Pyles, Introduction

The pyle is the curtain which fills the gap above the low double doors of the central entrance of the sanctuary. Today, this curtain has on it depictions of Christ as the Great High Priest, or the Lamb standing in a chalice. Older pyles showed the Theotokos, or Christ in the type of the ‘Angel of Great Counsel’, or often the patron saint of the church. Here the size of the pyle shows that it was intended to cover some other opening in the church.