mandyas

ecclesiastical garb

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mandyas, long, full, purple or blue cloak worn as a processional garment by bishops and some other dignitaries in the Eastern Orthodox churches. It is open down the front but fastened at the neck and at the hem. At the point where the neck and hem are fastened, the bishop’s mandyas is decorated with pōmata (Greek: “beverages”), richly embroidered squares of material. Red and white stripes called potamoi (Greek: “rivers”) flow out from the squares. The pōmata symbolize the New and Old Testaments, the sources of the doctrine that the bishop “pours out” on his congregation.