Description
The Epitrachelion
Loom-woven, with characteristic horizontal green and rose-red bands, it bears visible traces of long use: wear, thinning of the weave, and hand repairs. Its materials (a cotton or linen ground with silk or cotton threads) attest to local textile production in 18th–19th-century Anatolia. In the lower area, remnants of goldwork embroidery—likely vegetal motifs—are visible, pointing to liturgical use and the everyday wear of ministry.
The Priest’s Cross
The small metal cross, probably brass, with simple casting and relief decoration, follows the typical morphological features of blessing crosses of the late Ottoman period. Wear and light oxidation indicate intensive use and age.
The Liturgical Books
Father Charalambos’s books, printed in centres of the Greek diaspora such as Venice, bear the marks of time: handmade paper with watermarks, cloth or leather spine reinforcements, linen-thread stitching, uneven cuts, stains, tears, and repairs that attest to years of use in a priest’s hands.
Their physical condition is a living testimony to the history of liturgical books in the Ottoman Empire, prior to the industrialisation of printing and the mass production of paper.
The objects were kindly made available for photography by Maria Kartelia–Markoglou, Maria’s great-great-granddaughter.
