Crkvene studije, Ni{ / Church Studies, Nis 12-2015, 585-598 УДК 271.2-725-443.5”18/19”

Manolis G. Varvounis Democritus University / Thrace- [email protected]

Nadia Macha-Bizoumi Technological Educational Institute / -Greece [email protected]

THE MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY TRADITION OF SACERDOTAL IN GREECE (19th – 20th century)

Abstract: The study of sacerdotal vestments and their evolution over the passage of time constitutes a broad field of research, with many parameters and different axes of approach. To date, however, research has focused mainly on their study as outstanding works of art, due to the gold-embroidered silk ecclesiastical garments. A careful analysis of the form of their woven -or also hand-embroidered- ornamentation reveals that, as regards their decorative motifs, sacerdotal vestments often observe the alternations of fashion, in the sense of the trends in vogue, constituting a reflection of society's orientations. Until the prevalence on the market of industrialized European textiles with interwoven designs (19th century), the silk fabrics of Ottoman or Persian origin with interwoven silver- and gold- embroidered decoration play a leading role in the making of sacerdotal garments. Sumptuous silk fabrics with interwoven designs with Christian motifs come from the workshops of Bursa and Constantinople. In the 19th century, the market is inundated by textiles of European origin, while in parallel, but in a smaller proportion, Persian silks also continue to be present. Ottoman tulips and carnations interchange with the multicoloured floral ornamentation of Western European baroque. Besides these fabrics, though, one also encounters sacerdotal garments made of textiles with secular embroidery, which at times imitates the decoration of European textiles and at others constitutes an exceptional example of the local embroidering art. This category consists of ecclesiastical garments made from refashioning secular embroideries, whose initial use was to adorn a local costume or as a household decoration. This «movement» between old and new forms and decorative techniques, as an expression of fashion's changeable nature, constitutes a typical case of cultural movement between continuities and discontinuities, in what is, furthermore, a fairly conservative domain. Key Words: sacerdotal vestments, Greece, textiles, ornamentation, modern and contemporary traditions, fashion.

Greek Orthodox sacerdotal vestments include the: (a tight-fitting garment with wide sleeves worn by ), (a type of ), (a wide band of cloth worn around the shoulders by bishops), epitrachilion (priestly stole, worn around the neck), orarion (a stole, worn over the left shoulder), epimanikia (cuffs bound with laces), (a diamond-shaped stiffened cloth always worn on the right side via a loop over the left shoulder, which is a clergy award), mandyas (a long, sleeveless cape

585 that fastens at the neck and the feet, worn by bishops), and . The study of these vestments and their evolution1 over the passage of time constitutes a broad field of research, with many parameters and different axes of approach2. Up till now, research has focused mainly on their study as outstanding works of art, because of the silk ecclesiastical garments embroidered with gold thread.3 As generally known, in terms of their morphological characteristics, vestments preserve dress forms and shapes of late Antiquity. They borrow elements from the secular dressing mode, as chitons (tunics), anaxyrides (breeches), phelonia () and others are also included in the vestimentary system of the clergy.4 Over the passage of time, and given that they do not follow the evolution of the corresponding items of the people's wardrobe, these garments remain stationary as regards their morphological characteristics (shape, cut), and precisely for this reason subsequently evolve into exclusive, basic garments of sacerdotal attire5, lending to it the characteristics of a uniform. Compared to secular clothing, the ecclesiastical vestimentary system proves to be more conservative in terms of adopting, appropriating and incorporating new vestimentary modes over time. However, the attentive study and analysis of the form of the interwoven or hand- embroidered ornamentation of the fabrics used to make them, shows that -as will be shown below- in terms of their ornamentation, sacerdotal vestments often «observe» the alternations of fashion, in the sense of what is in vogue, constituting the reflection of the orientations of the society in whose bosom they were created.

Vestments with an interwoven design

Until the 18th and 19th century, when industrialized European textiles with an interwoven design came to dominate on the market, sacerdotal vestments were made primarily of silk fabrics of Ottoman6 and Persian origin with an interwoven silver-and gold- embroidered decoration. Sumptuous silks7 with an interwoven design based on Christian motifs come from the workshops of Bursa8 or Constantinople, which were custom woven for Church dignitaries. Bursa, initially a silk trading centre, gradually evolves into a mighty manufacturing pole of silk materials, which in its heyday, in the 16th century, produces and supplies the market with a wide range of gold-woven and silver-woven brocade (diba), silk satin (atlazi), camouchas (French camocas or camuscat, a costly damask-style, flower- patterned heavy silk fabric), silk velour, and others. Based on the material preserved in museum9 and monastery collections, sacerdotal vestments are made of fabrics of this type.

