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The altar table is usually a cube with each dimension of about one meter or cubit. The table may be made of wood or stone. The table is usually covered with a brocade covering, the [[Liturgical colors|color]] of which changes with the [[liturgical season]]. Atop the altar table is the tabernacle, a miniature shrine sometimes built in the form of a church, inside of which is a small ark containing the reserved [[Sacrament]] for use in communing the sick. Also, a multi-branch candle stand, usually with seven candles, is placed near the back of the table as one looks from the nave. Also kept on the altar is the book of the [[Gospel]]s and the [[antimension]], a silken cloth imprinted with an [[icon]] of [[Christ]] being prepared for burial, which has a [[relics|relic]] sewn into it and bears the signature of the [[bishop]]. The [[Divine Liturgy]] must be served on an antimension even if the altar has been consecrated and contains relics. When not in use, the antimension is left in place wrapped in the [[eiliton]], a cloth of plain silk, linen, or cotton.
The altar table may only be touched by ordained mensubdeacons, deacons, priests or bishops, and nothing which is not itself consecrated or an object of veneration ought to be placed on it. Objects may also be placed on the altar table as part of the process for setting them aside for sacred use. For example, icons are usually blessed by laying them on the altar table for a period of time or for a certain number of Divine Liturgies before blessing them with [[holy water]].
On left side of the altar is placed the table of preparation or [[prothesis]] upon which the sacramental offering of the Body and Blood of Christ is prepared in a service called the [[proskomedia]] before each liturgy.
