Orthodox Christians & Clothing
Direction from an Orthodox Spiritual Father to One of His Flock
Dear XXX:
I received your interesting link to a Web site on Christian
(modest) clothing. I must express my personal opinion—and this assuredly
just my simple opinion—about this Web site and about clothing issues in
general.
The issue of clothing in contemporary Orthodoxy is a delicate one. We are not
Puritans or Moslems, and we do not believe, as Orthodox Christians, that the
human body is evil and should be completely covered up or that sex is dirty.
The human body is sacred and beautiful when understood in its proper context.
Human intimacy is also comforting and normal, when confined to the parameters
set forth clearly by the Church and the common morality that used to prevail
in Christian and decent society.
The clothes presented on the Web site that you sent me would be quite appropriate
for Dr. Quinn the "Medicine Woman." They were, indeed, stylish in
the nineteenth century. I doubt, however, that it is really necessary, today,
to cover the ankles in order to be modestly and properly dressed. I think that
women with long hair (avoiding the unisex styles that, for the sake of convenience,
are so popular now), who wear stylish but conservative dresses, and who have
an innocent interest in accentuating their femininity represent the beauty and
variety with which God has endowed humankind. The innocent enjoyment of such
beauty is normal. I am afraid that combat boots and frumpy, ugly clothes that
seem to be de rigueur among some Orthodox "traditionalists," on the
other hand, have little to do with tradition or Christianity. A woman can, again,
have long hair, wear modest clothes, and adorn herself moderately without having
to look as though she just parachuted out of the nineteenth century or just
emerged from an Amish community in the Midwest wearing clod-hoppers and carrying
a pitchfork. Nor do I find women who look like marauders from some Amazon tribe
personally attractive.
Moreover, I believe that it is quite improper for Christians to apply to the
goose what also applies to the gander. (I am not very barnyard savvy, so I may
have my goose confused with my gander.) I was a bit disturbed to see that the
home page on this Web site featured modest clothes for women only. How about
men? Are they exempt? This kind of one-sided presentation tends to diminish
the equality of the sexes in Christianity and, indeed, feeds the kind of misogyny
which leads certain Islamic extremists to de-personalize women to the point
that they are literally forced to dress in what is essentially a big tent made
of black fabric, with tiny slits or mere screens to provide for vision. Granted,
Moslem men sometimes dress in a robe of sorts, but this is near immodesty, when
compared to the bourkha that women are required to wear.
We should, I agree, urge and encourage Orthodox men and women to dress modestly
and to follow the suggestions set out in Scripture and in the Canonical and
Patristic traditions of the Church. But we cannot do more than that. Christianity
is based on free will. People have the right to destroy their souls and to discount
the therapeutic customs and advice of the Church, if they wish. Motivated by
love and concern for their souls, we can warn them, chastise them, and criticize
them for ignoring the Church's guidance. But if they become angry, question
our motivations, and reject our overtures, we must eventually keep our silence.
Unlike fundamentalist Moslems, we do not have "religious police" in
Orthodoxy. We do not, except in rare circumstances of egregious behavior, separate
anyone from the Faithful. Rather, we let the belligerent Christian separate
himself from what we teach only by example and not by force.
Having said this, I must add that deliberate sexual provocation by way of clothing
and personal adornment—which is a sign, in fact, of sexual aberration (even
though this fact convicts most contemporary societies of sexual maladjustment)—lies
outside the domain of the healthy views of the body and human intimacy that
I have described. The absolute defiance of the Church's dress codes by women
who refuse to cease wearing pants, shorts, tight skirts and blouses, and skirts
slit up the side or back is absolutely inconsistent with Christian modesty and
with the spirit of humility which should adorn a Christian. In the case of pants,
some women are so possessed by the vulgar habit of wearing a kind of clothing
that makes them look either ugly or provocative, that they set aside logic and
claim that they wear such clothing for the sake of comfort or out of practical
necessity. In fact, everyone knows that loose-fitting clothes, which are less
revealing, are far more comfortable. As for the argument on grounds of practicality,
many Orthodox priests and monks (and not a few nuns, in fact) have undertaken
everything from farm work to construction in their rasa, which are essentially
cut like a dress. Moreover, comfort and convenience are hardly Christian virtues,
and especially when invoked in defense of dressing improperly or indecently.
