|
altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices and votive offerings are made for religious purposes, or some other sacred place where ceremonies take place. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship. Today they are used particularly in the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoism, as well as Christianity, LaVeyan Satanism, Thelema, Neopaganism, and in Ceremonial magic. Many historical faiths also made use of them, including Greek paganism and Norse paganism.
In the Hebrew BibleAltars (Hebrew: ????, 'mizbe'ah', "a place of slaughter or sacrifice") in the Hebrew Bible were typically made of earth (Exodus) or unwrought stone (Exodus). Altars were generally erected in conspicuous places (Genesis; Ezekiel; Kings; Kings; Kings.) The first altar recorded in the Hebrew Bible is that erected by Noah (Genesis). Altars were erected by Abraham (Genesis; Genesis; Genesis), by Isaac (Genesis), by Jacob (Genesis; Genesis), and by Moses (Exodus, Adonai-nissi).
After the theophany on Mount Sinai, in the Tabernacle—and afterwards in the Temple—only two altars were used: the Altar of Burnt Offering, and the Altar of Incense.
ChristianityThe word "altar" (Greek: ??s?ast?????) appears twenty-four times in the New Testament. Significantly, Hebrews spoke of Christians having an altar of which those who did not believe in Jesus could not partake, a reference to the eternal, once-for all sacrifice of Jesus Christ, thus fulfilling the sacrificial laws of the Old Testament
. In early and later Catholic theology, the Eucharist is a re-presentation, in the literal sense of the one sacrifice being made "present again." Hence, the table upon which the Eucharistic meal (the Bread and the Wine)is eaten is also called an altar.
Altars occupy a prominent place in the sanctuaries of many churches, especially those belonging to the ancient Christian traditions, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Assyrian Churches. They are also found in many Protestant worship places. It plays a central role in the celebration of the Eucharist. A priest (or minister in Protestant circles) celebrates at the altar, on which the bread and the wine are placed.
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 rood screen or altar rails, by a curtain that can be closed at more solemn moments of the liturgy, as in the Armenian Church, or simply by the general architectural layout. The altar is often on a higher elevation than the rest of the church. In Reformed and Anabaptist churches, a table, often called a "communion table", serves an analogous function. In some colloquial usage, the word "altar" is used to denote the altar rail also, although this usage is technically incorrect.
Churches generally have a single altar, although in the West, where concelebration had formerly fallen into disuse and priests always celebrated Mass individually, larger churches have had one or more side chapels, each with its own altar. The
Architecturally, 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.
in Egypt.
In the earliest days of the Church, the Eucharist appears to have been celebrated on portable altars set up for the purpose. Some historians hold that, during the persecutions, the Eucharist was celebrated among the tombs in the Catacombs of Rome, using the sarcophagi (see sarcophagus) of martyrs as altars on which to celebrate. Other historians dispute this, but it is thought to be the origin of the tradition of placing relics beneath the altar.
When Christianity was legalized under Constantine the Great, 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. "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. Although in the days of the Jerusalem Temple the High Priest indeed faced east when sacrificing on Yom Kippur, the sanctuary within which he stood was located at the western end of the Temple. The Christian replication of the layout and the orientation of the Jerusalem Temple helped to dramatize the eschatological meaning attached to the sacrificial death of Jesus the High Priest in the Epistle to the Hebrews." The ministers (bishop, priests, deacons, subdeacons, acolytes), celebrated the Eucharist facing east, towards the entrance. Some hold that for the central part of the celebration the congregation faced the same way. After the sixth century the contrary orientation prevailed, with the entrance to the west and the altar at the east end. Then the ministers and congregation all faced east during the whole celebration; and in Western Europe altars began, in the Middle Ages, to be permanently placed against the east wall of the chancel.
In Western Christian churches. The original high altar is behind the screen.
Most rubrics, even in books of the seventeenth century and later, such as the Pontificale Romanum, continued to envisage the altar as free-standing. The rite of the Dedication of the Church continued to presume that the officiating Bishop could circle the altar during the consecration of the church and its altar. Despite this, with the increase in the size and importance of the reredos, most altars were built against the wall or barely separated from it.
In almost all cases, the eastward orientation for prayer was maintained, whether the altar was at the west end of the church, as in all the earliest churches in Rome, in which case, the priest celebrating Mass faced the congregation and the church entrance, or whether it was at the east end of the church, in which case the priest faced the eastern apse and had his back to the congregation. This diversity was recognized in the rubrics of the Roman Missal from the 1604 typical edition of Pope Clement VIII to the 1962 edition of Pope John XXIII: "Si altare sit ad orientem, versus populum …"
The present rules regarding the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite liturgy declare a free-standing
As well as altars in the structural sense, it became customary in the West to have what in Latin were referred to as altaria portatilia (portable altars), more commonly referred to in English as "altar stones". When travelling, a priest could take one with him and place it on an ordinary table for saying Mass. They were also inserted into the centre of structural altars especially those made of wood. In that case, it was the altar stone that was considered liturgically to be the altar. The Pontificale Romanum contained a rite for blessing at the same time several of these altar stones. In the East the antimension served and continues to serve the same purpose. In the West, the obligation to use one for the celebration of Mass has not been encouraged.
.
The term "movable altar" or "portable altar" is now used of a full-scale structural altar, with or without an inserted altar stone, that can in fact be moved.
Such altars are found in Roman Catholic churches awaiting restructuring from an arrangement in which a priest celebrated Mass at a remote high altar, usually facing away from them, to one in which he is closer to the congregation and generally facing them. Both Catholic and Protestant churches use them to celebrate the Eucharist in places other than a church or chapel (such as outdoors or in an auditorium). In those Protestant churches in which the focus of worship is not on the Eucharist, which may be celebrated rarely, and in churches which want to make use of both a fixed and free-standing altar at different services, they are not only movable but are in fact occasionally moved. Churches that have adhered to the Protestant Reformation have favoured as altars free-standing wooden tables placed in the quire away from the east wall and the high altar, and without any altar stone.
Roman Catholic churches
In the United States the General Instruction of the Roman Missalis used regarding regulations for the altar. The Instruction recommends:
That there be a fixed altar in every church, since it more clearly and permanently signifies Christ as the living stone (Peter; cf. Ephesians). The reason an altar is called 'fixed' is because it attached to the floor so as to be irremovable.
, with a free-standing altar in the foreground.
Roman Catholicism requires that there be only one altar in a newly built church, and that it be made of stone, ideally made of natural stone,such as granite or marble, as the altar symbolises Christ who is regarded as being the cornerstone of the Church. In practice, however, solid and well-crafted wood is often used, due to the expense of stone. It is still customary to place relics of saints,specifically those of martyrs, under the altar (as Mass in early Christianity was customarily celebrated above tombs of martyrs ).
In older church buildings where the altar is positioned against the wall and cannot be moved without damage (examples of which can be seen in this section) a table is normally placed in front, and the old one used either for aethestic purposes or for the tabernacle.
Because the altar represents Christ, only what is required for the celebration of the Mass may be placed on the mensa (the flat, horizontal surface of the altar).
Candles, which are required at every Catholic liturgical service, are placed either on or around the altar in a way suited to the design of the altar and the sanctuary. Catholics also place a cross, or crucifix (a cross with the figure of Christ), on the altar or near the altar, where it is clearly visible to the congregation.
-
Copyright Citations
This article is licensed under the GNU License
Click here for original article: Altar
|
|
|
