In Vasmer Max's dictionary
genus. p. -a, ukr., blr. stovp, stovp, other Russian. stalp, st.-slav. stlаp πύργος, κιών, στήλη (Ostrom., Euch. Sin., Supr.), Bulgarian. stalp "pillar", Serbohorvian. stup, gen. p. stupa, Slovenian stolp, Czech. sloup, slvts. stlp, Polish sɫup, v.-luzh. stor, n.-luzh. sɫup, lab. staup “altar” (Trubetskoy, ZfslPh 1, 153). Praslav. *stъlpъ along with *stъlbъ (see pillar), related to lit. stul̃pas “pillar”, lt. stùlps “pillar; shin, calf", stulpe "middle bone of the leg"; see Trautman, BSW 290 et seq.; M.–E. 3, 1102; Specht 260; KZ 68, 123. Other isl. stolpi “pillar, column” is not borrowed. from Balt. or slav., contrary to Zubaty (Wurzeln 21 et seq.); Wed Stender-Petersen, below. In the same way, *stъlpъ cannot be considered based on the mere presence of -р- borrowings. from German, contrary to Mehringer (Wus I, 200), Stender-Petersen (280 et seq.); see Brückner, AfslPh 42, 139 et seq.; Kiparsky 86 et seq.; Thorpe 489; Holthausen, Awn. Wb. 283.
The meaning of the word pillar
Examples of the use of the word pillar in literature.
But at the same time, Christ and the apostles, on the other hand, can be considered as private individuals, pillars of religious perfection and complete despisers of the world.
And here are even logs of an octagon on all sides and at all heights, only the base of the octagonal tent is broken off from the pillar by a small canopy.
The Russian Slavs - Krivichi, Northerners, Vyatichi, Radimichi - performed funeral feasts over the dead: they showed their strength in various military games, burned the corpse on a large bonfire and, enclosing the ashes in an urn, placed it on a pillar in the vicinity of the roads.
Jonathan remembered Quimby's Gigley Pillar and how the haberdasher had asked for an extra bolt of fabric.
Anticipating the approach of winter, the beautiful birds moved south, into the hot reaches of Africa, perhaps beyond the Pillars of Hercules.
They fearlessly sail into the ocean, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, into foggy Britain, into India, to the distant island of Taprobana, full of palm trees and monkeys, or to Serika - the land of silkworms, where temple roofs are hung with glass bells and people who worship merciful gods bring They donate not animals, but flowers and squares of gold and silver paper.
We will build a large ship, Scribonius, and sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules to visit the Isles of the Blessed.
Theoretically, one could declare him an impostor, but to be disgraced by such a rotten woman, and in addition to quarrel with Dolfinchik, Lun, Shirka and other pillars of the criminal world who recognized him, old people and youth, not to mention Kromeshnik himself and his people - there were no takers.
Lessing's struggle with such enemies as the head of German classicism, Gottsched, the translator of Horace, Pastor Lange, who was considered one of the pillars of learned burgher poetry, the antiquarian Klotz, and the reactionary theologian Goeze, stirred up the ideological life of Germany and contributed to the awakening of advanced democratic minds.
Turning to the study of heredity, Morgan, Johansen and other pillars of Mendelism-Morganism declared from the outset that they intended to study the phenomena of heredity independently of Darwin's theory of development.
Here reigns a religiosity distrustful of life, which plays into the hands of the pillars of society, who greet the living life that has broken through the Domostroevsky dams with an angry grumbling.
Jean Gerson, one of the pillars of all church politics, turned out to be the person in whom the adherents of Herart Hroot, who felt an impending threat, found their defender.
Moscow - a certain Polina Andreevna Lisitsyna, who arrived in Zavolzhsk not so long ago, but has already managed to make friends with all the pillars of Trans-Volga society.
