Vestments of the Archbishop. Priests and their sacred garments (vestments)

The liturgical clothes of the Orthodox Church have gone through a long history in their evolution - from the simple robes of Christ's apostles, yesterday's fishermen of Galilee - to the royal patriarchal attire, from the dark humble robes of the performers of the secret catacomb liturgies of the era of anti-Christian persecution to the magnificent festive services of Byzantium and Imperial Russia.
In the theological, liturgical sense, the basis of all Christian worship, as well as its external expression, including in liturgical vestments, is Holy Scripture. The Creator Himself, according to the inspired image of the Psalms, “dressed himself with light like a robe, and stretched out the sky like a tent” (Ps. 103). Christ the Savior in the teachings of the Apostle Paul appears as the Great Hierarch, Intercessor of the New Testament, "a merciful and faithful High Priest before God," a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek, "having an "undying priesthood", seated "at the right hand of the Throne of Majesty in heaven." John the Theologian in "Revelation" sees the heavenly temple: "and the throne stood in heaven, and on the throne was the One seated; and around the throne I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes and having crowns of gold on their heads” (Rev. 4:2,4). Here is the first description of the heavenly liturgy. The “whole armor of God” is also a prototype of church garments, about which the apostle Paul writes in the Epistle to the Ephesians: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having your feet shod in readiness to proclaim peace, and above all, take the shield of faith, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:11, 14-17). In these words, the symbolic meaning of liturgical garments is expressed with maximum completeness. They did not yet exist in the era of the Apostle Paul, but later, as they were formed, it was these apostolic words that formed the basis of their theological understanding. Often the holy fathers, referring to the interpretation of the meaning of certain accessories of the church dignity, also compared them with the clothes of the Old Testament high priests described in detail in the Bible.
Historically, as we will see below, the picture in most cases looks both simpler and more complex. In the Orthodox East, both the liturgy as a whole and church garments in their diversity and development were influenced by two equally strong and profound, although opposite in nature, factors. "The Empire and the Desert" - this is how one of the best church historians designated the main driving contradiction of church life in Byzantium. In the desert, in the literal sense, in the great monasteries of Palestine and Egypt, the liturgical rule was born - the fruit of the thought of God and the prayers of ascetic monks. But, transferred to Constantinople, to the imperial throne, the church rite involuntarily had to reflect on itself a reflection of court splendor, which, in turn, led to a new theological understanding. As the professor of the Moscow Theological Academy A.P. Golubtsov, “it is enough to recall the sakkos, miter, multi-colored tablions or tablets on episcopal and archimandric robes, about sources or other-color stripes on surplices, about episcopal lamps and orlets, to stop doubting about borrowing some parts of church vestments from the royal Byzantine costume” .

The Byzantine stage in the development of liturgical vestments is represented by our well-known liturgical historians (A.A. Dmitrievsky, K.T. Nikolsky, N.N. Palmov) approximately in the following form. At the heart of almost every innovation lay the initiative of the emperor. One or another detail of royal ceremonial attire was first complained of in recognition of merit and merit, that is, as a reward, personally to one or another of the hierarchs. Thus, the documentary history of the bishop's miter begins with the fact that Emperor Basil II the Bulgar-Slayer granted Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem the right to "decorate himself in church (i.e. during worship) with a diadem." It was, explains A.L. Dmitrievsky, a sign of personal favor, “just like other emperors granted sakkos, handrails, a large omophorion or kundurs (shoes with Byzantine eagles embroidered in gold) to the patriarchs from their royal shoulder” . In other words, many characteristic accessories of this or that holy order in the church, which are now considered primordial for him, were originally in the nature of an award and a personal award.

The word reward itself, with its obviously Slavic appearance and meaning, entered the Russian language relatively late, not earlier than the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries, and in the modern specific sense (“to award with a miter or an order”) is completely an innovation of the 19th century. It is interesting that the primary figurative and poetic meaning of this word (to reward means “to reward”, “to collect one for the other”) coincides with the primary meaning of the Turkic origin, according to linguists, the word san (“large number”, “top”, "glory"). In Old Russian word usage, the word “san” is also found in the sense of “a set of church vestments”. The charter reads, for example, an instruction to serve the Paschal matins "in all the most illustrious rank." Church awards, figuratively speaking, are, as it were, “additions”, “additions” to a given rank, bringing its bearer closer to the next, hierarchically senior degree.

Before considering in more detail the system of church awards, usually associated with various accessories of the clergy and liturgical robes assigned to it, it is necessary to briefly, in general terms, remind the reader what liturgical robes are and what is the order of vesting of clergymen.

The Orthodox clergy (clergy) includes three degrees of church consecration: deacon, priest and bishop. The bearers of these three degrees are called clergymen. The junior ranks compared to the deacon: readers, singers (psalm readers), subdeacons (deacon's assistants) - make up the category of clergy or clergy (in Byzantine times there were much more categories of lower clerics: anagnostes, psalters and protop-salts, candilaptes, ekdiki and etc., in the Great Church, i.e. Hagia Sophia, the number of different categories of clergy reached thirty).

According to the church charter, the vestments of the clergy of the highest rank always include the vestments of the lower ones. The order of vesting is as follows: first they put on the clothes assigned to the lowest rank. So, the deacon first puts on the surplice (Byzantine camisium, Roman alba), common to him with the subdeacons, and then attaches the orar assigned to him on his shoulder. The priest first dresses in deacon's clothes, and then in proper priestly ones. The bishop first puts on the robes of a deacon, then the robes of a priest, and then already those that belong to him as a bishop.
A distinctive accessory of the diaconal dignity are the surplice and orar. A surplice is a straight long, to the toe, clothing, like a shirt, with wide long sleeves, covering a person completely. As Archpriest Konstantin Nikolsky writes in “A Guide to the Study of the Rule of Divine Services”: “The surplice marks the “robe of salvation and the garment of joy,” that is, a pure and calm conscience, a blameless life and spiritual joy. The clergyman, who dresses in a surplice at the liturgy, says a prayer: “My soul will rejoice in the Lord: clothe me (for you have clothed me) in the robe of salvation and clothe me with a garment of joy (clothed me); like a bridegroom, lay a crown on me (he laid a crown on me, like a bridegroom) and, like a bride, adorn me (decorated me) with beauty. Such a state of spiritual joy should be inherent in all participants in the divine service, therefore everyone, from a deacon to a bishop, puts on a surplice. Since priests and hierarchs wear a surplice under other robes, it is slightly modified accordingly and is called a vestment. When the bishop dresses, it is not he himself who reads the prayer, but the deacon, turning to him: "Let your soul rejoice in the Lord." It is not for nothing that the deacon compares his clothes with the attire of the bride and groom. “In lay life, from which it was taken for liturgical use, the surplice was the uniform of some court officials,” writes Academician E.E. Golubinsky in the History of the Russian Church is one of the types of clothing that the Greeks called chitons, and the Romans called tunics. The private name of the surplice comes from the Greek - "row, line, strip" and means that it was decorated with different-colored stripes that were sewn on or lined up on it. It was, as we think, taken from worldly life for church use, firstly, in remembrance of that non-sewn and seamless tunic of Christ, which the Gospel speaks of (John 19, 23), and secondly, because, being dressed at home clothes, he completely hides these latter and, therefore, as it were, hides a worldly person in the one who serves during the divine service.

