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When you embroider your boots with silk threads, with which it is indecent to decorate even clothing, what reproaches, what laughter is this worthy? If you disdain our opinion, then listen to what Paul said, who strictly forbids this, and then you will feel how ridiculous it is. What does Paul say? “Not with braided hair, nor with gold, nor with pearls, nor with costly clothing” (1 Tim. 2:9). Are you worth any apology when Paul does not allow his wife to wear precious clothes, but you allow such splendor in boots, and invent thousands of outfits worthy of ridicule and censure? For these threads they build ships, recruit oarsmen, a helmsman and a shipmaster, set sails, sail across the sea; for them, the merchant, leaving his wife, children and fatherland, entrusts his life to the waves, goes to the country of the barbarians, is exposed to countless dangers, and after all this, you take these threads, sew them on your boots, and decorate the skin. What could be worse than such nonsense? This was not the attire of the ancients; on the contrary, it was decent for husbands. From this I conclude that over time our young men will use women’s shoes without any shame. And, what is most intolerable of all, the fathers, looking at this, are not indignant, but consider it to mean nothing. Do you want me to say something even more intolerable? That is precisely what is being done when we have many poor people. Do you want me to present to you Christ, tormented by hunger, naked, persecuted, bound? How many thunderbolts are you worthy of, who do not want to pay attention to Christ, who does not have the necessary food, and yet you decorate your skin with such care! Christ, when giving instructions to His disciples, did not even allow them to have boots, and we not only do not know how to walk barefoot, but also how to put on shoes as we should. What could be messier, funnier than this? All this shows a person who is pampered, rude, cruel and vain. Will there be enough leisure to do anything necessary for someone who wastes time on such excesses? Will such a young man have enough leisure to take care of his soul or even think that he has a soul? He is petty who is forced to be surprised by magnificent shoes; he is cruel who despises the beggars for her; he is alien to all virtue who spends all his efforts on such outfits. Looking with curiosity at the kindness of the threads, the liveliness of the colors, the patterns woven from them, will he find time to look up at the sky? Is there time to marvel at the beauty of heaven for one who is addicted to the beauty of skins and has sunk into the earth? God stretched out the sky and set the sun on fire in order to attract your gaze to grief, and you force yourself to lower your head to the ground, like pigs, and obey the devil. This truly evil spirit invented such vile things in order to distract you from heavenly beauty and draw you to earth with them. And God, who shows heaven, prefers the devil, who shows skins, or even not skins (because they too are the work of God), but pomposity and cunning. Hanging to the ground, a young man walks, who should philosophize about heavenly things, vainglorious about his boots more than about any important merit; He barely steps through the marketplace, causing himself unnecessary sorrow and grief, fearing that in bad weather he might get his boots dirty with mud, or in the summer they might get dusty. What do you say to this, man? With such luxury you have reduced your whole soul to dust and, carelessly looking at the fact that it crawls on the ground, you care so much about boots! Think about what they are used for, and be ashamed of the opinion you have about them. Boots are made to trample on dirt, manure and any uncleanness on the floor. If this is unbearable for you, hang them around your neck or place them on your head. You laugh listening to this, but I have to cry, seeing the madness of such people and their concern for boots. They would rather get their bodies dirty with mud than these skins. Such people, as petty as they can be, are, on the other hand, money-loving. Anyone who is used to taking crazy care of such decorations needs to spend a lot on clothes and everything else, and therefore have a large income. If his father is generous, then such a person indulges more and more in this vice and allows reckless whims to intensify, and if he is stingy, then he is forced to resort to other dishonest means in order to have money for such expenses. That is why many of the young people sold their beauty, became jesters for the rich and stooped to other servile services, in order to acquire only the opportunity to fulfill such their whims. From this it is clear that such a person will be money-loving and vain, more careless than anyone in necessary matters and will inevitably fall into many offenses. It is also undeniable that he must be hard-hearted and vain. He is cruel when, seeing a poor person, due to his passion for clothes, he does not even deign to look at him, and although he decorates his boots with gold, he does not even pay attention to the beggar who is melting from hunger. He is vain when he tries to catch the attention of the audience with insignificant things. It’s not so much, I think, that a military leader is proud of his victories as a dissolute young man is proud of the elegance of his boots, long clothes, and hairstyle, although he owes everything to the art of others. And if they are vain about other people’s things, how can they not be vain about their own? Should I say even worse, or is this enough for you? So, let's finish our word. Yes, and I said this for those who are stubborn and do not find anything indecent in such outfits. I know, however, that