While Pantagruel was composing the above verses, Panurge first planted on a high pillar the horns, skin and front right leg of a roe, then the ears of three hares, the back of a rabbit, the jaws of a seasoned hare, the wings of a pair of bustards, the legs of four doves, a bottle of vinegar, the horn where they put salt, a wooden spit, a frying needle, an old leaky cauldron, a gravy boat, a clay salt shaker and a Bovez glass.
He stood up, took one small packet of concentrate cubes from his backpack and solemnly placed it at the foot of the pillar.
Source: Maxim Moshkov library
Pillars of Hercules
The ancient Greeks called the modern Strait of Gibraltar the Pillars of Hercules. According to legend, King Eurystheus ordered the hero to deliver Geryon's cows to Mycenae from the island of Erithia, which was located far to the west in the ocean. Sailing past Tartessus, Hercules erected two steles on the northern and southern shores of the strait that separated Europe from Africa, which were called the Pillars of Hercules. According to another version, the hero moved apart the mountains that blocked the entrance to the ocean, thus creating the Strait of Gibraltar. In the modern world, the Pillars of Hercules, entwined with a ribbon, are the sign of the US dollar.
G. Aldegrever. Hercules placed stone pillars on both sides of Gibraltar
(see "Church")
Content:
1. 1 Timothy 3:14,15 (“…The Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth”)
2. Rev. 3:1,7,12 (“He who overcomes I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God...”)
3. Gal.2:9 (“...and when James, Cephas, and John, who were counted as pillars, knew of the grace given to me...”)
4. Exodus 13:20-22 (“And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, showing them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, giving them light, that they might go day and night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire did not depart at night on behalf of [the whole] people")
5. Numbers 12:1-5 (“And the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came out”)
6. Exodus 26:36,37 (“And thou shalt make five pillars of shittim for the curtain, and overlay them with gold, with gold hooks; and pour out for them five sockets of brass.”)
7. Jer.31:20,21 (“Set up for yourself waymarks, set up for yourself pillars, set your heart on the road, on the path along which you walked...”)
8. Exodus 27:14 (“On one side are curtains fifteen cubits long; their pillars are three, and their sockets are three”)
9. Exodus 27:16 (“And for the gate of the court there was a curtain of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and of fine woven linen; the pillars thereof were four, and their sockets four.”)
10. Proverbs 9:1 (“Wisdom built herself a house, she hewed out its seven pillars...”)
11. Exodus 25:1 (“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, …”) Exodus 27:12 (“their pillars are ten, and their sockets ten”)
12. Exodus 40:18 (“And Moses erected the tabernacle,...and erected the pillars thereof”)
13. Numbers 4:31 (“This is what they shall wear according to their service in the tabernacle of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, and the poles thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof...”)
14. Ezekiel 40:49 (“The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth was eleven cubits, and it went up into it by ten steps; and there were supports for the pillars, one on one side, and another on the other.”)
15. Ezekiel 41:3 (“And he went in and measured the pillars of the door to be two cubits, and the door to be six cubits, and the width of the door to be seven cubits.”)
16. Negative value:
Lev.26:1 (“You shall not make for yourselves graven images or graven images, nor shall you set up pillars for yourselves, nor shall you place graven stones in your land to bow down to them, for I am the Lord your God.”)
17. Exodus 34:10,13 (“Destroy their altars, break down their pillars, cut down their [sacred] groves”)
Exodus 23:24 (“...then do not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor imitate their deeds, but destroy them and destroy their pillars”)
18. Lev.26:30 (“...I will destroy your high places and destroy your pillars, and will cast your carcasses over the broken pieces of your idols, and My soul will abhor you”)
19. Deut. 16:21,22 (“You shall not plant a grove of any trees at the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make for yourself, 22 and you shall not build up a pillar for yourself, which the LORD your God hates”)
20. Judges 16:29 (“And Samson removed the two middle pillars on which the house was built, leaning against them, one with his right hand, and the other with his left”)
21. Gen. 19:26 (“And [Lot’s] wife looked behind him, and became a pillar of salt.”)
“Pillar” is a symbol of the “House of God”, “Church”, i.e. people who know and fulfill the Will of God, His Commandments and therefore are the spiritual support, the basis for the affirmation and gospel of the Truth of the Word of God in all nations.
