Topic summary
Home altar
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Home altar (Christianity).
Purpose and usage
It is common for Western Christians to have a prie-dieu in front of their home altar, which provides believers a space to place their Bible and breviary while kneeling before God in prayer. The home altars of many Eastern Christians, particularly those living in the Indian subcontinent, often have the Bible placed on a rehal for reverent display and reading. As with certain traditions of Oriental Christianity, some Western Orthodox Christians make use of the prayer rug to provide a clean space for offering Christian prayers to God. The candles that adorn the home altar are often those that have been blessed that year on Candlemas Day, a feast observed in the Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican traditions, among others.