ARTOFORIO (ἀρτοφόριον). — In the Eastern Church, this denotes the repository of the Most Holy Eucharist, which is generally kept in a small church-shaped tabernacle above the high altar or above that of the prothesis. In many places, however, it is kept in a vessel shaped like an orb, suspended from the canopy of the high altar. The lamp that must burn perpetually, tume inestinguibile, between the apse basin and the altar, is intended not so much for the a. as for the entire sanctuary.
Placido de Meester