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ALTARS IN THE CHRISTIAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 763 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALTARS IN THE See also:

CHRISTIAN See also:CHURCH I. The See also:Early Church.—The See also:altar is spoken of by the early See also:Greek and Latin ecclesiastical writers under a variety of names: rparq'a, the See also:principal name in the Greek fathers and the liturgies; Ouaiavrti-pcoe (rarer; used in the See also:Septuagint for See also:Hebrew altars); iXao-riptov; /3wpos (usually avoided, as it, is a word with See also:heathen associations); See also:mensa Domini; ara (avoided like /3wpos, and for the same See also:reason) ; and, most regularly, altare. After the 4th See also:century other names or expressions come into use, such as mensa tremenda, sedes corporis et sanguinis Christi. The earliest Christians had no altars, and were taunted by the pagans for this. It is admitted by See also:Origen in his reply to See also:Celsus (p. 389), who has charged the Christians with being a See also:secret. society ` because they forbid to build temples, to raise altars." " The altars," says Origen, " are the See also:heart of every Christian." The same appears from a passage in Lactantius, De Origine Erroris, ii. 2. We gather from these passages that down to about A.D. 250, or perhaps a little later, the communion was administered on a movable wooden table. In the Catacombs, the arcosolia or See also:bench-like tombs are said (though the statement is doubtful) to have been used to serve this purpose. The earliest church altars were certainly made of See also:wood; and it would appear from a passage in See also:William of See also:Malmesbury (De Gest. Pontif.

Angl. iii. 14) that See also:

English altars were of wood down to the See also:middle of the r lth century, at least in the See also:diocese of See also:Worcester. The cessation of persecution, and consequent See also:gradual elaboration of church See also:furniture and See also:ritual, led to the employment of more costly materials for the altar as for the other fittings of ecclesiastical buildings. Already in the 4th century we find reference to See also:stone altars in the writings of See also:Gregory of Nyssa. In 517 the See also:council of Epaone in See also:Burgundy forbade any but stone pillars to be consecrated with See also:chrism; but of course the decrees of this provincial council would See also:net necessarily be received throughout the church. See also:Pope See also:Felix I. (A.n. 269–274) decreed that " See also:mass should be celebrated above the tombs of martyrs " ---an observance probably suggested by the passage in See also:Revelation vi. 9, " I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of See also:God," This practice See also:developed into the See also:medieval See also:rule that no altar can be consecrated unless it contain a relic or See also:relics. The See also:form of the altar was originally table-shaped, consisting of a See also:plane See also:surface supported by columns. There were usually four, but examples with one, two and five columns are also recorded. But the development of the relic-See also:custom led to the See also:adoption of another form, the square See also:box shape of an " altar-See also:tomb." Transitional examples, combining the box with the earlier table shape, are found dating about 450.

Mention is made occasionally of See also:

silver and See also:gold altars in the 5th to the 8th centuries. This means no doubt that gold and silver were copiously used in its decoration. Such an altar still remains in Sant' Ambrogio at See also:Milan, dating from the 9th century (see fig. 1). II. The Medieval Church.—It will be convenient now to pass to the fully-developed altar of the Western Church 'with its accessories, though the rudiments of most of the additional details are traceable in the earlier See also:period. In the See also:Roman See also:Catholic Church, which preserves in this respect the tradition that had become established during the middle ages, the component parts of a fixed altar in the liturgical sense are the table (mensa), or super-altar, consisting of a stone slab; the support (stipes), consisting either of a solid mass or of four or more columns; the sepulchrum, or altar-cavity, a small chamber for the reception of the relics of martyrs. The support, in the technical sense, must be of stone solidly joined to the table; but, if this support consist of columns, the intervals may be filled with other materials, e.g. See also:brick or See also:cement. The altar-slab or table " alone is consecrated, and in sign of this are cut in its upper surface five Greek crosses,-one in the centre and one in each corner. These crosses must have been anointed by the See also:bishop with chrism in the ritual of See also:consecration before the altar can be used. Crosses appear on the portable altar buried with St See also:Cuthbert (A.D. 687), but the See also:history of the origin and development of this practice is not fully worked out.

