COLUMBION (Κολυμβίων). — It is a basin or vessel in which holy water was blessed and kept (stoup), first in the atrium and later at the entrance of the church. It is also called cantharus, κολυμβίθρα in Greek, and it could be fixed or movable. The Euchologion of Bessarion (11th century), preserved in the monastery of Grottaferrata, contains a special prayer for blessing the water of the c. of the palace of Blachernae in Constantinople, Εὐχὴ τοῦ κολυμβίου τῶν Βλαχερνῶν (Goar, Εὐγλόγιον, 2nd ed., Venice 1730, p. 364).
Bibl.: Goar, Euchologion, cit.