Have the rites taken anything from holy tradition?

Rites are an essential element of liturgical, family, and personal practice, for they represent the communion of the body with the spirit in worshiping God. The rites we received by tradition are not accidental in the life of the Church. In their symbolic meaning, they are more than an expression that brings the senses and the mind to the realities of the faith. They actually bring us right into the mystery of worship; they are a declaration of the living Truth, which abides in the Church.

For instance, in the hymns (or praises) of the Church we participate in the new heavenly song in Christ Jesus. Through these hymns we not only taste musical art, but also experience heavenly life.

In the Church building and all its contents, we encounter more than mere art or architecture or precious antiquities — we drink in a living tradition. The building is a living icon of the heavenly Church, which accurately expresses the Church’s faith.

Thus, in every kind of Christian art, we meet with the spirit of tradition. For instance, iconography offers us the life of the Church through the Holy Spirit and explains the life of faith in the Orthodox teaching. For we neither see icons as visible entities that help us in worship nor as religious decorations for the temple, but we taste in them our living faith in heavenly things and our love and unity with the saints in Christ Jesus.