#ANGLICAN SERVICE BOOK ALTAR EDITION PORTABLE#

Although in the days of the Jerusalem Temple the High Priest indeed faced east when sacrificing on YomвЂ…Kippur, the sanctuary within which he stood was located at the western end of the Temple. 'When Christians in fourth-century Rome could first freely begin to build churches, they customarily located the sanctuary towards the west end of the building in imitation of the sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple.

When Christianity was legalized under ConstantineвЂ…theвЂ…Great and Licinius, formal church buildings were built in great numbers, normally with free-standing altars in the middle of the sanctuary, which in all the earliest churches built in Rome was at the west end of the church. Other historians dispute this, but it is thought to be the origin of the tradition of placing relics beneath the altar. Some historians hold that, during the persecutions, the Eucharist was celebrated among the tombs in the CatacombsвЂ…ofвЂ…Rome, using the sarcophagi (see sarcophagus) of martyrs as altars on which to celebrate.

#ANGLICAN SERVICE BOOK ALTAR EDITION PORTABLE#

In the earliest days of the Church, the Eucharist appears to have been celebrated on portable altars set up for the purpose. Д®arly Coptic altar carved into the wall of the Temple of Isis on the island Philae in Egypt. Since the revival of concelebration in the West, the RomanвЂ…Missal recommends that in new churches there should be only one altar, 'which in the gathering of the faithful will signify the one Christ and the one Eucharist of the Church.' But most Western churches of an earlier period, whether Roman Catholic or Anglican, may have a high altar in the main body of the church, with one or more adjoining chapels, each with its own altar, at which the Eucharist may be celebrated on weekdays.ДЄrchitecturally, there are two types of altars: Those that are attached to the eastern wall of the chancel, and those that are free-standing and can be walked around, for instance when incensing the altar. The main altar was also referred to as the 'high altar'. The altar is often on a higher elevation than the rest of the church.Д¬hurches generally have a single altar, although in the Western branches of Christianity, as a result of the former abandonment of concelebration of Mass, so that priests always celebrated Mass individually, larger churches have had one or more side chapels, each with its own altar. The area around the altar is seen as endowed with greater holiness, and is usually physically distinguished from the rest of the church, whether by a permanent structure such as an iconostasis, a roodвЂ…screen, altarвЂ…rails, a curtain that can be closed at more solemn moments of the liturgy (as in the ArmenianвЂ…ApostolicвЂ…Church and ArmenianвЂ…CatholicвЂ…Church), or simply by the general architectural layout. They are also found in a minority of Protestant worship places in Reformed and Anabaptist churches, a table, often called a 'Communion table', serves an analogous function.ДЄ homeвЂ…altar in a Methodist Christian household, with a cross and candles surrounded by other religious items They are used for practices of piety intended for one person (often referred to as a 'private devotion'). Personal altars are those placed in a private bedroom, closet, or other space usually occupied by one person.

Less often, though nonetheless notable, altars are set in spaces occupied less regularly, such as outdoors in nature, in cemeteries, in mausoleums / crypts, and family dwellings. Commonly among these churches, altars are placed for permanent use within designated places of communal worship (often called 'sanctuaries').

Altars occupy a prominent place in most Christian churches, both Eastern and Western branches. The altar plays a central role in the celebration of the Eucharist, which takes place at the altar on which the bread and the wine for consecration are placed. Hence, the table upon which the Eucharist is consecrated is called an altar. In Catholic and Orthodox Christian theology, the Eucharist is a re-presentation, in the literal sense of the one sacrifice being made 'present again'. The word 'altar', in Greek ОёП…ПѓО№О±ПѓП„О®ПЃО№ОїОЅ ( see: ОёП…ПѓОЇО±), appears twenty-four times in the NewвЂ…Testament.

Anglican service book altar edition