Church ‘symbolically portrays man’

St. Maximus the Confessor follows the belief claimed by St. Dionysios the Areopagite that the Church ‘symbolically portrays man’. Both Church Fathers claim that in the Church we have the Sanctuary and within that the Alter and the nave. The Sanctuary symbolises the soul. The Holy Alter resembles the nous, which is the holiest place and the centre of the soul. The union with God takes place there; it is the place where the Divine Eucharist is centred, where the bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Man’s body is symbolised in the Temple proper, the main body of the Church, where the faithful stand and pray during the Mysteries of the Church.