What I have said applies equally well to men who wear tight clothes and purposely
groom themselves in such as way as to attract the sexual attention of women.
In a society where sexual aberration is the norm, this observation of mine may
not seem realistic. However, it is. While Christianity does not fail to say
old things in a new way, it does not let new ways distort what it says. In this,
it is not alone. Not only Christianity, but also sound social mores and psychology
based on science and analysis rather than popular trends and whims traditionally
advocate strict boundaries for human behavior, and particularly with regard
to sexual behavior. This is an ancient advocacy in fact, as old as Plato's exhortations
to moderation in all things. Sexuality belongs in context, not only for the
good Christian, but for the good citizen and any psychologically-balanced and
adaptive individual—in a context, in all three cases, which discourages
public displays of mating behavior, provocative dress, and behaviors and general
comportment that are meant adventitiously and in an abnormal way to arouse carnal
desire and the passions. If this suggests, again, that contemporary society
is sexually and morally sick, then we as Christians should heed what we see
around us and be all the more vigilant to treat our passions, which we all have,
with the curative measures of the Church: modesty, moral uprightness, and a
correction of our weaknesses in this sense.
In the balance between what are essentially extreme and unhealthy sectarian
views of dress and modern ideas about proper dress and public behavior that
are based on the exploitation of the passions and on sexual aberration passing
as normality, we find the Orthodox position. I do not believe that this position
is represented either by dress styles that were popular more than a century
ago or by styles of improper dress justified on the grounds of convenience,
comfort, and practicality. Nor is the Orthodox position one that can be ultimately
enforced, except by love. And real love ceases being love unless it finally
relinquishes its hold and lets people freely choose between therapy for the
soul or the folly of soul-destroying self-will and self-destruction. I would,
therefore, very much discourage solving the problem of modesty with the website
that you identified. The risk of misogyny, extremism, unthinking and rigid pietism,
and fanaticism, if not outright sectarianism, is too great.
Again, this is my own personal opinion, for what it is worth.
+ + +
Concerning the Web Site "Online
Sources for Modest Clothing" [now defunct—Ed.]
Nicholas Stanosheck—the owner of the Web site mentioned in this letter and one who
appreciates the Orthodox Christian Information Center very much—asked the
Webmaster to post a clarification concerning his Web site:
In shopping at local clothes stores, I found that even for girls
of my daughter's young age were immodest. Halter-tops, short-shorts and skirts
and transparent clothes can be found for the youngest of girls. Of course we
all heard how thongs were being made for and sold to girls as young as 7 last
summer at the mall.
In finding it hard to find good clothes, I searched online. I found that a
number of places made clothes for those wishing their children to have modest
clothing. Most of them cater to girls, as it is easier to find modest clothes
for boys. Pants that are not tight and shirts can be found most anywhere.
I do not think that female should always have to wear bonnets like the Amish
or anything of the sort. I added head covering sites, as finding a good headscarf
for wearing at church was tricky and many women I knew wondered where to get
the ones I bought for my daughter.
I do not agree with the philosophy behind many of the sites, but think that
one should be able to find modest clothes if one chooses to. In fact, I completely
agree with the personal opinion of your spiritual father where he says, "A
woman can, again, have long hair, wear modest clothes, and adorn herself moderately
without having to look as though she just parachuted out of the nineteenth century
or just emerged from an Amish community in the Midwest wearing clod-hoppers
and carrying a pitchfork. Nor do I find women who look like marauders from some
Amazon tribe personally attractive."
Thats why I included a range of different sites I linked to. On the banner
of http://stanosheck.com/Modesty.html there is a girl with a long sleeved t-shirt
and a ankle-length skirt and a headscarf. Its not 1800's style, but something
practical and modest one finds the ladies at church wearing. The image is straight
from one of the sites I link to.
So to summarize, I do not believe women should have to dress like Muslims or
the Amish, I am not trying to force women to dress like it was 100 years ago,
and am just trying to provide a service for those that cannot find modest clothes
locally. I hope this helps alleviate anyone's concerns.
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