The Celebrant returns to strip the Altar and 
chancel of all ornamentation, recalling the 
stripping of our Lord’s body at the crucifixion.

 

The stripping proceeds without haste. 
In this choreography 
of total eviction 
a bow accompanies each removal 
of chalices and fair linen, 
candelabra, the historic 
embroidery, 
the gilded Gospel.