The old school altars were right up next to the wall, there was no way to go around them. Ad orientem was the only option.
In the early days of the Church, when Christians were no longer persecuted and allowed to build Churches, there arose two traditions of Church orientation, based on two traditions of synagogue orientation, both involving the Temple of Solomon. The first was to align the church so that it was facing in the direction of the Temple itself in Jerusalem. The second, which became the norm in Rome, was to align the church in the same way as the Temple, with the sanctuary in the west. The priest said the mass facing east, facing the people (so ad orientem and versus populum at the same time, as in Old Saint Peters). A later tradition arose independently in the East and in the Frankish kingdom of orienting churches the other way around, and this tradition later became the norm. This mean that to be facing east, the priest now had to turn his back to the people. Later, the requirement that churches face literal geographical east was abandoned, and the concept of “liturgical east” arose, which meant that “east” was now whichever end of the church sanctuary was in, regardless of true geographical direction.
I have no photos , but in 1961 while staying in a Paris lycee Mass was celebrated with the priest facing us in the chapel .
I wonder if they really had the appropriate permissions to do this? Or was the priests and/or bishops doing it on their own?
Ummm… Scripture is not read from the altar, and probably has never been. In these early churches, the altars were free standing.
I don’t think so. Do you have a credible source for that. I’ve taken higher level courses in the history of the Liturgy and the history of church architecture, and have never encountered this explanation.
I’d like to know what source he was using, because I’ve never encountered it in any source I’ve ever come across. Like I said, it doesn’t conform to my understanding of how the early Liturgies were carried out, and I have read many sources. Perhaps your spiritual director was speculating, or your memory is faulty. Or perhaps he’s right, but I’d still need a reliable source. I’m constantly learning new things about the history of the early Church, and my mind has been blown more than once.
