Bishop's scarflike vestment in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic liturgical traditions
In the
Eastern Orthodox
and
Eastern Catholic
liturgical tradition, the
omophorion
(
Greek
:
?μοφ?ριον
, meaning "[something] borne on the shoulders";
Slavonic
: омофоръ,
omofor
) is the distinguishing
vestment
of a
bishop
and the symbol of his spiritual and ecclesiastical authority. Originally woven of wool, it is a band of
brocade
decorated with four
crosses
and an eight-pointed star; it is worn about the neck and shoulders.
[1]
By symbolizing the lost sheep that is found and carried on the
Good Shepherd
's shoulders, it signifies the bishop's
pastoral
role as the
icon
of
Christ
. All Eastern Orthodox bishops wear the
omophorion.
Clergy and ecclesiastical institutions, including seminaries, subject to a bishop's authority are often said to be "under his
omophorion
" (see
Ecclesiastical jurisdiction
).
The equivalent vestment in Western Christian usage is the archiepiscopal
pallium
,
the use of which is subject to different rubrics and restrictions.
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
Divine Liturgy
, the
rubrics
call for the bishop to put on and take off the
omophorion
numerous times. When he is first vested, the subdeacons place the great
omophorion
on him, but afterwards, when the rubric calls for him to wear the
omophorion
, it is replaced, for the sake of convenience, with the small
omophorion
.
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
All-Night Vigil
, the bishop will wear the small
omophorion
at the beginning, but near the end will change into the great
omophorion
for the
Great Doxology
.
Development
[
edit
]
In the
early church
, the
omophorion
was a broad band of white wool ornamented with crosses and draped loosely over the neck, shoulders, and breast. The modern Roman
pallium
developed from this early
omophorion.
In the West, over the centuries, its form has changed into a circular, thin woolen garment for the shoulders, with short, weighted pendants before and behind.
[2]
The papal
pallium,
originally adopted by
Pope Benedict XVI
at the beginning of his pontificate, is closer to the original
omophorion
. Pope Benedict XVI later reverted to the original design of the
pallium
, but with red crosses instead of black.
[
citation needed
]
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
Isidore of Pelusium
. It was made of wool and was already seen as symbolic of the duties of bishops as shepherds of their flocks. In the miniatures of an Alexandrian
Chronicle of the World
, written probably during the fifth century, the
omophorion
was represented in an image. In later times, it was shown on the renowned ivory tablet of Trier, depicting the solemn translation of
relics
. Among the pictures dating from the seventh and eighth centuries, in which the
omophorion
is illustrated, are the lately discovered frescoes in
S. Maria, Antiqua
in the
Roman Forum
. The representation of the
omophorion
in these frescoes is essentially the same as the vestment in its present form.
[2]
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
[
edit
]
Oriental Orthodoxy
[
edit
]
In
Oriental Orthodoxy
, the
omophorion
takes a number of different forms:
- The
Armenian Apostolic
emip'oron
is similar to the Byzantine great
omophorion
.
[
citation needed
]
- The
Syriac Orthodox
ba?ra?il
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.
- Coptic Orthodox
hierarchs (
Patriarch
,
Metropolitans
, and
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 "Π?λλιον" (Pallium in Latin) and it is almost double the length of the Byzantine
omophorion
.
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Look up
omophorion
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Omophorion
.