The Placing of the Venerable Robe of Our Lord Jesus Christ at Moscow (1625)
Commemorated on July 10
The Saviour's
venerable Robe [Slavic "Riza", Greek "himatia", Latin
"vestimenta", literally "over-garments"] is not
identically the same thing with His seamless "Chiton" [Greek and
Slavic "khiton", Latin "tunica", literally "under-garb
tunic"] – they are clearly distinct within Holy Scripture: "The
soldiers then, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments (odezhdu,
vestimenta, ta himatia) and divided them into four parts, to each soldier a
part, and the chiton-shirt (et tunicam, kai ton khitona). The chiton
indeed was without seam, woven whole from the top down, and so they did say one
to another: let us not rend it asunder, but for it cast lots, whose it wilt
become. Wherefore was fulfilled the saying in Scripture: they divided My
raiment-garb (riza, vestimenta, ta imatia) amongst them, and upon My
vesture-garb (imatisme, in vestem, epi ton himatismon) did they cast
lots" (Jn. 19: 23-24; Ps. 21 [22]: 18-19).
According to the
tradition of the Gruzinian (Georgian) Orthodox Church, the Chiton-tunic of the
Lord was carried by the Hebrew rabbi Elioz from Jerusalem to Mtsketa and at present
is beneathe a crypt in the foundations of the Mtsketian Patriarchal cathedral
of Svetitskhoveli (the feast in honour of the Chiton-tunic of the Lord is
celebrated on 1 October). None of the Mohamedan invaders ever ventured to
enroach upon this spot, glorified with a sign by the mercy of God – the
Life-Creating Pillar.
The Robe of the Lord,
– actually one of its four parts, the lower portion namely (other parts of the
Robe of the Lord are likewise known of in Western Europe: in the city of Trier
in Germany, and in Argenteuil near Paris in France), just like the Chiton-tunic
of the Lord, came to be in Gruzia. In contrast to the Chiton-tunic, the Robe
portion was not kept underground, but was in the treasury of the Svetitskhoveli
cathedral right up to the XVII Century, when the Persian shah Abbas I, in
devastating Gruzia, carried off with other treasures also the Robe of the Lord.
In order to ingratiate himself with tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, the shah in 1625
dispatched the Robe of the Lord as a gift to Patriarch Philaret (1619-1633) and
tsar Mikhail. The authenticity of the Robe was testified to by Nektarii,
Archbishop of Vologda, also by the Jerusalem Patriarch Theophanes who had come
from Byzantium, and by Ioannikes the Greek, but especially also by the
miraculous signs, manifest by the Lord through the venerable relic.
Afterwards two parts
of the Robe came to be in Peterburg: one in the cathedral at the Winter Palace,
and the other in the Petropavlovsk (Peter and Paul) cathedral. A portion of the
Robe was preserved likewise at the Uspenie-Dormition cathedral in Moscow, and
small portions – at the Kiev Sophia cathedral, at the Ipat'ev monastery near
Kostroma and at certain other old temples. At Moscow annually on 10 July the
Robe of the Lord is solemnly brought out of a chapel named for the holy
Apostles Peter and Paul at the Uspensky cathedral, and it is placed on an
analoi-stand for veneration during the time of Divine-services. After Liturgy
they carry the Robe to its former place.
On this day likewise
is proper a service to the Life-Creating Cross of the Lord, since the Placing
of the Robe in the Uspensky cathedral in 1625 was done on 29 March, on the day
which then occurred to be the Lenten Sunday of the Veneration of the Cross.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.
