The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Tsar of All Russia. Holiness and Splendour of Power Audio Tour Script

Mitre and sakkos of Patriarch Philaret

The mitre is a form of liturgical headwear originally worn solely by the head of the

Russian Orthodox Church — the patriarch. The right to wear a mitre gradually spread to all bishops.

Mitres were always the most richly decorated part of a bishop’s vestments and their immense value meant that they were stored with great care. This mitre is made of gold silk brocade, embroidered with pearls and decorated with precious stones. There are two rows of enamel and niello compartments with images of saints attached to the body of the mitre at the top. The gold compartments in the bottom row are the oldest part of the mitre. Such precious mitres were worn by Russian bishops during particularly solemn services, including the liturgy accompanying the coronation of the tsar.

The sakkos is the most solemn vestment worn by the higher clergy in the Orthodox

Church. It was originally a robe worn by the Byzantine emperors and only became a vestment of the patriarchs of Constantinople in the 11th and 12th centuries. In Russia, the right to officiate wearing a sakkos was initially enjoyed solely by the head of the church. The sakkos takes the form of a long tunic, unstitched at the sides, with short, wide sleeves and a round shoulder-mantle. It was made from the finest fabrics kept in the church or royal treasury.

Patriarch Philaret’s sakkos was commissioned by his son, Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich.

This is confirmed by the inscription embroidered in pearls along the upper edge of the dark-red velvet shoulder-mantle. Patriarch Philaret occupies a special place in Russian church history. After being canonically enthroned as patriarch in 1619, he became the co-ruler alongside his young son, Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich. Combining supreme spiritual power with great political experience, Philaret personally transacted many important affairs of state.