FACE TOWARD EAST

By Rasid Rachman

Ezekiel 47:1 (RSV)
Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below and threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.

Today I will not speak about the messages of the bible. But I will speak about the information that be announced by one verse of Ezekiel and tradition of Christianity. I will speak that face to east have been common for long-long time ago in tradition.
Face to or direction to are well known by Indonesian people as the custom of Moslem prayer. We call it kiblat, or qibla. When Moslems prayer, they face to Mecca. Mecca is the direction or qibla. Our Holy Bible announces us that Israelites prayer face to east as well. Daniel prayed with his face to Jerusalem. Daniel 6:10 (RSV) wrote that “Daniel went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem.” Why did he face to Jerusalem? Because, there was the temple of God in Jerusalem. And the temple, according to the Ezekiel, face to east. It means people prayer toward east. The direction while prayer has become a custom of Christianity commonly.
East is the symbol of messiah. Messiah will come from east, so called the ancient believe. That’s why, ancient people, included Israelites, who are waiting for the messiah coming face their prayer to east.
In New Testament era and Patristic era, Christianity reinterpreted the meaning of east. East was not only for the messiah coming, but also symbolized the resurrection of the Lord. The sunrise means the resurrection. Christians pray with faces to east. Ancient churches were built in direction to east as well as the position of baptistery. Some desert monks in ancient Egypt face to east during prayer on every Saturday and Sunday. Some Church buildings in Indonesia, those are mostly Roman Catholic, built face to east as well, such as Cathedral Jakarta and Gedono Chapel at Salatiga. East as the direction of prayer is common for Christian tradition.
East also the place where sun rise every morning. Malachi 4:2 (RSV) said that “the sun of righteousness shall rise”. What or who is the sun of righteousness? That is Lord who will judge His people at the Lords day. In another word, Jewish and Christian traditions have made the similarity between sun and the Lord.
That mention brings implication in praxis of world point of view. The day of the Lord (Rev 1:10 “Kyriake emera” RSV) or the first day in week or Ehad in Hebrew changed to Sunday. Some languages in the world call Sunday or the day of the sun, such as English, Dutch, Netherlands, other languages call first day of the week, such as Arabic and Hebrew, and others call the day of the Lord, such as Portugal, Italy, France, and Indonesia.
I hope this explanation may open our mind about symbolization of place and similarity of other religion. ˚