Hey everybody this is Steve, and you’ve probably noticed the beautiful vestments that
clergy wear during services.
Yet those vestments aren’t just for decoration.
They reveal something about our relationship with God.
Vestments have a long history in the Church, going all the way back to Old Testament times.
In the Book of Exodus, God described to Moses the special garments He wanted His priests
to wear:
“So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit
of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to
Me as priest.”
From that point onward, the priests serving the Hebrew Temple wore these specially-crafted
garments when offering sacrifice in the Temple to demonstrate their special function.
Our clergy today also wear vestments as a sign of their priestly role: to offer sacrifice
before God.
There are three priestly orders in the Church: deacons, presbyters, and bishops.
They’re all priests and each exercise priestly ministry in different and complementary ways.
The vestments that the three orders of the clergy wear are all related, because the three
orders of clergy are related.
You need to be a deacon before you can be a presbyter, and you need to be a presbyter
before you can be a bishop.
It’s an example of what we talked about last week in our episode on hierarchy, the
way that different orders in a hierarchy fit together in love and inter-dependence.
It’s kind of the way that Russian nesting dolls fit together, with the bigger dolls
containing the smaller dolls.
To help me demonstrate what vestments are, and why they’re important, I got a little
help from His Grace Bishop Sebastian of Zela, Father John Vlahos, and Archdeacon Panteleimon
Papadopoulos.
As clergy put on each vestment, they say particular prayers.
We’ll refer to a few of those prayers here and you can also read them yourself.
There’s a link in the dooblydoo.
The most basic vestment is the sticharion.
It’s the innermost garment worn by all clergy, the garment of salvation, and historically
it’s usually white.
Over the sticharion, deacons wear a long, thin garment, called an orarion which is a
sign of the deacon’s role as a servant who leads the people in prayer.
It’s name come from the Latin orare, which means to pray.
And the deacon lifts the orarion as he offers prayers, and acts during the services.
The last vestment which a deacon wears are the epimanikia, or cuffs.
As he vests, he reads psalms which remind him that it is God’s hands which act.
That God acts through the deacon in his work.
Presbyters also start with the sticharion; and above it, they wear the epitrachelion.
Hanging from the back of the neck, it’s a sign of the priestly office and anointing.
It’s a reminder of the grace God pours on His priests, which we saw in the oil poured
on the first priest, Aaron (Moses’s brother) when he was anointed.
Originally made of wool, the epitrachelion symbolizes the care that clergy must have
for the flock, and the weight of the responsibility they carry.
The tassels on the end of the epitrachelion represent the people with whom the presbyter
has been entrusted.
The presbyter then girds himself with the zoni, or belt.
Just as with the cuffs, which he also wears, it’s a reminder that the presbyter’s strength
comes from the Lord, and that he acts for the Lord.
The presbyter next puts on the phelonion, a sign of the righteousness with which all
clergy should be clothed.
Some presbyters also receive the blessing to wear the epigonation, a diamond-shaped
vestment that hangs above the knee.
It represents a sword, a sign of God’s victory in truth, gentleness, and justice.
Bishops wear the sticharion, the epitrachelion, the belt, and the cuffs.
In the early Church, bishops wore the phelonion as well.
You can see that in icons of bishop saints, for instance.
A few centuries ago, bishops began wearing the sakkos instead, which is something Byzantine
rulers used to wear.
Like the phelonion, it’s a sign of how clergy should be clothed in righteousness.
Over all of these, the bishop wears a unique vestment called the “omophorion.”
Originally made out of wool, it is a sign of the bishop’s role as chief pastor.
It reminds us that bishops are icons of Christ the Good Shepherd, who goes out to seek the
lost sheep to carry back on His shoulders.
In the same way, our bishops are called to tend to our salvation, since we’re members
of the flock.
The bishop then puts on the engolopion, asking God to
create a clean heart within him.
Next, the bishop puts on his pectoral cross, a reminder that anyone who wants to come close
to Christ must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow the Lord (Matthew 16:24)
Finally, the bishop puts on the mitre, a crown which is a sign of the Lord’s blessings:
He crowns us with gold, and gives us life in His Kingdom (Psalm 21:3-4)
These vestments are more than beautiful decorations: they are signs of God’s promise and salvation,
and symbols of the particular role that deacons, presbyters, and bishops play in the life of
the Church.
As Christians, we are not simply a people of beliefs and ideas.
We are united as one chosen people in union with the One God, united in the reality of
prayer and the manifestation of God’s Kingdom in every Divine Liturgy.
We are one in Christ, members of His Body, transformed into His Body as we receive His
Body in Holy Communion.
We celebrate the Divine Liturgy in beautiful buildings, surrounded by sights and smells
that reveal to us the mystery of God’s Kingdom.
And we are led in worship by our clergy, clothed in beautiful garments that symbolize how,
in the Church, it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.
Yet we can sometimes get caught up in robes and vestments and think that Church is something
that clergy do while we simply watch.
Yet if we pay attention there’s one particular vestment that reminds each and every one of
us of the important role we need to play in the life of the Church.
And we’ll talk more about that next week.
So let's be the bee, and see the vestments of our clergy for what they really are.
Be the Bee, and Live Orthodoxy.
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I'll see you all next week.
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