Phylacteries
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Matt. 23:5)—small leather boxes containing parchment passages from the Torah, bound with leather straps to the arm and the head during weekday morning prayer. The four passages traditionally enclosed are Exodus 13:1–10, Exodus 13:11–16, Deuteronomy 6:4–9, and Deuteronomy 11:13–21. The practice responds to commands that God’s words be a sign upon the hand and as frontlets between the eyes.