1 See Papas 1965; Mayo 1984; Kalamara 1999, 176-210; Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2012, 269-294. 2 Zidianakis 1999, 9. 3 Vei-Chatzidaki 1953; Chatzinikolaou 1969, 201-215; Theochari 1986; Vlachopoulou-Karabina 1998; Ballian 1999, 13-14; Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2009. 4 Stefanidis 1950, 19-25. 5 Sotiriou 1919, 237-247, 359-370, 452-460 and 546-551; Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2012, 269-294. 6 More specifically on the Ottoman silk industry cf. Atasoy - Denny – Mackie – Tezcan 2001, 155- 175. 7 On the use of luxurious fabrics, see Theochari 1994; Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2006, 235-276. 8 Regarding the workshops of Bursa, cf. Sahillioglou 1985, 43-112; Patrinellis 1988-1989, 9-50. 9 The Benaki Museum collection, for instance, comprises, among others, a piece of silk fabric from Bursa, dating to the 16th century, with repeated representations of the Virgin Mary Nikopoios among angels, crosses and tulips (index number 3864), and the sakkos of Neophytos, Metropolitan of Nicomedia (number 9349), dedicated in 1629 to the Monastery of the Holy Cross of Serres 586 In parallel, in terms of the production and commercialization of luxurious materials, as of the 14th century various towns of Spain and Italy (such as Venice and Florence) appear with competitive possibilities and, from the 16th century onwards, Lyon in France10, which finally manage to supplant Bursa11. In the 18th and 19th century, the market is taken over by textiles of European origin, while simultaneously -though to a lesser degree-, Persian silks12 also continue to be traded on Western markets. The interwoven decoration is dominated by Ottoman tulips and carnations, which are interchanged with the multicoloured floral ornamentation of Western baroque. Information on the use of silk fabrics with interwoven decoration for sacerdotal vestments is also drawn from their pictorial representation on dated monuments. Their comparative study with the fabrics of vestments preserved in monastery and museum collections assist research on determining the time of their adoption by local societies and also the geographic scope of their dissemination. Indeed, a study concerning Ottoman motifs and decorative elements in the Post-Byzantine monumental painting of Epirus during the 16th and 17th century,13 records and examines the variety of ornamental motifs of Ottoman inspiration in depictions of sacerdotal vestments in wall paintings/frescoes. In these depictions, arabesque compositions reminiscent of the Rumi-Hatayi style dominate, as well as the type of decoration consisting of oval medallions, a type particularly popular in the mid-16th century on Ottoman silk camouchas (brocade) fabrics. Another well-known Ottoman decorative motif from the early 15th through to the 18th century is the çintamani (a design usually depicted as two wavy horizontal bands alternating with three circles in triangular formation), which is also encountered adorning the caftans made of camouchas worn by the sultans14. The aforementioned motifs on the depicted sacerdotal vestments function in a complementary capacity to the historical knowledge about the use of in-vogue fabrics of the ecclesiastical wardrobe, as the interwoven decorative motifs bear witness to the observation of the evolution of the dominant decorative trends.

Vestments with an embroidered design

However, the ornamentation of sacerdotal vestments with religious or secular motifs is not only interwoven, but also hand-embroidered15. The development of a series of production centres of Post-Byzantine ecclesiastical gold-embroidered cloths resulted in the creation of works that, though they may differ from one locality to another, nonetheless follow, in their greater proportion, the common trends of each period. The influences of secular art are apparent in the expressive style and decorative perception of embroidered