According to the Caeromoniale (i. 12. 13) a See also:

canopy (baldachinum) should be suspended over the altar; this should be square, and of sufficient See also:size to See also:cover the altar and the See also:predella on which the officiating See also:priest stands. This baldachin, called liturgically the See also:ciborium, is sometimes hung from the roof by chains in such a way that it can be lowered or raised; sometimes it is fixed to the See also:wall or See also:reredos; sometimes it is a solid structure of wood covered with See also:metal or of See also:marble supported on four columns. The latter form is, however, usual only in large churches, more especially of the See also:basilica type, e.g. St See also:Peter's at See also:Rome or the Roman Catholic See also:cathedral at See also:Westminster. The origin of the ciborium is not certain, but it is represented in a See also:mosaic at Thessalonica of a date not later than A.D. 500. Even at the See also:present See also:day, in spite of a See also:decree of the See also:Congregation of See also:Rites (27th of May 1697) ordering it to be placed over all altars, it is—even at Rome itself—usually only found over the high altar and the altar of the Blessed See also:Sacrament. Multiplication of altars is another medieval characteristic. This also is probably a result of the See also:edict of Pope Felix already mentioned. In a vault where more than one See also:martyr was buried an altar might be erected for each.

It is in the 6th century that we begin to find traces of the multiplication of altars. In the church of St See also:

Gall, See also:Switzerland, in the 9th century there.were seventeen. In the See also:modern Latin Church almost every large church contains several altars—dedicated to certain See also:saints, in private See also:side chapels, established for masses for the repose of the founder's soul, &c. See also:Archbishop Wulfred in 816 ordered that beside every altar there should be an inscription recording its See also:dedication. This regulation See also:fell into See also:abeyance after the 12th century, and such See also:inscriptions are very rare. One remains mutilated at Deerhurst (Archaeologia, vol. 1. p. 69). Where there is in a cathedral or church more than one altar, the principal one is called a " high altar." Where there is a second high altar, it is generally at the end of the See also:choir or See also:chancel. In monastic churches (e.g. formerly at St Albans) it sometimes stands at the end of the See also:nave See also:close to the choir See also:screen. Beside the altar was a drain (See also:piscina) for pouring away the See also:water in which the communion vessels were rinsed. This seems originally to have been under the altar, as it is still in the Eastern Church.

That the See also:

primitive communion table was covered with a communion-See also:cloth is highly probable, and is mentioned by Optatus (c. A.D. 370), bishop of Milevis. This had developed by the 14th or 15th century into a cerecloth, or waxed cloth, on the table itself; and three See also:linen coverings one above the other, two of about the size of the table and one rather wider than the altar, and See also:long enough to hang down at each end. Five crosses are worked upon it, four in the corners and one in the middle, and there is an embroidered edging.' In front was often a See also:hanging See also:panel of embroidered cloth (the frontal; but frontals of wood, ornamented with See also:carving or See also:enamel, &c., are also to be found). These embroidered frontals are changeable, so that the principal See also:colour in the See also:pattern can See also:accord with the liturgical colour of the day. Speaking broadly, red is the colour for feasts of martyrs, See also:white for virgins, See also:violet for See also:penitential seasons, &c.; no less than sixty-three different uses differing in details have been enumerated. A similar panel of See also:needlework (the See also:dossal) is suspended behind the altar. Portable altars have been used on occasion since the See also:time of See also:Bede. They are small slabs of hard stone, just large enough for the See also:chalice and See also:paten. They are consecrated and marked with the five incised crosses in the same way as the fixed altar, but they may be placed upon a support of any suitable material, whether wood or stone. They are used on a See also:journey in a heretical or heathen See also:country, or in private chapels.

