The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 29, no. 7 (March, 1971)

of them depict biblical rather than historical personages.
Throughout this period, the dress employed for
representations of Christ and his followers, as well
as other important individuals, is the old Roman
ceremonial costume consisting of the toga worn
over the tunica talaris, a long, loose-fitting garment
with tight sleeves and narrow, black or purple, vertical
bands called clavi reaching from the shoulders
to the hem (Figure 2). This has led some writers to
assume that the tunica and toga were the vestments
worn by priests, but in all probability only the
former one was employed, because the toga would
have been too unwieldy for the celebrant during
the mass.
By the fourth century a definite distinction is
made between the toga worn by Christ and his
apostles and the chlamys of current usage employed
for others (Figure 3). A rare instance when any
differentiation was made between secular and clerical
garb occurs at the very end of the fourth century
in the mosaics that decorate the dome of the church
of St. George at Salonika. There a series of orant
saints, with arms upraised--some are laymen,
others clerics--stand in front of arcades. The lay
saints wear the embroidered tunica alba with a narrow
girdle under the chlamys (Figure 4). The clerics
wear the plain tunica alba under a paenula, or
sleeveless, semicircular cloak of a dark color closed
down the front and draped up over the arms (Figure
5).
What may be said of vestments in this early period
is, then, quite uncertain. The evidence points
to the existence of special garments, a long tunic
to be worn while saying mass and a cloak. We do
not know, however, whether the latter was worn as
a vestment or only as a covering against the cold.
In all probability, usage and types varied widely
throughout the empire. The standardization of
church vestments that took place in the ensuing
period was due in no small measure to the general
organization of the clergy and its functions that resulted
from the undisputed authority over all other
bishops granted to the pope by the imperial edict
De Fede Catholica of Theodocius in 380. By this
time, Christianity had evolved into the official religion
of the Roman Empire, and the primacy of
Rome over the Bishop of Constantinople was confirmed
in the second imperial edict, issued in 381.
Papal decrees were thereafter absolute as means of
standardizing religious practice.
3. The Trial of Christ. Early Christian, second
half of the IV century. Lid of an ivory casket,
91/2 x 127/8 inches. Museo Civico, Brescia.
Photograph: Hirmer Fotoarchiv, Munich
4, 5. St. Onesiporos and St. Porphyros.
Byzantine, about 400. Mosaics. Church of
St. George, Salonika. Photographs:
Hirmer Fotoarchiv, Munich