ALTAR

— Wherever sacrifi ce has been a’s are found; they exist, the reoffered in most of the world’s religions. fore, Catholicism has its sacrifice of the ma , put in Protestant ism, especially where, in Calvin ism, its eucharistic theory is as furthest removed from Catholicism, there isnoa. In ancient Egypt a large block, often granite, served as an a. According to Hzodus 20,4 ‘In every place where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will ble thee’ An a. was not to be of hewn stone. When the Temple was built its sacrificial ritual required an a. for burnt-offering and an a. of incense. In Greece and Rome a’s were places of sanctuary. In the Christian Church wooden tables were used at first for the Holy Communion. More elaborate a’s appear only in the III. cent. In the R.C. Church the a. consists of supports, the super-a. or slab, and a cavity for relics. The a. or a,-stone (a stone let into the super-a.) must be consecrated. In the Eng. Church the term a. was expunged from the Prayer Book of 1552; but it has always been retained in the Coronation service, and since the Oxford movement it has come into use again.