Joseph Braun and Walter Alison Phillips

“ The custom of giving the stole to priests and deacons at their ordination is of great antiquity. So far as Spain is concerned there is evidence for it in the decrees of the 4th council of Toledo (633) , and for Rome that of the 8th century Ordo of Mabillon. The present practice — according to which the bishop lays the stole over the left shoulder of the deacon, and crosses it over the breast of the priest — is already found in the pontificals of the 10th century. ”

“ The scarf was narrowed into the black stole, sometimes ornamented with crosses embroidered in the centre behind and at the ends, and this was gradually replaced by coloured stoles, varying according to the church's seasons. The stole, either black or coloured, is now almost universally worn by the Anglican clergy, even where the other " eucharistic vestments" have not been adopted. ”

“ Copt, orarion and patrashil) makes its appearance very early. The stole of the deacons is mentioned so early as the 4th and 5th centuries, the first instance being in the 22nd canon of the council of Laodicea, where it is mentioned specifically as the insignia of a deacon. Of a priestly stole we hear for the first time in the Theoria mystica (8th century) . In the Maronite, Syrian, and Nestorian Churches subdeacons also wear the stole, and among the Maronites the lectors as well. There is very little evidence as to the character of the stole in the ancient Church of the East. ”