Ambon (piece of furniture)

See also: Ambon

In religion, the ambon is the desk placed at the entry of the chorus in a church and where the Lectionnaire is posed or the Bible. It is ambon which is proclaimed the Word of God.

In the beginning, it is about a small platform at the entry of the chorus of certain Byzantine and medieval churches: that corresponds to the Greek word ambôn which means “raised edge” or “projection”. It was replaced at the 13th century by the Jubé. Today, it found its role thanks to wiring for sound.

The ambon could be useful, in the Middle Ages, for the reading or preaching. On the other hand the Chaire was used only for preaching. The use of the ambon comes owing to the fact that one needs to have a place to be considering and heard during the readings. The ambon is always elevated compared to the faithful ones, but it is not it inevitably compared to the sanctuary. The use of the ambon varies: in the Eastern liturgy most of the office proceeded on the ambon, while in Occident it is used only at the time of the readings. Some let us ambons have two staircases of access, that is made for the processionary liturgy. The deacon, under deacons and the assistants went in procession until the ambon. Arrived at the ambon, the accolytes waited in bottom, the sub-deacons and the deacon went up to the ambon. Finally the sub-deacons went down again and only the deacon remained for the reading.

When in a building one has two ambons that of right-hand side was used for the epistles and that of left for the Gospels.

“The dignity of the word of God requires that it is in the church a suitable necessary from where it is announced and to which turns spontaneously the attention of faithful during the liturgy of the Word” states the general Présentation of the Missal Romain which adds “He is appropriate generally that this place is a stable ambon and not a mobile desk”.

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