Coptica 15, 2016

56 Ramez Mikhail

same vestment items, which are often given different names across languages and sources.

The Earliest Witnesses

The earliest reliable witness to liturgical vestments used by any rank comes after the Edict of Milan and precisely from the canons of the local council of Laodicea (before AD 380). Canon 23 of this council decrees the following: “That readers and chanters are not to wear an orarion [ὠράριον], and read or sing in this manner.” 3 The canons of the council of Laodicea appear in Coptic canonical collections at least since the 11 th century. A Coptic parchment containing fragments from the canons of the three ecumenical councils recognized by the Coptic Orthodox Church (Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus) as well as other early local councils, attests to this. 4 These canons have also been included in the 13 th -century collection of al-Ṣafī ibn al- c Assāl ( ca . AD 1240). 5 It is thus safe to conclude that the famous canon 23 of Laodicea, similar to the rest of the canons of this council, has been part of the Coptic canonical tradition and constitutes the earliest possible witness to the deacon’s orarion in the Egyptian context, though there is no evidence that this particular canon was ever followed in Egypt. An early reliable reference to liturgical vestments in the Egyptian realm appears in an epistle by Isidore of Pelusium (5 th c.). Addressing Herminus regarding the rank of the episcopacy, he writes, The linen vestment [ὀθόνη], with which the deacons serve in the holy places, calls to remembrance the humility of the Lord, when he washed the feet of the disciples, and wiped [them]. As for the omophorion [ὠμοφόριον] of the bishop, which is of wool and not linen, [it] signifies the fleece of the sheep, when, having gone astray, the Lord sought, and lifted upon his shoulders. 6 It is certainly clear from the context that ὀθόνη refers to the deacon’s orarion in particular, since this linen vestment is likened to the towel that Christ wrapped around his waist before washing the feet of the disciples (cf. Jn. 13:4). This linen diaconal orarion is contrasted to the episcopal omophorion made specifically from wool to symbolize Christ carrying the lost sheep. Episcopal vestments will be discussed in detail in a future 3 Council of Laodicea , canon 23 (CPG 8607). Cf. Périclès-Pierre Joannou, Discipline génèrale antique (IIe-IXe s.) , vol. 1.2: Les canons des synodes particuliers (IVe-IXe s.) (Grottaferrata, 1962), 140. 4 Hubert Kaufhold, “Sources of Canon Law in the Eastern Churches,” in Wilfried Hartmann and Kenneth Pennington (eds.), The History of Byzantine and Eastern Canon Law to 1500 , History of Medieval Canon Law (Washington DC, 2012), 215-342, here 271.

5 Jirjis Fīlūthāūs ‘Awad (ed.), Al-Majmū‘ Al-Ṣafawi , vol. 1 (Cairo, 1908), 77. 6 Epist. Lib. I . Cap. 136, Hermino Comiti (PG 78, 271-272) (CPG 5557).