This adornment is to be discussed here, because it comes from a blinded mind, and that the blinded man seeks glory and vain honor for himself from clothing, which should bring down his pride and bring him to humility, as it will appear below; and especially the personal adornment of women without any excuse is a blindness of the mind and corruption of the carnal and non-Christian heart.

62. People began to wear clothes after transgressing the commandment of God, and from this it took its origin. For until our forefathers sinned, they had no clothing, as it is written in the 2nd chapter of Genesis; and they did not demand it, for they did not see their nakedness. And when they sinned, they saw their nakedness and began to be ashamed; therefore they were forced to look for something to cover their shame. "And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves, and made themselves girdles" (Gen. 3:7). And God, having mercy on them, "made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them" (Gen. 3:21). You see that the beginning of clothing is sin. Sin has revealed to them their nakedness, and has made shame and shame, which requires covering. That is why St. Andrew of Crete laments about this: "It is a sin for me to sew the leather vestments, uncovering my first God-woven garments" (Ode 2 of the Great Canon). From this you see how badly people do who seek adornment in garments and make clothes not for the sake of covering nakedness and warming the body, but for the sake of adornment and ostentation. They set up for themselves honor and adornment, which shows dishonor and ugliness. From this they seek praise, because sin convicts. By this they are comforted that it represents sorrow, that is, a sign of transgression of the law. They are proud of what should humble them. All animals, both created by God and present to this day, do not require covering, and are content with natural clothing. A certain man lost it because of sin, and from them he borrows and hides himself. But it is wonderful, or rather sorrowful, that he covers himself with someone else's skin, and thereby exalts himself, and then in honor of himself, that he should have given him, poor, meager, naked and destitute, a reason to humility. But it was not enough for the passionate and lustful flesh to invent ornaments for itself and thus admire and be comforted. What then does it invent and plot? It is necessary to decorate horses, carriages, and other things for this, so that from there you can find some praise and honor from those who do not know and are amazed at such vanity. Oh, rational, but wretched and poor creature! Do you not notice how the world deceives you, like the forbidden apple to Eve, and its vanity captivates your foolish heart? If the visible beauty pleases you, turn your eyes to the red sun, moon, and stars, to the fields, trees, grasses, and flowers, to the birds, fish, and other animals, and other creatures of God, and marvel at them, and from them know their Creator and your own and His beauty. If He created such beautiful creatures, how incomparably beautiful is He Himself, Who created them! Seek this beauty, which is the source of all beauties, the enjoyers of which do not know satiety, but the more they see it, the more they desire it. But there is no desire for this, I do not like that which is beautiful in itself, because it does not bring vain praise and honor.. It is necessary to do and strive for that which the world praises, honors, glorifies and marvels at, and because of this to be praised, revered and glorified.. To this blindness the passionate and blind flesh and the charm of the world lead the poor man.

63. This adornment, just as it is vain, so is a sign of negligence about the soul. Since: 1) Whoever cares about bodily adornment has no time to take care of spiritual adornment. For what someone is busy thinking about, he strives for, he sought, and in that he spends his time. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21). 2) This dapper adornment itself shows a heart that desires vain honor and glory, which is also contrary to the law of God: "Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world" (1 John 2:15), and it does not befit the Christian faith, which looks to eternal honor and glory, and seeks and waits for it; and it is unseemly for the calling of Christians, who are called to eternal and heavenly things; and their offices are contrary to them, which should adorn the soul, and not the body, and "set their minds on things above, and not on things not on the earthly" (Col. 3:2). 3) This adornment is without offending one's neighbor, and therefore it is not acquired without offending God. For it cannot exist without the means which are collected for this purpose from such people, or, moreover, are ripped off. 4) Although there will be righteous possessions, since there are naked, trembling from cold and frost younger brothers of Christ, imprisoned for debts and rents, deprived of their homes by fires, and other people in need, then excessive funds and surplus should be used for them. But all this is suppressed by vain adornment and insatiable luxury. Are the poor to him who has this vanity in his heart? One must adorn oneself, one's wife, children, servants, horses, carriages, their dress, one's house, galleries, ponds, and other amusements!