(Macedonia), made of silk from Bursa interwoven with silver and with gold threads, with distinguishable influences of Chinese ornamentation in its embellishment. According to Anna Ballian (1999, 13 and 41), this fabric «possibly is the same as the luxurious seraser fabrics (woven entirely in gilt and silver metallic thread) of Ottoman sources». The same collection also includes a phelonion of the 19th century from the Pontus region (34638) made of selimiye fabric, which was produced in the court workshops located in the Selimiye neighbourhood of Constantinople during the second half of the 18th century. Cf. Bozi 1991, 87. 10 Migeon 1929, 83-94. More specifically on the production of textiles in Lyon, cf. Tassinary 2005. 11 Chatzioannou 1993, 67; Bozi 1991, 46; Atasoy - Denny - Mackie – Tezcan 2001, 182-190. 12 Ballian 1999, 14. 13 Merantzas 2007. 14 Bozi 1991, 78. 15 Regarding the embroidering art of vestments, cf. Theochari 2000, 475-486. 587 vestments. Indeed, the influence of goldsmithing on the art of gold embroidery is obvious in the dialitha (bejewelled) and the Byzantine gold embroidery on a cloth-of-gold ground, but also in the terms16 shared by both techniques, such as the adjectives diachryssos (interwoven with gold), achryssotos (ungilded), inokopitos (a-jour), etc. Indeed, as A. Ballian points out, during the Post-Byzantine period the analogy and correlation between the two techniques results in an absolute violation of the rules of functionality.17 In the 17th century, two tendencies take form in ecclesiastical gold-embroidered cloths: the first concerns a group of more popular works, which faithfully adhere to tradition, while the second, as of the second half of the 17th century, comprises works whose embroidered ornamentation is in low relief and naturalistic, with elements bearing witness to clear influences from the West.18 From the 17th century onwards, Constantinople evolves into an important centre of the art of gold embroidery. In the works of this particular production centre, elements of the Byzantine tradition survive, but also blend gradually with Western influences. The iconography retains its traditional motifs, to which naturalistic ornaments are also added. During the first decades of the 17th century, the gold-embroidered cloths maintain their dependence on Byzantine models. Rich floral decoration dominates in the embroidery, either Ottoman tulips and carnations, or embossed multicoloured flowers of Western European baroque (which will finally prevail), in parallel with the aesthetics of luxury of interspersed semiprecious stones and of couched (i.e. sewn on) gilded metallic elements19. The embroidering technique continues to be flat, while at a later date (from the late 17th through to the end of the 19th century), it gives way to an ever more raised technique20, the iconography being simultaneously influenced by Western models via copperplate engravings21, with compositions that distance themselves from the austere sacerdotal patterns of past models.22 In the early 17th century, sakkoi from the workshops of Epirus23 are widespread among Orthodox centres, and are copied in Crete and the Ionian Islands.24 The Epirote works are distinguished by their impeccable execution as far as technique is concerned, an example of the strong Byzantine tradition of their art25. The ornamentation is carried out with gold and silver wire, few silk yarns and ornamental pearls. An equally important

