Sanctuary?

[william ryan]

Many thanks to Jack Kollman for a convenient little dictionary. An
additional subtlety for translators - although in English (primarily
Catholic and Church of England usage) 'altar' is strictly the
eucharistic table, in colloquial Catholic use, at least in England,
'altar' may also sometimes be used to mean the sanctuary (i.e. roughly
the Russian altar'), perhaps because it is the area beyond what were
called the altar rails (now abolished in most churches). It is not
uncommon to hear of  altar-boys 'serving on the altar', odd though this
may sound to non-Catholic ears! A further complication to the geography
of sacred space in western Catholic churches is that whereas before the
Second Vatican Council the tabernacle was placed in the centre of the
altar, and the priest said mass with his back to the congregation,
nowadays the tabernacle is most commonly placed on the rear wall of the
sanctuary while the altar, minus tabernacle, is now in the centre of the
sanctuary and the priest says mass facing the congregation. The
differences in liturgical practice between the Latin-rite Catholic
churches and Orthodox churches is sufficient to make precise translation
of many terms impossible, and the Vatican II changes could also lead an
incautious translator into anachronism.

Will Ryan

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