64. There is still great vanity and shame in Christianity, that women smear their faces with whitewash, paints and ointments. For why do they do this trifle? It is impossible to find any other reason than to show oneself to people, or, worse, to "like" and enter into love. In the bedrooms, they don't care about this trifle. Colors do not give health, except for harm. One reason for this is that people should turn their eyes to them. True, people turn their eyes, but many turn their hearts with their eyes, and because of this they darken the eye of their souls. Not a small battle for young and unconfirmed hearts from this delusion becomes. But if they, wives, I say, who confess God and Christ the Son of God, look around, they will see that: 1) They put up for auction that which is not for sale, which should be kept as the apple of their eye. Ah, poor Christian woman who blushes her face, but darkens her soul; He adorns his face, but loses the beauty of his soul, and, like a monster, appears with his soul before God and His holy angels! 2) By such adornment of their face, in addition to the fact that they have lost chastity, they direct God's work, which is perfect and does not require correction, and therefore they sin greatly against their Creator, Who bestows the age of the body and the beauty of the face on each of them, and they offend Him. Just as an ignorant man who, once written well by a painter, would have crossed the painter and thereby offended the painter not a little, so the wives, by crossing their faces, inflict no small insult and annoyance on their Creator. It is more proper for Christian women to wash their faces with tears than to paint them with white and paint. A Christian must always be in repentance, for he always sins before God, which is difficult and sorrowful for a Christ-loving soul. 3) They do bad things that they go to lunches, dinners, and other places; but it is worse that with the same trifle the saints dare to enter the churches, and to exhibit and show themselves. Thus they make holy churches a disgrace, or more dishonorable than a disgrace, which the ear does not tolerate to depict. Everyone can easily understand this when he takes everything into consideration. To such shameless women the word of God becomes: "My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves" (Matt. 21:13). The temple of God is the temple of prayer, and for this reason we enter the temple of God in order to pray, not to look at each other, but to lift up our heart's eyes to God alone; not to show oneself to others, but to bare one's conscience, burdened with sins, before God; not to rejoice, but to propitiate God for the sins; in a word, we come to pray to God in holy churches. Prayer is not such as they have on themselves, the utensils befitting them: but what kind of utensils? Humility, contrition of heart, tenderness, tears, weeping. In this way the prayer is adorned, and ascends to the throne of God, and is pleasing to the eyes of God, and receives his petition. Thus prayed the holy women: Anna, the mother of the Prophet Samuel (see 1 Samuel 1), Judith (Judith, ch. 9), Esther (Est. 4:17) - and they were heard by God. They should be followed by women who confess the name of Christ, if they want to enter the church and pray for the benefit of their souls. Such utensils, which consist of gold, whitewash, paints, ointments, and other things, mean nothing else than vanity, pomp, the pride of this world, arrogance, the evil eye, temptation, temptation, and other passionate whims of the flesh. Is it with this to appear before God? We come to God and want to stand before God when we come to prayer. Is this how God should be propitiated? Is it so humble before Him? This is prelest, not prayer; pride and pomp, not humility; the multiplication of sins, not the diminution of sins; greater insult and anger, and not propitiation of the merciful God, "for what is high among men is an abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). If one could penetrate into the hearts of such people, what if not worldly pride, like a lofty idol, is hidden there? "What do you say? - Chrysostom denounces them. - Do you come to pray to God, clothe yourself with gold and wattles? Have you come to rejoice, have you come to partake of marriage? Have you come to the performance? There is gold, there is weaving, there are valuable clothes: but here none of this is needed. Thou hast come to ask, to pray for sins, to pray for what thou hast sinned, to ask the Lord, to do Him mercifully: why then dost thou adorn thyself? Such is not the appearance of the one who prays. How can you breathe, how can you shed tears, how can you pray diligently, thus putting on your clothes? And if you shed tears, your tears will be worthy of laughter. It is not fitting to dress in gold for a weeping woman. Because this is a shadow and hypocrisy. How can it not be a shadow if tears suddenly shed from the same heart, from which such extravagance and ambition comes?" and so on. (Discourse 8 on 1 Epistle to Timothy).