16 Theochari 1997, 380. 17 Ballian 1999, 15. As an example, we mention the epigonation from Asia Minor or Eastern Thrace (19th century.) of the Benaki Museum collection (34236), made of gilt hammered silver with a central ellipsoidal medallion of gold-embroidered silk, dotted with Ceylon garnets and other semiprecious stones. 18 Chatzinikolaou 1969, 213. 19 Ballian 1999, 14. 20 Theochari 1986, 11-13. 21 Chatzinikolaou 1969, 203-214. 22 In the collections of the Byzantine and Christian Museum exceptional samples of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine gold embroidery are preserved, the works of workshops but also of eponymous creators, male and female embroiderers, reflecting the iconographic influences of the West. Among these, exquisitely executed signed works of gold embroidery are the epigonation by Despineta (daughter, or wife) of Argyris dated 1689 (BXM 1715) and the 18th century epigonation by Efsevia (BXM 1711). 23 On the development of the art of gold embroidery in Epirus, cf. Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2001, 580-598. Eadem, 2002, 215-238. 24 Theochari 1986, 17. 25 Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2009, 39. 588 workshop of gold embroidery is also that of Patras, whose works, in the 17th and 18th century, were executed by the skiastres (renderers of shades of colour), the needlewomen Zinovia, Ekaterini, Smaragda, Kalliniki and others.26 An important Post-Byzantine workshop also functions at Meteora, in the Monastery of Varlaam (16th – 19th century), with a reputed gold-embroiderer: the monk Arsenios, who even creates his own personal style, giving an identity to his signed works in this manner, too. The singularity of his technique is the element that, as pointed out by H. Vlachopoulou-Karabina27, contributed to the fame of the Varlaam Monastery's workshop spreading throughout mainland Greece and, in parallel, of its development and prestige. The art of ecclesiastical gold embroidery also flourishes in the islands of the Aegean Archipelago. The publicizing of the gold-embroidered vestments of the Monastery of Leimon, on Lesvos, documents the existence of a local embroidery workshop, a typical work being an embroidered orarion of the 18th century «Opus of the Nun Theodosia», an exceptional specimen of the written rendering of a pattern with naturalistic representations.28 In Crete, the workshop of the Monastery of Arkadi29 supplies the important centres of Orthodoxy (Mount Athos, Mount Sinai, Ecumenical Patriarchate, etc.) with its works from roughly the mid-17th through to the early 19th century. The embroiderers of these works were abbots, hieromonks and deacons of the monastery, such as, among others, Gerasimos Vlastos, Matthaios Vladimeros Parthenios Kiotzas, Ieremias and Athanassios. Two types of embroidery dominate in their work: either low and flat according to the Byzantine tradition, or raised along the lines of Western models. As a rule, these follow the Byzantine tradition in terms of iconography, while the use of stylized clusters of flower is abundant, with obvious influences from the contemporary European embroidering art.30 The works of the so-called Ionian workshop, possibly based in Cephalonia,31 are also significant. In their iconography, the prevalence of Western elements32 is dominant, with an obvious influence, according to R. Taylor33, from the decoration of 16th and 17th century Venetian textiles which, because of Venetian rule, were often encountered in the Ionian Isles. Lastly, in what would become present-day Greece, during the second half of the 18th and up to the early 19th century works are also found that come from gold-embroidery workshops further afield, essentially in Vienna34, with, as their main representative, the hierodeacon Christopher Zefar from Doirani. In these works, such as the sumptuous gold- embroidered sakkoi in embossed relief on valuable brocades35, the use of gold and silver wire is abandoned (with the sole exception of epitrachilia), the use of coloured silk yarn is adopted, while their technique differs greatly from the Byzantine tradition, as the iconography bears strong Western influences.

26 M. Theochari 1986, 10. 27 Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2009, 89-91. 28 Aliprantis 1975. 29 Concerning the workshop of the Monastery of Arkadi, see Vlachopoulou-Karabina 1999- 2000, 219-249. 30 Drandakis 2000, 10-11. 31 Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2005, 391-431. 32 Paliouras 1989, 205-212. 33 Taylor 1998, 119-122; Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2005, 394. 34 Johnstone 1967, 63-64. M. Theochari 1997, 383. Cf. also Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2009, 45. 35 Theochari 1986, 17. 589 However, except for the ecclesiastical embroideries adorning sacerdotal vestments, one also encounters in their fabrication fabrics with secular embroidery, which at times imitates and reproduces the ornamentation encountered in Western European brocades, and at others constitutes an outstanding example of the local embroidering art. In museum costume collections, such as those of the Benaki Museum, the Museum of Greek Folk Art, and the Museum of the History of Greek Costume of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women of Athens36 sacerdotal vestments are preserved, which are composed from the compilation of pieces of textiles that, during their initial use, adorned a local costume or were an embroidery for household decoration.37 This «movement» between old and new forms and decorative techniques as an expression of fashion's changeable nature, constitutes a typical case of cultural movement between continuities and discontinuities, in what is, furthermore, a fairly conservative domain.

The fabrics of liturgical vestments in our times

The tradition of Orthodox liturgical vestments also evolves during our times. Keeping the external form intact, the vestments of the clergy of all ranks continue to follow in-vogue trends and fashions that develop in the ecclesiastical domain and which follow broader historical evolutions and aesthetic choices38, which determine and characterize it according to the circumstances and the times. Beyond the experiential approach of the vestments in the Church's daily liturgical acts, sources to ascertain these changes include the catalogues published periodically by various tailoring houses that make vestments, but also the corresponding electronic advertisements on the Internet. In fact, it should be noted that the strong development of digital ecclesiastical news agencies, and the parallel creation of numerous websites39 with a more generally ecclesiastical and Orthodox spiritual content, contributed to an increase of this material, given that the various tailoring houses specialized in vestments try, by any means, to advertise their products and acquire customers throughout the Metropolises of the Church of Greece, but also in Orthodox Churches outside the confines of Greece, such as in countries of Africa and the Middle and Far East, for example, where no organized production of liturgical vestments exists, because of a variety of situations and conditions.

