Why we worship facing East

Fr. Anthony Chadwick has some interesting things to say at his new blog:

There is an aesthetic consideration concerning the position of the altar and the modification of an old church, but the most important thing is the theological and spiritual dimension. The altar and its position in the building are highly symbolic. Liturgical objects, gestures and texts have profound spiritual meaning and express the belief of Christians. Change the outward expression and you change the belief and spiritual life of the people.

First of all, even if the priest is physically facing away from the people, he is not doing so to exclude them. He is leading the people in prayer to God who is the priest’s God as much as the people’s. The eastward-facing Eucharist is universal in the western and eastern Churches. According to the work of scholars like Jungmann, Gamber and Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), the eastward-facing Eucharist goes right back to the beginning of the Church’s history. The Roman basilicas are westward-facing, and on account of this, the celebrant faces east and the people at the same time. In ancient times, the people turned away from the altar for prayer, so they had their back to the altar! Few people know this, and even scholars were once induced in this way to think that Mass facing the people was an ancient practice. It is not.

Why face east? Is not God everywhere? The east is associated with the coming of Christ, using the image of the rising sun. In Matthew 24,27 Jesus says, For as the lightning [the light of the sun - not thunderbolts] cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Christians pray facing the east because they await the Lord’s coming – in the Sacrament of the Eucharist and in the Last Judgement. The Jews pray towards the Temple of Jerusalem and the Muslims pray in the direction of their sacred shrine at Mecca. Through God is everywhere, man has a need for a symbol of place and direction. Turning towards the Lord is a symbol of conversion (in the etymological meaning of that word), and acknowledging that God chose to dwell in a place – the Holy of Holies of the Temple in the Old Testament. The repentance that ended the exile of Israel was turning toward the Temple, ultimately the living temple that is Jesus. In the traditional posture of priest and people facing the same direction, the eastward position, we are offering our prayer through Jesus, the New Temple, to the Father who is in heaven.

Saying that the priest has his back to the people betrays ignorance, prejudice and misunderstanding of liturgical symbolism. Journalists and secular-minded Christians thus betray their failure to understand that heaven is the true goal of Christian life, and that doing good for other people is but a consequence of our devotion to God.