According to the Coptic rite, an altar must not be left without coverings, which often consist of three layers of clean linen cloths like those used in the burial of Christ, symbolizing holiness. It is said that during the periods of persecution, priests would tear apart the altar coverings before leaving the church so that non-Christians would not use them for any other purpose.
The first covering reaches the ground from all sides and is decorated with four crosses, one at each corner, or just a big cross in the center.
The second covering is put above the first, and is made of white linen, hanging about 15 cm from every side.
The third covering is called the prospherine , derived from the Greek word prosphora (προσφορά), meaning “offering.” It represents the stone that the angel rolled away from the tomb of Christ.
The early Church regarded the altar to possess a special degree of holiness. Therefore, nothing is placed on the altar apart from the Holy Gifts, the sacred vessels, and the Gospel. Even the relics of saints and martyrs must never be placed on it. Gregory Dix says, “The placing of anything whatever upon the altar except the bread and cup for the eucharist was entirely contrary to normal Christian feeling … For centuries, precious crosses had sometimes been hung above the altar as had crowns, lamps and other ornaments…but the altar itself remained bare of such ornaments for almost the first thousand years of Christian history in the West, and perhaps to an even later date in the East.”1212 A cross is never used to decorate the altar because the altar itself is the Lord’s Golgotha or His cross. Around the Coptic altar also, there are two candlesticks that are placed representing the two angels who were in the Lord’s tomb.
1212 Dom Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (Bloomsbury, 2005): p. 412.