36 As an example, we mention the phelonion in the collection of the Museum of the History of Greek Costume (index number 13618, Crete, 18th century) made from refashioning a bedcover. On its decorated surface, one encounters all the elements that are typical of the Cretan embroidering art, while the decoration itself is composed of two basic motifs (the mermaid with the forked flowered tail and the two-headed eagle), placed in a paradisiacal environment. Their typology «mirrors» the contact of the island's rich reserves in terms of Byzantine tradition with Renaissance Europe due to the long period of Venetian rule. More particularly on this, see Macha-Bizoumi 2009, 264. 37 Macha-Bizoumi 2014, 111-119. 38 More specifically on this subject cf. Varvounis 2012, 247-266. 39 Indicatively, see: http://www.agiosnektarios-monastery.gr/?page_id=1052 http://www.xiton.gr/html/about-gr.html ― http://www.kentima.net/?cont=page&id=114 http://ierorafeio.gr/ ― http://artborder.blogspot.gr/2010_02_01_archive.html http://www.iera-amfia.gr/web/guest;jsessionid=D50460AA900A8F3584C606A7CA041ED4 http://www.teneketzis.com/view_cat.php?cat_id=459&cf ― http://www.theodoropoulos.gr/ https://el-gr.facebook.com/vszakar ― http://ierorafio.blogspot.gr/ ― http://hatzakis1938.gr/# http://www.evagelidisilias.gr/taxonomy/term/606. 590 Thus, in the place of the large hierorrapheia ( tailors) of Athens and Thessaloniki (Salonica), but also of their itinerant salesmen (who travelled to the provinces with samples of material and took the measurements of the clergymen wishing to have new vestments made and then sent them their products), printed catalogues now exist with photographs of clergy attire presented on tailor's dummies and the corresponding electronic advertisements with contact information, so that the interested clergy can choose and then proceed with the corresponding order. On the other hand, in certain localities the vestment- making tradition of certain monastic communities continues, on the whole in nunneries but not exclusively so, serving the clergy of their wider region, but which observe and follow the corresponding fashions, as defined by the production of the large hierorrapheia and the aforementioned material. An important role in the current fashion of vestments is played by the corresponding choices of important and acclaimed ecclesiastical personalities. Thus, for example, and in order to refer to certain examples of our times, the Blessed Archbishop of Athens Serapheim had, through his personal choices and example, established the trend of simple vestments with few and plain embellishments. On the contrary, his successor, the Blessed Archbishop of Athens Christodoulos, brought again to the forefront the fashion of embroidered, luxurious and impressive vestments, as well as of the other corresponding accessories of episcopal attire (, omoforia, engolpia –i.e. pendants with a small central icon-, pastoral staffs, etc.), essentially creating a fashion still followed today by many clergymen of all ranks of the priesthood. Lastly, His Beatitude the Archbishop of Athens Ieronimos II seems to lean towards the simplicity of vestments, only using vestments of brocade, sometimes luxurious, for the important feast days and the most formal occasions, a fact which already exerts its influence on the corresponding contemporary trend in vogue for making and decorating the clergy's vestments, at least in the Church of Greece. On the other hand, it should be noted that the fashion of vestments and their corresponding ornamentations40 are directly linked to the rank in the priesthood and more generally to the situation of each individual clergyman, beyond the obvious financial parameters relating to their making and purchase, given that the most sumptuous are also more expensive, meaning that they cannot be acquired by all. Usually, the vestments of deacons are simpler, given that the first clerical rank is considered by the clergy as a temporary situation before their ordainment to the subsequent rank of presbyter, which as a rule takes place fairly soon. Thus, with few exceptions, the deacons who essentially concern the archdeacons of Heads of Churches, who may remain in this position for a long period of time and whose liturgical duties, at the side of the they serve, require a more official – and hence more luxurious – appearance, usually borrow vestments from other clergymen, and in turn donate them to new deacons, when they are ordained as presbyters. It is usually the celibate hieromonks, and more specifically those who live in the secular world as archimandrites, officiating of churches, protosyngelloi (episcopal vicars) and senior administrative staff of Metropolises, who have the more luxurious and ornate vestments, in contrast to married priests, who as a rule keep to simpler vestments, which are consequently also less costly. For their part, the hieromonks who live in organized monastic brotherhoods generally use simpler and plainer vestments, which, furthermore, are sometimes the property of their monastery and not personal belongings. This is generally the rule in the large monastic centres (Mount Athos, Meteora, Patmos,