65. In order that it would be more convenient to abandon vain adornment, which is extremely unbecoming of Christians, and soul-destroying luxury, which, as it seems, is increasing and multiplying in Christians from hour to hour, it is useful to note and reflect on the following: 1) Any bodily excess does not exist without offending God and offending one's neighbor, as stated above. 2) Every good that we have is God's, and not ours: we came out of our mother's womb naked, and therefore we are poor and needy in themselves; and whatever we have, we have given by God. Our wealth is God's good, and not our own, therefore we must spend it according to the will of the God who gave it, and not according to our whims. If you ask your steward where and for what purpose he spent the money given to him, the Lord will ask you about the wealth He has given you. Prepare an answer to Him. He will not ask you: did you have rich and beautiful clothes, rich houses, horses, carriages, etc., did you often receive guests, and so on? No, nothing of the kind is seen in the Holy Scriptures. But what will He ask you? He will ask: Did you feed Him with the good given to you, the hungry? Did he clothe the naked? Have you built houses for those who do not have a place to lay their heads? Did he receive wanderers in the house? Have you redeemed those who are in prison for debts and other demands, and have you given to the rest of the poor and needy of the goods given to you? (Matthew 25:35-36). Wealth is given to us not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of our neighbors who demand it. You see how unrighteously people do, when they squander the good that is given for the common good on their own whims, and so they resist the will of God. Such rich people are squanderers of wealth, not builders; but those who keep their wealth in coffers are its guardians and servants, and not God's servants and slaves. Therefore, every rich man must consider where and for what the wealth given to him by God restrains him. We must always remember that terrible voice of the righteous Judge: "Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I hungered, and you did not give me to eat" (Matthew 25:41-43); And Abraham's answer to the rich man, who, dressed in purple and fine linen, feasted splendidly every day: "Child! Remember that you have already received your good in your life, and Lazarus has received your evil; but now he is comforted here, and thou sufferest" (Luke 16:25). Christ hungers, Who gives wealth to all, hungers in His brethren, the poor Christians; but he is shamelessly despised by the voluptuous and miserly! Even now many Lazarus lie at the gates of the rich, but pernicious luxury blinds their eyes, so as not to see them, and restrains the hand from doing mercy to them. The one teaches to squander wealth, the other to preserve and guard, but both to the destruction of man: the one weakens, the other binds a person, but both mortify his soul. 3) Great madness is the body, which will soon turn to dust and earth, to adorn, and not to take care of the immortal soul, as everyone can see. It is impossible to take care of the soul to one who adorns his body for show and vanity. Such an adornment is a sign of a peace-loving, vain and proud heart, and in itself darkens the soul. The adornment of the soul can only be virtue. With it, as with a decent utensil, it is adorned; but she, as vain and proud, is darkened. 4) Such wives should be given an answer to the righteous Judge for temptation. "Woe to the man through whom the offense comes" (Matt. 18:7). Not a small battle for a young heart comes from the face of a woman, especially from such a face that is adorned with ointments and paints to be seduced. For for the devil there is no better and more convenient instrument for seducing young hearts and trapping them in the snare of impurity than a woman's face, and especially one that is skillfully adorned and anointed with perfumes and ointments. Such a face is a powerful arrow with which he strikes young hearts and wounds many. Therefore, women who hope to stand before Christ for judgment and give an answer to Him about everything, must heed Christ's terrible word: "Woe to the man through whom temptation comes!" And how many are there who are seduced by this feigned beauty and perish? God knows only the knower of the heart, Who will judge both those who have deceived and those who have deceived and will not look at faces. Take heed, O woman, who confesses the name of Christ and hopes to stand before the judgment of Christ; and even if you do not hope, you will certainly appear. "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive according to what he did while living in the body, good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10). 5) Oh, if only women who call themselves by the Christian name would often look with intelligent eyes at the simple face of Christ, which for the sake of our sins and iniquities was spat upon and struck, and had no appearance and beauty! They would never want to anoint and paint their faces to deceive the souls of men, whom He redeemed by His death! But it is evident that they have forgotten that great and terrible deed, and only think of one vanity, and what they have in their hearts, they put it out. 6) Likewise, if it is remembered that worms will once crawl on a decorated face, and that which is now fragrant with ointment will emit an unbearable stench, and then will turn to dust and earth with the whole body, it is possible that then they will refrain from this soul-destroying frenzy. 7) How much this feminine adornment is hateful to God, anyone can read and see in the third chapter of the prophet Isaiah. 8) One true and Christian adornment is spiritual adornment, to which the word of God exhorts us, about which we will talk in the next paragraph.

