Mantle (monastic vesture)

A mantle (Koinē Greek: μανδύας, romanized: mandyas; Church Slavonic: мантия, romanized: mantiya) is an ecclesiastical garment in the form of a very full cape that extends to the floor, joined at the neck, that is worn over the outer garments. Especially in the case of Elijah, it was likely a tallit, a Hebrew garment that housed the fringes still seen today which are also translated at “the hem of His garment” in the New Testament. It is also likely that further ecclesiastical garments were based originally on this one.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, the mantle is a monastic garment worn by bishops, hegumens, archimandrites, and other monastics in processions and while attending various church services, such as Vespers or Matins; but not when vested to celebrate the Divine Liturgy. Unlike the Western cope, the mantle is worn only by monastics. The klobuk is worn over the mantle.

Christian knights, many of whom take monastic vows, wear a mantle as well, often containing Christian symbols.^[1] Knights of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, for example, wear a white mantle with a Jerusalem cross that represents the Five Holy Wounds of Jesus.^[1]