The main liturgical difference of the deacon is the orarion, a long wide ribbon, which he wears on his left shoulder over the surplice, and the subdeacons gird it around their shoulders crosswise. The deacon girds himself with his orarion crosswise only at the liturgy, after the prayer "Our Father", preparing himself for the reception of the Holy Mysteries. When proclaiming prayers, at the words: “Let us listen”, “Bless, Master”, etc., he each time raises the end of the orarion with three fingers of his right hand. There are two opinions about the origin of the word orarion, which, however, do not contradict one another. Some raise the word to the Latin word orio - “prayer”. Others - to the Latin - "mouth", since in ancient times the deacon wiped the lips of those who took communion with an orarion. "Plant for wiping the face" is also known in classical Latin. In a symbolic interpretation, the deacons represent cherubim and seraphim, and the orarion in this sense symbolizes angelic wings. Sometimes an angelic song is embroidered on it: "Holy, Holy, Holy."
Archdeacons serving the Patriarch traditionally wore the orarion in a different way. They, unlike deacons, lowered the front, longer end of the orarion from the left shoulder under the right arm, encircled their backs, and then again lowered it forward over the left shoulder.
In Russia, before the revolution, only a very few protodeacons used the right to wear such a “double” orarion - for example, the protodeacon of the Resurrection Cathedral in New Jerusalem, since the service in it was performed according to the order of the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
Currently, the double orarion is a common form of church award for deacons of the Russian Orthodox Church. The idea of ​​making it a church award was discussed for the first time in 1887 in the pages of the journal A Guide for Rural Shepherds by the famous historian and liturgist AL. Dmitrievsky. “There can be no obstacle to changing the current usual form of the orarion “in the likeness of the archdeacon and protodeacon,” he wrote, answering a question from one of the interested readers. —Our bishops can really award meritorious deacons with these oraries, which for some reason are assigned only to archdeacons and some of the protodeacons. In the East, in general, the deacon's orarion reaches a length of 7 arshins (almost 5 meters) and is worn in this way; the deacon, putting this orarion on his left shoulder, lowers it to the right side and, passing it under his right hand, again puts it on his left shoulder and lowers the end to the ground, while looking to see that the two crosses located on the orar lie on his shoulder nearby.
The liturgical garments of a priest (priest, or presbyter) include an epitrachelion, a belt, and a phelonion (upper chasuble). Epitrachelion in the old days was called “navynik”. It is the most important liturgical sign of the priesthood. By historical origin, it is directly connected with the orar. In ancient times, a bishop, consecrating a deacon as a presbyter, did not place on him, as now, an embroidered epitrachelion, but transferred only the back end of the orarion to the right shoulder so that both of its ends remained in front.
Later, epitrachili began to be made folding, with buttons in the middle. Therefore, even now crosses are sewn on the stole, two in a row, depicting a double-folded orarion.
According to its theological, symbolic meaning, epitrachelion means the special (i.e., double) grace of the priesthood: the first time a priest receives it at his ordination to the diaconate, the second time - at the ordination of a priest.

The priest's belt in ancient times was also different from the modern one. It was a cord (rope) or a narrow braid. Regarding the origin of the current wide priestly belts, church historians do not have a single opinion. According to the well-known historian of the Russian Church, Academician E.E. Golubinsky, "they are our national form, that is, they are taken from our own everyday life (from the South Russian folk costume)" . A.A. Dmitrievsky, a specialist in the Orthodox East, objected: "Such belts are used in the East in liturgical practice everywhere: in Jerusalem, on Sinai, Athos, Patmos, in Athens and in other places." In the sacristies of the eastern monasteries, the researcher saw "many wide silk belts, with metal, sometimes openwork, very skillful work, buckles, even decorated with precious stones" .

In Byzantine times, priests wore a handbrake on their belts - “the same towel,” E.E. Golubinsky, - which is currently hanging on a small tax near the throne. With such an enchiridion on her belt, the Most Holy Theotokos is depicted on the altar mosaic of the 10th century in St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople.
The priestly robe is called a phelonion. However, in the Greek language "phelonion" is also a borrowing (according to some sources, from Persian). According to the cut, the phelonion "was a bell-shaped garment that covered the entire priest from head to toe, front and back." According to the interpretation of one of the Byzantine writers, it is “like a wall and depicts entering with the fear of God into the inner house of the mind and there is an interview with God.” It is no coincidence that the icon, on which the Mother of God is depicted in such a bell-shaped phelonion, is called “Addition of the Mind”.
In Latin, the phelonion is called differently - "house". In the Italian city of Loreto, where the “House of the Mother of God” transported by the crusaders from Nazareth is located in the temple, the Mother of God is depicted on the local miraculous icon in the same “felony house” as on our “Increasing the Mind” icons. In the monastery of the Black Madonna in Alt-Etting (Germany), called the "liturgical heart of Bavaria", not only the Mother of God, but also the Infant in Her arms are depicted in such preciously decorated bell-shaped phelonions.
The modern form of the phelonion has changed significantly in comparison with the ancient one, and has become more convenient for sacred rites. The large cutout at the bottom front has led to the fact that if a modern phelonion is cut in the middle in front, not a circle is formed, but a semicircle. In addition, crosses are now sewn onto the phelonion, whereas back in the 15th century, at the time of the famous interpreter of the liturgy, Simeon of Thessalonica, only bishops could wear a cross-shaped phelonion (polystauri).

Handrails, as an independent part in the vestments of the clergy, also came from the Byzantine imperial attire, where they were originally a necessary addition to the royal dalmatic. The surplice or tunic that looked out from under the short sleeves of the Dalmatic was designed to close the handrails, or armlets. Thus, they, like other parts of liturgical vestments, as we see, have a historically determined, completely functional origin in terms of costume, and only under the pen of later theologian writers did they receive a special symbolic and liturgical justification.
Initially received as a reward, an imperial award only by court bishops, they spread from the 12th-13th centuries. on priests (initially also not on all), by the end of the XIV century. became their obligatory liturgical accessory, and in the 15th century, again as a distinction, they appeared among the archdeacons. Today, in Russian liturgical practice, handrails are a necessary accessory for both deacon and priestly and episcopal robes. In addition to practical convenience (they tighten the edges of the sleeves, strengthening them, freeing the hands for the sacred service), the handrails also carry a specific theological burden. Putting the handrail on his right hand, the priest says a prayer: “Thy right hand, Lord, be glorified in the fortress; Thy right hand, O Lord, crush (crushed) the enemies, and with the multitude of Thy glory thou hast erased (destroyed) adversaries” (Mech. 15:6-7). Putting on the left handrail, the priest says: “Your hands (hands) created me and create me (created me): give me understanding (me), and I will learn your commandment” (Ps. 118, 73). In a symbolic interpretation, the instructions of the priest and bishop, depicting Christ the Savior at the liturgy, are reminiscent of the bonds with which His hands were bound.
Among the accessories of the priestly ministry is also a gaiter - a quadrangular oblong board, which is hung on ribbons to the belt at the two upper corners. The gaiter is a purely Russian phenomenon; in the Orthodox East it is not among the liturgical garments. Epigonatius (see below), which among the Greeks is included in the vestments of bishops, archimandrites and some archpriests, is what we call a club.
According to the symbolic meaning, the legguard marks “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6, 17). With this sword, the priest is armed against unbelief, heresy, wickedness. Wearing a loincloth at the liturgy, he pronounces the lines of the psalm: “Gird up your sword on your thigh, O Strong One, with your beauty and your goodness. And succeed, and reign, for the sake of truth, and meekness, and righteousness, and Your right hand will instruct Thee marvelously ”(Ps. 44, 4-5). The archpriest and archimandrite may, in addition to the legguard, also have a club. She, like the legguard, is a spiritual reward for the priesthood (see below).
The right granted to archimadrites as a reward to use the miter and staff during worship should be regarded as one of the manifestations of the general trend in the development of Orthodox worship - in terms of the elevation of the lower rank to the highest, the gradual transfer of signs and features of the hierarchal service to the service of the archimandrite.
The same tendency is clearly manifested in another church award: the permission for archpriests and archimandrites to celebrate the Liturgy at the open Royal Doors until the time of the Cherubim or even before the Lord's Prayer, as happens during episcopal service.