many young men will not even pay attention to my words, because they are already drunk with passion. However, one should not remain silent because of this. If the fathers have intelligence and are still strong, then they can, even against their will, convert them to proper decency. So, don’t say: this is not important, and the other is not a problem. This is precisely what ruins everything. It is necessary to teach them regarding such subjects and, apparently, in the smallest things, to make them sedate, magnanimous, disdainful of dress. Thus, they succeed in the most important things. What is less important than learning the alphabet? However, those who begin with it become rhetoricians, sophists, and philosophers. But those who do not know the alphabet will never learn these sciences. Nevertheless, we say this not only for young men, but also for wives and girls. And they are subject to the same reproaches, and especially since the girl especially needs modesty. So, apply everything that was said to the young men to yourself, so that we do not repeat the same thing again. But it’s time to conclude our word with prayer. Pray with me that young men, especially Christians, may live modestly and reach an old age that suits them; After all, those who don’t live like that won’t live well to old age. But whoever in his youth lives like an old man, I wish him to live to deep gray hairs, become the father of good children, bring joy to his parents, and above all, to God, who created him; to be completely freed not only from the disease of showing off shoes and clothes, but also from all mental illnesses. Like the uncultivated land, so is youth left neglected: it produces many thorns. So, let us start the fire of the Spirit, burn out evil lusts, cultivate the fields, prepare them to receive seeds; We strive so that our young men will be more chaste than other old men. It is worthy of surprise when chastity shines in a young man. He who is chaste in old age deserves a small reward; his very age makes him chaste. It is wonderful to be able to enjoy silence in the midst of excitement, not to be burned in the oven, not to indulge in debauchery in youth (7). Listen wives, listen husbands! We do not need this gold-woven robe that adorns our body, but clothing that would adorn the soul. But it is difficult for us to put on these clothes while we wear the first. You cannot decorate both soul and body together. You cannot work together as mammon and serve as Christ should. So, let's leave this bad habit that dominates us. You, of course, would not be generous if someone decorated the house with golden curtains, and forced you to sit in rags, almost naked. But now you are doing this to yourself, decorating the dwelling of your soul, that is, your body, with countless expensive clothes, and leaving your soul in rags. Don't you know that a king needs to be more adorned than a city? That is why they prepare clothes made of linen for the city, and purple and a diadem for the king. So you should cover your body with the cheapest clothes, and dress your mind in purple, decorate it with a crown and sit it on a high and brilliant throne. And now you are doing exactly the opposite: you decorate your city in various ways, and leave the king’s mind to drag on in chains behind unbridled passions. Don’t you understand that you are called to a marriage and to the marriage of God? Can’t you imagine that your soul, called to this solemn palace, will have to be brought in clothed and adorned with golden robes? Do you want me to show you those dressed in wedding clothes? Remember those saints about whom I recently told you - the saints clothed in sackcloth, living in the deserts. They especially wear these wedding clothes. And from this it is obvious that no matter what purple clothes you give them, they will not agree to take them; but just as a king, if someone ordered him to put on the thin clothes of a poor man, would reject them with contempt, so they will also reject his scarlet robe. And they do this not for anything else, but because they know the beauty of their clothes. That is why they despise a magnificent robe, like a cobweb. Sackcloth taught them this. Indeed, they are much higher and more glorious than the king himself. If you could open the doors of their hearts and see their soul and all the beauty within, you would fall to the ground, unable to bear the radiance of beauty, the lightness of those clothes and the shine of their conscience (7). Your brother by birth—I mean spiritual birth—perishes from hunger, and you are exhausted from satiety. The brother walks around with his body naked, and you arrange clothing for your clothes to protect them from worms through such coverings. Wouldn't it be much better to cover the bodies of the poor with them? Then your clothes would remain intact, and you would be free from all worries, and this would gain you a future life. If you don’t want your clothes to be eaten by moths, give them to the poor: they know how to shake out these clothes well. Moreover, the body of Christ is both more honorable and safer than a closet. It not only preserves clothes, not only keeps them unharmed, but also makes them more brilliant. The wardrobe is often stolen along with the dress, and thus exposes you to extreme loss. But this repository cannot be damaged by death itself. Here we don’t need any doors, no locks, no waking servants, or any other similar precautions. It is not accessible to any malice, and what is preserved in it is as safe as if it were in heaven; no evil can penetrate there (8). If you want to show condolences to the deceased, I will show you the method of burial and teach you to clothe him in such clothes that will rise with him and present him in a brilliant form. These