Epitaphios

Epitaphios is a canvas that in the rituals of the Orthodox Church has a function similar to that of the Holy Sepulcher in the Roman Catholic Church. This image is especially venerated during Easter. It is a representation of the deceased Christ, laid on a canvas after death, usually covered only by a perizoma. His image is usually surrounded by an excerpt from Troparion – the paschal hymn: ‘The worthy Joseph, taking your pure body from the tree, wrapped it in a clean shroud, anointed it and placed in a new tomb’.

The epitaphios of the Lublin collection is unusual in this respect, because the whole body of Christ is tightly wrapped in a shroud, and the presentation of Jesus is not accompanied by the cited fragment of the song. However, it shows a number of similarities with a group of objects created at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, created in an unknown workshop, perhaps in the Lublin region or in its vicinity (most of them come from the Orthodox church of the Lublin region or are still in use there). A set of common features characterises these objects: they are devoid of the aforementioned Troparion text, Christ’s head is folded on a shawl formed into a specific oval pillow, and the material covering it covers not only the hips, but most of the body, from the waist down to the feet. The crossing of Christ’s arms on the chest is also characteristic, as is the repetitive facial features presentation and hair flowing in soft waves over the shoulders. Similar objects can be found today at the KUL Museum and the Chełm Land Museum as well as in churches in Białystok, Dobratycze, Horostyt, Kraków, Pawłów Stary, Tomaszów Lubelski, Uhrusk and the church in Podgórze. Conducted surveys revealed more epitaphios of this type, but so far the workshop that made them and the circumstances of their origin remain unknown.