Let's move on to episcopal robes. The main liturgical sign of a bishop is an omophorion - a shoulder pad, or, in Old Church Slavonic, an amice. The omophorion, in other words, maforium, could have various forms: cover not only the shoulders, but also the neck, sometimes - like the Mother of God on the icons - and the head. The veil that the Most Holy Theotokos spread, in the vision of Andrew the Fool-for-Christ, over the believers in the Vlachris Church, was her maphorium. As it is sung in one of their stichera of the Feast of the Intercession, “cover, O Lady, with the omophorion of your mercy our country and all the people.” The first episcopal omophorion was, according to legend, woven by the Virgin Mary herself for the righteous Lazarus, when she visited him in Cyprus, where he ministered for thirty years after the Lord resurrected him, "in the city of Kiteysky" (now Larnaca).
As for Byzantine documentary evidence, the oldest of them is connected with the activities of St. Mitrofan, Archbishop of Constantinople (325). The omophorion, according to St. Isidore Pelusiot (436), was always made "from a wave (wool), and not from linen, since it symbolizes a saved lost sheep." This idea is also expressed in the prayer that is pronounced when the omophorion is placed on the shoulders of the bishop: “On Ramo, Christ, you took the erring nature and, lifting it up, brought it to God and the Father” (i.e. “on your shoulders you took our sinful human nature and lifted up - at the Ascension - to God").
Iconographic images (the oldest ones are in the Menology of Emperor Basil, early 11th century) testify to the initial existence of two types of omophorion: in the form of a wide ribbon, which has survived to this day, and in the form of the so-called "double stole". As E.E. wrote Golubinsky, “if you take two priestly stole and, having cut off the neck hole from one, sew it to the neck hole of the other from the opposite side, then this, so to speak, double stole will be the omophorion of the second form. Worn around the neck, it fell down with both ends to hang freely, so that it represented, over the bishop's phelonion, as it were, two epitrachili - front and back.
Byzantine historians explain the origin of the form of the so-called "wide" episcopal omophorion generally accepted today as follows. “The main difference between an official in ancient Rome was lor — a wide purple border around the tunic of senators and consuls. Then, even in pre-imperial times, it separated - it became a consular wide bandage around the neck, falling to the chest. When the lor passed from the consuls to the emperors, they began to decorate it with precious stones and pearls. This lore, adorned only with crosses and fringe, became a sign of episcopal dignity, replacing the simple, ancient omophorion.
And here, in the history of the omophorion, we again encounter the fact of the original gift or award character of the most important church distinction. Just as at first only 12 major Byzantine dignitaries had the right to wear a wide imperial lore, so the Council of Constantinople in 869 allowed only certain bishops to wear a large omophorion (like lore) and only on certain holidays. (This was, of course, not about the omophorion in general, but specifically about the large omophorion of the type of the imperial lore). Moreover, the width of the omophorion depended on the hierarchical height of the bishop. The higher the position occupied by the chair on the hierarchical ladder, the wider was the omophorion of the bishop, a narrow omophorion, similar to the deacon's orarion (such are the omophorions of saints on the Ravenna mosaics of the 6th century), were worn either by worshipers of special antiquity, or by primates of one of the lower degrees in the list of chairs. Similarly, another emblematic bishop's garment, the sakkos, was originally the garment of only one Byzantine emperor. Sakkos (Greek - "bag"; the word is believed to be of Hebrew origin) was in ancient times a narrow long tunic, worn over the head and in appearance fully justified the name "bag". According to the place of its origin, from Dalmatia (modern Croatia), this clothing in the Byzantine royal everyday life was called dalmatic. Sometimes, for the convenience of dressing, the dalmatic was cut on the sides and the cuts were tied with braid or fastened with brooches. On the bishop's sakkos, the brooches were later replaced by the so-called bells (bells) - in the image of the clothes of the Old Testament high priest.
The dalmatic (= sakkos) entered the vestments of the Patriarch of Constantinople at the same time as he became available to the highest categories of Byzantine court nobles (XII-XII centuries). But even in the thirteenth century The patriarch put on the sakkos only on three major holidays: at Easter, at Christmas and at Pentecost, on other days, even holidays, being content with the bishop's phelonion. Back in the 15th century. Simeon of Thessalonica, answering the question, “why the bishops do not wear either a polystauri (cross-shaped phelonion) or a sakkos, and if they put it on, then what’s wrong with that,” answered: “Everyone should keep what belongs to his rank, because to do that what is not given, and to receive what is not due, is characteristic of pride.

But the development of church clothing in this case, as in others, did not proceed along the line of strict observance of hierarchical differences, but, on the contrary, in the direction of “adding” to each of the junior ranks the distinguishing features of a senior rank. In the XVI century. sakkos are in general use among the Greek bishops. Our metropolitans of the first centuries of the existence of the Russian Church did not have either a sakkos or a polystaurium (let us recall that in the petitions - the lists of the episcopal sees of the Patriarchate of Constantinople - the Russian Metropolis initially occupied a very modest 61st place). But in 1346, the Metropolitan of Kiev had already blessed (granted) the Archbishop of Novgorod Vasily Kalik "cross-shaped vestments" - polystaurium. The metropolitan himself at that time already had a sakkos. Basil's successor, Bishop Moses of Novgorod, receives "cross-shaped robes" directly from Constantinople, from Patriarch Philotheus, as confirmation of his dignity. Sakkos remained at that time the personal property of the Metropolitan. The oldest surviving Russian sakkos was brought by Metropolitan Photius, Saint of Moscow, from Greece and dates back to 1414-1417.

Upon the establishment of the patriarchate in Rus' in 1589, the sakkos becomes the iconic vestment of the Patriarch of Moscow and the primates of the four metropolitanates established at the same time - in Novgorod, Kazan, Rostov and Krutitsy. The patriarchal sakkos differed from the metropolitan's in the apron - a sewn-on epitrachelion studded with pearls - in the image of the biblical Aaron's henchman (Ex. 28, 15-24). The sakkos became a common episcopal affiliation only after the abolition of the patriarchate under Peter the Great. (From 1702 - as a distinctive feature of some of the bishops, from 1705 - as a common affiliation of the dignity).
Another distinctive element of the episcopal liturgical attire is epshonatiy, in Russian - police (i.e. "small sex") or, in common parlance, club. The club is a square (more precisely, diamond-shaped) board, which is hung on the belt at one end on a long ribbon, so that it hangs on the hip in a rhombus, really resembling a weapon - a sword or a club. When a bishop is dressed, when a club is hung, the same prayer is said as when a priest is dressed with a legguard: “Gird up your sword on your thigh” (Ps. 44, 4-5).
If the legguard is one of the awards for priests (usually this is the first award), then the club is an obligatory accessory of the liturgical attire of a bishop, and archimandrites and archpriests are also given only as a reward. Archimandrites have long (and now archpriests) usually wear both a cuisse and a club. At the same time, the bishop's club is placed on top of the sakkos. Archimandrites and archpriests put on both a club and a cuisse under a phelonion on a ribbon over their shoulders. The priest wears a gaiter on his right side. If the archpriest (or archimandrite) is awarded sweat and a club, it is placed on the right, and the cuisse on the left.

