Cross – altar – orientation of the offered prayer

Abstract

This article presents a brief history of the orientation of the altar in the liturgical space, the cross with the image of the Crucified on it and the direction of the liturgical prayers from the altar. In the Church’s history the altar was usually placed in the apse or among the congregation. For hundreds of years there was a rule that the celebrant standing at the altar and the faithful participating in the Mass offered prayers to eastern direction. In the first millennium at the Roman Catholic Church only consecration gifts were being placed on the altar, and only at the beginning of the second millennium first the candelabra, than the crucifix were put on. After accepting the Dialogue Mass and the versus populum celebration by the Second Vatican Council, the cross was placed near the altar usually as the processional cross with the image of Jesus Christ facing the faithful. Since 2007, during the celebration of the Eucharist presided by Pope Benedict XVI the cross stands in the center of the altar with the image of the Crucified directed towards the principal celebrant.