COLYMBION (Κολύμβιον). — It is a basin or vessel in which holy water was blessed and kept (holy-water font), first in the atrium, then at the entrance of the church. It is also called cantharus, κολυμβίθρα in Greek, and was either fixed or portable. The euchologion of Bessarione (11th century), preserved in the monastery of Grottaferrata, contains a special prayer for blessing the water of the c. of the Blachernae palace in Constantinople, Εὐχή τοῦ κολυμβίου τῶν Βλαχερῶν (Goar, Εὐχολόγιον, 2nd ed., Venice 1730, p. 364).
Placido de Meester