Church Heraldry



I have a fetish for heraldry - most recently for religious heraldry. It's sort of a niche interest, but also a very enjoyable, if complicated one. More than that the heraldry of the West differs from the East in a few ways. I'm going to throw away a lot of the confusing terminology as explaining sable vs. black or the crest vs. the shield. Go to the American College of Heraldry for excellent explanations and all things armorial.

Fr. Guy Selvester has a website listing some of his renderings for religious personages, churches, and groups as well as some papal arms from recent history. He also contributes to Shouts in the Piazza, which covers similar topics along with current events.

Ecclesiastic heraldry has existed for quite a while. It first was assigned to the individual, but eventually extended to places (abbeys, monasteries, etc.) as well as organizations. Heraldry used for religious and non-religious follow the same standards of color use, seal shape, and decoration but the general "look" will - unsurprisingly I think - differ between the two.

The first thing most will notice is the hat. Many times the hat will be wide-brimmed with tassels. The number of tassels matters (surprise). The color is also important (red for cardinals, green for high ranking clergy like patriarchs and archbishops, black for priests) and very convoluted. The next is usually the crosier, which is shaped like a crook in the West and as a tau in the East. Lastly, the motto. In the U.S. it is usually in either English or Latin. I have seen a few in Greek.

It should also be noted that the seal of a bishop really should be related to his jurisdiction and not to him personally. There are lots of reasons that this doesn't happen, but I thought it worthy of note.

The aforementioned American heraldry organization also has a lengthy article on the regulations governing Orthodox use. See here.



This is Fr. Peter's, pastor of St. Michael's Orthodox Church of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese. His blog "Monasticism" is here.

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