A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge • VOLUME 12

THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG

Samuel Macauley Jackson • Public-domain historical edition in the United States (published 1912); OCR from Internet Archive scan

THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG

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at his consecration as his personal property, and is therefore often found in bishops’ graves; the material is ivory, often richly carved. Christian antiquity knows nothing of this article.

III. In the Greek Church: The history of liturgical and clerical vestments in Greek Christianity records but little change. The results already attained by the end of Christian antiquity were but little enriched. This fact corresponds with the conservative character of the Greek Church. Nevertheless, it appears that in the course of the Middle Ages slight Latin influences were active. Besides this, the relationship or correspondence: between the two churches can be explained from the common origin of clerical vestments.

The liturgical vestments of the priest are composed of the following articles: the Sticharion, a long, white, flowing garment of heavy gold-embroidered silk, which corresponds to the alb or the dalmatic of the Latins; the Zone, a girdle for drawing in the sticharion, more richly decorated than in the West; the Epimanikia, gauntlets, which serve the purpose of fastening the sticharion at the wrists; the Peritrachelion (Epitrachelion), a silken band, ornamented with golden crosses or in some other way, which encircles the neck, its fringed ends hanging down to the feet; it is the stole of the Latins and like the latter of antique origin; for the epitrachelion of the deacon, the Hellenized Latin word oraritum was employed; the Phelonion, the massvestment properly so called, had the same origin as the chasuble, but here the earliest form has remained. With a simple opening for the head, it hangs in folds about the body. It is commonly made of silk, is richly embroidered with crosses, and is subject to the liturgical change of color. The Hypogonation, a sack of a square form with a cross or a sacred image as ornament, worn at the left side, is only an honorary distinction, and does not belong to the ecclesiastical costume. The liturgical vestments of the bishops were the same; but peculiar to them are the Omophorion, the Greek pallium, quite similar to the Latin, and the angular, stiff sack, hypogonation, worn on the right. The origin of the latter, which the bishops received at consecration, is doubtful. The bishop’s breast is decorated with a valuable cross and with a medallion bearing a sacred image (panagia). His office is indicated by the staff (rhabdos), whose crook is turned upward. Further, one of the insignia of the bishop is the miter, a low cap resembling a crown, covered with artistic embroidery, precious stones, and gold ornaments; above it rises a cross. The metropolitans and the patriarchs wear instead of the phelonion the Sakkos, a richly embroidered, close-fitting garment with wide sleeves. The nonliturgical dress of the priests and bishops consists of a Jong, black coat of many folds and a cylindrical hat, which is lower in the case of the lesser clergy. The bishops up to the patriarchs inclusive wear besides this a large mantle (mandyas), open in front and fastened by clasps; the hem is adorned with cross-stripes and the corners with pieces of colored cloth sewn on. The patriarch has also the right to two crosses; his hood-like head-covering recalls the monastic class from which he comes. Over this he

wears a broad flat hat, on the upper surface of which a light blue cross is seen (cf. the rather limited collection of representations in D. Sokolow, Darstellung des Gottesdienstes der orthodoxen katholischen Kirche des Morgenlandes, p. 25, Berlin, 1898).

The Armenian church shows great variety and magnificence in her ecclesiastical vestments. Still the common characteristics appear everywhere. The Coptic church has simpler forms (A. J. Butler, The Ancient Coptic Churches of Egypt, 2 vols., Oxford, 1884). For the Nestorian Church in Syria cf. R. Perey Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals (London, 1852).

IV. In Protestant Churches: The Reformation, with the exclusion of the hierarchy and the rejection of special acts of worship, was forced to abolish a part of the liturgical vestments and official insignia. complete break with the past, this step was taken by enthusiasts whenever they were able to accomplish it, and the Reformed Church also pursued the same way more or less radically. In 1523 Zwingli, in his Auslegung und Grund der Schlussreden,* gave it as his judgment that cowl, cross, surplice, tonsure are not ‘‘ neither good nor bad,” but only ‘‘bad,’’ so he abolished them as soon as possible. Luther, on the other hand, saw in these externals things indifferent in themselves, and not only in his time but long after, the mass-vestment was still used. The Interim (q.v.) gave the usage new support and procured for it a wider spread. However, the general trend of development was in another direction, and in fact it took up the gown worn by the middle classes, a full mantle covering the whole body, which varied in material, color, and cut according to rank and fashion. Luther preached for the first time in the black gown of the scholars on the afternoon of Oct. 9, 1524. In the altar picture by Lucas Cranach in the Stadtkirche at Wittenberg he is represented wearing it in the pulpit. Calvin and Zwingli also performed their functions wearing the gown. With the gown went the biretta, which had driven out the hat in the dress of the burghers and appears in a great variety of forms. The clergy wear it as a rule in the form of a rich low cap, which gained a hold on the head by means of a stiff lower projection and was sometimes also provided with an upturned brim. In the seventeenth century the Spanish costume began to influence the gown and led to its complete change. The mantle is transformed into a simple, long coat, buttoned up in front. The large ruff was introduced and has maintained itself up to this day in some parts of Germany. The broad coat collars were reduced in secular as well as clerical usage to two linen strips resting on the breast and called beffchen (from the Low German beffe, diminutive beffken), which have been preserved to the present time. In the eighteenth century, the cloak of the French abbés found its way into German use. The head is covered by a small, round cap. Although there is a certain general agreement in the vestments of Germany and Swit-

* Auslegung des 26. Artikels (ed. Hgli and Finsler, II., 251): “so sind Kutten, Kriitz, hembder, platten nit nun weder gut noch biss sunder sy sind allein bés.”

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