East is, vaguely speaking, that quarter of the horizon where the sun rises, or which a person with his face to the south has on his left hand. It is only at the equinoxes that the sun rises exactly in the east point. A line at right angles to the meridian of a place points exactly east and west. From very early times, the east has been invested with a certain sacred character, or at least held in higher respect than other points of the compass. It was the practice of many ancient pagans to fix their altar in the eastern part of their temples, so that they might sacrifice towards the rising sun (see SUN-WORSHIP). Contrariwise, in the temple of Jerusalem the Holy of Holies was at the western end; and hence it was customary for Jews in other parts of the world to turn towards the west in prayer. But the custom of praying towards the east was adopted by the early Christian church from at least the 2d century, as a symbol of Christ as the 'Sun of righteousness,' the 'Dayspring from on high,' and the 'Morning Star,' a reason assigned by Clement of Alexandria, who died about 220 (Stromata, vii.), and who is followed by Tertullian and St Athanasius. Accordingly, in the ancient baptismal forms, the candidate was made to face westward when renouncing the devil and his works, but then to turn round to the east in order to make his profession of faith in Christ; while, for a similar reason, the sanctuaries of Christian churches, wherein the altar stood, were built at the east end, a custom enjoined as early as the compilation of the Apostolical Constitutions (ii. 57). It was said, further, that Christ had been placed in the tomb with his feet towards the east, and that at the day of judgment he should come from the eastward in the heavens. From these various circumstances (see ORIENTATION) bowing to the east on uttering the name of Jesus, and burying with the feet to the east, were also introduced as customs in the church. The churches of the city of Rome do not conform generally to the principle of orientation, probably because some of the more important among them were originally secular buildings of the imperial times, and served as examples for subsequent erections. It is a curious instance of the inveteracy of popular custom, that in Scotland, where everything that savoured of ancient usage was set aside as popish by the reformers, the practice of burying with the feet to the east was maintained in the old churchyards, nor was it uncommon to set down churches with a scrupulous regard to east and west. In modern cemeteries in England, Scotland, and America, no attention appears to be paid to the old preference for burying with the feet to the east, the nature of the ground alone being considered in the disposition of graves.
The eastward position of the officiating priest at the prayer of consecration of the eucharist has been matter of much controversy in the Church of England. The High Church party interpret the rubric (1552) as allowing or enjoining that position (the consequence of which is that the celebrant has his back to the congregation); but the legality of the position, decided against in the Purchas case (1870), was again called in question in that of the Bishop of Lincoln (1889).