Aholy water fontorstoup is a vessel containing holy water which is generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is often placed at the base of a crucifix or other Christian art. It is used in Catholic, as well as many Lutheran and Anglican churches, to make the sign of the cross using the holy water upon entrance of the church.[1] Holy water is blessed by a priest or a deacon, and its usage by Christians serves as a reminder of their baptismal vows.[2] The holy water font is a derivative of the cantharus, which has been used by Christians since the time of the early Church to perform ablutions before entering the church (while these are no longer normative in Western Christianity, canthari are found at the entrance of certain Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches).[3][4]
A holy water font is a vessel containing holy water generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is used in Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, as well as some Anglican churches to make the sign of the cross using the holy water upon entrance and exit.
Many Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican/Episcopal churches customarily sprinkle the assembly with water each Sunday during Easter. In liturgical churches, funeral services are begun by sprinkling water over the coffin. Getting sprinkled with holy water during liturgy is supposed to remind you of baptism.
The holy-water font (stoup), a basin on a stand for the holy water, is set near the entrance of a church. The font derives from the cantharus (basin) that stood in the atrium of Early Christian basilicas and was used for the purification of the faithful.
It was probably out of the Jewish rite that the practice developed among early Christians, especially in the east, of washing their hands and feet before going into church. Early Christian basilicas had a fountain for ablutions, known as cantharus or phiala, and usually placed in the centre of the atrium. They are still found in some Eastern Orthodox churches, notably at the monastery of Laura at Mount Athos, where the phiala is an imposing structure in front of the entrance covered by a dome resting on eight pillars. In several Orthodox churches today worshippers take off their shoes and wash their feet before entering the church just as Muslims do before going into a mosque.
 | This article about the architecture of churches or other Christian places of worship is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