40 On the interpretation of vestments' decoration, see Vlachopoulou-Karabina 2006, 123-172. 591 etc.), but with numerous exceptions. As already noted above, similar aesthetic choices also prevail regarding the accessories of sacerdotal dress, in this particular instance the pectoral crosses of ecclesiastical honorary titles, the epigonatia and the epanokalimafkia (the veils worn over the kalimafchion, i.e. the stiff hat worn by the clergy) of celibate priests. From the above, but also from the study of existing material, it ensues that contemporary vestments fall into one of three categories as regards the material they are made of and the corresponding aesthetic lines they follow: A. Simple vestments, made of plain fabrics, usually white41, with certain representations, as a rule symbolic42, and usually drawn from proto-Christian and paleochristian art: grapes, Christograms, crosses, the imaginary ship of the Church, etc. This category also includes the woven vestments, as a more luxurious version of the same type, usually products of monastic hierorrapheia, but also the vestments of presbyters and bishops with polystavria, that is to say a multilayered pattern of embroidered or woven crosses, which in essence follow the phelonia decorated with this pattern of paleochristian times, as seen in the pictorial representations of Holy Fathers, before the use of imperial symbols prevailed in defining the principal elements of the morphology of episcopal attire. In these cases, the vestments usually also bear large- sized tassels, imitating similar elements of old vestments (up to the 17th-18th century) preserved in monastic centres' sacristies, and which in recent years are the object of studies and publications. Β. Vestments made of brocade. Multicoloured and usually luxurious, according to the brocade used in each case. They follow the tradition of the vestments of the late 18th and the 19th century, examples of which are preserved in monastic sacristies and museum collections, up to our times. The brocade used today either follows the ornamental models of old ones, or is subject each time to new aesthetic principles and decorative arrangements. On these, vegetal and flowered decorative patterns dominate. Indeed, in many cases, details of the past are followed: for instance, instead of the small bells in the role of buttons at the points where the front and back of the episcopal sakkos join together, along the side, the tradition of the 18th and 19th century is followed, according to which multicoloured ribbons are placed, which are tied. Particular care is also taken with the braiding sewn along the vestments' edges, at the neck, the cuffs, their lower edge or their perimeter, in the case of the phelonion, but also along the lower edge of the . These embellishments are the so-called «potamoi» (rivers), whose luxurious making is at times particularly impressive, especially in the case of the sticharia, whose decoration is limited de facto to the last section of their lower part, which is visible beneath the presbyter's phelonion or the 's sakkos. C. Embroidered vestments. Embroidered vestments naturally existed throughout the older tradition of Orthodox vestments, with outstanding specimens preserved in many monastic collections and the sacristies of monasteries, Metropolises and Patriarchates. During the 19th and 20th century, the use of Muslim and Armenian caftans is also encountered, and especially of women's bridal garments made of embroidered velour, with their characteristic floral decorations and forms, which are refashioned in second use to make episcopal sakkoi. In parallel, embroidered petrachilia, epigonatia, as well as embroidered poles of the narrow and broad episcopal omoforion, completed the embroidered decoration of bishops' costume. Moreover, in older times, among the liturgical vestments of presbyters and deacons only the petrachilion and the orarion respectively were embroidered, while the phelonion or the sticharion were made of brocade.

