All Those Funny Hats

A Modern Western Style Zuchetto

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West)

The Zuchetto, Italian for “little zucchini cap” is a ubiquitous part of the Western High Church tradition, worn by Catholics, Anglicans, and some Oriental Orthodox Churches, where the theological explanation varies from signifying a connection with the rituals and habits of Rome, to representing the Seven Virtues of the Holy Scriptures. Roman Zuchettos are normally made of eight pieces of cloth stitched together, the Syriac use seven, and the Anglicans normally use six. The divergence shows how there was no real standard of construction for these hats until the last few centuries. 

Greek Catholic Patriarch

Greek Bishop Wearing a Zuchetto 

Icon of a Greek Martyr Wearing a Western-Style Skull Cap

Eastern Unia Archbishop from the 18th Century 

The Eastern Orthodox bishops also used to wear red zuchetto in the Antiochian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian contexts. One can easily find depictions of them if one looks at pre-1880’s paintings of Orthodox hierarchs. Only recently have they completely fallen out of favor because of swelling fear that looking Latinized in any way will lead to an accusations of ecumenism. 

The use of a violet or purple zuchetto in the Anglican context is standard for bishops in the Anglocatholic tradition, since the ascension of the Ritualists to power around the turn of the last century, speaking to their view of the episcopacy. 

A Contrast Between the Anglican Episcopal Skull Cap (Left) and a Roman Zuchetto (Right)

I wear a zuchetto, not just because it is a traditional part of Western vestments, but because of its historical tie to the Jewish yarmulke/kippa, which shows our continuity with ancient temple worship. 

The Kippah is a Sign of the Jewish People's Covenantal Relationship with God

The Muslims Also Wear a Taqiyah, a Cap Worn Five Times a Day for Prayer, Symbolizing the Relationship the Muslims Believe They Have with God

In the Old Testament, those serving in the temple were commanded to cover their heads with special priestly headdresses, and the Rabbinic tradition extended this obligation to all Hebrew males, in order to signify their submission to God and His constant presence in their lives. Later Jewish midrash would equate the kippa with the Aramaic words, “Yari Malik”, to “Fear the King”, and thus, the “Yarmulke” was seen as a symbol of one’s fear of God. It developed throughout the Middle Ages, and, strangely enough, it was seen to be unlike the hats that priests wore, and so the broad brimmed hat of the Hebrews and the pointy Greek “Pilos” hat that Christian clerics wore both evolved into a small black skull cap that is almost exactly the same size. The Eastern Miter and the ancient Celtic Miter (which was a red turban set on a golden crown), followed this Old Covenant prototype. 

Ancient Celtic Miter was a Cloth Cap Sown into a Crown

St. Nicholas with an Ancient Western Episcopal Crown

The Low Cloth Cap Miter Sown into a Golden Crown

Cloth Cap Miter

Conical Ancient Miter

Both Conical and Later Roman Style Miter

The current Eastern monastic headdress, the klobuk, consists of the ancient monastic veil that all the ancient churches hold in common (such as the cowl of the Benedictines, the veils of the Armenians, the Great Schema, and the star-covered “eskimo” caps of the Syriacs) over top of the Turkish caps that all subjugated Christian peoples had to wear under Islamic law to set them apart (the kalimavkion or “stovepipe hat”). I find it ironic that many of our Orthodox brethren now associate a mark of Turkish captivity with a sign of true Orthodoxy. 

The "Eskimo" or "Eschema" Monastic Cap in the Oldest Christian Monastic Headress, Still Worn by the Syriac Orthodox, the Church of the East and the Copts. It Later Developed into the Great Schema Used in Slavic Orthodoxy. 