On the chest, the priest during divine services wears a pectoral cross (from Old Slavonic Persi - “chest”), and bishops wear a cross with decorations and a panagia - a small round image of the Savior or the Mother of God. For a bishop, the reward may be a second panagia.
Initially, bishops and presbyters, like all believing Christians, wore only pectoral encolpion crosses on their chests under their clothes. Encolpions could contain particles of holy relics and in this case were called reliquaries. Wearing a smartly decorated reliquary on the chest, over formal clothes, was the prerogative of the emperor (in Byzantium) or the grand dukes - and later tsars - in Muscovite Rus'.
"Panagia" was the name of a part of the liturgical prosphora, taken out on the proskomedia in honor of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the eastern cenobitic monasteries, the rite of the ascension was performed. Panagia - at the end of the fraternal meal.
In the era of Metropolitan Cyprian and Sergius of Radonezh, in the last quarter of the 14th century, this custom also came to Russian monasteries, and then, obviously, under the influence of the corresponding Byzantine royal ritual, to the practice of the grand duke and royal meal. But if in stationary conditions, in a monastery or in a palace, it was convenient to store and carry the Mother of God bread in a special vessel, panagiara, then in field conditions (and bishops, like princes, most of the time, especially at Russian distances, were forced to spend in traveling) it was more convenient to have a chest round shape of the reliquary, to which the name of its contents was transferred - panagia.
In any case, ancient Russian ecclesiastical and tsarist practice knows both functional uses of the panagia. The oldest panagia that has come down to us is a silver double-leaf panagia from the Moscow Simonov Monastery with images of the Ascension on the lid, the Trinity and Our Lady of the Sign on the inner wings. This is a typical monastery panagia. About a similar panagia from the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, with the image of the Almighty and the Evangelists on the lid, it is positively known that it was worn "on campaigns to the Great Sovereign at the tables."
Later, the panagia, having entered the vestments of bishops, lost its original functional purpose, turning into a symbolic regalia - a round or figured breast icon of the Savior or the Mother of God.
The episcopal vestments are completed by a special liturgical headdress called a miter. The miter can rightfully be considered one of the most mysterious headdresses. The word itself has no Greek etymology, despite the fact that it occurs for the first time already in Homer's Iliad. But not in the sense of a headdress. Homer calls the underarm bandage of one of the characters "mitre". Most likely, the word (in the primary everyday meaning - “bandage”, “connection”; cf. Old Slavonic faded - “headband of the high priest”) represents an early Iranian borrowing in Greek - from the time of the Scythian-Cimmerian contacts. One-root is the name of the pagan ancient Iranian god Mithra, who was originally revered as the “patron of connections and alliances” (a closely related Iranian root is also presented in Sanskrit).
The second riddle is related to the fact that the modern episcopal miter is in no way associated in appearance with the Persian, generally exotic oriental, headband. Although the Old Testament high-priestly kidar is now sometimes called a miter (Ex. 28:4), this has only a figurative meaning: neither in Russian, nor in Greek, nor in Latin translations of Holy Scripture, we will not find this word. The modern miter is not similar to the episcopal bandages of the Christian first bishops.
The fact is that the Greek clergy call the miter a crown (korsoua) or a crown - the same as the royal crown is called. This similarity, according to A.A. Dmitrievsky, "speaks for the fact that the episcopal miter and the royal crown are by nature homogeneous." In imperial life, the crown also did not appear immediately. Equal-to-the-Apostles Constantine the Great, according to legend, received from the East a diadem (cloth bandage, later replaced by a metal hoop). Another of the great Christian emperors, blessed Justinian, already wore a gold hoop, with a soft cap inside and gold cruciform temples topped with a cross on top (i.e., a cap, as if covered with a gold star).
Constantine's deed of gift to Pope Sylvester, granting him the imperial crown, is, of course, apocryphal. But, as we have already said, at the turn of the X-XI centuries. Byzantine emperor Basil authentically granted the Jerusalem Patriarch Theophilus the right to use the royal diadem in liturgical services.
However, the famous interpreter of Orthodox worship, Archbishop Simeon of Thessalonica, who wrote in the 15th century, does not yet describe the hierarchal mitres - and even considers it superfluous for a hierarch to wear a headdress during worship: -or, but according to the word of the Apostle Paul: honoring Christ as the Head, we must have uncovered heads during prayer ... And especially the hierarch. After all, at the time of ordination, he has the Gospel on his head, therefore he should not have another cover when he performs the priesthood.
In the Orthodox East, the miter retained the form of a royal crown in subsequent times. As A.A. Dmitrievsky, “it was quite natural for Greek national pride after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to place the crown of emperors that no longer exist on the head of their Ecumenical Patriarch, the head and sole guardian of the interests of Orthodoxy in the entire Muslim East.” From the Patriarch, according to the principle already known to us of rewarding the younger with insignia of the elders, the miter-crowns also passed to the metropolitans and bishops subordinate to the Patriarch. However, even in the XVI-XVII centuries. Eastern hierarchs, except for patriarchs, avoided the use of Met. Even now, when several bishops serve, only the eldest in consecration serves in the mitre.
In Moscow, an episcopal miter of the crown type was first seen in 1619 on Patriarch Feofan of Jerusalem, who arrived to head the enthronement of Patriarch Filaret of Moscow. Later, a lover of Greek customs, Patriarch Nikon, ordered a miter of this form for himself in the East. (It is now kept in the Historical Museum.)
As for the warm, padded with cotton wool and ermine-lined Russian bishop's caps that replaced mitres in the pre-Nikonian time, this, according to historians, is nothing more than ancient Russian grand ducal caps, with which the same thing happened as in the East with a miter-crown. They were originally a generous gift "from their heads" of pious Russian princes, not to everyone at once, but at first only to the most worthy, most revered of the hierarchs. By the time of Nikon, these hats were the standard accessory of metropolitans.
For archimandrites and archpriests, the right to wear a mitre during divine services is a church award (see below).

One of the most noticeable outward differences of the episcopal dignity during worship is a staff - with a small head, as a rule, with serpentine horns and a special board, the so-called sulk. The staff (in the ceremonial version, also called a baton) in the hands of the bishop serves, according to the interpretation of Orthodox canonists, "a sign of power over subordinates and the lawful management of them."
The staff in its long ecclesiastical liturgical evolution went through the same stages as the sakkos or miter described above. On the one hand, the relationship of the shepherd's crook with the usual shepherd's crook is indisputable. When the Lord, in a conversation on Lake Tiberias, says to the Apostle Peter three times: “Feed my sheep!”, He, according to church historians, returns to him the shepherd’s crook, which in the early Christian community was a sign of apostolic dignity, lost by Peter on the night of the triple denial of the Savior . This meaning is also meant by the apostle Paul when he says in 1 Corinthians: “What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of meekness?” (1 Cor. 4:21).
Each of the parts of the episcopal baton has not only a symbolic, theological, but also a direct functional purpose, determined by pastoral (= pastoral) practice. A Latin proverb describing the bishop's staff reads: “The curved top attracts, gathers; the direct part rules, holds; the tip executes. On the staff of the Patriarch of Moscow Filaret Nikitich, the father of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail, it was written: "(rod) of government, punishment, approval, execution."
In the history of the archpastoral staff, the matter was also not without the influence of Byzantine imperial rituals and etiquette. The newly elected Patriarch of Constantinople received his staff after the panagia in the palace from the hands of the king. And in its structure, with the exception of the upper part, this patriarchal dikannik was similar to the royal one: smooth, silver-gilded, beautiful and expensive. So, gradually, from a sign of shepherding, the staff turns into a sign of dominion.
Thus, in the history of the staff, the influence of the Empire is closely combined with the legacy of the Desert. Abbot's staffs, as in the Greek East, were smooth, without the so-called apples, or interceptions, usually black, single-horned (like a stick) or with a simple transverse handle topped with a cross. It was convenient to lean on such a staff during long laborious services.
Episcopal rods were, as a rule, decorated with one or another number of "apples", with carvings - on wood, bone, metal, stone - with sacred images. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the hierarch's rods were completely covered with precious stones, pearls, filigree and enamel. Very few hierarchs, like St. Theodosius of Chernigov, even in the bishopric preferred to remain with a modest monastic staff.
It must, however, be borne in mind that the ceremonial liturgical baton of a hierarch differs significantly from the everyday staff used on hierarchal outings.
Curved snakes on the episcopal staff appeared from the time of Patriarch Nikon in imitation of the Greek East, where a serpent or dragon, trampled by Christ (or saints) or pierced by a cross, is a very common symbol.

