THE Didim Chapel congregation was delighted this week with the donation of several vestments from designer and Christian artist Yvonne Bell.

Yvonne pledged the vestments as a gift to the St Mary’s parish of Didim’s, and Reverend Maurice Ryan thanked her for them.

A green set has an altar fall with an Orthodox icon of Christ Pantocrator on the front, while the stole has the 15th century Russian icon of the Hospitality of Abraham, which, she said, seemed appropriate as St Mary’s church is welcoming and hospitable. Green is worn for the summer season.

The white set – the altar frontal – for Christmas and Easter, has an icon of The Mother of God of Vladimir which was painted in Byzantium in the 12th Century and taken to Russia. The stole has icons of The Mother of God and Christ Pantocrator.

She added: “I wanted the vestments to echo the history of the church as a Greek Orthodox place of worship, and also the fact that it is called St Mary’s.”

The red set, worn for Palm Sunday, Pentecost and the feasts of martyrs, has a red Celtic cross with flames inside the cross.

Yvonne commented: “My Scottish heritage echoed in the Celtic cross, and the flames of the Holy Spirit within the cross.”

The purple set will appear for Lent and Advent. The artwork is a copy of one of her paintings called Trinity in Blue. The symbols of the Holy Trinity are evident – cross for Christ, dove for the Holy Spirit and the never-ending circle for God the Father.

All the sets are made of dupion silk with the artwork painted on habotai silk with silk dyes.

To see the vestments, you can attend the chapel on a Sunday at 11am. All welcome

The chapel, which is close to Temple of Apollo, is actually located about 3 minutes away to the rear of the Posiedon Restaurant.

St Mary’s is part of the Anglican Diocese of Europe, which stretches from the French coast across the whole of Europe to Turkey.

For more information about Yvonne’s work, view www.vestments.co.uk