Holy Cithara

The Holy Cithara is an object that can be found within the holy reliquary in the basement of the Abbey of St. Elspeth Citharede after completing One Piercing Note and meeting several of Saint Elspeth's requirements. Note that, even though the quest is free-to-play, this item can only be claimed by members. Receiving the Holy Cithara for the first time rewards the player with 50,000 prayer experience. The Holy Cithara has a right-click play option which, upon clicking, will make the player play it energetically for a few seconds. Other players are able to hear the Cithara as you play it. You can only use the Cithara's emote when not sheathed.


 * Note that this will NOT provide protection from Saradomin followers in the God Wars Dungeon.

Attempting to take the Cithara will result in having their life points reduced to 1, unless the player is wearing an acceptable amount of "holy items" (among other requirements). This means that a player cannot die while attempting to take the Cithara, but will not succeed in collecting the Cithara unless one brings the required number of holy items, along with a ring of visibility and a Ghostspeak amulet or Cramulet (or has completed the Morytania Hard Tasks).



Obtaining the Holy Cithara
To obtain the Holy Cithara a player must wear at least 6 pieces of certain Saradomin-aligned equipment and meet certain "Holy" requirements:
 * The player must be on the Standard spellbook (or Lunar spellbook) and Prayers.
 * Equip:
 * 1) a Ring of visibility (This is not required if you have gained the ability to see into the Shadow Realm from Sliske following Fate of the Gods)
 * 2) a Ghostspeak amulet/Cramulet (unless the rewards from Morytania hard tasks has been claimed)
 * 3) six pieces of acceptable Saradomin equipment that the player owns, but has not borrowed.
 * 100% run Energy
 * 100% prayer points (i.e., boosted above maximum fails to work) - the altar upstairs can be used for recharging Prayer points. The player must switch to the normal prayer book.
 * No items aligned with another god may be either equipped or in the player's inventory.

Here are the examples of what must be equipped along with known acceptable pieces of Saradomin Equipment:

If you don't obtain it on your first try, but the ghost appears and you don't get dealt any damage, keep trying until you get it. It can take upwards of 15 tries to successfully grab the cithara. Note that if you are wearing 5 items, you won't take damage but the ghost will appear and tell you that you're not yet worthy. You won't be able to pick it up regardless of how many times you try.

Tips and Misconceptions

 * Players only need 6 items worn to obtain the Cithara, not counting the items required for the ring and necklace slots. Wearing more items than necessary does work, but is not required. Wearing all 6 pieces of the Golden Saradomin Warpriest armour does work.
 * If players are wearing 6+ Saradomin items but they also have a Zamorak or Zaros item in their inventory/equipped, they will still be dealt the almost fatal damage if attempting to take the cithara.
 * The Citharede robes are not required, they are simply free and readily available after completing the quest.
 * An inexpensive way to achieve the 6 worn Saradomin items is using the 3 Citharede robes (all 4 if you've completed the hard Morytania tasks) available from the quest, 1 Saradomin arrow, a Saradomin crozier OR Damaged Book of Wisdom, and the Saradomin cape if needed (this can be acquired for free from the Mage Arena). Alternatively, a free Banner of Saradomin is provided by Julienne, Emissary of Saradomin.
 * A majority of the items affiliated with Saradomin listed on the Saradomin page do not work. The white gloves and white boots are prime examples.
 * Because all four of the Falador shields have a symbol that closely resembles the Saradomin symbol, it is sometimes mistaken for a Saradomin aligned item. However, this is not the case.
 * If players receive the message that states them as unworthy of obtaining the holy cithara, before moving forward in the conversation and being struck by current LP - 1, exit to the lobby, log back in, and try again.
 * If a player has completed the hard (Morytania Tasks), then it is possible to replace the Ghostspeak amulet with a Holy symbol, Citharede symbol, or Saradomin stole.
 * If a player has changed their title to show alignment to a god (see God Emissaries), such as Zamorak, it will not affect their ability to pick up the Holy Cithara.

Trivia

 * "Cithara" is an Ancient Greek (Κιθάρα) word for lyre.