A real innovation that appeared in the Russian Church from the middle of the 17th century was the sulok (from the Russian dialectal suvolok) - a quadrangular, double-folded board attached to the upper part of the bishop's and archimandrite's staff. A.L. Dmitrievsky believed that the sulok had a functional purpose - to protect the hierarch's hand from the cold during winter services in the cold. According to another, more convincing explanation, the origin of this element, which has now acquired a purely decorative meaning, is based on religious and psychological reasons. In this sense, the sulok is a variety of the enchirilium mentioned above - the priestly handbrake. With the development of a sense of holiness in relation to liturgical objects, taking a staff with a bare hand began to seem as sacrilegious as taking a deacon or a priest by hand with the holy Gospel [I, p. 275-276].
Today, a wand without a sulk is the exclusive privilege of the Patriarch. Also a feature of the Patriarchal Liturgy is the right of the Patriarch to enter the altar with a rod through the Royal Doors, while other bishops, entering the altar, give the rod to the subdeacon, who holds it in his hands, standing to the right of the Royal Doors. As the sulki themselves often became a work of church art, and sometimes even the highest award to one or another hierarch, they began to be treated with more care than the staff itself, and the assistant deacons, who carry and take care of the bishop's staff during the service, it is their did not dare to touch.

Everyday robes, which distinguish the servants of the Church from lay people and testify to their dignity and rank, once originated from the robes used in the world, and quickly, already in ancient times, acquired special features, so that the clergy and monasticism began to stand out outwardly from the secular environment. This deeply corresponded to the concept of the Church as a kingdom not of this world, which, although it goes through its journey and service in the world, is nevertheless profoundly different from it in its nature. In the minds of the ancients, the sacred dignity or monastic rank obliged the bearers of such to be always and everywhere what they are before God and the Church.

The main everyday attire of the clergy and monasticism of all degrees is the cassock and cassock.

The cassock is a long, to the toe, robe with narrow sleeves, tightly buttoned at the collar. This garment is of two types. The first type of cassock: a robe sewn in at the waist, cut from top to bottom, with an extended bell at the bottom. The left lower floor goes deep inside under the right upper floor. The oblique upper right floor is fastened on the left side at the neck and in the belt. The second type of this attire:

single-row, sewn in at the waist or straight clothing, slit in the center, from the neck to the chest, or to the bottom, having a row of buttons from the middle of the collar to the lower edge in the center (usually 33). Such a cut was worn by the ancient Russian single rows of the clergy and nobility and Catholic spiritual clothes. The cassock is the undergarment. For monastics, it should be black. The color of the white clergy cassocks is black, navy blue, brown, gray and white for summer. Material: cloth, wool, satin, linen, flax, less often silk fabrics.

A cassock is an outer garment with long, below the palms, wide sleeves. Cassocks also have two main cuts. The first - exactly corresponds to the cut of the cassocks of the first type and differs from it only in the cut of the sleeve - long, extended downwards. The second type of cassock: straight, slit in the middle, fastened only at the collar and chest. At the same time, the sleeves are straight, that is, they are equally wide from the base to the end. This is a Greek cassock. The cassocks are predominantly black, but can be dark blue, brown, white, less often cream and gray. The materials for the cassocks are the same as for the cassocks. Both cassocks and cassocks can be lined.

For everyday life, there are cassocks, which are demi-season and winter coats. These are cassocks of the first kind, with a turn-down collar trimmed with black velvet or fur. Winter cassocks-coats are made on a warm lining.

All divine services, except for the liturgy, are performed by the priest in a cassock and cassock, over which special liturgical robes (chasubles) are put on. When serving the liturgy, as well as in special cases when, according to the Rule, the priest must be in full liturgical vestments, the cassock is removed and a cassock and other vestments are put on over the cassock. The deacon serves in a cassock, over which a surplice is put on. The bishop performs all divine services in a cassock, on which special hierarchal robes are put on. The only exceptions are some prayer services, litias, cell and other clergy services of the bishop, when he can serve in a cassock or a cassock and a mantle, over which an epitrachelion is put on.

Thus, everyday robes of the clergy are an obligatory basis for liturgical vestments.

Long-sleeved clothing with narrow sleeves was widespread throughout the world among Eastern and Western peoples. Loose long clothes with wide sleeves of oriental origin. It was also widespread in the Jewish environment during the earthly life of the Savior, Who Himself wore such clothes, as evidenced by tradition and iconography. Therefore, the cassock and cassock are considered the garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. The antiquity of this type of clothing is indirectly confirmed by the fact that even today many Eastern peoples use a wide long slit and unslit front robe with wide long sleeves, very similar to a cassock, as traditional national clothing. The word "cassock" comes from the Greek adjective "to rason", which means scraped, worn, devoid of lint, worn. It was precisely such almost beggarly clothes that monastics were supposed to wear in the Ancient Church. From the monastic environment, the cassock came into use for all the clergy, which is confirmed by many testimonies.

In the Russian Church until the XVII century. cassocks were not required. In everyday situations, the clergy wore long single-rows of a special cut made of cloth and velvet of green, purple and crimson colors. The gates were also trimmed with velvet or fur. Single rows of secular persons in many respects differed from the robes of the clergy, so that the clergy in Rus' from ancient times stood out with their appearance from the secular environment. Even the wives of the white clergy necessarily wore such clothes in which one could immediately recognize their mothers in them. Expanding ties with the Orthodox East in the second half of the 17th century. contributed to the penetration into the Russian church environment of the robes of the Greek clergy. Great Moscow Cathedral 1666 - 1667 decided to bless for Russian clergymen and monks the spiritual robes adopted at that time in the Orthodox East. At the same time, a reservation was made that the Council does not force, but only blesses the wearing of such robes and strictly forbids condemning those who dare to wear them. So the first Greek cassock appeared in Russia. But a loose straight cassock, convenient for countries with a hot climate, seemed apparently unacceptable in our country also due to the fact that external conditions created the habit of wearing clothes that fit tightly to the body, moreover, spacious clothes with a slit in the middle, in front, were worn in that time the Turks. Therefore, Russian cassocks began to be wrapped up and sewn in at the waist, the sleeve was made from a straight line in the form of a bell. At the same time, two cuts of the cassock appeared - Kiev and Moscow. The "Kiev" cassock is slightly sutured at the waist from the sides, and leaves the back straight, while the "Moscow" cassock is significantly sutured at the waist, so that it fits to the body both from the sides and from the back.

Since the 18th century worldly clothes of the upper classes took on a look completely different from traditional Russian clothes. Gradually, all classes of society began to wear short clothes, often of a European type, so that the robes of the clergy turned out to be in a particularly sharp difference from the secular ones. At the same time, in the XVIII century. everyday clothes of the clergy acquired greater uniformity and stability of cut and color. The monastics began to wear mostly only black cassocks and cassocks of the first type, while in ancient times they often wore green single-row, and the white clergy narrowed down the color scheme of their clothes.

