Antimins

{{Short description|Altar covering in Eastern Christianity}}

{{No footnotes|date=July 2020}}

{{Eucharist}}The antimins (from the Greek {{lang|grc|Ἀντιμήνσιον}}, Antimension: "instead of the table"), is one of the most important furnishings of the altar in many Eastern Christian liturgical traditions. It is a rectangular piece of cloth of either linen or silk, typically decorated with representations of the Descent of Christ from the Cross, the Four Evangelists, and inscriptions related to the Passion. A small relic of a martyr is sewn into it. In the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, the altar stone serves a similar function.