cassock

It may not have priest-assassins or the detonation of an anti-matter device, but as Stanley Tucci might have said in “The Devil Wears Prada,” give me a full cassock skirt and a sea of zucchettos and I’m in.

An order published Tuesday on the Moscow Diocese website demoted Safronov from his position as priest to that of a psalm-reader and stripped him of the right to give blessings or wear a cassock for three years.

The red blood of a crucified Christ became the red robe of the king, which became the red cassock of a church cardinal, which became a merchant’s red cloak, which became a handmaiden’s red shawl, which became red poppies dotting a field, which became an artist’s red studio, which became a red rectangle, which became — lastly — just plain red.

The bloodstained word is painted on scarlet satin, the material of a cardinal’s cassock.

I suggested that she try to imagine something happening to the devil, perhaps his foot tripping over his cassock or something else.