

After the Creed, the Aër is folded and placed on the Holy Table. When a bishop is serving the Liturgy, the concelebrating priests will hold the Aër during the Creed as the bishop kneels (or bows his head) underneath it. During the Creed, the priest will hold the Aër above the Gifts and waive it slowly, indicating the activity of the Holy Spirit. Just before the chanting of the Symbol of the Faith (Nicene Creed), the Priest will kiss the Diskos and Chalice (by kissing the Aër in the place where it touches each vessel) and the front edge of the Holy Table.
#Aer meaning latin free
If there is no deacon serving, the priest will place the Aër around his own shoulders like a cape, which will leave his hands free to take both the Diskos and the Chalice. For this reason, the Aër will often have ribbons sewn onto it, so it can be tied securely in place. Gold-thread embroidered Aer (13th century)Īt the Great Entrance, when the sacred vessels are brought in procession to the Holy Table (altar), the priest will place the Aër over the deacon's left shoulder before he hands him the Diskos (the priest himself will carry the Chalice). The Aër is first mentioned by name in an explanation of the Divine Liturgy by a writer of the sixth century, and is also alluded to as "the so-called Aër" in the Acts of the Council of Constantinople. It symbolizes the swaddling clothes with which Christ was wrapped at his Nativity, and also the grave clothes in which he was wrapped at his burial (both themes are found in the text of the Liturgy of Preparation). Its original use was to cover the Chalice and prevent anything from falling into it before the consecration. It takes its name either from the lightness of the material of which it is made, or from the fact that during the Nicene Creed in the Divine Liturgy, the priest holds it high in the air and waves it slowly over the Chalice and Diskos.

Tassels may also be sewn at each of the corners. It is often made of the same material and color as the vestments of the officiating priest, and often has a fringe going all the way around its edge. It is rectangular in shape and corresponds to the veil used to cover the chalice and paten in the Latin liturgical rites, but is larger.

the "air" modern Greek: Αέρας Slavonic: Воздýхъ, Vozdúkh) is the largest and outermost of the veils covering the Chalice and Diskos (paten) in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite. Aër covering a Chalice and Diskos on the Prothesis
