Choir dress

Choir dress is the traditional vesture of the clerics, seminarians and religious of Christian churches worn for public prayer and the administration of the sacraments except when celebrating or concelebrating the Eucharist.

It is worn by seminarians, instituted lectors and acolytes, and altar servers and choir members at Mass or other liturgical events.

According to the Institute, The blue stands for our complete dedication to the Blessed Mother and is traditionally the color shown on St. Francis de Sales in most paintings of him," and "The choir dress expresses the strong unity, spiritually, and identity of the Institute and adds solemnity to the liturgy.

Some Russian Metropolitans wear a white inner cassock and a blue outer when formally arriving to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.

In Eastern Orthodoxy and Byzantine Catholicism, monks wear a black cloak, the mandyas over the outer cassock.

All primates and some bishops below primatial rank have the dignity of wearing an enkolpion (icon of Christ), a pectoral cross, and a panagia.

A ruling Igumen (so long as he is inside his own monastery) and a bishop may carry his paterissa (crozier) when he is in church.

There exist color and design variations in each autocephalous Church, but these diagrams give some examples of Eastern Orthodox choir dress vestments: In the Syriac Orthodox Church, married priests wear a black skullcap, or phiro, while monastic priests wear the schema, eskimo.

[3] The surplice was the only vesture permitted to the clergy in the 1552 Prayer Book, except for bishops, who should use a rochet (both wore cassocks as the standard undergarment).

Its legal interpretation was disputed in the nineteenth century;[5] it was claimed that its inclusion in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer commanded the pre-Reformation Eucharistic vestments (chasuble, dalmatic, tunicle, alb, amice, and maniple) that had been in use during the reign of Edward VI.

[4] The use of Eucharistic vestments was discontinued until after the Oxford Movement, in the middle of the nineteenth century, when it was restored in many cathedrals and parish churches.

The cope continued in use for coronations and in certain cathedrals, but this may be considered an extension of "choir dress" and was sanctioned by the canons of 1603/4.

The cassock is worn with a cincture, which may take the form of a cloth sash resembling a fascia, or a simple rope girdle or leather belt.

Though not worn at service time, the Canterbury cap is the traditional headgear of Church of England clergy; some prefer the biretta (see below) or mortar board.

[7] At some periods of history a black gown, either academic or 'Genevan', was worn for Morning and Evening Prayer instead of the surplice, which was reserved for use at the Holy Communion.

Chaplains in the Armed Forces wear tippets with officially sanctioned badges and any medals they have achieved.

At the Eucharist, readers of Scripture may wear street clothing to emphasize the role of the laity, as expressed in recent versions of the Prayer Book.

But, in some parishes readers wear the traditional vestments of the subdeacon at High Mass: alb fastened with a white cincture and a tunicle.