Consecrated garments and spaces in the cherubim and seraphim church diaspora

ABSTRACT

The Cherubim and Seraphim Church, an African independent church founded in 1925 in Lagos, Nigeria, is best-known for its members' white garments, fashioned to resemble the angelic beings, the cherubim and seraphim, of the Bible. With the movement of church members to different parts of the globe, these garments have become increasingly important to some as spiritual ties with the Nigerian homeland. Similarly, these homeland connections may be established and maintained by the founding of churches in the United States and Canada, which serve as satellite churches for established C&S churches in Nigeria, sharing identical names, related personnel, and similar altar decoration. This paper considers that ways that C&S Church art and dress overcome distance through the connections made by holy bodies, and consecrated garments and spaces.