DEFINITION

Melismos (Holy Liturgy): Representation of Christ depicted as a naked baby on the altar. This iconographic type symbolizes realistically the transubstantiation of bread into Body and of wine into Blood. We come across it in Byzantine monuments from the end of the 12th century onwards. It is the representation of a specific moment of the Holy Liturgy during which the priest makes the “melismos” of the Bread, while chanting the relevant hymn.