Prayer Circle History

Prayer circle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Ritual prayer in a circle around an altar is not unique to Mormonism or even Christianity. Ritual ceremonies around an altar are common in paganism, and ritual prayer dances around an altar were practiced by early Christians, especially Gnostics, before the practice was condemned as a heresy by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 A.D."

They mentioned Gnostics! :-)