Eastern Rite - Epitaphios

Today is the Feast of St. Anastasia, Venerable Martyr from Rome, who is said to have been a nun of the community presided over by St. Sophia. She was brought before Probus during the persecution of Valerian, Emperor, and undergoing the most frightful tortures and outrages was beheaded A.D. 253.

It is also the Feast of Ss Abram, Hermit of Edessa and Mary, his niece, who died about A.D. 360.

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The epitaphios icon depicts Christ after he has been removed from the cross, lying supine, as his body is being prepared for burial. The scene is taken from the Gospel of St. John 19:38-42. Shown around him, and mourning his death, may be his mother (the Theotokos); John the beloved disciple; Joseph of Arimathea; and Mary Magdalene, as well as angels. Nicodemus and others may also be depicted. Sometimes, the body of Christ appears alone, except for angels, as if lying in state. The oldest surviving embroidered icon, of about 1200 (Venice) is in this form. The equivalent subjects in the West are called the "Anointing of Christ's body", or Lamentation (with a group present), or the Pietà, with just Christ held by Mary.

Usually, the troparion of the day is embroidered around the edges of the icon:

The Noble Joseph, taking Thy most pure body down from the Tree and having wrapped it in pure linen and spices, laid it in a new tomb.

In the Late Byzantine period, it was commonly painted below a Christ Pantocrator on the apse of the prothesis of churches, illustrating a liturgical hymn which celebrated Christ "On the throne above and in the tomb below". The icon, in particular a panel mosaic version taken to Rome, probably in the 12th century, developed in the West into the Man of Sorrows subject, which was enormously popular in the Late Middle Ages, though this shows a live Christ, normally with eyes open.

An Epitaphios of the Theotokos also exists. This too is a richly embroidered cloth icon, but depicting instead the body of the Theotokos lying in state. This is used on the feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos on 15 August, known in the West as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Epitaphios of the Theotokos is used with corresponding hymns of lamentation, placed on a bier, and carried in procession in the same way as the Epitaphios of Christ, although it is never placed on the Holy Table.

The Rite of the "Burial of the Theotokos" began in Jerusalem, and from there it was carried to Russia, where it was used in the Uspensky (Dormition) cathedral in Moscow. Its use has slowly spread in the Russian Church, though it is not by any means a standard service in all parishes, or even most cathedrals or monasteries. In Jerusalem, the service is chanted during the All-Night Vigil of the Dormition. In some Russian churches and monasteries, it is served on the third day after Dormition.