66. Christians who in holy baptism renounced the world and the vanity of the world, and were cleansed from the defilements of sin by that holy bath, and promised to "live godly in Christ Jesus, and look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come," as it is stated in the Symbol of Faith, must, by virtue of their vows then given, show the fruits of baptism, and therefore adorn their soul, and not their body. Since: 1) the soul is immortal, so is its beauty - the body is perishable, and its beauty, as everyone knows. 2) If the body is adorned and the soul is neglected, then both body and soul will perish. Inasmuch as in the general resurrection, when the body and soul are united, that the soul, having lived in negligence, will suffer, the body will endure the same, and together they will die an immortal death. 3) If the soul is adorned, then the body, having been reunited with the soul in due time, will receive beauty, "when this is perishable, according to the testimony of the

of the Apostle, "shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:54). 4) The more the soul is adorned now, the greater the beauty of the body will be vouchsafed after the resurrection. Then there will be "glory to some like the sun, some like the moon, some like the stars" (1 Corinthians 15:41). The more the body is now adorned, and the soul is neglected, the greater will be the ugliness that will appear on both the soul and the body. The vileness of the careless soul will then appear on the body, as a rebuke to it and to show everyone that it did not live in the world for God's sake, but followed its whims, and served not Christ, but the world. Then the peace-loving sinner, like some terrible monster, will appear before the whole world, the angels and the chosen ones of God, and he will be ashamed, horrified, hateful of himself, and will want to turn into nothing, but he will not be able to; he will scold himself, reproach and mourn, but it is too late. The human soul is like a mirror that perceives such a view in itself, to which it turns. Thus, the soul, to which it turns, takes on the image in itself. Whether she turns to God and seeks God, loves God, and clings to God, the image of God in her is depicted and written by the Holy Spirit. If she turns to the world and loves its vanity, such is the image in it. And what is now in it will then appear outwardly. Just as beauty appears to a God-loving soul, so will vileness and ugliness appear outwardly to a peace-loving soul. 5) No matter how the body is adorned, beauty will not be added to it: pockmarked, black, wrinkled, caulked, cross-eyed - no matter how it is adorned, it remains unchanged. The more the soul withdraws from the world and worldly lusts, and the more it "puts off the old man with his works, and puts on the new man" (Col. 3:9-10), the more beautiful it becomes. For then the image of God, which is its divine and ineffable adornment, is shown in it, as in the purified mirror of the one who looks into it, the image is seen. Now the beauty of the soul is not visible on the body, when the righteous and the sinners have the same outward appearance, although the beauty of a holy soul and the ugliness of a sinful soul is often noticed from deeds and words, like from the taste of an apple. But then, when the sons of God and the sons of this world are revealed, the splendor of the soul will appear, having the image of God in itself. Then she, like the sun, will shine her beauty, and on the body with which she served God here, she will reveal her beauty: "Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt. 13:43). "Beloved! we are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed that we will. We only know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him" (1 John 3:2). Oh, what will be the glory of the children of God, who now, not caring about their body, about the beauty of their souls, but are considered contemptible and trampled upon by the evil world, like garbage: they will be like God! "For God is clothed with light, as with a garment" (Psalm 103:2), so will His children be enlightened. Desire and seek this beauty, Christian, while it is found. And what do you have in bodily beauty, which now blossoms, and in the morning fades and turns into nothing? Therefore, just as those who wish to enter the palace of the earthly king, and to appear before His face, and to partake of His table, purify themselves and dress themselves in the best and most decent dress, in order to appear abominable in the eyes of the King, so how much more must he who wishes to enter the palace of the Heavenly King, and to appear before His brightest face, and to partake of that great supper, must cleanse himself of defilement and vice, for "nothing unclean shall enter into it" (Rev. 21:27), and clothe himself with garments worthy of that palace, lest he hear from the King the terrible voice: "Friend! How did you come here not in a wedding garment?" (Matthew 22:12), - and not to be cast out with shame and cast into utter darkness, "where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 22:13).