Negative meaning.
“Pillar” is a symbol of religious, political, philosophical and other sinful beliefs, ideologies that form the basis of the sinful life of peoples, support and justify their sinful way of life.
1. “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you soon, 15 so that if I delay, you will know how you ought to act in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:14,15
“...in the house of God, which is the Church of the Living God...” - (see “House”, “God”)
“...The Church...is the pillar and foundation of the Truth”
- through the “Church”, i.e. spiritual Assembly, the unity of people in the true knowledge and fulfillment of the Will of God, was affirmed by all the righteous, confirmed by their pious life, the Truth was spread - the saving Good News about the need to fulfill God's Commandments, defended from the attacks of its opponents and perversions by religious fanatics. (see "Church")
2. “And write to the angel of the church of Sardis: Thus says He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: ... 7 ... The Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, ... 12 He who overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will no longer go out; And I will write on it the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” Rev.3:1,7,12
“He who has the seven spirits of God... the Holy, the True, who has the key of David,..” - this is an image of Jesus Christ having the “Key of David”, i.e. the fullness of knowledge of the Spirit of the Word of God, His Will, His Commandments, which the righteous David possessed. (see "Spirit", "Number 7")
“12 He who overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God...” - “Pillar” is the support, the basis of the spiritual-figurative Assembly, the unity of people of the true Faith, i.e. foundation of the "Temple" of God.
The righteous, the devotees of the true Faith, the conquerors of sin have always been a “Pillar”, a support for other people who make up God’s spiritual “Temple”. (see "Temple")
God will make a person who “overcomes” the sinful inclinations of the flesh a “Pillar”, i.e. an example and support for others, the basis of the true order of life of peoples.
3.
“...and when James, Cephas, and John, who were esteemed as pillars, knew of the grace given to me,... that we might [go] to the Gentiles, and them to the circumcision,...” Gal.2:9 “...
James and Cephas and John, revered by the pillars..."
- the word “pillar” here is a reflection, a characteristic of the disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, the evangelists of His Teaching, the ascetics of the true Faith, on whom the true understanding and fulfillment of the Teaching of the Prophets and Christ was held, spread, and preserved among Christians and the peoples around them.
4. “And [the children of Israel] journeyed from Succoth, and pitched at Etham, at the end of the wilderness. 21 And the Lord walked before them by day in a pillar of cloud, showing them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, giving them light, that they might go both day and night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from the presence of [all] the people.” Exodus 13:20-22
“21 And the Lord walked before them by day in a pillar of cloud, showing them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, giving them light, that they might go both day and night...”
- knowledge and fulfillment of the Will of God, revealed to the “children of Israel,” i.e. to people who wanted to serve the One God, he showed them the right life “Path”, led this people to different periods of their history, sometimes called “day”, i.e. when the people heard the “Voice” of God and acted faithfully according to His Commandments, and “at night,” i.e. in unfavorable times of its history, when the people were in the spiritual desolation of ignorance and rejection of the Will of God. (see "Day", "Night")
5.
