A BISHOP'S VESTMENTS include a 12th Century jeweled cameo of the Crucifixion (top) and a rich caftan or robe embroidered with pearls. The caftan was worn by Nikon, the reformist who was a 17th Century Patriarch of Muscovy.
As Christianity itself originally came from Byzantium to Russia, so a large part of the Russian Orthodox liturgy was borrowed from the court ceremony of Byzantine emperors, who had been regarded by their subjects as the representatives of Christ on earth.
Before the service itself began, the presiding bishop or patriarch donned majestic robes in full view of the congregation, a ritual that closely resembled the emperor's elaborate procedures for dressing. The vestments themselves were also patterned after Byzantine regalia. The bishops' miters were copies of the imperial crown and their robes were made of regal materials.
The fabrics and jewels of the vestments reflected the best of what was available both at home and abroad: Italian velvets and brocades, silk woven in Constantinople and embroidered with gold and silver threads in Russia, emeralds from the Ural Mountains, turquoises from Persia, rubies from the Orient, pearls from the Crimea and the Persian Gulf. Once he was adorned in such royal raiment, a bishop was ready to officiate in the church, which the Russians called "the palace of God."
SITTING IN STATE, fl 20th Century Patriarch
Moscow, who wears around his shoulders an omophorion, or bishop's stole, is flanked by two deacons; next to them, wearmg miters, are two bishops.
A GLORIOUS PROCESSION
After the Patriarch was dressed, he commenced the service, which might last three or four hours. At one point, he led a grand procession, in which the Book of the Gospels was carried from the altar, through the nave and back to the altar
RAISING THE GOSPELS (left), a deacon halts the procession through the church. To the right of the patriarch is a stylized fan, an ancient Byzantine symbol of imperial rank.
A PAINTED CRUCIFIX, made in Novgorod about 1500, was borne in sacred processions. Above Christ are the Saints Michael and Gabriel; flanking Him are the Virgin and St. John.
Again. As he made his slow progress about the church, a male choir sang sonorous hymns and a deacon swung a censer that poured forth clouds of perfumed smoke. The members of the congregation stood throughout the service—but they seldom stood still. On witnessing a rural service, one French observer remarked, "The peasant prays with all his limbs. . . crossing himself, raising at the same time his head and his right hand, then bending in two between every sign of the Cross.”
A GOLD GOSPEL COVER, created in the Kremlin workshops in 1678, is embossed with enameled decorations. The Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—are shown at the corners. The center medallion, seen in the detail below, depicts Christ seated between Mary arid St. John.
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