Bible Encyclopedias
Cheirosemantra

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(from χείρ , the hand, and σημαίνω, to indicate) is the wooden board which is struck by a mallet, in Oriental Greek churches, to summon the people to service. This is the usual call to worship for all classes in the East, in consequence of the prohibition -of bells by the Turks, who imagine that their sound drives away the good spirits.