Word origins

• stigmaAn indication of infamy or disgrace.
• KyraA female given name of modern usage.
• isonAccompanying drone in Byzantine music.
• zeonthe hot water added to the chalice by the priest during the Byzantine Eucharist to commemorate the water that flowed from the crucified Christ's side when pierced by the spear
• PrevezaA city in Epirus, Greece.
• MethodiusA male given name, notably of the Byzantine Christian theologian and missionary.
• DmytroA transliteration of the Ukrainian male given name Дмитро (Dmytro)
• kontakionA form of hymn or poem recited as a dialogue between a chanter and the choir.
• iconostasisA wall of icons between the sanctuary and the nave in an Eastern Orthodox church.
• acheiropoietonA religion icon (chiefly of Christ or the Virgin Mary) believed not to have been created by human hands; a miraculous image.
• Agios TheologosFormer name of Selçuk: a town in İzmir Province, Turkey, near the ruins of ancient Ephesus.
• angonA type of javelin with a barbed tip, used by the Franks and the various Germanic tribes in the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages.
• antidoronA piece of ordinary leavened bread, taken from remnants of loaves used for the Eucharist, which has been blessed but not consecrated; distributed in churches that use the Byzantine Rite.
• ArvaniteA member of a population group in Greece who traditionally speak Arvanitika, a dialect of Albanian, and who settled in Greece during the late Middle Ages.
• Asparukhthe name of а ruler of Bulgars in the second half of the 7th century AD
• automelonA composition used in Orthodox Christianity to create other hymns, following its melody and rhythm.
• bambakionA type of padded under-garment, worn under armour, especially by Byzantine troops.
• ByzantiacSynonym of Byzantine.
• catepanThe governor of a catepanate such as the Catepanate of Italy, a Byzantine province.
• ctenidiumA respiratory system, in the form of a comb, in some molluscs
• epimanikionA cuff worn over the sticharion by clergy in the Greek Orthodox Church, corresponding to a maniple in other Catholic churches.
• episemonAn insignia or some other distinguishing symbol.
• epitrachelionThe liturgical vestment worn by priests and bishops of the Eastern Orthodox Church as the symbol of their priesthood, corresponding to the Western stole.
• eschatocolThe final section of a document, often involving a formulaic close (e.g. “Yours faithfully”), the date and location of writing, and information on the document's originators e.g. author, counter-signer, witnesses present, etc.
• gammadionA fylfot or swastika.
• Great LentIn Eastern Christianity, the period of fasting before Pascha.
• hieromonkA monk of the Eastern Church who is also a priest.
• horologionA liturgical book containing the daily offices of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches.
• hyperpyronA Byzantine coin in use during the late Middle Ages, replacing the solidus as the Byzantine Empire’s gold coinage.
• kathismaA division of the psalter, used by Eastern Orthodox Christians and Eastern Catholics who follow the Byzantine Rite.
• mandylionoften Mandylion: the Image of Edessa, a holy relic consisting of a piece of cloth upon which an image of the face of Jesus Christ had been miraculously imprinted without human intervention (that is, an acheiropoieton); an artistic depiction of this relic.
• megadukeThe commander-in-chief of the Byzantine navy.
• menologemA stylized date used for certain documents of the Byzantine Empire.
• menologionSynonym of menologium, particularly in Greek, Byzantine, and Eastern Orthodox contexts.
• miaphysiteOf or pertaining to Miaphysitism; maintaining that Christ has a single, though composite, nature.
• MiaphysitismA Christological formula, upheld by the Oriental Orthodox Church, holding that divinity and humanity are united in a single nature in Christ.
• MonotheleteSomeone who believed Christ had two natures (human and divine), but one single will; a Monothelite.
• myroblyteA saint whose relics or place of burial are said to have produced the Oil of Saints ("an aromatic liquid with healing properties" or "holy water (very much like myrrh)") or the odour of sanctity.
• omophorionA band of brocade originally of wool decorated with crosses and worn on the neck and around the shoulders as the distinguishing vestment of a bishop and the symbol of his spiritual and ecclesiastical authority in the Eastern Christian liturgical tradition, equivalent to the Western archepiscopal pallium.
• PaulicianA follower of Paulicianism.
• phago-Eating, feeding, consuming.
• PlethonGeorgios Gemistos Plethon (c. 1355–1453), a Byzantine Greek philosopher.
• rantistirionA ritual sprinkler used in some Christian rites.
• RhomaeanSynonym of Rhomaian; of or pertaining to the Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) empire.
• sakkosA richly decorated vestment worn by Orthodox bishops, instead of a priest's phelonion (chasuble in western church).
• sebastokratorA person holding a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire and nearby states, generally restricted to members of the imperial family.
• stauropegialOf or pertaining to a stauropegion.
• stauropegionIn Eastern Orthodoxy, the placement of a cross by a bishop which symbolises his approval of the construction of a church or monastery on the site the cross is placed.
• syncliteA specially summoned council or assembly of elders in classical Greece.
• TrullanRelating to the Quinisext Council held in 692 in the dome-roofed hall in the imperial palace at Constantinople.
• turcopoleA mounted archer locally recruited by the Christian states during the Crusades.
• tzetzesA surname from Medieval Greek — famously held by
• VarangianA member of the ethnically Scandinavian people around the borders of Constantinople in the ninth and tenth centuries.
• vraka(A pair of) baggy breeches worn in the Balkans, the Greek islands (especially Crete) and in Cyprus chiefly by men but also by women
• ZonarasA surname from Medieval Greek — famously held by