Asterisk

THOMAS KITSON

The asterisk (or “star”) consists of two crossed metal brackets joined so as to fold together and which are laid over the prepared Lamb on the diskos (paten) in the Proskomedie to keep the cloth veils from touching it and the other particles of bread. St. John Chrysostom is said to have introduced it, and it symbolically represents Christ’s two natures and the cross. The earliest recorded evidence for its use is from Kiev in the 11th century. The priest completes the Proskomedie, characterized by nativity symbolism, by placing the asterisk on the diskos while reciting verses that recall the star of Bethlehem (Mt. 2.9). During the Holy Anaphora, the asterisk symbolizes the heavenly powers (especially the four mysterious beasts surrounding God’s throne in Revelation 4.6–9), whose “tri­umphal hymn” the priest introduces as he makes the sign of the cross over the diskos (often tapping it loudly as he does so) with the asterisk’s four ends.