www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Orthodox liturgical colors

Dear brethren,

In the West, we make use of these colors for our corresponding feasts and seasons:

Purple: Advent, Lent
Green: Epiphany, Ordinary time
White: Christmas, Paschal, Saints, Our Lady
Red: Pentecost, Holy Week, Martyrs

Blue is used in the Sarum Use for Advent. Blue is also used for Our Lady.

Do these more or less correspeond to Eastern usage? If not please explain the differences. Also, does the entire East have a uniform expression of liturgical colors? (I.e. would a Copt, Armenian, Greek, and Syrian priest each wear the same colors at the proper seasons?)

in Christ,
Marshall

Marshall,

It varies by tradition. I think only the Byzantine tradition approaches anything like the Latin system. Strictly speaking only bright colors are mandated for Feasts and dark colors for Fast seasons. Interestingly enough the Latin Church allows Gold to be substituted for everything but Purple so, strictly speaking, the Latins minimally require exactly what Byzantines do: Bright (Gold) and Dark (Purple). However, something of sysytem is in use in most Byzantine Churches, generally in the Byzantine Metropolia of Pittsburgh:

White/Silver/Gold for Sundays and Feasts of Christ

Red for Presanctified Liturgies (some use Purple), the Third Sunday of Lent(Sunday of the Holy Cross), Good Friday (some use Black, rarer these days), part of Holy Saturday, the Feast of the Procession of the Cross (Aug 1) and The Feast of the Holy Cross (Sept. 14)

Green for Pentecost through the post-feast

Blue for Feasts of the Mother of God through the post-feasts.

Ukrainians and Melkites are the generally the same although they seem to prefer Purple for Presanctified saving Red for the Holy Cross.

In Christ,
Fr. Deacon Lance

The Byzantine Church uses two types of colors- bright and dark, but red vestments are prescribed for the Veneration of the Holy Cross (3rd Sunday of the Great Fast) and the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Sept 14). Green is prescribed for Pentecost and the week following.

Dark vestments are used during the fast seasons and bright (white, gold, silver)vestments for feasts of the Lord (Christmas, Theophany, Pascha, Annunciation, Transfiguration). Blue vestments have been used for Marian feasts. Dark vestments have ranged from red, burgundy, violet, and black. Dark would be a more subdued color.

Sundays of Pentecost are typically (there are exceptions) light (as opposed to bright) colors since they are a commemoration of Pascha.


Hope this helps.

I knew about the light/dark rule but not the specific colors, except blue for Marian feasts...

I bought brocade table runners for our prayer table... It just so happened the available colors were white, green, blue and red, so that's what I bought. With the info in this thread, it looks like I'm all set to be able to follow the liturgical cycle now!

Is it also true that in some Byzantine traditions Green is also used for commemorations of Ecumenical Councils?

Justin

Dear Justin, really there is only "bright" and "dark" in general Byzantine usage. There are many variations, even within individual Byzantine churches such as the Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian, Greek, etc.

In the Russian usage green is also used for wonderworkers, ascetics, fools for Christ, etc. Yes, green is sometimes used for Ecumenical Councils. Green is worn in some places for St. Nicholas Day. Green is also used for Palm Sunday which I think is very appropriate, and in some places green is even used for feasts of the Cross because of the relationship of green to the Tree of the Cross. In some places green is worn from Pentecost until the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

There are also local distinctions between bright red and darker red. Darker red and purple are generally interchangeable. Purple is a penitential color and is worn for fasting periods when black or other dark colors are not used. Purple/dark red can also be worn for martyrs and the Cross. Red can therefore be a "bright" color or a "dark" color depending on specific hues.

The word for "red" (krasnij) interestingly enough can mean both "red" and "especially beautiful". In the Russian tradition on Pascha while white is worn for Paschal Matins, bright red with gold may be worn at the Divine Liturgy of Pascha or sometimes at Agape Vespers. So red has a special place amongst bright colors.

Bright red is also worn in some places on feasts of the Angels because of the relation to the fiery hosts, the fiery sword, etc. And in some places, white is worn for the angels because of the dazzling brilliance, etc. White is also worn in some places for Theophany, Transfiguration, and even Christmas.

Black was not worn as a liturgical color before the funeral of Peter the II in 1821. Although I am generally adamantly opposed to any and all latinizations this is one borrowing that I do not mind. Black on the first day of the Great Fast and Great and Holy Friday is a stark liturgical reminder of those solemn days.

Likewise blue can either be a light or dark color depending on the hue. Feasts of the Mother of God usually call for light blue but in some places historically white was also worn for the feast days of the Theotokos. Blue is sometimes worn from the Dormition until the Exaltation of the Cross.

Gold can be worn on most Sundays and great feasts throughout the year. It is sort of the default "bright" color.

In the Byzantine tradition you see there is nothing akin to the general consistency in the west, but only very general distinctions of light and dark. You can see are many, many local variations on particulars of color usage.

Dear friends,

Thank you for the excellent information. I appreciate it.

in Christ,
Marshall

What about footwear? Are there any norms about that? Are footwear always to be black with black socks? Or are white socks also permitted? Can a priest wear combat boots for example or maybe black sneakers? What about flip-flops? Would it be correct for a priest to celebrate the Liturgy wearing goloshes? Just curious, but are there any norms for this?
Lauro

I had a priest that used to wear hole-y black socks with worn-out sandals... WITH his vestments!

Have you seen pictures of the new Archbishop of Boston?

True to his heritage, he wears the ubiquitous worn-out and worked-to-the-death Franciscan sandals!

Of course, like Franciscans anywhere, the Archbishop celebrates the Holy Mass in his "browns and sandals" underneath the required liturgical vestments.

Substance trumps style always.

AmdG

If I'm not mistaken I think the Pope's shoes are red and his socks are white. Now that is a coincidence, he's wearing the Polish national colors.
Lauro

I heard that all celibate Byzantine priests belong to a monastic order. Maybe my priest was Franciscan!

Nope

Must only be the Ruthenians then. A Ruthenian priest was the one who told me that. He was of the Basilian order and he said all the celibate parish priests had to belong to a monastic order.

Perhaps you misunderstood? Among the Eastern Churches, the secular (eparchial/diocesan) priests in the parishes were typically married. If a parish priest was celibate he usually was a hieromonk. However, that changed when married men were no longer allowed to be ordained to the priesthood in the Americas. As a result, secular priests were also celibate, but that did not mean they were monastic. In the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Van Nuys, there are only 6 monastic/religious priests, the rest (16) are secular/eparchial priests.