The general symbolic meaning of the cassock and cassock is evidence of detachment from worldly fuss, a symbol of spiritual peace. Peace and tranquility of the heart in its constant spiritual abiding with God is the highest goal of the efforts of any believer. But especially the clergy and monastics, as those who have devoted their entire lives to serving God, should have as a result of their spiritual activity this inner renunciation of worldly care and fuss, peace and tranquility of the heart. The outer attire of the clergy corresponds to this state, reminds of it, calls to it, helps to achieve it: being the image of the outer garment that the Lord Jesus Christ wore during earthly life, the cassock and cassock mean that the clergy and monastics imitate Jesus Christ, as He and commanded his disciples. The long robe of the clergy is a sign of God's grace, clothing His servants, covering their human infirmities; the cloth or woolen cassock of the monks, girded with a leather belt, is an image of the sackcloth and leather belt, which the preacher of repentance John the Baptist wore in the wilderness (Matt. 3, 4). The black color of the cassocks and cassocks is especially remarkable: black is essentially the absence of color, something that lies outside the light spectrum. When applied to the attire of the clergy and monasticism, this means the color of perfect rest, as the absence of movements of passion, as if spiritual death for sin and renunciation of all vain, from external, carnal life and focus on the invisible, inner life. The daily attire of the clergy is also important for the surrounding believers, as evidence of the spiritual state to which all who seek salvation in God should strive.

The special detachment of the monks from the world is indicated by the mantle, or paly, - a long, sleeveless, cape with a clasp only at the collar, descending to the ground and covering the cassock and cassock. In early Christian times, this was the clothing of all Christians who converted to the faith from paganism and renounced those titles and ranks that they had in a pagan environment. Such a long cape made of the simplest matter meant renunciation of idol service and humility. Subsequently, it became the property of some monastics. According to the interpretation of St. Herman, Patriarch of Constantinople, a loose, unbelted mantle is a sign of angelic wings, which is why it is called the "angelic image." Simeon of Thessalonica adds that “the mantle is a perfecting garment, and embraces and expresses the all-covering power of God, as well as the severity, reverence and humility of monastic life, and that a monk has neither hands nor other members that live and are not free for worldly activities .. ... only his head is free, aspiring to God ... But even that is covered with a sack for the sake of humility." Abba Dorotheos explains the spiritual meaning of the mantle in a similar way. The mantle is only a monastic garment. In ancient times in Rus', the monks wore a mantle always and everywhere and did not have the right to leave their cells without it. Monks were punished for entering the city without a mantle in the 17th century. exile to distant monasteries under strong supervision. Such severity was due to the fact that at that time the monks did not yet have cassocks as mandatory outerwear. They wore single rows with narrow sleeves, so that the mantle was the only outer garment. The monks' robes, like their cassocks and cassocks, are always black.

Clergy and monastics in everyday use have special headdresses. White clergy may wear skufis. In ancient times, skufiya was a small round cap, similar to a bowl without a stand. Since ancient times, in the Western Church and in Rus', clergymen covered the shaved part of the head with such a cap. After ordination to the priesthood, the proteges immediately shaved their hair on their heads in the form of a circle, which in Rus' received the name gumenzo, which meant the sign of the crown of thorns. The shaved part was covered with a small hat, which received the Slavic name also gumenzo, or the Greek - skufiya.

The custom of the clergy to shave their hair was preserved in Russia until the middle of the 17th century, but the skufi has still remained as a headdress for clergy of all ranks and degrees. At the same time, the cut of the skufiya has changed. It took the form of a figured soft folding cap, covering the head deeply, up to the eyebrows, sewn at the same time so that the folds of the worn skufi form a sign of the cross above the head. In ancient times, priests and deacons constantly wore a skufi, even at home, taking it off only during worship and before going to bed. With the abolition of the custom of shaving the hair on the head, the procedure for wearing the skufiya has changed. Bishops and monks were allowed to wear skufii in private. Priests and deacons were allowed to wear a black skufi only during divine services in the open air, in cold weather. Even monastic novices, subdeacons, and readers could wear black skufis outside the church, but they had to take them off when entering the church, which is observed to this day.

By decree of Emperor Paul I of December 18, 1797, purple skufis and kamilavkas were introduced into church use as awards for white clergy. In the award skufi, the priest can also stay in the church, perform divine services, removing it in the cases provided for by the Charter. Priests can wear such a skufia on a daily basis.

The everyday headdress of bishops and monks, in which they can perform some divine services, is also a klobuk. This is a headdress consisting of a kamilavka and a cuckoo. Klobuk has been known in the Slavic environment since ancient times. Initially, it was a princely headdress, which was a cap trimmed with fur, with a small veil sewn to it, descending on the shoulders. Such caps with bedspreads were also used by other noble people in Rus', men and women. On ancient icons, Saints Boris and Gleb are often depicted wearing hoods. About hoods, as a princely headdress, there are references in the annals. When the klobuk became the headdress of Russian monks is unknown. In the church environment, he appeared a very long time ago and looked like a deep soft cap made of simple matter with a fur band. The etymology of the verb "to put on" (to put on, put on a headdress low on the forehead, on the ears) goes back to the root klobuk. The cap was covered with a black veil that fell over the shoulders. Such hoods were worn in Rus' by both monks and bishops, only among bishops were hoods made of expensive materials and sometimes decorated with precious stones. In the Orthodox East, monastic headdresses had a different look. There, only a veil worn over a hat was considered to be a monastic cukul. The lower part of that coverlet, descending on the back, began to be divided into three ends.

It is not known with certainty when and why the veil of monastic hoods began to be divided into three ends. Russian monks adopted this form of kukul from Greek hoods in the second half of the 18th century. In the Greek Church in antiquity, these three ends of the "basting" most likely formed in connection with the custom of monks to tie the ends of the bedspread under the chin in cold weather, during the wind, on the road, and also in the temple at prayer, so that when removing the headdress, when it required by the Charter, he, without burdening his hands, remained hanging on his back. The hood with a kukul, which covers the front of the neck with two lower ends, and descends to the back with the third, turns out to be very similar to an ancient military helmet with chain mail, which makes the monastic headdress even more consistent with the words of the Apostle Paul about the "helmet of salvation." In our time, the three ends of the outline have acquired mainly the meaning of the symbol of the Trinity grace covering the head (i.e., thoughts) of the monk.

Some Russian saints of antiquity wore white klobuks. Iconography depicts Sts. Metropolitans Peter, Alexy, Jonah, Philip. Historical data for the first time testify to the white hood of the Archbishop of Novgorod Vasily (+ 1354), which was presented to him, according to legend, by the Patriarch of Constantinople. Since that time, the rulers of Novgorod began to traditionally wear white klobuks, decorated with icons and gold embroidery. At the Moscow Council of 1564, the white hood was also assigned to the Moscow Metropolitan. With the establishment of the patriarchate in Russia in 1589, Russian patriarchs began to wear white hoods. At the Council of 16 - 1667. all metropolitans were given the right to wear white hoods. But at the same time, the hoods of the metropolitans did not differ in form from the monastic hoods of the new (Greek) model (with a solid cylindrical kamilavka), only the “basting” (kukol) became white. And the klobuks of the patriarchs retained the ancient form of a spherical cap, covered with white kukul, the ends of which also differed from the ends of the monastic basting. The three ends of the patriarchal hood begin almost from the cap, two of them descend from the front to the chest, the third to the back. At the top of the patriarchal hood (on the Makovets) a cross began to be supplied, the frontal side of the hood was decorated with icons, and cherubim or seraphim were depicted at the ends of the cukul with gold embroidery. At present, the hood of the Moscow Patriarch on the frontal side and at the ends of the cockle has images of six-winged seraphim, in all other respects it is similar to the hoods of the ancient Russian patriarchs. The white color of the metropolitan and patriarchal hoods means a special purity of thoughts and enlightenment by Divine light, which corresponds to the highest degrees of the church hierarchy, which are called upon to reflect the highest degrees of the spiritual state. In this regard, the patriarch's hood with images of seraphim indicates that the patriarch, as the primate of the entire Russian Church and a prayer book for her, is likened to the highest angelic ranks closest to God. The form of the patriarchal klobuk, reminiscent of the dome of a temple with a cross on top, also fully corresponds to the position of the patriarch as the head of the local Church.

