Often people think that the laity is everyone living in society, in the world, unlike monks. But this is fundamentally a misconception. A layman can be called someone who lives a church life. Attends Sunday and holiday services, takes part in the sacraments of the church, such as confession, communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ. If a person was baptized in the Orthodox faith in infancy, but he visited the temple only as a tourist, he cannot be called a layman.
Lay life
Lay people are not only those attending the temple. In everyday life they try to follow the canons of the Orthodox faith and fulfill the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the modern world, there are many temptations and temptations that come from the enemy of the Lord - Satan, therefore no one can live a pure and blameless life in the world. In some ways, a person still sins, at least in thoughts. To rid their souls of sins, Orthodox people go to confession to a priest. But most of the baptized people do not even wear a pectoral cross, thereby denying the Lord. The laity are people who revere the Lord.
There is another distinguishing feature. The laity are OrthodoxChristians without clergy. The clergy also has such a name as the clergy. Even faithful Christians serving in the temple (altar server, priest-bearer, gatekeeper, warden) also belong to the laity.
Laity and clergy
In the modern world, the word "laity" is considered obsolete, denoting all the people living in the world (in a secular society), as opposed to monastics who left the world for a monastery. But even in a monastery, one can call a layman those who have not taken the holy vows of monastics.
In our time, the laity in the temple are more lenient than it was two or three centuries ago. At that time, missing Sundays or holidays without a good reason was punished with penance, and more serious offenses even with excommunication from the church for a certain time. Now this is practically non-existent.
Now you know who the lay people are. The meaning of the word is discussed in detail in the article.