“And Miriam and Aaron reproached Moses because of the Ethiopian wife whom he had taken—for he had taken an Ethiopian wife—2 and they said, “Did the Lord speak to Moses alone?”
didn't He tell us too? And the Lord heard this. 3 Now Moses was the meekest man of all the people on earth. 4 And the Lord suddenly said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, “Go out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting.” And all three came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came out.” Numbers 12:1-5 “And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam,...” - The will of God, revealed and expressed by the High Priesthood of Melchizedek and his followers, the Patriarchs and Prophets, was that “ Cloud Pillar,” which opened to the people with their preaching of the fullness of the Revelations of the Truth of the One God. So “the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud” to the people, i.e. The will of God appeared close to the consciousness of the people and became accessible to them for perceiving and fulfilling the Divine Commandments expressed by Moses. (see "God", section "Actions of God")
6. “And thou shalt make the curtain of the entrance of the tabernacle of blue, and purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine woven linen; 37 And thou shalt make five pillars of shittim for the curtain, and overlay them with gold; the hooks for them are gold; and pour out for them five sockets of brass.” Ex.26:36,37
God's Commandments, Revelations of God's Will to Moses on how to spiritually erect the “Temple” of God were those “Pillars”, i.e. spiritual Foundations on which all the peoples' service to God was to be established. (see "Temple")
“...make five pillars of shittim for the curtain and overlay them with gold...” - for the “Veil”, i.e. for the Word of God, which separates and delimits the moral and holy life of people, God commands to create “Five Pillars”, i.e. to reveal His Will in the Commandments, which were subsequently set forth by Moses in the Five Books. (see "Number 5")
7. “Is not Ephraim my dear son? isn't it a beloved child? for as soon as I talk about him, I always remember him with love; My inward parts are indignant for him; I will have mercy on him, says the Lord. 21 Set up for yourself waymarks, set up pillars for yourself, set your heart on the road, on the path along which you walked; return, O virgin of Israel, return to these thy cities.” Jer.31:20,21
“Set up your way...posts...” - God addresses His “Son Ephraim,” the “Virgin of Israel,” i.e. to the people to whom His Will was revealed by the Prophets, so that they would return from their paths of religious error and sinful life to the true Road of knowledge of the fulfillment of God’s Commandments, return to the original Path, revealed by the Prophets, which they walked from the beginning.
Each person needs to set “Pillars of Way” for himself, i.e. to choose, to identify spiritual priorities, to outline for oneself the most important goals and objectives in one’s life, to set oneself certain spiritual tasks to fulfill the Will of God, on which a person must be spiritually affirmed.
Each person must set “Pillars of Way” - God’s Commandments, according to which his entire personal, family, social and religious life must be established.
8. “On one side are curtains fifteen cubits long; their pillars are three, and their sockets three.” Exodus 27:14
The "Three Pillars" here, which Moses was to reveal to the people of Israel, are symbols of:
- God the Father.
- His true spiritual Son, true Man.
- The Holy Spirit of the Word of God, the Truth of His Will, His Commandments. (see "Number 3")
9.
“And for the gate of the court there was a curtain of twenty cubits, of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and fine woven linen;
there are four pillars for it, and four stools for them.” Ex.27:16 The “Four Pillars” here are a symbol of the comprehensiveness, comprehensiveness, spiritual depth, breadth and height of the “Court of God”, i.e. true knowledge and fulfillment of the Will of God, His Commandments by all the Righteous. (see "Number 4")
10. “Wisdom built herself a house, she hewed out its seven pillars...” Proverbs 9:1
The “Seven Pillars” here are spiritual perfection, completeness, completeness of the Wisdom of God’s Will, i.e. the sublime Truth of the Wisdom of His Laws and Commandments. (see "Wisdom", "Wisdom", "Number 7", "House")
11. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:...” Ex.25:1
“The width of the courtyard on the west side is a curtain of fifty cubits; their pillars are ten, and their sockets ten.” Exodus 27:12