From the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century. in the Russian Church, the custom that still exists to this day to wear black crosses for archbishops, and diamond crosses for metropolitans on white klobuks, has been established. The cross on the headdress is not new. In the ancient Russian and especially Ukrainian church environment, even ordinary priests wore crosses on everyday hats. Among the priests, this custom ceased at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. Subsequently, diamond crosses on hoods became the insignia of archbishops and metropolitans (bishops wear the usual black monastic hood without a cross). A diamond cross can mean high spiritual perfection and a special firmness of faith and teaching, corresponding to the highest degrees of the church hierarchy.

Until 1656, Russian monastic hoods retained their ancient appearance. In 1656, Patriarch Macarius of Antioch, who was in Russia, presented Patriarch Nikon with a white klobuk of a new design, which was used in the Orthodox East. He was a solid cylindrical kamilavka, sheathed with crepe (kukul), descending below the shoulders on the back. Soon all the monks of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra made themselves black hoods according to the Greek model, within two or three years all Russian monasticism began to wear hoods.

The modern monastic klobuk is a solid kamilavka in the form of a cylinder, slightly widened at the top, covered with black crepe, descending to the back and ending in the form of three long ends. This crepe is commonly called a basting (or cukul). In the rank of monastic vows under the name klobuk, of course, only crepe, a veil with which a kamilavka is covered. This veil is sometimes called a kukul, just like the veil put on during tonsure into the great schema. In this sense, the klobuk is called the "helmet of the hope of salvation," and the kukul of the great schema, according to the order of tonsure into the small and great schemas, means "the helmet of saving hope."

This symbolic meaning of monastic veils comes from the words of the Apostle Paul, who says: "But we, being sons of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation" (1 Thess. 5:8), and in another place "Stand therefore, having your loins girded with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having your feet shod in readiness to proclaim peace; and above all, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Eph. 6:14-17). Thus, everyday spiritual, especially monastic, clothes signify by external means those internal qualities that any Christian must possess, called a soldier of Christ at baptism, since he will have to wage a relentless war against invisible spiritual enemies of salvation.

Monastics of all degrees wear the rosary. This is a prayer item used for frequent reading of the Jesus Prayer. Modern rosary is a closed thread, consisting of a hundred "grains", divided into dozens of intermediate "grains" of larger sizes than ordinary ones. Cell rosaries sometimes contain a thousand "seeds" with the same division. The rosary helps to count (hence their name) the number of prayers that a monk should include in the daily rule, without focusing on the count itself. The rosary has been known since ancient times. In Rus', in the old days they had the form of a closed ladder, consisting not of "grains", but of wooden blocks sheathed in leather or fabric, and were called "ladder" or "lestovka" (ladder). Spiritually, they mean the ladder of salvation, the "spiritual sword", they are an image of unceasing (eternal) prayer (a circular thread is a symbol of eternity).

Shoes, most decent for clergymen of all degrees and monks, from time immemorial in the Russian Church were and are considered boots. The simplicity of their form and severity, which does not create bliss and lightness for the feet, correspond to the statutory requirements for the shoes of monks and clergy in general. Blessed Simeon, Archbishop of Thessalonica, believes that the strapping sandals with which the feet of newly tonsured monks are tied are given "in preparation for the gospel of peace, so that the monk does not injure the mental legs of the soul, is not wounded by mental snakes in the heel of thoughts, but that he steps on them and tramples lion and dragon, hidden envious beasts of malice, so that he steadily hurries along the path of the gospel. This idea of ​​the symbolism of monastic shoes most of all corresponds to high, durable Russian boots, shoes for distant wanderings and journeys through dangerous wilds.

What does the color of a priest's vestment mean? Why does the color of the vestments change depending on the day? What color is a priest supposed to serve at Christmas? For Easter? On other holidays? Colors of vestments: we tell the main thing you need to know.

liturgical vestments

Liturgical vestments are varied and depend on the rank of the priest, whether it is a priest at all (maybe a deacon, for example, or a sexton), and also on certain moments of the services.

We will tell you in detail about what the liturgical vestments of a priest consist of. But if we speak now in the most general terms, then it is distinguished by external solemnity, and without it - worn partially or completely - the priest cannot perform worship or some of the Sacraments. For example, a priest cannot serve or confess without a stole.

Depending on the day when the service is held, the priest's vestments can be of different colors: yellow, red, blue, purple, black, white or green. Other colors are not used.

The color of the vestments of the priests - what does it mean?

The set of colors that are used in the temple has traditionally developed in the Church - over two millennia. Moreover, not only the priest is dressed in different colors, but also all those who serve him - deacons, altar servers, sexton. Also, depending on the day, the color of the vestments of the throne changes and, if possible, other details in the structure of the temple (for example, on Easter in some churches the lampadas are changed to red - in the color of this Holiday).

What does the color of a priest's vestment mean? On the one hand, each color really acquired its symbolic meaning in the Church, and from this point of view, some unspoken rules were established. For example, priests serve all the Mother of God holidays in blue, and Easter days - in red.

On the other hand, the color of the vestments is precisely a tradition, not a dogma, therefore, in certain cases, depending on the temple, the principles for choosing a color may differ slightly. But in general terms, the rules for the formation of the color of the vestments of the priest are the same everywhere and look like this:

Priest's Blue Robes

Required for the Mother of God holidays. For example: Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 21) or Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 28). Or on the day of the celebration of especially revered icons of the Theotokos.

(By the way, if the temple has a blue dome, then it is also, most likely, consecrated in honor of the Mother of God holiday. Although in general, there are no rules for domes in relation to color at all ... See text:)

Priest's White Robes

Intended for the feasts of the Nativity of Christ (January 7), Theophany (January 18), Ascension of the Lord (date depends on the day of Easter), Transfiguration (August 19) and Circumcision of the Lord (January 14).

Priests, deacons and altar servers also wear white on the days of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the Apostle John the Theologian, and also on the days of memory of incorporeal forces, virgins and virgins.

Burial, as a rule, is also performed in white vestments, not black ones - because death in Christianity is not a tragic event, but on the contrary - a bright one, because the soul goes to Eternity.

White robes are also used during the performance of the Sacraments of Baptism and Wedding.

Purple Priest's Robes

Intended for the feasts of the Cross of the Lord. For example - the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 27).

In addition, priests wear purple during Great Lent on Sundays and Great Holidays. For example, on the Day of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, which is celebrated on the first Sunday of Lent.

Priest's Red Vestment

The clergy wear red on the days of remembrance of the martyrs. In addition, it is the color of the Easter week. Although during the Easter service itself it is customary that priests alternately put on vestments of different colors, and meet the Resurrection of Christ itself and the first message “Christ is Risen!” proclaim in white.

On Maundy Thursday - the last Thursday before Easter - the priest also dresses in red (in memory of the Blood given by Christ to his disciples at the Last Supper) - but in dark red, so that it is not Easter.