clothes are neither destroyed by moths, nor destroyed by time, nor stolen by thieves. What kind of clothes are these? This is the robe of almsgiving. This clothing rises with the deceased, because the seal of alms remains with him forever. With these clothes will shine those who will then hear: you fed Me when I was hungry. These clothes make the dead glorious, famous and safe, but the clothes of the present are nothing more than the food of moths and the meal of worms. And I say this not because I forbid having care for the dead; but in order for you to do this with moderation, cover only the body and do not bury it naked. If the living should not have anything more than the covering of the body, then even more so the dead, because a dead body does not need clothes as much as a living and breathing one. While we live, we need clothing both because of the cold and for decency; and since we have died, we do not have these needs, and only so that the body does not lie naked, we need burial shrouds. Our best burial shrouds are the earth, the most beautiful and most fitting covering for our earthly body. So, if now, when we have so many needs, there is no need to look for anything superfluous, then pomp is all the more inappropriate when there are no such needs. But people, you say, who see this will start laughing. Even if someone began to laugh, obviously one should not pay much attention to him, as if he were a completely stupid person. Many, on the contrary, would rather be surprised at us and praise our wisdom. This is not worthy of laughter, but what we do now when we cry, weep and, as it were, bury ourselves with the dead. This is what is worthy of both laughter and punishment; and wisdom in all this, as well as observing moderation in clothing, brings us crowns and praise. In this case, everyone will praise us, marvel at the power of Christ and say: oh, how great is the power of the Crucified One! He convinced mortals and perishables that death is not death, and so they act as if they were not dying, but were moving to a better country. He convinced them that this corruptible and earthly body would be clothed in clothes much more brilliant than silk and gold-woven clothes, would be clothed with incorruptibility - and therefore they do not care much about funerals, but consider a virtuous life to be the best funeral decoration (9). Do you see the naked and the stranger (truly naked and the stranger, for heaven not caring about a virtuous life)? Take him into your home, dress him in the clothes of virtue, make him a citizen of heaven. What do you say if I myself am naked? Dress yourself in advance; if you know that you are naked, then, of course, you also know that you must put on clothes. If only you know the properties of this nakedness, then you can easily recognize the clothing characteristic of it. How many women wear silken garments and are truly naked from the garments of virtue! Let their husbands wear these. But they do not accept these clothes, but want those? First do this: arouse in them the desire for these clothes, show them that they are naked, talk about the future Judgment, say that there we will need other [clothes], and not those [silk ones]. If you allow me, then I will show this nakedness. During cold weather, a naked person becomes numb, trembles, stands hunched over and with his hands folded, but when he is hot, he does not do this. If now I show that both rich men and rich wives are more naked the more they are clothed, then do not be angry. Tell me: when we talk about Gehenna and those torments, don’t these ones freeze and tremble more than those who are naked? Do they not sigh heavily and condemn themselves? When they come to someone and say: pray for me, don’t they say the same thing as them? However, now, no matter what we say, this nakedness will not be completely visible; it will be visible there. How and in what way? When these silken garments and precious stones perish and everyone appears in only the garments of virtue and vice; when the poor will be clothed with great glory, and the rich will be drawn to torment in nakedness and ugliness. Who was more effeminate than that rich man dressed in purple? Who is poorer than Lazarus? And which of them spoke like beggars? And who enjoyed bliss (see Luke 16:19–25)? Tell me: if someone decorated his house with many coverings, and sat inside it naked, what would be the benefit? This happens with wives too. The house of the soul, that is, the body, is dressed with many ornaments, and the lady of the house sits naked inside. Please open your spiritual eyes, and I will show you spiritual nakedness. What is the clothing of the soul? It is clear that it is a virtue. What about nudity? Vice. Just as if you expose one of the free people, he is ashamed, embarrassed and runs away, so the soul that does not have this clothing, when we want to look at it, is ashamed. And now, do you think, aren’t many people ashamed and withdrawing into the very depths, as if looking for some kind of veil and curtain, so as not to hear these words? And others, not realizing anything about themselves, have fun, rejoice, are comforted and admire what is said. Listen to blessed Thekla. She gave her gold in order to see Paul; but you don’t give even an obol to see Christ; you are surprised at her actions, but do not imitate her. Do you not hear how the word [of God] brings joy to the merciful? “Blessed are the merciful,” he says, “for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7). What is the use of precious clothes? How long will we be partial to this decoration? Let us be clothed with the glory of Christ, let us be clothed with that beauty, so that we may receive praise here and be worthy of eternal blessings there (10). You might be interested in: