The institution of sacred objects is the oldest in the history of the human race. It is lost in the depths of the ages and coincides chronologically with the birth of the religious phenomenon. Today, the worship of religions and the things dedicated to it are protected by state laws as cultural goods, elements of national heritage, expressions of religious freedom, etc. The state legislator has always attributed legal significance to the sacred, which is specialized each time according to the attitude he held towards religion or certain religions.

The sacred rules define what things constitute the sacred and holy of the Eastern Orthodox Church. From the Edict of Milan to the present day, the State protects only those things that the Church characterizes, sanctifies, and treats as sacred. In Byzantium, for the most part, the sacred rules had the same binding character as the laws of the State. They were even of increased formal power. During the Ottoman rule, at the level of the general principle of Ottoman Law, matters of worship and sacred objects of Orthodoxy were judged by the Church itself based on its sacred rules. The protection of Orthodox worship and sacred objects of the Church has been provided for by all the Constitutions of the newly established Greek State, and the sacred rules, including those that define what things belong to the category of sacred objects for the Church and how we should treat them, are constitutionally guaranteed to this day.

This work is the result of many years of research into the canonical institution of sacred objects of the Eastern Orthodox Church. [...]

(from the author's preface)