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Epitaphios

Constantinople (?), first half of the 14th century Art Museum, Princeton
After S. Curcic and A. St. Clair, eds., Byzantium at Princeton: Byzantine Art and Archaeology at Princeton University (Princeton, N.J., 1986), fig. 167

This embroidered shroud (epitaphios) depicts Christ’s dead body. Christ is lying in a straight position with his arms crossed and loins covered by a rectangular cloth. The epitaphios was used in later Byzantine liturgy as a symbolic representation of Christ’s bier. It was venerated by the faithful in the church and then carried in procession on Holy Saturday in order to reenact the burial of Christ.

DEATH OF CHRIST

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