9. The entrance to the church

As we stand praying in the nave of the church, we look towards the sanctuary. The sanctuary is the spccial place for the work of the priest. Usually only those who are serving (the bishops, priests, deacons and altar attendants) are allowed to enter the sanctuary, with one exception—an Orthodox King (the Tsar), God’s anointed monarch, may receive Holy Communion at the altar on the day of his anointing together with the priests.

The most important thing in the sanctuary is the holy altar. The Lord and Master of the Church is Himself mystically present there. The altar represents the Lord’s Tomb, from which He gloriously resurrected from the dead.

Also on the holy altar is an antimension, a cloth containing holy relics (small pieces of the bones of saints). The presence of the antimension testifies that the saints, being buried together with Christ, are also glorified with Him.

The holy altar also holds the tabernacle—the vessel in which the Holy Gifts are kept, so that Communion can be served to the sick who cannot come to church. A cross and a copy of the Gospels lay near the tabernacle, as a sign of the Lords saving love for us.

To the left of the altar is a proskomedia table, a smaller altar, where the Holy Gifts are prepared and the names of those who are to be especially prayed for at Liturgy are read.

Behind the altar, on the eastern wall, is a raised platform called the High Placc (or Bema), upon which stand the cathedra (the bishop’s throne) with seats on either side. During the liturgy the priests, representing the Holy Apostles, sit on both sides of the Bishop, who represents the King of Glory. From this area—as righteous Orthodox souls have testified—a brilliant, heavenly light issues forth at each service. Here, behind the altar, is the seven-branched candlestick which reminds us of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The altar is a place which Orthodox Christians look upon with great reverence and which the clergy themselves enter with “fear and trembling.”