Kamilavka: what is it?

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

What is a kamilavka? As a rule, most people cannot answer this question. Meanwhile, this is an old headdress, which today can be seen on the clergy when visiting the temple. However, the kamilavka is not only a part of church vestments. The headdress appeared millennia ago in the Middle East, it had nothing to do with priests.

What is this?

Initially, a kamilavka is a dense cap made of camel wool, which served to protect against the scorching sun during the day and from the cold at night. Worn in the Middle East. The headdress is in many ways similar to Turkish fezzes.

Kamilavkas were extremely popular in Byzantium, where they were called "skiadios" and flaunted on the head of the emperor, courtiers and civil servants. And it was in Byzantium that priests first began to wear kamilavki. By the 15th century, the shape of the cap finally took on the form it has now.

Today, kamilavka is a headdresscylindrical shape with a characteristic expansion in the upper part, devoid of margins.

Kamilavka in the church

In the Greek Orthodox Church, a cap is an integral part of the attire of a clergyman and is issued when he takes the rank. As part of church vestments, the Russian kamilavka appeared at the end of the 17th century. In the vestments of the ministers of the Russian Orthodox Church, this headdress replaced the skuf. The innovation, which changed the usual appearance of the priest, was not accepted by the clergy. The wearing of kamilavkas was resisted for a long time.

Today, a kamilavka is an integral element of the attire of the clergy, which has specific differences depending on the rank of the priest.

What are kamilavkas?

Parishioners who attend church services (at least festive ones) could not help but notice that the headdresses of the clergy differ. Of course, the first noticeable difference is the color of the hats.

It so happened that in everyday life the clergy wear black and purple kamilavki. Any Orthodox monk wears a klobuk. This is also a kamilavka, but the most simplified style. This headdress symbolizes the crown of thorns. On holidays and Sundays, the color of the vestments of the clergy changes to gold, white, red. The Old Believers do not wear kamilavkas, they use a skufia as a headdress.

The element of the vestments of the clergy does not have a single style. The kamilavkas worn in Greece and the countries of the Balkan Peninsula differ from the headdresses of Russian priests. The Greek style is quite peculiar - in the upper, extended part, there are small narrow margins. Thanks to such a specific form of kamilavka, a priest from this country can always be distinguished from others.

The headgear worn by the clergy in Serbia and Bulgaria is also different from the Russians. The kamilavkas of priests in these countries are not as high as in Russia and have a smaller diameter. The lower edge of the headdress of clergy in these states is located much higher than the line of the ears than the rim of the kamilavka of Russian priests.