Omophorion
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Overview |
In the
By symbolizing the lost sheep that is found and carried on the
The equivalent vestment in Western Christian usage is the archiepiscopal pallium, the use of which is subject to different rubrics and restrictions.
Use
The omophorion has two forms: the ancient great omophorion, which passes around the neck, is folded in the front, and hangs down past the knees in both the front and the back, like a loosely worn long scarf; and the small omophorion which is much simpler, passing around the neck and hanging down in the front similar to an epitrachelion (stole), only wider and shorter, coming down a little past the waist. Because of the complexity of the great omophorion, and because of the dignity of the episcopal office, whenever the bishop puts on the omophorion or takes it off, he is assisted by two subdeacons.
Whenever the bishop presides at any divine service, he will be vested in the omophorion. If he is serving the Divine Liturgy, he will wear both the great and the small omophorion at different times over his liturgical vestments. At any service other than the Divine Liturgy, he will usually wear the small omophorion.
At the
In modern practice in the Slavic tradition, when several bishops concelebrate, it is now the custom for the chief celebrant to use the great omophorion when called for, and the other bishops to wear the small omophorion throughout, with all bishops wearing their mitres. In modern Greek Patriarchal practice, on the other hand, all concelebrating bishops wear the great omophorion at the beginning of the Divine Liturgy, with only the chief celebrant wearing the mitre and the other bishops wearing their kalimavkia with the Epanokalimavkion. In other local Churches, notably the Church of Greece, all concelebrating bishops wear both the great omophorion and the mitre, and even carry their staffs.
In the Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, often only the great omophorion is used. In this simplified usage, the great omophorion is not replaced by the small omophorion, and is worn by the bishop throughout the entire liturgy. In such cases, the omophorion is often sewn into shape and can be simply draped onto the shoulders rather than wrapped on by assistants. Some Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishops, however, insist on the full ceremonial.
During the
Development
In the
In the East, the only change in the omophorion has been an increase in its width and a shift in the material from which it is made. The omophorion was documented about the year 400 AD as a liturgical vestment of the bishop in
The omophorion probably developed from the civil omophorion, a shoulder garment or shawl in general use. Bishops may have introduced directly by a positive precept a humeral cloth resembling the ordinary omophorion and called by that name, to be used as a liturgical pontifical badge. Alternatively, bishops may have used the civil omophorion as an ornament without any special significance, but in the course of time it gradually developed associations as a distinctively episcopal ornament. Finally it symbolized an episcopal badge of office.[2]
Early omophorion
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Omophorion seen in the Menologion of Basil II, ca. 1000 AD
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11-12th century fresco from the Hosios Loukas Monastery, Boeotia, Greece
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11th century mosaic from Hagia Sophia
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Frescoes fromChora Church, Constantinople
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11th century mosaics from Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv
Oriental Orthodoxy
In
- The Armenian Apostolic emip'oron is similar to the Byzantine great omophorion.[citation needed]
- The Syriac Orthodox baţrašil or uroro rabbo ('great stole') is a straight strip of embroidered material, about 20 cm wide, with a head-hole midway along it, that hangs down a bishop's chest and back.
- bishops) usually wear the omophorion folded due to its large width. It is white in colour, with extensive ornamental embroidery. It is wider than its Byzantine counterpart, wrapped over the head over the monastic kouklion, then crossed from the front over the chest, wrapped again from the back, crossed over the back by the waist level, then over the shoulders, then coming straight down, tucked under the frontal (over the chest) crossed wrapping. It is called a Ballin which is derived from the Greek word "Πάλλιον" (Pallium in Latin) and it is almost double the length of the Byzantine omophorion.
See also
Notes
- ^ St Vladimir's Seminary Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Pallium". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.