Vestment prices

[ilyazhito]

Fathers, any new deacons and priests, do you know what reasonable prices for vestments are?
How much would deacon's vestments cost?
How much would anteri/exorassa cost?
How much would priests vestments cost?

[username!]

How much?
A lot. There is no way around it unless you have someone that donates them to you.  The cassock material isn't too expensive.  However the vestment materials are extremely expensive since they should be made with super high quality material.  Most vestments last for a very long time with proper care. 
You don't need to have all the colours of the vestments at first.  Black would be nice to have but it's only for Great Friday.  Red, while a great colour isn't always a greatly used one and can be substituted with white.
So I'd get
gold
white
purple
then
green
followed by
blue
then red

[username!]

Many clergy from Readers, subdeacons, deacons and priests don't have all the colours of vestments.  Some of the bishops I know don't start out their episcopacy with all the colours either, one I knew used the previous bishop's mantilla.  I knew another bishop who used his predecessor's mitre and vestments for a long while until he got his own. 
There are great vestment makers both here in North America and in Europe that we can all point you towards.  I have an acquaintance who makes great vestments if you are serious I can see if I can arrange for you two to communicate.

[mildert]

Vestment colours depend where you serve. For example some Churches use black for all week day services in the Great Fast. 
In my Church we tend to use Red for the fast periods, so Gold and Red are the most popular colours followed by White.  I would suggest first to discuss with your Priest before you make any purchases, otherwise you may buy an expensive vestment that you only wear once or twice a year.

In XC,

Deacon Philip

How much?
A lot. There is no way around it unless you have someone that donates them to you.  The cassock material isn't too expensive.  However the vestment materials are extremely expensive since they should be made with super high quality material.  Most vestments last for a very long time with proper care. 
You don't need to have all the colours of the vestments at first.  Black would be nice to have but it's only for Great Friday.  Red, while a great colour isn't always a greatly used one and can be substituted with white.
So I'd get
gold
white
purple
then
green
followed by
blue
then red

[SubdeaconDavid]

Many clergy from Readers, subdeacons, deacons and priests don't have all the colours of vestments.  Some of the bishops I know don't start out their episcopacy with all the colours either, one I knew used the previous bishop's mantilla.  I knew another bishop who used his predecessor's mitre and vestments for a long while until he got his own. 
There are great vestment makers both here in North America and in Europe that we can all point you towards.  I have an acquaintance who makes great vestments if you are serious I can see if I can arrange for you two to communicate.

I'd be interested to know who you recommend for Russian style vestments and who ship overseas.

[Michał]

There are great vestment makers both here in North America and in Europe that we can all point you towards.

http://monasterymadevestments.blogspot.com - Eastern and Western rite vestments in reasonable prices made by an Orthodox Christian (currently, he is preparing a set of WR vestments for Bishop Jerome of Manhatan).

[mildert]

Many clergy from Readers, subdeacons, deacons and priests don't have all the colours of vestments.  Some of the bishops I know don't start out their episcopacy with all the colours either, one I knew used the previous bishop's mantilla.  I knew another bishop who used his predecessor's mitre and vestments for a long while until he got his own. 
There are great vestment makers both here in North America and in Europe that we can all point you towards.  I have an acquaintance who makes great vestments if you are serious I can see if I can arrange for you two to communicate.

I'd be interested to know who you recommend for Russian style vestments and who ship overseas.

I would also be interested in who you would recommend - although living in Europe, overseas has a different destination...

In XC,

Deacon Philip

[Iconodule]

Our parish priest is pretty new and so far he only has white and purple.

[ilyazhito]

What would I need for Russian practice vs. Greek (antiochian/GOA/ACROD) practice

[arimethea]

What would I need for Russian practice vs. Greek (antiochian/GOA/ACROD) practice

You would need to go to seminary first and, then be of an acceptable age for ordination before you start concerning yourself with what kind of vestments you need.

[Michał]

What would I need for Russian practice vs. Greek (antiochian/GOA/ACROD) practice

I guess that the ACROD, although under the EP, is closer in practice to Russians then to Greeks.

[ilyazhito]

What would I need for Russian practice vs. Greek (antiochian/GOA/ACROD) practice

You would need to go to seminary first and, then be of an acceptable age for ordination before you start concerning yourself with what kind of vestments you need.

I understand, arimethea. I'm just interested to know what options there are.

[mildert]

What would I need for Russian practice vs. Greek (antiochian/GOA/ACROD) practice

You would need to go to seminary first and, then be of an acceptable age for ordination before you start concerning yourself with what kind of vestments you need.

I understand, arimethea. I'm just interested to know what options there are.

There are many different colours of vestments, and there is a huge range in the cost of them.  What is appropriate depends on the Church itself - how often there are services, size of the building, etc, etc. 

Often a Deacon or Priest will start with 1 or 2 cassocks, 1 riassa, and a light (gold) and a dark (red or purple) set of vestments.  Over time this may increase.

In XC,

Deacon Philip

[Fr. George]

Vestment colours depend where you serve. For example some Churches use black for all week day services in the Great Fast. 
In my Church we tend to use Red for the fast periods, so Gold and Red are the most popular colours followed by White.  I would suggest first to discuss with your Priest before you make any purchases, otherwise you may buy an expensive vestment that you only wear once or twice a year.

And, of course, it depends on liturgical traditions too.  Black vestments are foreign to the Greek tradition, for example - even though we insist on wearing black cassocks and the like, there are a number of Greek clergy and hierarchs who have commented that black is a completely inappropriate color for vestments, and I've seen in a few rubric-oriented books that Greek clergy should never own or wear black vestments.

