end. In special situations a prostasis (an area of varying length closed at the sides by cancelli) was placed in front of it, as in several churches in Abu Mina. In several large Egyptian churches the presbytery was itself subdivided by inner screens in two sections. In early monastic churches at Kellia the presbytery was simpler—a rectangular altar chamber closed off from the laity by a screen between the jambs of the triumphal arch that formed its front opening.
The presbytery continued in use in medieval English cathedrals, where it often occupied the space between the choir and the high altar. In Egypt, however, it lost its significance, as the khurus (see above) developed in the late seventh and eighth century as a room for the clergy carved out of the naos.
Bibliography
Delvoye, C. "Bema." In Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum, Vol. 1, pp. 583-99. Stuttgart, 1966.
Nussbaum, O. Der Standort des Liturgen am christlichen Altar vor dem Jahre 1000, Vols. 1-2. Bonn, 1965.
Orlandos, A. K. Basilik», pp. 509-535. Athens, 1952.
PETER GROSSMANN
Prothesis The term "prothesis" refers both to a small room in a church where the elements of the Eucharist are prepared and stored and the rite of preparation. In Greek antiquity prothesis meant, among other things, the ceremonial lying in state of the dead inside the house. Later in Christian usage the term referred to the ceremony, also called proskomide, dating from the late eleventh century, in which the bread and wine are laid out for the celebration of the Eucharist. It also meant the small room on the north side of the sanctuary (see pastophorium, above) in which the ceremony takes place and the table that is used. The Arabic term for the room is haykal al-taqdimah (Graf, 1954, p. 89).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Descoeudres, G. Die Pastophorien im syro-byzantinischen Osten. Wiesbaden, 1983.
Graf, G. Verzeichnis arabischer kirchlicher Termini, p. 89. Louvain, 1954.
PETER GROSSMANN
Prothyron A prothyron is an open porch supported by two columns in front of the outer doors of a church or other building. It is thus a diminutive propylaeum or a portico reduced to a single bay (see "porch," above). The roof, which is fixed to the building wall, may be a small dome or a saddleback, and the columns are connected to each other and the wall by architraves or arches. The prothyron is generally raised at least one step from the ground.
The prothyron was often used in classical times (Vitruvius 6.7) but was more commonly used in Byzantine churches. Examples in Egypt are rare and occur almost solely along the coast, especially in the vicinity of Alexandria. The Great Basilica at Abu Mina has prothyra placed inside (Schläger, 1965, ill. 1), but these lead to side rooms and chapels that can only be entered from the church. The prothyron also found its way into Islamic architecture and occurs repeatedly, in particular in the buildings of the sixteenth-century Turkish architect Mi’mar Sinan (Egli, 1976). In modern Coptic architecture the porch corresponds to it.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Egli, E. Sinan, der Baumeister osmanischer Glanzzeit. Stuttgart, 1976.
Kaufmann, C. M. Handbuch der christlichen Archäologie, p. 183. Paderborn, 1913.