Sakkos

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Sakkos

The Sakkos (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: s?????, "sackcloth") is a vestment

Vestment

Vestments are liturgy garments and articles associated primarily with the Christianity religions, especially the Latin Rite and other Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, Methodists, and Lutheran Churches....
worn by Orthodox and Greek Catholic

Greek Catholic Church

Greek Catholic Church is a term which refers to the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite liturgical tradition. It can also refer to the Roman Catholicism in Greece....
bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
s instead of the priest

Priest

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
's phelonion

Phelonion

The phel?nion, in Greek language, is a Liturgy vestment worn by a priest of the Eastern Christianity. It is worn over the priest's other vestments and is the same as the chasuble of Western Christianity....
. The garment is a tunic

Tunic

A tunic is any of several types of clothing for the body, with or without sleeves, and of various lengths reaching from the shoulders to somewhere between the hips and the ankles....
with wide sleeves, and a distinctive pattern of trim. It reaches below the knees and is fastened up the sides with buttons or tied with ribbons.

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Encyclopedia

Meister Der Aphentico Kirche in Mistra 001

The Sakkos (Greek

Greek language

Vestment

Greek Catholic Church

Greek Catholic Church is a term which refers to the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite liturgical tradition. It can also refer to the Roman Catholicism in Greece....
bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
s instead of the priest

Priest

A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities....
's phelonion

Phelonion

Tunic

Dalmatic

The dalmatic is a long wide-sleeved tunic, which serves as a liturgical vestment in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and United Methodist Churches, sometimes worn by a deacon at the service of worship or Mass and, although infrequently, by bishops as an undergarment above the alb....
, which is similarly derived from Byzantine dress

Byzantine dress

Byzantine dress changed considerably over the thousand years of the Empire, but was essentially conservative. The Byzantines liked colour and pattern, and made and exported very richly patterned cloth, woven and embroidered for the upper classes, and Resist dyeing and woodblock printing for the lower....
. The sakkos was originally worn by the Emperor as an imperial vestment, symbolizing the tunic of disgrace

Passion (Christianity)

The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering ? physical, spiritual, and mental ? of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion....
worn by Christ during his trial and mockery.

The sakkos is usually made of a rich brocade

Brocade

File:Russian brocade.jpgBrocade is a class of richly decorative shuttle fabrics, often made in colored silks and with or without gold and silver threads....
fabric and may be intricately embroidered. There is normally a cross in the center of the back, which the bishop kisses before it is placed on him. Buttons or loops are sewn on the back, by which the bishop's omophorion

Omophorion

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches liturgical tradition, the omophorion is the distinguishing vestment of a bishop and the symbol of his spiritual and ecclesiastical authority....
(either great or small) may be attached. Traditionally, bells are attached to the sakkos, following the biblical directions for the vestments of the Jewish

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
High Priest

Kohen Gadol

Kohen Gadol or Kohen ha-Gadol is the title of wiktionary:High Priest of early Israelite religion and of Classical Age Judaism from the rise of the Israelite nation until the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem....
(; ).

History

Originally, all bishops wore a phelonion similar to the one worn by priests, but woven or embroidered with a multilayered cross pattern called the polystavrion ("many-crosses"). The use of the sakkos was a privilege bestowed by the Basileus
Basileus

Basileus , signifies "Monarch" or "king". It is perhaps best known in English language as a title used by Byzantine Empire emperors, but also has a longer history of use for persons of authority in ancient Greece, as well as for the kings of modern Greece....
(Emperor) upon individual patriarchs as a sign of his personal favor. The first literary evidence for the garment is found in the writings of Balsamon, Patriarch of Antioch

Patriarch of Antioch

Patriarch of Antioch is a traditional title carried by the Bishop of Antioch. As the traditional "overseer" of the first gentile Christian community, the position has been of prime importance in the church from its Early Christianity....
(ca. 1130–1140). By the 13th century it worn by all the patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised Autocracy authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy....
s and a few high-ranking archbishop

Archbishop

In Christianity, an archbishop is an elevated bishop. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and others, this means that they lead a diocese of particular importance called an archdiocese, or in the Anglican Communion an Ecclesiastical Province, but this is not always the case....
s—but only on Pascha

Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
(Easter) and the Great Feasts of Pentecost

