What’s the significance of the east?

I recently heard the following question asked on The Gray Havens Podcast:

There is actually a lot of Christian (and pre-Christian) teaching related to the East, particularly in relation to the practice of facing eastwards when praying…

If you visit a church which follows one of the older liturgies, you’ll notice that both the priest and the people face the same direction. This is known as “Ad Orientem” – ad (toward) and oriens (rising, sunrise, east). Historically, churches have been built (where possible) so that during the worship everyone faces eastwards. In the ancient Coptic Rite, a deacon even calls out in the middle of the service, “Look towards the East!”

The importance of the East dates back to the earliest years of the Church when Christians still met in private homes. In the Fourth Century, Saint Basil the Great wrote that “facing the east to pray was among the oldest unwritten laws of the Church”. You find it discussed in the Didascalia, as well as in the Early Church Fathers, such as St. Clement of Alexandria and St. Augustine. In the Second Century, the apologist Tertullian actually had to write a refutation against the Pagans who saw this and falsely accused Christians of worshiping the sun.

But why is the East important? In the Seventh Century, in An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV, Chapter 12), St. John of Damascus gave three reasons for Christians facing the east to pray:

1. By turning their faces towards the dawn, Christians are affirming that Christ is the “light of the world” (John 8:12), “the Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:2) and “the Dayspring from on high” (Luke 1:78). 

2. Your listener mentioned the Garden of Eden… Scripture tells us the garden was planted in the east (Genesis 2:8), but after the Fall, Adam and Eve are exiled and move to the west. Therefore, Christians face the east as a reminder of our lost home.

3. Referring to His Second Coming, Jesus said “For just as lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:27). Christians therefore look to the east as an expression of hope for the coming of Christ. 

He got my name wrong, but he read out some of my answer in the following episode: