Ad Orientem • A Primer
S we are hurtling toward the season of Lent, now seems an appropriate time to share a tract I helped to prepare last year explaining the practice of liturgical posture known as ‘ad orientem’ (‘toward the East’). It is common for churches to experiment with this traditional posture during Lent.
Ad Orientem is the technical term used to describe the posture of a priest facing the altar, rather than standing behind it facing the people. Before I share the full tract, I would like to take a brief moment to dispel what is perhaps the most common misconception about this ancient posture. One often hears the complaint that “the priest is putting his back to the people! It’s rude!”
This is nothing more than an accidental reality foisted upon us by our corporeal nature; that is to say: turning to face someone is not the same as deliberately turning away from someone. We can all imagine a scenario where there are two people standing on opposite sides of a small room. If you turn to speak to one person, you will—by accidents of nature—have your back to the other, but this is very different from deliberately facing your back to that person to ignore them. The former is a case of more meaningful engagement, while the latter is actually rude and exclusionary. But in general we experience umpteen interactions every day where people are not facing us and it is neither rude nor inappropriate.
And such is the case with ad orientem worship: the priest, as intercessor of the people (just as Christ is with mankind) is facing toward God, liturgically speaking.
I repeat: the priest is facing God, not “turning his back” on you.
It is absolutely essential for everyone to understand this distinction. Souls who do not comprehend this reality are too easily offended when they see the ancient posture, and feel left out of the sacred liturgy, when in reality the priest is merely trying to enter even more deeply into that very mystery.
With this disclaimer out of the way, I now share the full text of the tract (which, I desire to clarify was the coordinated effort of a few clergy and myself, leveraging other resources as well). Linked below is also a handy PDF which you can print for your parish, and it is available in both English and Spanish!
Ad Orientem
A Three-minute Guide
What does ‘Ad Orientem’ mean?
‘Toward the East’, which is to say: facing the direction from which tradition holds we will see our Lord coming in glory at the end of time. Another term used interchangeably with ad orientem is versus Deum which means ‘facing toward God’.
Why is this important?
For those parts of the Mass where the priest is addressing God the Father on behalf of both himself and the people, (standing in persona Christi, i.e.: ‘in the place of Christ’) he faces the same direction as the people, which is toward God. Conversely, the parts of the Mass where the priest is addressing the people, he turns and faces the people. Put simply: when the priest is talking to God, he faces God, just as we face each other when we speak.
Tradition Re-embraced:
Did you know that this posture was the norm for the celebration of Mass in the Latin Rite for almost the entirety of the Church’s history? Ancient sources make it clear that Mass ‘versus Deum’ (facing God) became the norm very early in our history, and remained the norm until about 1970. Further still, there is no reference in any of the documents of the Second Vatican Coun‐ cil about changing the traditional orientation of the priest at Mass. In fact, it is not only permitted by the current Missal of the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, but is actually assumed by it, since the Missal contains several rubrics that instruct the priest to turn and face the people (which presupposes that he is not facing them prior).
What are the advantages?
Apart from the obvious respect that this shows to God the Father, this posture also greatly helps the priest spiritually (“O Lord, Thou must increase, and I must decrease!”—cf. John 3:30) and by removing visual distractions, thereby helping him to pray more intensely. Just as importantly, this helps us all to focus on offering prayer during the most important part of the Mass, and reduces the temptation to sit as a passive spectator, as if watching TV. (Or as Robert Cardinal Sarah puts it, “[this posture avoids] our liturgies becoming like theater productions. ... To ‘convert’ is to turn towards God. I am profoundly convinced that our bodies must participate in this conversion. ... From the moment that we begin to address God — starting with the Offertory — it is essential that the priest and the faithful turn together toward the [liturgical] East. This corresponds completely with that which was willed by the Council Fathers.”)
Rapid Fire:
Objection: The priest is turning his back on the people! This makes him aloof and is even rude.
Answer: The priest is actually facing God—not turning his back on you—because he is either talking to God directly on our behalf, or leading us all in prayer. “Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice, and yours, may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father...”
Objection: If the Mass is supposed to be the Last Supper, then this is crazy. Jesus wouldn’t have turned away from the Apostles when He instituted the Eucharist!
Answer: While the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist was indeed instituted at the Last Supper, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is not merely a re-presentation of the Last Supper but, rather of the entire Paschal Mystery of Christ, including the of the sacrifice of Jesus on Mount Calvary: the sacrifice of His life, for our sins, offered to God the Father. A common orientation of the Christian people at Mass actually best reflects this truth as we all are participating in and offering up to the Father this sacrifice together: people and priest.
Objection: The priest says, ‘take this all of you and eat of it...’; this sounds like he is talking to the people... so why doesn’t he face them for this part of the Mass?
Answer: The priest is repeating the words of Christ at the Last Supper, but the prayer itself is—as is the entirety of the Eucharistic Prayer—actually addressed to God the Father.
Objection: I can’t see what’s happening!
Answer: This is certainly correct, though not for the reason you think. No one can see what is happening at the altar, not even the priest who holds the Host and Chalice in his hands. Mass ad orientem reminds us that what is happening is a mystery that requires faith to apprehend and receive. We believe in Christ’s presence in the Eucharist because of the testimony of faithful witnesses who saw and heard what we cannot not see and hear. It’s also worth noting that in other ancient Christian traditions such as the Orthodox (including those in union with Rome), the priests disappear entirely behind an iconostasis (elaborately decorated screen) during the consecration †1.
†1 • As an aside, it is also worth noting that in the past, curtains would be drawn before the high altar at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, during the consecration, to shield the view of this mysterious moment.
