If you've ever spent much time looking at icons within the Byzantine tradition, you will have no doubt noticed the distinctive sacred vestments that can often be seen within many of them. These come in various forms, but all of them involve a series of repeating Greek crosses, most frequently seen in combinations of black/white and red/white.
This particular vestment design is not just the stuff of iconography however, it's use also seen in modern times within the Byzantine East, as for example in this photographic image showing John Paul II with Cardinal Archbishop Josef Slipyj.
This particular design has a name; it is is called the polystavrion ("many crosses") and its origins are traced back at least as far as the eleventh century where it is seen in iconographic depictions of the Fathers of the Church.
In point of fact, this particular many-crossed design was originally limited to the four Eastern patriarchs and later expanded to include other major archbishops and finally to all bishops of the East. In other words, it was not merely an arbitrary 'fashion choice' but was fundamentally tied to the most senior ecclesiastical office -- with its use even being forbidden to lesser prelates.
Traditionally the polystavrion was always exclusively found in black and white though it would eventually expand into other colours, red seems to have in particular been common.
The following are some further examples of its (now much expanded) use within contemporary liturgical times in the Christian East.
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