Epitrachelions

The epitrachelion, an embroidery that is particularly rich in figurative representations and ornamental motifs, is one of the specific, compulsory components of the garments worn by priests and bishops during the celebration of the religious service. It has the shape of a textile stripe of a variety of sizes, sometimes reaching almost three metres in length and ten to twelve cm in width.

The epitrachelion, as a specifically Orthodox liturgical garment, reminds the faithful of the noose or head kerchief with which Jesus was pulled by the neck towards the crucifixion site. It can also be taken to mean the ‘delightful burden of priesthood’, which must be carried with humility, because it is the ‘gift of the holy spirit which descends over the maker of the holy deeds’. The epitrachelion is worn around the neck, over the stiharion, adorned with its figurative decorations that depict prophets, apostles, evangelists, martyrs, bishops, in isolated frames, or with the so-called ‘kingly festivals’, - complex episodes from the life of Jesus Christ, placed in architectonical arcades or inside geometrical borders, circular or rectangular, decorated, in their turn, with traditional, symbolic, vegetal and zoomorphic motifs. Placed in parallel registers, two by two, these decorations sometimes come to an end at the bottom of the composition, with the portraits of the donors, mostly voivodes or high officials and with short commemorative or donation inscriptions.

With the epitrachelions, the Romanian embroidery art reaches a high degree of craftsmanship, both in the stylisation of the figures and in the harmonization of the colours, using the most precious materials: silk backgrounds, lined with flaxen fabrics, golden-threaded and silver-threaded embroideries, discrete vegetal colours, of an exceptional chromatic refinement.


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