Phelonions

The phelonion or the sfita - as the Romanians call it, by its Slavonic name - has the shape of a cloak, which is pulled over the head, over the other liturgical garments, being a lot longer at the back. It is frequently made of expensive fabrics, decorated with gold, silver and silk-threaded embroideries, that depict the sign of the cross, stylistic vegetal motifs, saint faces or kingly celebrations, such as the Birth of Christ, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the Assumption of the Holy Virgin, etc. In the latter cases, the iconographic scenes usually represent the church’s dedication day for which that particular phelonion was made.

From the first decades of Christianity until the end of the Middle Ages, the phelonions were made only of red or white materials, their most common decoration being solely the sign of the cross. The white colour of the garment was symbolic of “the heavenly light’, the holiness and the joy with which the priests should be ‘spiritually adorned’ when they officiate the liturgy; the red phelonion, on the other hand, is meant to remind the faithful of Our Saviour’s Passions and especially of the red mantle in which he was dressed in mockery by Pillate’s soldiers.

As are other types of priestly attire, the embroideries that adorn the phelonions from the various Romanian collections, are of an exceptional artistic value. The phelonions from the monasteries of Sucevita, Putna, Secu, and Varatec, and those from the collections of the Oltenian and Wallachian monasteries, as well as those that are part of the heritage of the Romanian Museum of Art amaze even today by their beauty, their refinement, their chromatic and compositional harmonies, as well as by their grandeur.


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