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Sanctuary

The focal point in the church from where the liturgy is lead. The area around the altar is considered holy because of the physical presence of God in the Eucharist (communion bread, which Catholics considered to have been transubstantiated into the actual body of Jesus), both during the Mass and in the tabernacle on the altar the rest of the time.

Tabernacle

So that people could tell when Jesus was there (in the tabernacle), the "sanctuary lamp" would be lit, indicating that anyone approaching the altar should genuflect  to show respect for Him, (bow by bending the knee and inclining the head).

The Altar

   

In most Eastern Orthodox churches, the sanctuary is separated from the nave (where the people pray) by an iconostasis, literally a wall of icons, with three doors in it. In many Roman Catholic  and Anglican churches, altar rails mark the edge of the sanctuary (as at St Clare's).

The gated entrance to the Sanctuary located to the centre of the Altar Rail

The area around the altar came to be called the "sanctuary," and that terminology does not apply to Christian churches alone: King Solomon's temple, built in about 950 B.C., had a sanctuary ("Holy of Holies") where the tabernacle ("Ark of the Covenant") was, and the term applies to the corresponding part of any house of worship