This question sooner or later arises for everyone who acquires an icon or receives it as a gift. And really, how to place it in the house in order to offer a prayer to the Lord and not break any sacred laws? After all, prayer is a kind of sacrament, and any sacrament should be performed in an appropriate place, and not anywhere. How to hang up icons in city apartments or private houses?
Instruction manual
1
The best place for the icon in the house is the red corner. It is here, according to tradition, that the iconostasis, spiritual literature, candles or lamps and the cross are located. The red corner of the house is the wall opposite the entrance to the room. The location is no coincidence, everyone who comes in can bow to the images without looking for them for a long time in all corners. It is better that the space near the iconostasis is free and allows all family members and guests to stand up to prayer at the same time.
2
The altar is located on the east side, it is also supposed to have icons in the house so that the worshiper faces the East. However, if you do not have a suitable place for images in the eastern part of the apartment, you can hang them in any other place. It is important that this is not a dull corner into which sunlight does not fall, and a wall that the icon will decorate and make even brighter. You can hang an icon on a regular nail or install it on a special shelf next to other icons. If there are a lot of icons in the house, you can make a special iconostasis for them. The main thing is that the process of collecting images does not turn into ordinary collecting. After all, their purpose is completely different, and there is no connection between the number of icons in the house and the piety of its inhabitants.
3
Do not install icons among books on shelves, as well as in shelves of cabinets mixed with cosmetics, statuettes and photographs of relatives. Also, you can not hang icons next to the toilet or in a row with paintings and other works of art. Remember that the icon is not a beautiful picture and not just an image. The purpose of the icon in the house is to preserve reverence and faith, as well as sacred patronage. In the bedroom of the spouses, icons can be placed, despite the mistaken idea of many that this is sinful.
note
Many believe that the conjugal bedroom and the icon are incompatible things. And they even hang the iconostasis with cloth at night. This is fundamentally wrong. Intimacy between spouses in a marriage is not at all considered a sin. In addition, of course, it is impossible to close any cloth from the gaze of the Lord.
Useful advice
First of all, it is necessary to have an icon of Jesus and the Mother of God in the house. They are installed on a common iconostasis in the Red Corner. You can also install icons of patrons of all family members or any other icons that are valuable to you.
