Proposal talk:Church direction
Confusing phrasing: What direction is this about?
The current phrasing
To apply the existing direction tag to the direction the altar is pointing in Christian churches. Modern churches may be designed, or remodelled, so that the altar isn't pointing in the architectural orientation of the building, rather pointing in the opposite direction towards the congregation (a configuration known as
versus populum). However, even in such situations, the side of the building on which the altar is located may be considered the architectural 'direction' of the church.
seems confusing to me.
I suppose the proposal's aim is to map the direction which — in the church at hand — would be considered the orientation "ad orientem" (which might or might not be eastwards), i.e., the direction that (the median of) the congregation is facing during service, a direction that is
- typically (but not always) away from the (main) entrance
- typically towards the (main) altar
- typically (but not always) (if at all present) towards the (main) apse.
If so, the proposal should specify that, rather than talking of the (for this consideration) irrelevant direction the altar might be "pointing". (Which might be difficult to tell outside service times for modern altars that often look like symmetrical tables, which don't per-se favour any particular direction, even though they'd usually be used "ad populum" today.) --Das-g (talk) 19:14, 7 April 2025 (UTC)
- Yes, I was hoping to have the "ad orientem" direction mapped. B-unicycling (talk) 19:22, 7 April 2025 (UTC)