Great Schema Monks in the Slavic Tradition

Malankara Syriac Orthodox Bishop Wearing His Episcopal Miter Over the "Eskimo"

Armenian Monks Wearing the Monastic Veil without the Stovepipe Kalimavkion that the Greeks Developed from the Turkish Fez

A Typical Slavic Klobuk, Consisting of a Monastic Veil Worn Over a Very High Turkish Fez

Color Variants of the Klobuk Used to Designate Hierarchy 

A Red Klobuk, Signifying an Archiepiscopal Role

Purple is also Occasionally Used

 

The Oldest White Klobuk, Called a Koukoulion, Signifying the Russian Patriarch

St. Tikhon of Moscow in an Updated Version of the Koukoulion

The Patriarch of Georgia Also Wears a Koukoulion, but in Black

While men are instructed to remove them for prayer, and Christianity maintains a bare head as a symbol of a man's submission to God, women are instructed to veil during worship and prayer as a symbol of their submission to their husbands, and "because of the angels", which refers to ancient stories in the Book of Genesis and Tobit, when demons lusted after women's hair, shining in God's glory during prayer. Christian monasticism changed some of the biblical practices of covering one's head, especially in the case of veils that are not removed for prayer, as a way to signify death and constant submission to ecclesial authority. 

The Western Monastic Habit Developed from the Monastic Veil, Become a Hood, Cowl and Scapular

From the Scapular, which the Great Schema in the East Also Shares, Developed Monastic Habits 

A Modern Monastic Habit, Showing the Separate Pieces of Hood with Attached Cowl, Over a Scapular, which is Belted over a Robe in Front and Back

Whether or not this is a theologically admissible innovation to constantly veil a man's head has never been completely discussed between the East and the West, with the West choosing to err on the side of a conservative reading of Scripture, even shaving the heads of monastics to further imitate St. Paul's admonition to pray with a head uncovered. Only recently have Western monks stopped tonsuring themselves in this way, and Western Orthodoxy must insist that this ancient and venerable custom is a far more Patristic practice than the custom of veiling oneself in a schema. 

The most interesting of all the different forms of ecclesial headgear in the Church are the Miters that developed in the East and West. The contemporary Western episcopal miter appears only in the 11th century, and is associated with the shape of a fish, calling to mind Christ's command to be "Fishers of Men." The shape also reminded men of the Icthys symbol of Early Christianity and proved that the Bishops were "Under Christ." These miters replaced the earlier papal tiara, which is a three-crowned conical hat, and the low episcopal crowns that we saw above. 

The Conical Cap's Evolution into the Tridentine Miter

The Conical Cap Also became the Papal Tiara

18th Century Triple Crowned Tiara, Representing the Papacy's Theoretical Primacy in Three Realms 

The Eastern miter is called a "Mitra" and is actually the Byzantine Emperor's Crown, which later Muslim conquerors gave to the Patriarch of Constantinople as the head of the Greek Millet, which he ruled as the secular authority and final court of appeals. 

The Oldest Byzantine Crown, Dating Back to the 6th Century

The Icon-Covered Byzantine Crown Naturally Developed into the Iconographic Episcopal Mitra that is Common in Eastern Orthodoxy Today

These Byzantine Crowns had a Red Velvet Insert That is Now Absent

At the Time of the Great Schism, Byzantine Emperors Wore an Eastern Mitra and Sackos, not the Patriarchs or Bishops

Iconography Much Like the Byzantine Imperial Crown Graces Most Mitra Today

An Embroidered Mitra, A Style Still Used Today in the Oriental Ethiopian Orthodox Church

A 17th Century Example of a Historical Eastern Mitra in the Greek Style

A Soft Mitra Similar to the Style Still Used by the Serbian Church

18th Century Cloth Mitra with Pearls and Gold, Made to Look Like the Ancient Gold Crowns

A Modern Eastern Mitra that Incorporates All the Historical Elements of the Byzantine Imperial Crown, Looking Much Like a Historic Medieval Western King's Crown

Ultimately, hats and head-coverings are a reflection of the human cultures that rise up around our contact with the divine, showing great variation from place to place, and imparted with different meanings, depending on their context. The single meaning that unites them is a reflection of the constant presence of God, and His authority and position in our lives.