antimins
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The antimins (from the Greek , Antimension: "instead of the table"), is a special corporal required to be on the altar in many Eastern Christian liturgical traditions. It was originally used as a portable version of an altar.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- altar cloth
- Image
- Antimension1.jpg
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- described by source
- Orthodox Theological Encyclopedia
- Commons category
- Antimension
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Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Syriac practice
- See also
- References
- Further reading
The antimins (from the Greek , Antimension: "instead of the table"), is a special corporal required to be on the altar in many Eastern Christian liturgical traditions. It was originally used as a portable version of an altar.
It is a rectangular piece of cloth of either linen or silk, typically decorated with representations of the Descent of Christ from the Cross, the Four Evangelists, and inscriptions related to the Passion. A small relic of a martyr is sewn into it. In the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, an altar stone serves a similar function. In the Coptic Church and Syriac Church, it has been replaced by a wooden altar-board or altar-slab.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “antimins” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.