In the See also:

inventory of the See also:field See also:apparel of See also:Henry, See also:earl of See also:Northumberland, A.D. 1513, is In the Eastern Church four small pieces of cloth marked with the names of the Evangelists are placed on the four corners of the altar, and covered with three cloths, the uppermost (the See also:corporal) being of smaller size.included "A See also:coffer wyth ij liddes to serue for an Awter and ned be" (Archaeologia, See also:xxvi. 403). On the altar are placed a See also:cross and candlesticks—six in number, and seven when a bishop celebrates in his cathedral; and over it is suspended or fixed a See also:tabernacle gr receptacle for the See also:reservation of the Sacrament. The name " altar has been all along retained in the See also:Coronation See also:Office of the See also:kings of See also:England, where it occurs frequently. It was also recognized in the canons of 1640, but with the reservation that "it was an altar in the sense in which the primitive church called it an altar and in no other." In the same canons the rule for the position of the communion tables, which has been since regularly followed throughout the Church of England, was formulated. In the primitive church the altars seem to have been so placed that, like those of the See also:Hebrews, they could be surrounded on all sides by the worshippers. The See also:chair of the bishop or celebrant was On their See also:east side, and the assistant See also:clergy were ranged on each side of him. But in the middle ages the altars were placed against the east wall of the churches, or else against a reredos erected at the east side of the altar, so as to prevent all See also:access to the table from that side; the celebrant was thus brought See also:round to the See also:west side and caused to stand between the See also:people and the altar. On the See also:north and See also:south sides there were often curtains. When tables were substituted for altars in the English churches, these were not merely movable, but at. the See also:administration of the See also:Lord's Supper were actually moved into the See also:body of the church, and placed table-wise—that is, with the long sides turned to the north and south, and the narrow ends to the east and west,—the officiating clergyman See also:standing at the north side. In the time of Archbishop See also:Laud, however, the present practice of the Church of England was introduced.

The communion table, though still of wood and movable, is, as a See also:

matter of fact, never moved; it is placed altar-wise—that is, with its longer See also:axis See also:running north and south, and close against the east wall. Often there is a reredos behind it; it is also fenced in by rails to preserve it from profanation of various kinds. In 1841 the See also:ancient church of the See also:Holy See also:Sepulchre at See also:Cambridge was robbed of most of its See also:interest by a calamitous " restoration " carried out under the superintendence and partly at the See also:charge of the See also:Camden Society. On this occasion a stone altar, consisting of a See also:flat slab resting upon three other upright slabs, was presented to the See also:parish, and was set up in the church at the east wall of the chancel. This was brought to the See also:notice of the See also:Court of See also:Arches in 1845, and See also:Sir H. See also:Jenner See also:Fust (Faulkner v. See also:Lichfield and Stearn) ordered it to be removed, on the ground that a stone structure so weighty that it could not be carried about; and seeming to be a mass of solid See also:masonry, was not a communion-table in the sense recognized by the Church of England. 2 Except in one See also:place where the See also:term used is " God's See also:board." On plural dedications consult See also:Maurer, De aribus graecorum pluribus deis in See also:commune positis (See also:Darmstadt, 1885). For Christian altars, reference is best made to the articles on the subject in the dictionaries of Christian and liturgical antiquities of See also:Migne, Martigny, See also:Smith and Cheetham, and See also:Pugin, where practically all the available See also:information is collected. See also Ciampinus, Vetera Monumenta (Rome, 1747), where numerous illustrations of altars are to be found; Martene, De antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus, iii. vi. (See also:Rouen, 1700) ; Voigt, Thysiasteriologia sive de altaribus veterum Christianorum (See also:Hamburg, 17o9) ; and the liturgical See also:works of See also:Bona. Many articles on various sections of the subject have appeared in the See also:journals of archaeological See also:societies; we may mention Nesbitt on the churches of Rome earlier than 115o (Archaeologia, xl. p.

21o), See also:

Didron, "L'Autel chretien " (Annales archeologiques, iv. p. 238), and a See also:paper by Texier on enamelled altars in the same See also:volume. (R. A. S.

End of Article: ALTARS IN THE CHRISTIAN

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