At Bible Study last Sunday, I brought up the use of having a family altar in my home, as a sacred space for me to send and receive prayers, blessings and to honor and worship all that is of God and the divine.
One person felt that altars are no longer necessary, at least in the view of Presbyterian faith. They seem to view an altar as a remnant of Old Testament worship, they don’t use them, Jesus made the final sacrifice and nothing more should be done about it, just a simple communion table is all that is allowed in the Presbyterian churches.
I felt this was an irrational and dogmatic view of the use of altars. Buddhists and Hindus use them differently, other religions seem to use them as portals or gateways to directly communicate with the gods or spirits.
Granted that an altar should never be used as a glorified butchers’ block at the expense of some poor animal, all for the greater glory of God. So I’m wondering if altars were an important part of early Christian worship and if so, what purpose they typically served in their sacred rites?
In all the years I attended Presbyterian church services, I never heard it suggested that anyone, even the most conservative people with many home-church meetings, had any thing at home that they considered to be an altar. (I do know some pagans who have them at home.) In most Christian denominations, at least today, I think the altar is though of primarily as a ceremonial convenience, part of the pageantry.
My guess would be that in the early Christian church, where it was mostly underground and had to stay hidden, the need for a bulky and readily identifiable object like an altar would have been a hardship, so services may have evolved to avoid that until it was practical to have dedicated churches.
So I’m wondering if altars were an important part of early Christian worship and if so, what purpose they typically served in their sacred rites?
Well the very earliest followers of Jesus were Jews and as far as we can tell fully observant. Here’s an interesting ** you do not have permission to see this link ** about Jewish practice.
What interests me for the moment, however, is what became of the altar in Jewish consciousness after the destruction of the Second Temple. The Rabbis transposed it metaphorically into another sacred key: the Jewish home. The altar became the table at which the family gathered to eat its common meals. It is the consumption of food which connects the two institutions. Thus Rabbis Yohanan and Resh Lakish in third century Palestine conceived it to be a locus for reconciliation. “In the days of the Temple, the altar served to atone for us; now it is our table that atones for us (B.T. ** you do not have permission to see this link **).” Rashi, in his comment on their assertion, suggests that the atonement is effected by inviting guests to our table, that is, in repairing our relations with people outside the family.
One can’t help but be reminded of the importance among early Christians of the communal meal. Pagan converts would have probably found the home altar a bit too redolent of their former pagan practice where such things were common.
I can only imagine that in the Jewish tradition, given the special importance of the tabernacle and the holy of holies, the loss of the temple must have been devastating.
Christianity started as something of a nomad religion, and only got to put down more solid roots once it was not being so actively persecuted.
There were originally two altars in use, the Altar of Burnt Offerings and the Altar of Incense. In the Jewish Encyclopedia, I read: ...Of the two Altars in the Temple, the golden one for the incense is said to symbolize the devotion of the soul, whose nourishment is of a finer nature; the bronze Altar for animal sacrifice, that of the body, which is fed on flesh.” “... the Altar of incense placed before the ark of the covenant is said to be only the symbol of the study of the Law by the wise, while the Altar of sacrifice represents the charity offered by the rich, who spread their bounties for the poor on the table in front of their houses..Paul applied the same idea of the Altar as the table of the Lord to the Communion meal (I Cor. x. 18-21).” In Christianity, what replaced the altar for animal sacrifice under the previous Jewish rituals, that was eliminated in favor of a table for communion. The sentiment may be reflected in Hebrews 13:10 “But we have an altar where even the priests who serve in the place of worship have no right to eat.” As for the use of incense altars and incense burning, it does not seem to be noted in early Christian practices. It wasn’t until the 4th or 5th century that incense was used recorded for Christian worship. Today it is common with the Catholics. In Eastern Orthodox practice, incense burning is part of service. They may have been the only ones who kept the use of incense rituals ongoing since the earliest days of their Christianity. So I would have to assume that the use of an Altar of Incense and the burning of incense could have been carried on in early Christian practices. I found a reference to a bronze incense altar discovered at Qumran which may have been used in Essene rituals. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4193212
The Altar of Incense was used separately from the Altar of Burnt Offering in the Jewish Temple, it was always put front and center right next to the uber-holy Ark of the Covenant, while the latter altar was much further away back in the temple courtyard.
So I think I’m narrowing down my argument assuming that a tradition of an altar by early Christians might have continued with ritual incense burning, in some downsized form, while the other altar for animal sacrifice rejected and transformed into a table of communion. I suppose a large and elaborate censer might be thought of a small-scale altar of incense , they both would have been used for the same purposes: the symbolic sending of prayers to God in heaven.
I could further theorize that being on the run, hunted and persecuted by Romans would have only allowed early Christians the necessity of small portable devices for their incense offerings.
I am still confused as to why Calvin and the Presbyterians have rejected altar use in the Christian homes or church, that’s rather indiscriminate when it is clear from the scripture there are two types for two completely different purposes (prayers and blood atonement). New Testament reference to the Altar of Incense is found in Luke 1:11 where it refers to Zachariah, father of John the Baptist, in charge of the Altar of Incense in the Temple, and it was associated with John’s birth later on in that chapter. That’s the precedent I would use for the legitimacy of altar use in Christianity, being used for incense not sacrifice.
There was extreme opposition to altars and incense by early Church officials, Origen denounces it as heresy and pagan. Which may explain the lack of historical record in early Christianity. But that clearly didn’t affect Eastern Orthodox rituals, who continue the tradition with the “icon corner” in their homes. Equivalent to a “family altar” in Western Christianity. I guess we can be thankful for the Orthodox believers to have kept that ancient tradition of a family altar alive in Christianity.
** you do not have permission to see this link ** (church building), is considered to be a consecrated place, and the center of worship in the house is the icon corner.
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