The sacrificial priest - a table in the altar of an Orthodox church on which proskomidy is performed - a sacrifice is being prepared for the celebration of the Eucharist : bread and wine. The altar has a quadrangular shape and, like a throne, is clothed in the same “clothes”.
In ancient times, the altar was outside the altar and was a separate room where Christians laid the gifts (bread and wine) brought, from which the priest then selected the best gifts for the celebration of the Eucharist. In Byzantine and Old Russian churches, a separate room was allocated for the altar in the northern part of the altar, also called the altar. Most often, it had the form of an apse . Symmetrically, from the south a deacon was adjoining the altar, where the sacristy was arranged.
Currently, the altar is located at the northern wall of the altar to the left of the high place , and sometimes in a specially separated part of the altar (also on the left side), called the deacon . The sacred vessels are stored on it until they are used in the liturgy .
Literature
- Credenza, in an Orthodox church // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- The service of the Orthodox Church (reprint edition of 1912). - M .: Dar , 2005.
- Handbook of the clergyman . - M .: Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.