Green color vestments

Green vestments are intended for the holidays of the Holy Spirit (51st day after Easter), the Holy Trinity (50th day after Easter), the Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem (a week before Easter) and in addition - on the days of memory of holy fools, ascetics and.

Black color vestments

The black color of the vestments is supposed to be for posts. Moreover, on some days it can be not only black, but dark blue or dark green. However, in Great Lent - especially in Holy Week - the vestment is exclusively black.

An exception to "Lenten" vestments are Great Feasts or Sundays, when priests also wear purple or black vestments, but with gold or colored trim.

Priest's yellow or gold vestments

Yellow color - apostles, prophets, saints and other servants of the Church.

In addition, a priest can wear this color in poor or rural parishes on those days for which he does not have vestments of the corresponding color.

One can also say about the priest's vestments that it is usually sewn from silk or brocade.

At the same time, the vestment on the pattern can be the most diverse. For example, "minimalistic" like this:

Or vice versa - with an exquisite pattern, like this:

However, the choice of pattern, unlike the color of the vestment, does not carry any rules in itself and entirely depends on the tastes of those who sew and the one who acquires this vestment.

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Clergy can be distinguished by their ranks and ranks during worship by their liturgical robes, special headdresses, and pectoral crosses.

Clergy and monastics in everyday use wear headdresses called skufii. This is a soft figured folding cap, sewn so that its folds over the head form the sign of the cross.

From the end of the 18th century, kamilavkas were introduced into church use as awards for the white clergy. This is a solid headdress, which is a cylinder, slightly expanded upwards. The everyday headdress of bishops and monks, in which they can perform some divine services, is a klobuk. This is a kamilavka, covered with black crepe, descending to the back and having a completion in the form of three long ends, called cukul. Metropolitans have the right to wear white hoods. And the hoods of the patriarchs retained the ancient form of a spherical cap, covered with white kukul. Two of their ends descend on the chest, the third - behind the back. At the top of the patriarchal klobuk is a cross. During worship, the headdress of bishops is a miter, a cap richly decorated with brocade embroidery and precious stones.

Pectoral crosses for priests in the Russian Orthodox Church appeared relatively recently. Until the 18th century, only bishops had the right to wear pectoral crosses. Since the clothes of priests practically do not differ from the clothes of deacons and monks, the cross becomes the difference between priests and other clergy. Priests wear crosses over their robes for worship, but they can also be worn in everyday situations over a cassock.

The distinctive breastplate of a bishop is a panagia. Panagia is an image of the Mother of God, most often round or oval, with various decorations. In everyday situations, bishops wear only a panagia, and during divine services, a panagia and a cross. These are signs of the highest authority in the church.

§ 81. The Orthodox clergy have their own insignia, according to which they can be distinguished by rank and rank.

1. Bishops (bishops). Panagia, staff.

Patriarch - white cockle, panagia.

Metropolitan - a white klobuk with a cross.

Archbishop - klobuk with a cross.

Bishop - klobuk without a cross.

2. Priests. Pectoral cross.

Archimandrite - cross with decorations, miter.

Archpriest (abbot) - a cross gilded or with decorations.

Priest (hieromonk) - a silver or gilded cross.

3. Deacons - kamilavki, purple skufii. There is no pectoral cross.

Protodeacon (archdeacon) - a double orarion (a long cloth strip with crosses sewn on it, descending from the front and back almost to the floor).

Deacon (hierodeacon) - orarion.

“It is not in vain that the holy Church has appropriated splendor and glory to the bishops, priests, and deacons, clothing the sacred garments in splendor, for they befit their rank. The priests bear the rank of Christ Himself…” This is how the holy righteous John of Kronstadt wrote about the vestments of the priests, seeing a deep symbolic meaning in the sacred garments.

In the Old Testament, the Lord Himself established the rules for the vestments of the clergy serving in the Tabernacle, the temple that Moses made during the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness.

Sacred garments not only had to distinguish the servants of the temple from the whole people, but also symbolize their service, spiritual life, the state of their heart, soul and mind...

Being an expression of the material and spiritual worlds, church vestments are a shrine and a visible image of Divine Glory: "And they brought to Him all the sick, and asked Him only to touch the edge of His garment; and those who touched were healed." Not sewn, but the entire tunic of Christ woven from above became a symbol of the unity of the Church - the Body of Christ.

A priest is a warrior of God, and every detail of clothing signifies a readiness to fight against the spirits of darkness, as well as a call to protect oneself and one's flock from them.

In the Orthodox Church, only some details of the Old Testament attire have been preserved in church vestments, but the meaning and purpose have remained unchanged.

According to the church charter, the vestments of the clergy of the highest rank always include the vestments of the lower ones. Following the rules of dressing, at the beginning they put on the clothes assigned to the lowest rank. So, the deacon first puts on a sticharion - a long robe without a cut in front and behind with wide sleeves.

The surplice marks a pure and calm conscience, a blameless life and spiritual joy. The clergyman, who dresses in a surplice at the liturgy, says a prayer: "My soul will rejoice in the Lord: for he has clothed me in the robe of salvation and clothed me with a garment of joy." Such a state of spiritual joy should be inherent in all participants in the service, therefore everyone - from a deacon to a bishop - dress in surplice.

Then the deacon puts on narrow armlets, called handguards. Commissions mean that the clergy, celebrating the Sacraments or participating in their celebration, do this not with their own strength, but with the power and grace of God. The handrails also resemble the bonds or ropes on the hands of the Savior during His suffering.

In a symbolic interpretation, the deacons represent angels - cherubim and seraphim, and in this sense, the angelic wings are symbolized by the orar. This is a long wide ribbon, meaning the grace of God, which the deacon received in the sacrament of the priesthood. The deacon attaches the orarion to the left shoulder over the surplice.

A priest or a priest first puts on deacon clothes - a vest is a surplice in a slightly modified form; entrustments, and then - to the priestly ones. The main difference of which are: stole, belt and phelonion.

The riza or phelonion is put on by the priest over other garments. In its appearance, the riza resembles the purple robe in which the Savior was clothed during his suffering.

Epitrachelion in its meaning is the same as the deacon's orarion. This wide ribbon is folded in half so that, bending around the neck, it descends from the front down with two ends connected to each other. This part of the vestment marks the special grace given to the priest for the performance of the sacraments. Without an epitrachelion, a priest cannot perform a single service, just like a deacon without an orarion.

The bishop first puts on the robes of a deacon, then the robes of a priest, and then those that belong to him as a bishop. The bishop's riza is replaced by a sakkos. In addition, the bishop puts on the omophorion and miter.

The omophorion is a long, wide ribbon-shaped platter, decorated with crosses. It is placed on the shoulders of the bishop and symbolizes concern for the salvation of believers, like the gospel good shepherd, who, having found the lost sheep, carries it home on his shoulders. The first episcopal omophorion was, according to legend, woven by the Virgin Mary herself for the righteous Lazarus. The Mother of God visited him in Cyprus, where he served as a bishop for thirty years after the Lord resurrected him.

The omophorion, or maforium, is depicted on icons as part of the clothes of the Most Holy Theotokos. This part of the vestment symbolizes the care and prayerful intercession of the Mother of God for all Christians. This tradition has its roots in the history of the Feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. In the 10th century, during the invasion of the pagans to Constantinople, believers prayed to the Heavenly Lady for the salvation of their city in the Blachernae Church. And at that time, Saint Andrew the Holy Fool saw how the Most Holy Theotokos removed the veil from Her head and spread it over the people praying in the temple, protecting them from enemies. This was Her maphorium.

In the hymn of the feast of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos, Christians ask: "Rejoice, our Joy, cover us from all evil with your honest omophorion."