincidence that many decorative elements of the cross are associated with its origin and have corresponding names: “burrs” in the form of leaves located on the three upper ends of the cross, “branches” - on the main “trunk” above the tsata, “ the sun" and the rays extending from it in the center of the Baroque cross. Analyzing temple crosses, chronologically we can distinguish several main types of crosses known to Russian architects: the Greek equal-pointed cross, its other name is the Korsun cross (picture 1) , by the name of the city from where Rus' directly adopted Orthodox Faith; Russian Orthodox eight-pointed cross (Figure 2) ; baroque cross (Figure 3) .

All the types of crosses listed above differ from each other in proportions, number and nature decorative elements. The Greek cross usually fits into a square or rectangle in the "golden ratio", with usually a crossbar dividing the vertical one in half, hence the equilateral cross. Ancient cathedral churches usually had Greek crosses with decorative elements, while the central cross was more elongated vertically. The crosses had tsats at the bottom as a symbol of God’s blessing, which also meant the service of a bishop in a given church. The body of the cross had inserts - metal plates with perforated carvings. The theme of the plots was usually “paradise”: birds and flowers.

Russian eight-pointed cross

Figure 2.

The Russian eight-pointed cross most often fits into a rectangle, the sides of which relate to each other in the “golden ratio”. The cross is ascetic, has no decorative ornaments. It consists of a vertical pillar and three crossbars: the top signifies the tablet on which Pilate made inscriptions in Greek, Roman and Hebrew; the middle one - the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ are spread out on it, embracing the whole world; the lower crossbar marks the place where the Lord's feet were nailed. The lower crossbar is tilted; if you look at the cross from the west, the left part of the crossbar is raised up, and the right part is down. According to the teaching of the Church, on Last Judgment the righteous will stand by right hand the Lord, and sinners on the left, the first to go to heaven, to paradise, and sinners to hell, to hell.

From anthropometrics we know that if the size of a person’s arm span is almost equal to his height, then the size of the middle crossbar of the Russian cross is equal to the vertical size from the middle crossbar to the bottom. Based on this fairly simple and clear position, you can find all the other proportions eight-pointed cross. If we take the height of the cross to be 1.0, then its middle crossbar should be equal to 0.618, the distance from the middle crossbar to the bottom will also be equal to 0.618. Let us take the distance from the top crossbar to the top of the cross to be equal to the distance from the bottom crossbar to the base of the cross; if we represent this in numbers, we get: 1) 1.0 - 0.618 = 0.382;
2) 0.382: 2 = 0.191 (see Fig. 2).

Depending on the height of the structure and its visual perception from the ground, the vertical elements of the cross were extended (most often on bell towers, due to their insignificant plan dimensions in relation to the height).

Baroque cross

Figure 3.

The Baroque cross arose and became widespread in Russia in the 18th century. Its appearance is associated with the dominant at that time eponymous architectural style. The peculiarity of this style is the “lushness” of forms and the saturation of elements with curvilinear outlines. Although many provincial churches of this period are modest in shape and number of decorative elements, the crosses are “rich”: saturated with elements that have a subtle graceful design and are covered with zealot leaf.

The analysis of baroque crosses allows us to determine their proportions, which were most often used by master baptists when creating a “standard” cross. The ratio of the height of the Baroque cross to its height to the main crossbar is 1.000: 0.618. The size from the center of the crossbar to the top of the cross is equal to half the span of the cross in the crossbar and is 0.382 of the total height. As in the eight-pointed Russian cross, the size of the main crossbar of the cross without decorative “burrs” equal to height from the crosshair to the bottom crossbar - tsata (0.472 times the height of the cross) (see Fig. 3). Crosses with tsats, as mentioned above, were placed only on churches where the bishop served. The division of each large element into smaller components is also carried out in the “golden ratio”, this achieves harmony of the whole and each individual element.

In the process of further analysis of the proportions of the crosses, the dependence of the main dimensions of the crosses on the dimensions of Orthodox churches and chapels, and also, consequently, on their visual perception from the ground was revealed. For example, the following relationship was revealed: the crosses of relatively low chapels are closer to a square or rectangle in the “golden ratio”, and the proportions of the crosses of high-rise bell towers tend to be a double square in height.
The research results obtained were defended at the scientific and methodological council of the culture department and served as the basis for practical activities author on recreating those destroyed in Soviet time finish Orthodox churches, as well as the design of new cathedrals, churches and chapels. In particular, this is the design of the Cathedral of St. Nicholas of the St. Nicholas Monastery of Pereslavl-Zalessky; the Church of St. George the Victorious PC "Slavich", designing a chapel at the source of the appearance of the icon of the Great Martyr Barbara and the chapel of St. Dmitry Prilutsky in the Pereslavl region; design of the wooden church of St. Tikhon and the New Martyrs of Russia, stone temple John the Baptist and the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhny Novgorod region.

Thanks to the information about the proportions, we drew the correct footer. Many will say - what’s the problem, take it and redraw it from any sample? However, it is very important in the book to display not the skill of a draftsman (read: designer, decorator), but respect for the Faith, for the tradition in which this Faith lives, and for the culture in which the tradition is reflected.

Information from here.