The Plaschinitsa is the winding sheet used during the services of Great and Holy Friday and Saturday which, depicts an icon of our Lord being taken down from the Cross (although some simply have the lone, full figure of our Lord lying in repose). The word itself is of Russian origin and means a “shroud” (as in “burial shroud”). Its root, plasch, means an outer cloak or mantle. The Greek word used for this same icon representation is “Epitaphios,” which literally means “on the grave” or “on the tomb.” This is also from where we get the English word epitaph.
