Why does the church face east when prostrating? - Unwritten tradition: It is not a simple matter, nor is it by chance, that we turn our faces toward the East in our prostration. Rather, since we are composed of a visible and an invisible nature, intellectual and sensual, we offer to the Creator a double prostration as well, just as we sing with our mind and with our bodily lips, and are baptized with water and with the Spirit, and are united to the Lord in a double union, by our participation in the mysteries and in the grace of the Spirit.
Therefore, since God is light and The messiah It is called in the holy books Sun of justice and the EastThe East must be set apart for prostration, for all good things should be offered to God, since He is the source of all goodness. And the divine David also says: “Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth; sing praises to the Lord who rides on the heaven of heavens in the east” (Psalm 67:33ff). And the Bible also says: “And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:8). And when he sinned, “the Lord brought him out” (Genesis 3:34) and settled him opposite the paradise of bliss, that is, in the west. So we seek our ancient homeland, and turn to it and prostrate ourselves before the Lord. The Mosaic court also had its tent and its refuge in the east. And the tribe of Judah, since it was the most honorable of the tribes, settled in the east. And the location of the Gate of the Lord, in the famous Temple of Solomon, was in the east. But the Lord, on the cross, had his eyes set toward the west. So we turn toward him and worship him. And the Lord, when he returned to heaven, was raised toward the east. And at this sight the apostles worshiped him. And “so he will come in the same way as they saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11), just as the Lord himself said to them: “For as lightning comes from the east and shines even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:27). So in anticipation of this coming of the Lord, we worship toward the east. This tradition itself was not written down for us by the apostles. But much of what has come down to us is not written.
About the book “The Hundred Articles on the Orthodox Faith”
Saint John of Damascus
