Holy Doors

These two painted panels were never meant to hang on a wall. Around 1500, in the Bulgarian lands then under Ottoman rule, they swung on hinges at the very centre of the iconostasis, the tall screen that divides the congregation from the altar. These are the holy doors, the ones only a priest or deacon may pass, and only at set moments in the service. That is why they carry the Annunciation spread across the two leaves, the archangel Gabriel bringing his news to Mary. It marks the moment the divine entered the world, so it belongs on the gate the clergy cross to reach the altar. Below, on doors like these, the four Evangelists often keep watch. By old tradition the doors also stand for the gates of Jerusalem, the ones Christ rode through on Palm Sunday.