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Altar in Roskilde Cathedral beneath by a carved reredos. An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and modern paganism.
An altar call is a tradition in some Christian churches in which those who wish to make a new spiritual commitment to Jesus Christ are invited to come forward publicly. It is so named because the supplicants gather before the altar located at the front of the church sanctuary; it is common for people to kneel at the chancel rails or mourner's ...
The cathedral comprises a nave with aisles, transepts with aisles, a choir with double aisles, and an apse with ambulatory and radiating chapels. The main altar, located in the apse, was founded about 1650 by Bishop Piotr Gembicki and created by Giovanni Battista Gisleni.
The rite of Dedication of a church and of the altar points out that the celebration of the Eucharist is "the principal and the most ancient part of the whole rite, because the celebration of the eucharist is in the closest harmony with the rite of the dedication of a church", and "the eucharist, which sanctifies the hearts of those who receive ...
If the altar stands free in the choir, such that visitors can pass behind the main altar, both sides of the altarpiece can be covered with painting. The screen, retable or reredos are commonly decorated. Groups of statuary can also be placed on an altar. [6] A single church can furthermore house several altarpieces on side-altars in chapels.
The Mass contains the four essential elements of a true sacrifice: priest, victim, altar, and sacrifice. Its Priest, Jesus Christ, uses the ministry of an earthly representative; its Victim, Jesus Christ, truly present under the appearances of bread and wine; its altar; and the Sacrifice is a mystic representation of the blood-shedding of Calvary.
In Lutheran and many Anglican churches, a pulpit is found on the Gospel side (the side left of the altar) from which the pastor reads the Gospel and preaches the sermon; a lectern is found on the Epistle side (the side right of the altar) from which readers read aloud the other Scripture lessons, such as the Epistle. [3]
Altar cross: A cross on a flat base to rest upon the altar of a church. The earliest known representation of an altar cross appears in a miniature in a 9th-century manuscript. By the 10th century such crosses were in common use, but the earliest extant altar cross is a 12th-century one in the Great Lavra on Mount Athos.