Lighting Candles
In brief
Lighting a candle is one of the first things a newcomer sees people do in an Orthodox church, and one of the simplest ways to pray with the body. A candle is offered — usually placed in a stand of sand near the entrance or before an icon — as a small sacrifice and a wordless prayer, for oneself, for the living, or for the departed. The flame stands for Christ the Light and for the prayer of the one who lights it, rising and giving itself up.
What a candle means
A lit candle carries several meanings at once, and the Church has never reduced them to one. It is an offering — a modest gift of beeswax that is consumed, a small sacrifice that says a prayer is meant seriously. It is a symbol of Christ, "the light of the world" (John 8:12), and of the light He kindles in us: "Let your light so shine before men" (Matthew 5:16). And it is an image of prayer itself and of the person praying — standing upright, burning, giving off warmth and light, spending itself. The psalmist's words fit the gesture exactly: "thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness" (Psalm 18:28).
The candle is not magic, and lighting one is not a payment that guarantees a result. It is a prayer made visible — a way of leaving one's petition burning before God and the saints after the lips have finished. This is why the flame is left behind to burn down: the prayer continues after the person has moved on. Candles belong to the same family of practices as the home's vigil lamp and the incense of the services, all of them offering light and sweetness to God.
Where, when, and for whom
In most churches there are candle stands — trays or boxes of sand holding many thin tapers — near the entrance and in front of prominent icons. Candles are usually offered there before or at the start of a service, or after venerating an icon, rather than during the most solemn moments when people are meant to be still. The custom is to take a candle (leaving an offering in the box provided, which helps support the parish), light it from an already-burning flame, place it in the sand, and say a short prayer, often with the sign of the cross and a kiss to the nearby icon.
Candles are offered both for the living and for the departed. Many parishes keep a separate stand for the dead — often a table bearing a cross, sometimes rectangular and set apart — where one lights a candle while praying "memory eternal" for a departed loved one, alongside the Church's fuller prayers for the dead and written commemoration lists. For the living, one simply names before God those for whom the candle burns. Exactly how the stands are arranged, and which is for whom, varies from parish to parish; when in doubt, it is always fine to ask, or to watch what others do.
Candles beyond the candle stand
Light runs through the whole of Orthodox worship, and the candle stand is only its most portable form. Candles burn on and around the altar, are carried in the processions, and are held by the whole congregation at the great moments of the year — most of all at Pascha, when the church is plunged into darkness and then, from a single flame, the light passes hand to hand until every candle is lit and the people sing that Christ is risen. The same instinct carries into the home, where a candle or a vigil lamp is often lit before the icons at prayer (keeping icons at home).
A newcomer need not master any of this to take part. To light a single candle, cross oneself, and stand for a moment in silent prayer is already to have done the thing rightly. The gesture is small on purpose: it gives the hands something to do while the heart prays, and it leaves a visible sign burning in the church after one has gone — a prayer that outlasts the words.