This figurative command of God means that a person’s entire life must be strictly measured and spiritually supported by the knowledge and fulfillment of the Ten “Pillars”, “Ten Bases”, i.e. ten spiritual pillars and foundations on which the Ten Commandments of God are affirmed - this Fullness of God’s Will to man. (see “Number 10”, “Foot”)
“Ten Pillars” are the Ten Commandments of God, in which the Will of God is expressed and affirmed. (see "Number 10")
12. “And Moses pitched the tabernacle, laid up its stools, set up its beams, laid up its poles, and set up its pillars.” Ex.40:18
“Moses...set up the pillars (“Tabernacles”)” - this means that Moses established and announced to the people the spiritual Foundations of the true understanding and fulfillment of the Will of God, founded a system of spiritual enlightenment of the people, founded the “Tabernacle”, i.e. spiritual Assembly of people of true understanding and fulfillment of God's Commandments. (see "Moses", "Tabernacle")
13. “This is what they must wear according to their service in the tabernacle of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, and the poles thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof...” Numbers 4:31
The “Pillars” of the “Tabernacle” are a symbol of the spiritual Strongholds, the Foundations of the Will of God, His Commandments, on which the “Church” of God is established, i.e. spiritual Assembly of people of true Faith and righteous lifestyle. (see "Tabernacle")
14. “The length of the porch is twenty cubits, and the width is eleven cubits, and it is ascended by ten steps; and there were supports for the pillars, one on one side and the other on the other. Ezek.40:49
“Supports of the Pillars” symbolize various methods and forms of spiritual enlightenment of the people, as well as those Righteous Ones, Ascetics of the True Faith, who proclaimed God’s Will and His Commandments to the people.
15. “And he went inside and measured the pillars of the door to be two cubits, and the door to be six cubits, and the width of the door to be seven cubits.” Ezek.41:3
The two “Pillars” supporting the “Doors” of entrance to the “Kingdom of God” symbolize God’s Two Commandments, the literal and spiritual sides of their commands. (see "Number 2")
Only through them does the “entrance” into understanding the Will of God and the possibility of entering into its true fulfillment open.
Negative meaning.
16. “You shall not make for yourselves idols or graven images, nor shall you set up pillars for yourself, nor shall you place stones with images in your land to bow down to them, for I am the Lord your God.” Lev.26:1
“... don’t put up pillars for yourself...” - The founders of various beliefs, religions, ideologies, philosophies have become idols and “pillars” for their admirers, on which they base their faith, rely in their lives, thereby becoming mistaken, moving away from the Truth God's commandments.
(“...do not build up a pillar for yourself, which the Lord your God hates.” Deut. 16:22)
17. “And [the Lord said to Moses:….13 Destroy their altars, break down their pillars, cut down their [sacred] groves.” Ex.34:10,13
“...then do not worship their gods, and do not serve them, and do not imitate their deeds, but destroy
them and destroy their pillars." Ex.23:24
Peoples who do not know the Will of the One God Jehovah usually placed their various deities on pedestals and pillars.
“...destroy their pillars...” - here the Lord God indicates to Moses that the executor of the Will of God needs to spiritually destroy all foundations of false religions, i.e. to expose the lies of their ideological “pillars” - the falsity of their faith, the destructiveness of their false teachings.
18. “...I will destroy your high places and destroy your pillars, and will cast your carcasses over the broken pieces of your idols, and My soul will abhor you.” Lev.26:30
“... I will destroy your pillars...” - with the true understanding and preaching by the righteous of the Will of God, the Teachings of Jesus Christ about it, all the “pillars” of the fornicating religions of the world will be spiritually “destroyed”, exposed, i.e. Their doctrines, as well as their founders and leaders, have been exposed and crushed. (see "God", section "Actions of God")
19. “You shall not plant for yourself a grove of any trees at the altar of the LORD your God, which you shall make for yourself, 22 and you shall not build up a pillar for yourself, which the LORD your God hates.” Deut.16:21,22
“...and do not build a pillar for yourself...” - God, revealing His Will to man, thus calls on him not to “build a pillar for himself,” i.e. at his own discretion, not to choose, not to establish for himself any spiritual strongholds, except for the Strongholds of the Laws of God, which he will follow.
