Kalymauchion
JOHN A. MCGUCKIN
The headgear of clergy in the Orthodox Church. In Greece the priests and deacons wear a stiff cylindrical hat with a small top brim (colloquially a “stovepipe”). In Romania the kalymauchion is soft and cylindrical with no brim and is shorter than the Greek version. In Russia the priests and deacons wear a taller, stiff felt version which has a slight tapering outwards, and can come in various colors denoting the rank of the wearer. Monks,
whether clergy or not, wear the small cylindrical hat (also known as the skoupho). For church services or when in choir dress they also wear the stiff skoupho with a veil (koukoulion, cowl or hood) attached to the back and sides. In Greek tradition the veil is detachable (in Russian practice it is fixed permanently, the whole being known as the klobuk). Russian nuns also wear the klobuk, but most other Orthodox nuns wear a head covering in the form of a tightly wrapped black scarf, with Romanian nuns also wearing the skoupho with this.
Plate 39 Orthodox monk wearing the kamilavki (hat) sounding the monastic tantalon (bell for service) with the semandron (wooden hammer beam) in the corner. Marc Dozier/Hemis/Corbis