Pentecost

Pentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christianity liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day after Easter Sunday?or the 50th day, inclusively, whence its name is derived from the Greek....
and Nativity

Nativity of Jesus

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the Childbirth of Jesus in the Gospels and in various New Testament apocrypha texts that serve as key elements of Christian mythology....
; other bishops continued to wear the polystavrion. After the fall of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
(1453) it came into general use by bishops. The sakkos is now worn by all Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic bishops, regardless of rank. Unlike Western pontificalia which may be worn by prelates who are not bishops—provided they have the privilege

Privilege

A privilege—etymologically "private law" or law relating to a specific individual—is a special entitlement or immunity granted by a government or other authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis....
of doing so—the sakkos may only be worn by a bishop.

Use

The bishop wears the sakkos when he vests fully to celebrate the Divine Liturgy

Divine Liturgy

The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine church tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches....
, at the Great Doxology

Great Doxology

The Great Doxology is an ancient hymn of praise to the Trinity which is chanted or read daily in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches Churches....
at Matins

Matins

Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodoxy liturgy of the canonical hours....
when there is an All-Night Vigil

All-Night Vigil

The All-Night Vigil , Opus 37, is an a cappella choir composition by Sergei Rachmaninoff,written and premiered in 1915. It consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox All-night vigil ceremony....
, or on specific other occasions when called for by the rubrics (for instance, at the bringing out of the Epitaphios

Epitaphios

Epitaphios may refer to:* Funeral oration in Ancient Greece.* the Epitaphios , also called epitaphion - A large cloth icon used during the services of Good Friday in the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Eastern Catholic Churches which use the Byzantine rite....
on Great and Holy Friday, or the cross

Christian cross

The Christian cross is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity. It is a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ....
on the Great Feast of the Exaltation

Feast of the Cross

In the Christian liturgical calendar, there are several different feasts known as Feasts of the Cross, all of which commemorate the True Cross used in the crucifixion of Jesus....
). At other services, he will wear the episcopal Mantle (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ?a?d?a?, Mandýas, Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic

Old Church Slavonic, also known as Old Bulgarian, or Old Macedonian, was the first literary Slavic language, based on the old Solun dialect of the Thessaloniki region by the 9th century Byzantine Greeks missionaries, Saints Cyril and Methodius, who used it for translation of the Bible and other Ancient Greek language ecclesiastica...
: Mantiya). When the bishop is vested, the sakkos is presented to him on a tray. He blesses it with both hands, and two subdeacon

Subdeacon

Subdeacon is a title used in various branches of Christianity....
s lift it off the tray, hold it for him to kiss the cross on the back, place it on him and button the sides (as shown ). The epigonation

Epigonation

The epigonation or palitsa is a vestment used in some Eastern Christianity churches....
, which was placed on the bishop first, is lifted up as the sakkos is buttoned, so that it remains visible on the outside. During the vesting with the sakkos, the protodeacon

Protodeacon

Protodeacon derives from the Greek language proto- meaning 'first' and diakonos, meaning 'deacon'. The word in English language may refer to various clergymen, depending upon the usage of the particular church in question....
swings the censer

Censer

File:Censer-japan.jpgCensers are any type of vessels made for burning incense. These vessels vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction....
and says the Prayer of the Sakkos:

Thy high priests shall by clothed in glory, and Thy saints shall rejoice with joy, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

This prayer is identical to that used by a priest when he vests in the phelonion, except that instead of saying "Thy high priests", a priest says simply, "Thy priests".

In some traditions, a bishop may choose to celebrate the Liturgy "as a priest"; meaning he does not vest in full episcopal vestments, nor does he make use of the dikirion and trikirion (episcopal candlesticks). Instead of the sakkos he wears a priestly phelonion

Phelonion

Omophorion

Epigonation

The epigonation or palitsa is a vestment used in some Eastern Christianity churches....
at his side. The bishop will in this instance, as always, wear his Panagia

Panagia

Panagia , also transliterated Panayia or Panaghia, is one of the titles of Mary, the mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Orthodox Church....
enkolpion, and will stand on the eagle rug. Moreover, certain ceremonial practices are not observed as they would be for a full hierarchal service.

External links

Byzantine (Constantinople or Thessalonike), 14th century