Help with Vestments of the Eastern/Oriental Churches

[patrick457]

If I can ask,
what are the vestments among the Eastern and the Oriental Churches?
Take for example, the Maronites, Syro-Malabar, Syro-Malankara, the Copts, Assyrians, Armenians, Greeks, Russians, Ukranians etc.

 

[MoreThan1Hat]

You could google it and get more information, but here’s something to start you off -
the phelonion corresponds to the Latin chasuble, the outer vestment. The epitrachelion is the stole, and the zone is a belt that roughly corresponds to the cincture of Latin priests. Epimanika are cuffs, worn by priests and deacons in the Eastern Churches. then there is the exorassa (not 100% sure of spelling) that is kind of equivalent to the alb, and the interior rasson or cassock. this is what our Ruthenian priest wears, and unfortunately I am ignorant of anything specific to non-Ruthenian clergy but perhaps someone will happen along who knows more than I do. I just hated to see your question spinning in the breeze without an answer.

There’s also the epigonation (that spelling issue again) that is a diamond shape hanging from the priest’s waist at one side, that is a sign of rank but that’s basically all I know about it.

 

[Formosus]

To my knowledge, Maronites wear an alb-like garment (Sticherion is the greek name I think) , A belt that matches the fabric of the epitrachelion, cuffs, and a cope-like vestement that corresponds to the latin Chausable called a Phiano. I do not know the Syriac names for the other vestements aside from the Phiano (likewise I might be missing something or wrong on any of these names. Someone like Yuhanon or jimmy is a good resource for maronites).

There is a Syriac Orthodox website that details the vestements of the Syriac church, I do not really know of a resource on Assyro-Chaldean vestements but I have heard they are similar to the Maronites.

 

[Deacon_Lance]

Syrian vestments:
sor.cua.edu/Vestments/index.html

Byzantine vestments:
stannmelkite.homestead.com/Vestments.html

Chaldean vestments:
E. Vestments: The celebrating priest wears a kotina, zunara, hurara (an alb, cincture and stole, respectively) and on top of them a payna or cope. Deacons and Subdeacons wear a kotina, zunara, and hurara, while those of lower orders wear a kotina and zunara.
kaldu.org/14_Reformed_ChaldeanMass/ReformEssay.html

 

[patrick457]

Thanks for the replies.

I’ve searched the web and found scanty references for Coptic vestments, though. What do they use?

 

[Deacon_Lance]

Coptic Orthodox priests most commonly wear only an alb, stole and Latin-like mitre though smaller for married priests and cowl for monastics. .Here is a good illustration:
holypimoly.com/characters.shtml#
Here are some picture from a Coptic Catholic Liturgy:
stmarycopticcatholicchurch.com/History/Our_coptic_catholic_church.htm
A cope-style outer vestment can be worn but just does seem to be worn except by bishops or on high feastdays.

 

[Deacon_Lance]

Ethiopian Catholic clergy in vestments, scroll down:
benedictine-abbey.blogspot.com/

 

[patrick457]

Again and again, thanks for the links.

As I believe, Armenian vestments are quite similar to western ones, right?

It’s interesting to see that many churches share a common pattern for the vestments (Sacerdotal vestments are consistent among different churches and rites, it seems though there is a large variation among Diaconal and Subdiaconal ones), which the Western Church also quite shares:

-Tunic (Alb)
-Cuffs
-Stole
-Belt (Cincture)
-Overcoat

No wonder, since these vestments trace a common ancestry to Roman wear.

 

[bpbasilphx]

For Armenian vestments, go here:

liturgix.com/biz/

And scroll down. They look more like Maronite/West Syrian to me.