41 On the colour of holy vestments, cf. Papas 1997, 10-20; Gilbert 1974, 178. 42 Colin 1976, 220-238; Varvounis 2008, 20-21. 592 The practices and personal example of certain archbishops, as already mentioned above, brought again to the fore the fashion of embroidered vestments, generally made of velour and in rarer cases of silk or other fabrics, whether for winter use made of thick and warm fabrics, of for the summer months out of cooler and lighter material. Indeed, over the past three decades, the fashion of embroidered vestments gradually also extended to the presbyters' attire, and in more rare cases to the attire of deacons as well. These embroideries, as a rule gold-embroidered cloths (not of metallic wire as in traditional gold embroidery but, rather, of gold thread), are of two kinds: those made by special machines, and which are standardized and as a rule limited to floral and vegetal decorative patterns, and those made by hand. In the second, rarer case, these are genuine works of ecclesiastical embroidery, executed with imagination and according to the capabilities of each individual needlewoman or embroiderer, and which can sometimes even feature entire representations of scenes (e.g. the Resurrection or the Birth of Jesus Christ), but also the figures of saints, mainly on the petrachilia. Furthermore, it should be noted here that the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art of gold embroidery, as can be seen by specimens of vestments preserved to our day, differs from the Russian gold embroidery that also prevails on luxurious vestments in Greece as of the 19th century, not only as regards the rendering of the individual figures, faces or naturalistic decorations, but also the cotton or paper wadding used beneath the embroidered surface of Russian vestments, so as to give a raised relief and volume to the figures. Naturally, too, it also differs from our contemporary gold embroidery, which is flat, but also more decorative in its rendition of the figures, given that various techniques offer the artists the possibility of rendering more standardized forms, but which are also more abundant and ornamental in terms of the end impression. These embroidered vestments, which produce a sense of luxury, constitute the contemporary aspect of the art of ecclesiastical gold embroidery, which is presently experiencing a revival, executed by clergymen and monks, but also by lay craftsmen, in small or large workshops accordingly. The same also applies to episcopal mitres, which as a rule are made of papier mâché, which replaced the older use of cork: they are covered in fabric and are then embroidered by hand, so as to also add the enamel representations of the four evangelists in corresponding small icons, as well as the gems that co-form their embellishment. Again, in specific cases we come across works that renew tradition, such as, for instance, the embroidered representation of full-bodied apostles and evangelists on the mitre's surface, which is thus divided into the corresponding segments instead of adhering to its classic crown-like shape. As of the 19th century, sacerdotal vestments of the Russian tradition have also made their appearance in Greece: phelonia with a high-necked collar at the back, mitres with an oval profile, episcopal mantles of various colours – essentially purple, green or azure – and without embroidered poles at the four corners of their front opening, omoforia with a large frontispiece, and even crosiers without the distinctive serpents resembling a metal rendition of monastic staffs, as is customary in Russia. These vestments, especially the phelonia with a raised collar at the back, are favoured principally by hieromonks, and more specifically by those who hold office in secular parishes. Thus, although their use by married priests is naturally not prohibited, in people's consciousness they are linked to archimandrites, and are sometimes perceived by the ignorant as an indication of the «promotion» of a parish , who possibly uses them during liturgical acts and parish life. Similarly, over the past years vestments of the so- called Serbian tradition have also appeared on the Greek market, with abundant embroidery, generally of coloured thread on a white background, which somewhat

593 resemble the simple vestments of the first category we identified, but nonetheless constitute more luxurious, and naturally more expensive, versions of them. Lastly, special mention must be made to unique cases of vestments, as was the case in older times of the patriarchal sakkoi of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and which, furthermore, had specific names according to the central embroidered representations they bore, such as «Root of Jesse», «Sea of Tiberias», etc. The same applies to the patriarchal vestments of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which were made under the rule of Patriarch Kyrillos II for the ceremonies of Holy Week and the Resurrection at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Resurrection, and which are still in liturgical use. These are singular vestments, which did not generate a particular tradition, as they did not become objects of imitation, precisely because of the singularity that characterizes them. The same tradition is also followed today as regards the vestments of the Ecumenical Patriarch, but also the Patriarch of Alexandria, who bears not a mitre but an embroidered tiara, as well as a second petrachilion over the episcopal sakkos, according to an old Alexandrian tradition, which, as the whole of it is visible, is usually embroidered with representations of saints, angels, Holy Fathers, etc., giving it a distinctive decorative colour. In contrast to the older patriarchal vestments, these unique contemporary vestments, usually gifts to Church primates, in their manner create a kind of fashion, in the sense that bishops known for their elegance and the variety of their episcopal liturgical appearance often imitate them with other materials and in less costly versions. And this observation constitutes a basis for the researcher of the future, who will wish to track similar evolutions in contemporary ecclesiastical arts, that of vestment-making (hierorraptike), but also that of ecclesiastical gold embroidery, which at present are in full evolution.

