Iconostasis
Videos
In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. Iconostasis also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere within a church. The iconostasis evolved from the Byzantine templon, a process complete by the 15th century.
People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest (the world's largest Orthodox iconostasis)
The Temple of Saint Sava in Belgrade
Mid-17th-century iconostasis at Ipatiev Monastery. To either side of the Holy Doors are Christ Pantokrator and the Theotokos; above them, the Great Feasts; above them, the Deesis; above that Prophets to either side of Our Lady of the Sign; above them the Apostles to either side of the Holy Trinity.
Churching of women
Videos
In Christian tradition the churching of women, also known as thanksgiving for the birth or adoption of a child, is the ceremony wherein a blessing is given to mothers after recovery from childbirth. The ceremony includes thanksgiving for the woman's survival of childbirth, and is performed even when the child is stillborn, or has died unbaptized.
A Woman's Solemn Churching after Childbirth (Christen Dalsgaard, 1860). Depicted is a Church of Denmark (Lutheran) ceremony.
inscription on bench used for churching women, Mariager church, Denmark