prothesis
/ˈprɒθɪsɪs
/noun (plural protheses /ˈprɒθɪsiːz/)
1 [mass noun] Christian Church (Especially in the Orthodox Church) the action of placing the Eucharistic elements on the credence table.Now what is a table of prothesis doing in a church?
1.1 [count noun] A credence table.The faithful do not even see the full altar; the prothesis where the gifts are prepared-without any obvious participation by the laity-is entirely out of sight.
1.2 [count noun] The part of a church where the credence table stands.
2 Linguistics another term for prosthesis (sense 2).
Derivatives
prothetic
Origin
Late 16th century (in sense 2): from Greek, 'placing before or in public view', from pro 'before' + thesis 'placing'.