Epitaphios (liturgical)

The Epitaphios (Greek: Ἐπιτάφιος, epitáphios, or Ἐπιτάφιον, epitáphion, meaning "above the tomb"; Slavonic: Плащаница, plashchanitsa; Arabic: نعش, naash) is a Christian religious icon, typically consisting of a large, embroidered and often richly adorned cloth, bearing an image of the dead body of Christ, often accompanied by his mother and other figures, following the Gospel account. It is used during the liturgical services of Good Friday and Holy Saturday in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches, as well as some Oriental Orthodox Churches. It also exists in painted or mosaic form, on wall or panel.

For other uses, see Epitaphios.

The Epitaphios is also a common short form of the Epitáphios Thrēnos, the "Lamentation upon the Grave" in Greek, which is the main part of the service of the Matins of Holy Saturday, served in Good Friday evening. Armenian Orthodox have also the tradition of the epitaphios. Their celebration on this day is called T'aghman Kark (Rite of the Burial).

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.