What would I need for Russian practice vs. Greek (antiochian/GOA/ACROD) practice

You would need to go to seminary first and, then be of an acceptable age for ordination before you start concerning yourself with what kind of vestments you need. 

I understand, arimethea. I'm just interested to know what options there are.

Besides the point of, "Make sure you need them before you think of them," there is also a thought that your preparation time would be better spent on other pursuits - studying liturgics, patristics, building your spiritual life, etc.  We're not implying that you haven't done it, but we're just reinforcing that vestment selection and price are at the bottom of the "I should worry about this before ordination" list.

[ilyazhito]

Ok. Fr. George, I understand. In school, there is a belief that if one is to ask a question, the answer would work for others who ask the same question. I didn't know if such a topic existed, so I wanted to make it. This would allow 25- year old young men who are closer to ordination than me to get info.

[Margaret S.]

There are great vestment makers both here in North America and in Europe that we can all point you towards.

http://monasterymadevestments.blogspot.com - Eastern and Western rite vestments in reasonable prices made by an Orthodox Christian (currently, he is preparing a set of WR vestments for Bishop Jerome of Manhatan).

Speaking as someone who has made a few sets of vestments in her time I can say that the vestments he's making for Bp Jerome are absolutely beautiful as is the rest of his work. He's also very motivated and conscientious and goes to great lengths to find what he thinks is the perfect fabric.

Sr Margaret

[Tikhon.of.Colorado]

vestments are quite expensive.  the priest at my Church has about 5 different colors.  they can't afford  new vestments for s lowly altar servers, so we are all wearing green year-round.  and mine is torn up the side, and I'm in the process of mending it. 

[ilyazhito]

Whoa, this is rough. Do they have vestment-makers of their own?

[akimori makoto]

vestments are quite expensive.  the priest at my Church has about 5 different colors.  they can't afford  new vestments for s lowly altar servers, so we are all wearing green year-round.  and mine is torn up the side, and I'm in the process of mending it.

Green is my least-favourite vestment colour. It appears to clash with everything.

I'd ask your priest if you could go with white or gold next time! (but that's just me).

[Tikhon.of.Colorado]

vestments are quite expensive.  the priest at my Church has about 5 different colors.  they can't afford  new vestments for s lowly altar servers, so we are all wearing green year-round.  and mine is torn up the side, and I'm in the process of mending it.

Green is my least-favourite vestment colour. It appears to clash with everything.

I'd ask your priest if you could go with white or gold next time! (but that's just me).

believe me, mine too!  we look like Orthodox leprichauns.  and our poor reader/altar server has to wear part of the vestment from when we had a deacon.  he removed the strip of fabric, and just wears the gold vestment part.  God, help us!

[podkarpatska]

vestments are quite expensive.  the priest at my Church has about 5 different colors.  they can't afford  new vestments for s lowly altar servers, so we are all wearing green year-round.  and mine is torn up the side, and I'm in the process of mending it.

Green is my least-favourite vestment colour. It appears to clash with everything.

I'd ask your priest if you could go with white or gold next time! (but that's just me).

believe me, mine too!  we look like Orthodox leprichauns.  and our poor reader/altar server has to wear part of the vestment from when we had a deacon.  he removed the strip of fabric, and just wears the gold vestment part.  God, help us!

Don't feel bad, I am in a large parish, always with about twenty altar servers who share in the duties, but all participate in the big events. We only have white with gold trim for them, but I agree with you about green.

By the way, I can't get the image of Orthodox leprechauns out of my head. Thanks a lot! lol

[Shlomlokh]

vestments are quite expensive.  the priest at my Church has about 5 different colors.  they can't afford  new vestments for s lowly altar servers, so we are all wearing green year-round.  and mine is torn up the side, and I'm in the process of mending it.

Green is my least-favourite vestment colour. It appears to clash with everything.

I'd ask your priest if you could go with white or gold next time! (but that's just me).

believe me, mine too!  we look like Orthodox leprichauns.  and our poor reader/altar server has to wear part of the vestment from when we had a deacon.  he removed the strip of fabric, and just wears the gold vestment part.  God, help us!

I wear a green sticharion and I like it. If I had red hair, I probably could pass as a leprechaun. 

In Christ,
Andrew

[arimethea]

Since the vestment maker I use does not use the internet and does business only in person, I thought I would share with you a vestment maker whose vestments I have been very impressed with. I have seen their work close up and it is excellent. Take a look at http://www.riza.rs/riza_engine.swf they look even better close up.

[Shlomlokh]

Since the vestment maker I use does not use the internet and does business only in person, I thought I would share with you a vestment maker whose vestments I have been very impressed with. I have seen their work close up and it is excellent. Take a look at http://www.riza.rs/riza_engine.swf they look even better close up.

Absolutely beautiful! I'm sure it would cost a pretty penny, but it would no doubt be worth it. Thank you for sharing.

In Christ,
Andrew

[mildert]

vestments are quite expensive.  the priest at my Church has about 5 different colors.  they can't afford  new vestments for s lowly altar servers, so we are all wearing green year-round.  and mine is torn up the side, and I'm in the process of mending it.

Green is my least-favourite vestment colour. It appears to clash with everything.

I'd ask your priest if you could go with white or gold next time! (but that's just me).

believe me, mine too!  we look like Orthodox leprichauns.  and our poor reader/altar server has to wear part of the vestment from when we had a deacon.  he removed the strip of fabric, and just wears the gold vestment part.  God, help us!

I wear a green sticharion and I like it. If I had red hair, I probably could pass as a leprechaun. 

In Christ,
Andrew

I used to serve for a priest who loved green, so one year we used it all the way from Pentecost through to the Nativity fast. 

In XC,

Deacon Philip

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