of old "stauracin;" but a marked difference in the way in which the crosses are put is discernible. As a metropolitan St. John wears the saccos upon which the crosses are arranged thus
St. Nicholas, and St. Basil have chasubles which, though worked all over with crosses, made, as on St. John's saccos, with gammas, are surrounded with other gammas joined so as to edge in the crosses, thus
As four gammas only are necessary to form all the crosses upon St. John's vestment, therein we behold the textile called by Anastasius, "Stauracin de quadruplo," or the stuff figured with a cross of four (gammas); while as eight of these Greek letters are required for the pattern on the chasubles, we have in them an example of the other "stauracin de octaplo," or "octapulo," a fabric with a pattern composed of eight gammas. But of all the shapes fashioned out of the repetition of the one same element, the Greek letter [Greek: G], by far the most ancient, universal, and mystic, is that curious one particularized by many as the
Gammadion, or Filfot, a name by which, at one time in England, it was generally known. Several pieces in this collection exhibit on them some modification of it, as Nos. 1261, p. 34; 1325, p. 60; 7052, p. 127; 829A, p. 174; 8305, p. 185; 8635, p. 242; 8652, p. 249. Its figure is made out of the usual four gammas, so that they should fall together thus : of its high antiquity and symbolism, we speak further on, section VII.
Silks figured with a cross, some made with four, some with eight Greek gammas, remained in Eastern Church use all through the middle ages, as we may gather from several monuments of that period. Besides a good many other books, Gori's fine one, "Thesaurus Veterum Diptychorum" affords us several instances.[1] The name also remained to such textiles as we know from the Greek canonist Balsamon, who, writing about the end of the twelfth century on episcopal garments, calls the tunic, [Greek: sticharion dia gammatôn] or (with a pattern) of gammas—gammadion. How to this day the cross made by four gammas is woven on Greek vestments, may be observed in the plates we have given in "Hierurgia."[2] Two late specimens of "stauracin" are in this collection under Nos. 7039, p. 123; 7048, p. 126; and 8250A, p. 161.
