This Page Last Updated October 6th, 2009 (new style reckoning)
A Pall is a Krest Flag
For the introduction see the
Contact web page about the Pall.
The importance of the Pall goes further than I can say on my web site. But here are a few more points worth expressing.
A pall should be a Krest flag. Krest is a Russian word that means “cross.” The Krest is a very significant point to Old Believers, this is why the Old Faith flag carries with it so much meaning. The Nikonites corrupted and gave up on the Old Flag for a new and contrary one that does not apply to Russia at all. A good place to start explaining the differences is the early Christian account of the Holy Apostle Andrew, as he preached and erected an eight ended cross on a high place of the Dnieper River. He gave a bright prophecy of how Russia, from the very land along the Danube (modern day Ukraine) would spring a great Christian Empire that would carry the 8 ended cross.
The tilted lower crossbeam of Andrew’s eight end cross notifies us that we all have two choices; to follow Christ and go upward, or to disobey and go downward. The longer middle crossbeam shows that this act of Christ spans everything we might have done, everything under the Sun and Moon. The top bar tells us that Christ is truly the King of all Glory. These three bars along with the stake that stands from Heaven and is driven into the earth where Adam lay buried again offers to us of the eternal 8 ended cross that is ours to bear, if we are willing to accept its great message. This is what it is all about and we should miss none of what is available to us.
Some people say the Apostle was only on the side of the Black Sea that is towards Russia. The important idea is that the eight ended Andrew Cross more completely expresses the Gospel message and therefore carries a significance that other forms of the cross, like the 4 ended types, do not. This account claims a direct visit from the famously first called Holy Apostle Andrew, and by that offers a way to disregard the theological leanings of New-Rite Greek orthodoxy and their disagreements which finally manifested themselves. Below is a miniature of an Old Slavonic illuminated page from the manuscript titled The Radzivill Chronicle that tells of this story. The manuscript has more than six hundred color illustrations and is a fifteenth century copy of a thirteenth century older edition. After the Apostle Andrew performed this important act he then, later, went on to Constantinople.
One pall with a cross is the Aer (an item that might be chosen to be waved over the Holy Gifts). The Old Faith Slavonic cross, the eight end cross, is the best suited. The picture below reveals a 17th century Serbian pall with the corrupted Greek 4 end cross. The Serbians are Slavic (Russian speaking) people, so they should have never placed a 4 end cross on their linen.
The photo below is image 60 from the Pomorsky Answers as seen on this site. It shows us the exact differences between the New-Rite and Old-Rite seals for ‘prosphora’ (a greek word meaning ‘offering’ and it relates to the bread used in Holy Communion). The rule is that a prominent cross should always have 8 ends.
On the PDF page 200 of the Ustav on this site also describes and shows for us the necessity for the 8 end cross (photo below) with the heavenly Jerusalem in the background.
The Antimins (Slavonic) or Antimesion (Greek) which means “instead of the table” is a cloth placed over an altar, that has the cross prominently in its center. In the photo below, at the bottom of the glass case, is a Russian Old Rite Antimins with the distinct 8 end cross and its surrounding representations pertaining to the cross of Christ and then His entombment. Everything in a pall represents all our sins and that Christ, for our sake, died. A pall also represents that He then, triumphantly, overcame it all. So the cross with eight ends is all glorious and should always be shown as fully as this is. The four ended cross as a primary example is innovation, but it can be a secondary represetnation so long as the foremost cross is the cross of the Apostle Andrew.
Below is the same item known as the Krest, the Orthodox Cross. This one I found on page 144 of “in the shadow of Antichrist.” You might take notice of the absence of the bones, the New-Rite puts bones by the skull. It is a significant point of difference. The New-Rite has both erroneous additions, as well as subtractions.
In the book, Archpriest Avvakum, The LIFE, written by himself, (In which the modern translator gives unsubstantiated and derogatory comments about the Old Believers) there is a good example of a Krest drawn by the Old Believer Slovoki hermit, the Elder Epiphany, who had his tongue cut out twice [sic] and four of his fingers cut off by the accursed Nikonites. All the important items of depictions are seen in this Krest, the Holy Cross. It’s a nice reminder that the description of the abbreviated letters partiailly means “Golgotha was Paradise.”
Finally, there is this last photo. It is a rather modern drawing of an Old Believer “Theodosian” standing on a Masonic style floor and Adams skull has the innovation of the bones. So there are some inaccuracies in this modern version. This is important because it shows for us other various ways a Pall Krest is used. We see here an Old Russian Krest as a curtain over the window in order to keep the room of prayer more solemn and without distractions from outside. The Pall has the proper markings except for the bones. There is another Krest surrounding the book/icon stand, which is easy noticed as well. These are common Old Faith practices of the Krest flag. It is from page 44 of the book, Old Believers: Religious Dissent and Gender in Russia.
One more good example of a
Holy Cross banner is this post.