Anyone familiar with either the Church of Rome or the Orthodox Church (and even some traditional gatherings of Anglicans) has seen a bishop wearing a particular, decorated “hat.”

In the Church of Rome, for example, the Patriarch (or “pope”) wears a distinctive pointed hat or “miter” to signify his office and distinguish him from other clergy and/or bishops. According to Catholic Answers, a Church of Rome “apologetics” website:

“The word miter (or mitre) in English is derived directly from the Greek and Latin word mitra, meaning crown. There are many uses in the Greek New Testament of mitra. We see in 2 Timothy 4:8 and 1 Peter 5:4 that on judgment day crowns will be awarded and in James 1:12 and Revelvation 2:10 that these crowns are a reward for perseverance.

The miter’s origins in the Church aren’t precisely clear, but we do know, from the New Testament itself, that men were wearing some sort of headdress, at times inappropriately, in the early Church. In 1 Corinthians 11:4 Paul says at prayer men are to remove their hats, a rubric that continues to this day. (Men remove their hats as they enter a church, and a bishop removes his miter when he prays at a liturgy).

If we look at pre-Christian times, we see crowns, headdresses, and turbans of various sorts described and prescribed. Speaking of the high priest, Exodus 29:6 and Leviticus 8:9 say, “Put the miter on his head” In Exodus 28:3-4 the Old Testament is emphatic on what a high priest is to wear: “[Y]ou shall give instructions to make such vestments for Aaron as will set him apart for his sacred service as my priest.” These vestments include a linen miter (Ex. 39:28).”

This rubric of Holy Tradition is likewise followed in the Orthodox Church and you will see the bishop removing his miter during his prayers of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. Orthodox bishops often have Iconography of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Theotokos, St John the Forerunner and the Cross, along with other Spiritual decorations or symbolism placed upon their miters, which are “bulbous” in shape and resemble the imperial crowns of the Byzantine empire.

While Scripture certainly points to the eternal symbolism and significance of these “crowns,” the historian Eusebius of Caesarea records the antiquity of this practice for the Church, dating all the way back to the Apostles (which should be no surprise for the Catholic-Orthodox Christian):

“Again there is John, who leaned back on the Lord’s chest, and who became a priest wearing the miter.”
Ecclesiastical History, Eusebius of Caesarea, III, 31

The historians Epiphanius and Hegesippus also indicate that St James wore a fine linen miter just as a Hebrew high priest would have under the previous dispensation. This would indicate that the custom of wearing a miter was an Apostolic carry-over from the Hebraic religion into Christianity, with a resurrectional, Christian emphasis and meaning given to it.

Many people unfamiliar with or hostile against Orthodoxy and Catholicism often criticize the Church for all of its “external” glory and customs that are supposedly “traditions of men” — but all of these dogmatic and essential practices are indeed the Apostolic Faith that has been handed down to us through the Church of Christ (while many other traditions are related to culture and are not binding upon the entire Church). And, as St Paul exhorts, we are to hold fast to these Sacred Traditions that have been traditioned (often translated “handed down” in English) to us in the Church.