When Catholics visit other Christian churches we are struck either by
what appears different or we recognise what seems similar to the
arrangement of a Catholic church. We have already noted the Eastern
Christian arrangement where the altar is concealed by the great screen,
ikonostais, in various Catholic Eastern Rite and Orthodox churches.
But, except for the screen, the Eastern sanctuary arrangement is
similar to our Roman Rite churches.
In Anglican and Lutheran churches we notice a closer similarity to the plan of our Rite because their forms of worship developed out of our common Western European liturgical tradition. There is a visible central altar with a cross and, in most cases, candles, and the lectern or pulpit is placed to one side.
In Uniting Churches the arrangement may be similar, but not always. In traditional Presbyterian churches it is rather different. The large pulpit stands at the centre and a small table may be in front of it, to be moved forward for a communion service. In the Baptist churches the total immersion font holds pride of place in the church, usually located at the back of the sanctuary area. Historical background helps us understand what happened to the altar in these traditions.
The Protestant Reformation marked a crisis for the Christian altar. Martin Luther was only prepared to say that the Mass was “a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving”, which is a partial truth. In Catholic teaching the Mass is much more – the same sacrifice as the Cross, an action of adoration, intercession and propitiation for sins. Nevertheless, Luther’s followers retained the altar and the existing plan and furnishing of Catholic churches.
In some Lutheran countries such as Sweden, the priestly vestments are still worn by the minister. In Lutheran regions, only one or two altars continued to be used in a church for the new Communion service that replaced the Mass.
The more radical Protestant Reformers, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, went further. They taught that the Eucharist was not a sacrifice at all.
They reduced the Eucharist to a symbolic meal eaten in memory of the redeeming death of Jesus and they denied his Real Presence, describing it more as a spiritual presence in the heart of the believer. One does not need an altar for a religious meal in remembrance of Jesus, so the existing stone altars were destroyed and replaced by wooden tables for “the Lord’s Supper”. The pulpit was moved to where the altar once stood because preaching the word was regarded as more important than sacraments.
This new doctrine led to waves of altar smashing wherever the civil authorities accepted the radical form of the Protestant Reformation. The stone altar was rightly seen as a symbol of the Mass and a campaign to abolish the Mass meant that the old altars had to go.
In England, guided by the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, the government of Edward VI ordered the destruction of all the Catholic altars in 1550.
Many were rebuilt during the brief reign of the Catholic Queen, Mary I (1553-1558), because she restored the Mass and the sacrificing priesthood. However, in 1559, Elizabeth I commanded that these altars had to be dismantled and replaced by wooden communion tables.
The top of the old altars, the large consecrated altar stone or mensa, was put to profane use in farms or shops. Sometimes it was set into the floor of the church so that the people had to walk over it, to inculcate a rejection of the Mass.
The destruction of Catholic altars took place during a series of waves of iconoclasm, the breaking and burning of statues, paintings and frescoes and the smashing of much stained glass. At the same time, the Crown confiscated or required the sale of altar vessels, ornaments and vestments. Along with altars, these were rejected as objects of “idolatry” and “superstition” or “papist paltry”.
However, as the research of scholars such as Prof Eamon Duffy shows, this radical mayhem was not accepted by the masses of the people. They hated these changes, and were confused by demolitions and restorations.
Queen Elizabeth herself was not happy with the destruction of altars and kept the crucifix and candles on the altar in her private chapel. In the light of this confusion it comes as no surprise to see more moderate and prudent Anglican leaders promoting moves not only to restore the ravaged church interiors but to make the communion table look like a Catholic altar. In the 17th century, King Charles I and Archbishop Laud directed Anglicans to move the communion table back to the position where the old Catholic stone altar once stood. It was fenced in with a railing, where the people knelt for Communion. It was dressed with fine hangings and furnished with candlesticks to look like a Catholic altar.
But the Puritans were enraged by these changes. After the Civil War, when they took power under Oliver Cromwell, all this restored beauty was brutally swept aside as “popery” and any remaining images and stained glass windows were smashed in yet another wave of vandalism. While there was a return to better ways after Cromwell’s era, it would take centuries to repair the harm done by the iconoclasts.
It was not until the 19th century Oxford Movement, that “high church” Anglicans in England began to design and adorn the communion table like a Catholic altar and to describe it as “the altar”. The revival of gothic architecture and medieval symbolism in stained glass and fine carving led to a recovery of pre-Reformation décor, rites, practices and customs. A richly carved or painted reredos of wood or stone was often set up behind the altar.
In some of these “Anglo-Catholic” churches stone altars were set up and full Catholic ceremonial was adopted, as may be seen to this day. By contrast, Evangelical Anglicans still use a simple “communion table” according to strict Reformation principles. With consistent logic, they do not describe these as “altars” because they do not accept the Catholic doctrines of the Eucharistic sacrifice and the Real Presence.
In the last century in the United States, a “high church” style of church design spread not only among American Anglicans (Episcopalians) but even among some Presbyterians and other Protestant denominations which have no tradition of an altar. They began to dress their communion table with hangings, a cross, even candlesticks. Even a richly carved reredos appeared behind it in some churches. More significantly, the pulpit was moved to the side so that the communion table now takes pride of place in many of their churches. As noted, the Lutherans have always maintained a noble form of communion table similar to the pre-Reformation altar.
The post-Vatican II freestanding Catholic altar, with the celebrant facing the people, has also been widely adopted in various denominations. This recovery of Catholic symbolism in worship and a rediscovery of liturgy in traditional forms has significant value in ecumenical relations, especially when there is dialogue over the sacrificial nature of the Eucharist and the Real Presence of Jesus Christ.
Rather than being a symbol of division, as in the past, the Christian altar should become a sign of unity.