Conclusions

From the above, it appears that even what are by definition conservative forms, such as those of sacerdotal vestments, are subject to fashions and in-vogue trends, obviously in a different manner to secular clothes, but nonetheless within the same general contexts. The older Byzantine and Post-Byzantine tradition, the Russian, Western and Serbian influences, but also the contemporary aesthetic choices (often determined by spiritual or other reasons), create each case of trend in vogue, to which the clergymen's choices conform with respect to their sacerdotal attire. There are many instances when these choices are also influenced by political reasons, in the broader sense of the term. For example, one of the results of the great crisis of scandals during the archbishopric of the Archbishop of Athens Christodoulos was the fact that, by Synodic decision, archpriests and clergymen were recommended to avoid luxurious vestments, so as not to provoke popular wrath. In application of this encyclical, that winter the archpriests started wearing summer vestments, which due to climate conditions are simpler, for a period of roughly six months, before returning to the gold- embroidered vestments and brocades as of the following autumn. Besides, the political dimension of dress, and hence of sacerdotal vestments in their ceremonial versions, constitutes a reality known from many similar examples, on a worldwide level. In summary, vestments evolve in parallel to the more general aesthetic, economic, social and spiritual conditions of each period, if not in their general morphology, at least as regards their materials and their individual aesthetic formulations. Some forms are preserved and reproduced from the past and others are imported from alien and foreign influences or because of the conditions of the times, as proved in detail above. This

594 constitutes an aspect of the movement between continuity and discontinuity, which predominates in all cultural forms and expressions, and naturally also exists in the field of the ecclesiastical arts.

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597 Μανόλης Γ. Βαρβούνης Νάντια Μαχά-Μπιζούμη

Η ΝΕΟΤΕΡΗ ΚΑΙ ΣΥΓΧΡΟΝΗ ΠΑΡΑΔΟΣΗ ΤΩΝ ΙΕΡΑΤΙΚΩΝ ΑΜΦΙΩΝ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΛΛΑΔΑ (19ος-20ός αι.)

Η μελέτη των ιερατικών αμφίων και της εξέλιξής τους στο πέρασμα των χρόνων αποτελεί ένα ευρύ πεδίο έρευνας με πολλές παραμέτρους και διαφορετικούς άξονες προσέγγισης. Μέχρι σήμερα, η έρευνα έχει επικεντρωθεί κυρίως στη μελέτη τους ως εξαιρετικών έργων τέχνης λόγω των χρυσοκεντημένων μεταξωτών εκκλησιαστικών ενδυμάτων. Η προσεκτική ανάλυση της μορφής της ενυφασμένης και της κεντημένης στο χέρι διακόσμησης των χρησιμοποιούμενων υφασμάτων για την κατασκευή τους, φανερώνει ότι τα ιερατικά άμφια ως προς τη διακόσμησή τους «παρακολουθούν» συχνά τις εναλλαγές της μόδας, με την έννοια του συρμού, αποτελώντας το αντικαθρέφτισμα των προσανατολισμών της κοινωνίας, στους κόλπους της οποίας αυτά δημιουργήθηκαν. Μέχρι την επικράτηση του βιομηχανοποιημένου ευρωπαϊκού υφάσματος με ενυφασμένο διάκοσμο στην αγορά (19ος αιώνας), στην κατασκευή των ιερατικών αμφίων πρωταγωνιστούν τα μεταξωτά υφάσματα οθωμανικής και περσικής προέλευσης με ενυφασμένη αργυροχρυσοκέντητη διακόσμηση. Πολυτελή μεταξωτά με ενυφασμένο διάκοσμο με χριστιανικά θέματα προέρχονται από τα εργαστήρια της Προύσας ή της Κωνσταντινούπολης. Οθωμανικές τουλίπες και γαρύφαλλα εναλλάσσονται με τον πολύχρωμο άνθινο διάκοσμο του δυτικοευρωπαϊκού μπαρόκ. Εκτός όμως από τα εκκλησιαστικά κεντήματα που κοσμούν τα ιερατικά άμφια, στην κατασκευή τους συναντώνται και υφάσματα με κοσμικό κέντημα, που άλλοτε μιμείται και αναπαράγει τον διάκοσμο που συναντάται στις δυτικοευρωπαϊκές στόφες, και άλλοτε, αποτελεί εξαιρετικό δείγμα τοπικής κεντητικής τέχνης. Η «κίνηση» αυτή ανάμεσα σε παλιές και σε νέες μορφές και τεχνικές διακόσμησης ως έκφραση του ευμετάβολου της μόδας, αποτελεί μια χαρακτηριστική περίπτωση πολιτισμικής κίνησης ανάμεσα σε συνέχειες και σε ασυνέχειες, σ’ ένα χώρο μάλιστα, αρκετά συντηρητικό.

598