Rome Answers Question on Orientation of Priest and Altar
 

Congregatio De Cultu Divino Et Disciplina Sacramentorum

Prot. No. 2036/00/L

 Quaesitum

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has been asked whether the expression in n.229 of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani constitutes a norm according to which the position of the priest versus absidem is to be considered excluded.

 

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, re mature perpensa et habita ratione [after mature reflection] and in the light of liturgical precedents, responds:

Negative et ad mentem. [Negatively, and in accordance with the following explanation].

The explanation includes diverse elements which must be taken into consideration.

Before all else, it is to be borne in mind that the word expedit does not constitute an obligation, but a suggestion that refers to the construction of the altar a pariete sejunctum. The clause ubi possibile sit refers to different elements, such as for example, the topography of the place, the availability of space, the artistic value of an existing altar, the sensibility of the people participating in the celebrations of a particular church, etc. It reaffirms that the position towards the assembly seems more appropriate inasmuch as it makes communication easier (Cf. the editorial in Notitiae 29 [1993] 245-249), without excluding, however, the other possibility.

Whatever the position of the celebrating priest, however, it is clear that the Eucharistic Sacrifice is offered to the one and triune God, and that the principal Eternal High Priest is Jesus Christ who acts through the ministry of the priest who visibly presides as His instrument. The liturgical assembly participates in the celebration by virtue of the common priesthood of the faithful which requires the ministry of the ordained priest to be exercised in the Eucharistic Synaxis. One must distinguish between the physical position particularly in relation to the communication between the various members of the assembly and the internal spiritual orientation of all concerned. It would be a grave error to imagine that the principal orientation of the sacrificial action is toward the community. If the priest celebrates versus populum, which is legitimate and often advisable, his spiritual attitude ought always to be versus Deum per Jesum Christum, as representative of the whole Church. Furthermore, the Church, which takes concrete form in the assembly which participates, is entirely orientated versus Deum in its first spiritual movement.

It appears that the ancient tradition, though not unanimous, was that the celebrant and the worshipping community were turned versus orientem, the direction from which the light which is Christ comes. It is not unusual for ancient churches to be "orientated" in such a way that the priest and the people were facing versus orientem during public prayer.

It may well be that when there were problems of space, or some other kind, the apse represented the east symbolically. Today, the expression versus orientem often means versus absidem, and in speaking of the position versus populum it is not the west but rather celebration facing the community present that is intended.

In the ancient architecture of churches, the place of the Bishop or the celebrating priest was in the centre of the apse, from which, seated and turned towards the community, he heard the proclamation of the readings. Now this presidential position was not assigned in recognition of the human person of the Bishop or the priest, nor his intellectual gifts nor even his personal holiness, but rather in acknowledgment of his role as an instrument of the invisible Pontiff who is the Lord Jesus.

When it is a question of ancient churches or churches of great artistic value, it is appropriate, moreover, to bear in mind civil legislation regarding changes or re-orderings. The addition of a further altar may not always be a worthy solution.

 

There is no need to give excessive importance to elements which have changed over the centuries. That which remains is the event which the liturgy celebrates. This is manifested through signs, symbols and words which express various aspects of the mystery without, however, exhausting it, because it transcends them. Adopting and rigidly adhering to a particular position could become a rejection of some aspect of the truth which merits respect and acceptance.

From the Vatican, 25^th September 2000.

 Jorge A.Cardinal Medina Estévez.

Prefect

 + Francesco Pio Tamburrino

Archbishop Secretary