permanently sewn up, leaving a loop through which he puts his head. It is ornamented with crosses or figures of Saints and ends in fringes.[1] The Zone (ζώνη, girdle) comes next, not a cord, but a narrow belt of stuff joined behind by a clasp. It is ornamented with crosses and holds together the epitrachelion and sticharion. Over the wrists the bishop then puts the Epimanikia ἐπιμανίκια, which correspond to our bishops' gloves. They are bands like cuffs, or like long gloves with the part for the hand cut off, and they too are embroidered with crosses or holy images. Their origin seems to have been, not a handkerchief, but rather the old idea of covering the hands before touching sacred things. They do not, then, answer to our handkerchief-maniple. Gradually the inconvenience and clumsiness of gloves caused all of them to be cut away except the covering of the wrist. They now just cover the ends of the sleeves of the sticharion, and are worn on both arms. The Epigonation (ἐπιγονάτιον) is a lozenge of stiff stuff (often lined with cardboard), about a foot in length, with a cross or image embroidered on it. It hangs at the right side from the girdle by a riband, and reaches to the knee. It appears that this was originally a handkerchief, and that it therefore corresponds to our maniple. Now its symbolical meaning is a sword of justice.[2] Every bishop now wears the Sakkos (σύκκος). This is a vestment exactly like our dalmatic, a tunic reaching to below the knees, with short sleeves and divided up the sides. It is very richly embroidered all over, and the sides are joined again by bows of riband or clasps. Originally only the Patriarchs wore the sakkos, and other bishops had the same phainolion (chasuble) as priests. The use of the sakkos among all bishops appears to date from about the time of the fall of Constantinople. Over the sakkos comes the Omophorion (ὠμοφόριον, our pallium). The great omophorion, worn at the beginning of the liturgy, is a wide band of silk or velvet embroidered with crosses and a lamb. The bishop passes it loosely round his neck, and one
