Home altar

[1][2][3] The Christian Treasury traces the origin of the family altar to the prophet Abraham erecting one in the Old Testament (Genesis 12:7).

[8] Since at least the 2nd century, believers such as Hipparchus, hung or painted a Christian cross, to which they prostrated in front of, on the eastern wall of their home in order to indicate the eastward direction of prayer during the seven fixed prayer times, as an "expression of their undying belief in the coming again of Jesus was united to their conviction that the cross, 'the sign of the Son of Man,' would appear in the eastern heavens on his return (see Matthew 24:30).

"[19] 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.

[20] 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.

[23][24] 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.

A home altar in a Methodist household, fixed on the eastern wall of the house
A homemade attached altar made from wood in a Traditional Catholic home. It combines devotional pictures and statues, as well as relics and candles.
Believers have historically hung a Christian cross on the eastern wall of their homes to indicate the eastward direction towards which they focused their prayers . [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] [ 7 ]