The liturgical sanctuary is the most sacred space of the church building. The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches explains that the sanctuary “contains the altar on which the Divine Liturgy is celebrated and the Oblation is offered” and that it is set apart by a veil or iconostasis because it is “the most sacred place”. The Catechism likewise teaches that the altar – the centre of the sanctuary – is “the table of the Lord, to which the People of God are invited”.
The inner sanctuary is the soul’s deepest interior where the “heart becomes an altar” and where prayer “internalizes and assimilates the liturgy”. St Teresa of Ávila describes the soul as a castle whose innermost mansion is the place where the soul “rests in perfect communion with God”. In both cases the “heart” is the locus of encounter with Christ.