He was given a Nabedrennik or “thigh-shield” which is a rectangular vestment worn over the right thigh. This is the first award a priest receives and is usually bestowed by the diocesan bishop after three years of service. It originally evolved from a ceremonial towel that rabbis and pious Jews carried in order to wash and dry their hands and feet before entering the Temple. The early Christians maintained the practice of this towel, but came to equate it as something of a spiritual sword; undoubtedly deriving that imagery from Psalm 45:3 which is also the prayer used while the priest puts on the nabedrennik: “Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Mighty One, in Thy comeliness and in Thy Beauty.”