God calls on a person not to determine, not to establish at his own discretion, on his own, any spiritual guidelines, moral support, not to set those goals as the meaning of his life that God “hates”, i.e. not to establish your life on those principles that contradict God’s Commandments already established for man.
20. “And Samson moved the two middle pillars on which the house was built, leaning against them, one with his right hand, and the other with his left.” Judgment 16:29
Samson, as a representative of the Will of God, through its knowledge and fulfillment, having regained spiritual strength, having entered into confrontation with the leaders of the sinful system of false religion, sacrificed his life in order to move their “house”, i.e. destroy their cruel political and false religious foundations. (see "Samson", "Number 2")
21. “But [Lot’s] wife looked behind him, and became a pillar of salt.” Gen. 19:26
This tragedy of the destruction of cities that once occurred served as a prototype for the revelation of its spiritual meaning.
"Pillar of Salt", i.e. Lot's wife is a symbol of various old views and sinful habits that slow down and hold back spiritual progress in knowing and doing the Will of God.
“...became a pillar of salt” - every person who does not want to study the Word of God, stopping in spiritual development, acquires inertia of thinking, falls into religious fanaticism, self-confidence, literalism and formalism of understanding and fulfilling the Will of God, thus turning into a “pillar of salt.”
“Pillar of Salt ” is also a symbol of religious organizations, which, in their ossification, dogmatism, based on the literal perception of the spiritual-figurative sayings of the Holy Scriptures, therefore “look back”, i.e. stop in spiritual development, understanding and fulfilling the Will of God
The “Pillar of Salt” is also a symbol of the “Wife”, the “Church”, i.e. Gatherings of believers from the “Lot” period of history, who did not want to leave the morally and spiritually corrupted “Cities” “without looking back”, i.e. from spiritually corrupt religious systems and views and confidently follow the true Faith inherent in the righteous Lot. (see "Lot", "Wife")
Stylites
Stylites were called monks who took a vow in honor of God not to leave the top of the column (pillar) on which they lived, such as St. Simeon the Stylite, who lived in this way for forty years.
Simeon the Stylite on a medieval book miniature
Serpentine Column After defeating the Persians in the battles of Salamis and Plataea, the Greeks presented the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi with a golden tripod, which was mounted on a 9-meter bronze column. This column, cast from the shields of Persian warriors, was made in the shape of three intertwined snakes. Snakes were sacred animals of Apollo.
Column on which the golden tripod was located at Delphi
Pillars of Alchemy
In ancient times, it was believed that four columns supported the earth from the four cardinal directions. This image was transformed in alchemy into four pillars of teaching, the number of which also corresponded to the cardinal directions, as well as the elements. The alchemists considered Geber, Arnold of Villanova, Ar-Razi and Hermes to be their pillars. A true adept had to emulate the four great teachers and founders of alchemy in everything.
Pillars of Alchemy. Illustration from N. Thomas’s treatise “Ordinal of Alchemy”, 17th century.
Share link
Columns-symbols in European cities
Since the 17th century. In Catholic cities of Western and Eastern Europe, the custom spread to install columns in honor of saints in the main square of the city. Most often, such columns were erected in honor of the Holy Trinity, St. Mary and St. Roch. However, this element of Baroque architecture was associated not only with the feelings of believers, but also with the plague raging in Europe. As a rule, the construction of such a column symbolized victory over a terrible epidemic. This custom had its roots in the practice of the ancient Romans, who built high columns on the forums and erected statues of emperors on them.
Rostral column on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg
Alexandria Pillar on Palace Square in St. Petersburg
In Russia, a similar column was built in the 1st half. XIX century on Palace Square in St. Petersburg. The so-called Alexandria Pillar became a symbol of the victory of the Russian army over Napoleon. Another ancient tradition associated with columns also took root in Russia. The Romans built rostral columns to commemorate their victories at sea. In the capital of the Russian Empire, similar columns were built on the spit of Vasilievsky Island as a symbol of the power’s dominance on the seas and rivers.
