altar screen (altarskren)

In arch.: (a) A partition of stone, wood, or metal, in early medieval usage represented by curtains, behind and at the sides of the high altar, and separating the choir from the east end of the building. (b) A reredos or retable. altar-side (al'tär-sīd), n. That part of an altar which faces the congregation. altar-slab (al'tär-slab), n. The top, or a portion of the top, of a Christian altar; the altar proper, or mensa. It is the consecrated and therefore the e ential part, and is always in Western churches a single stone. In some Eastern churches the slab has a drain for water; a few such instances are found in western Europe, and all are probably traditional of an ancient custom of washing the altar on set occasions. altar-stairs (al'tär-starz), n. pl. Steps or stairs leading up to an altar. The great world's altar -stairs, That slope thro' darkne up to God. Tennyson, In Memoriam, lv.