67. His soul is adorned by the one who, according to the Apostle's words, "puts off the old man, which decays in deceitful lusts, but is renewed by the spirit of his mind, and is clothed with the new man, created according to God, in righteousness and holiness of truth" (Ephesians 4:22-24); that is, he who resists the lusts of the flesh, and cuts them off, and adheres to virtues, puts off uncleanness, fornication, pride, envy, anger, malice, rage, love of money, intemperance, and other evil dispositions, and puts on chastity, holiness, humility, brotherly love, patience, meekness, and other good dispositions. Here are beautiful spiritual utensils! That soul is good and beautiful that is conformed to the Heavenly Father in holiness, truth, mercy, righteousness, patience, meekness, and other qualities. A Christian, regenerated by God, must conform to Him, as a son to a father, in morals. Every son is conformed to his father in qualities and morals, as we see in the bodily birth, in which nothing else is born but flesh of the flesh, according to the testimony of Christ: "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" (John 3:6). That is why the word of God commands Christians to adorn themselves not with carnal, but with spiritual utensils. What are these utensils, what does it consist of, listen to the Apostle, who offers us these utensils: "Clothe yourselves, as God's elect, holy and beloved, in mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering" (Col. 3:12). Let us adorn ourselves with these utensils, Christians, and not with gold, silver, stones, and costly garments. Let us clothe ourselves with generosity and mercy, as our Lord commands us: "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36), "Who did not spare His Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Romans 8:32), so that He might deliver us from eternal tribulations and bring us into eternal bliss. Let us clothe ourselves with goodness and try to do good to all, good and evil, friends and enemies, imitating the Heavenly Father: "For He is good even to the ungrateful and the evil" (Luke 6:35); "For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). Let us put on humility, following the Only-begotten Son of God, Who was not ashamed to "wash the feet of the apostles, their Lord and Teacher" (John 13:14). "For there must be in you the same sentiments that were in Christ Jesus: he, being in the image of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but He humbled Himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming like men, and becoming like a man in appearance; humbled himself, being obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross" (Phil. 2:5-8). Let us put on meekness and longsuffering, learning these things from the meek and humble Jesus, as He commands us: "Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29); and let us forgive our debts to our debtors, as God also forgives us. Let us be holy, for it is written: "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16). This headdress, this utensils, this adornment is befitting Christians; and they please not the world and the eyes of men, but the eyes of the Heavenly Father. Let us try to adorn ourselves with these utensils, Christians, in order to please not the world, but God, Who looks down upon us all from His heavens, as the prophet sings: "The Lord looks down from heaven, sees all the sons of men; from the throne on which He sits, He looks upon all who dwell on the earth" (Psalm 32:13-14).

68. It is well known that many people use elegant garments not for the sake of vain glory and honor, but in accordance with the general custom and applying themselves to their rank and rank. My foregoing reasoning does not apply to such people, but only to those who seek for themselves a certain glory and reverence from their dress, which are usually called by all dandy, as is evident from the above discussion. For such people, although they are called Christians, have a heart filled with vanity and love of this world, from which the Apostle turns away Christian souls: "Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world: whoever loves the world has not the love of the Father in him" (1 John 2:15). And therefore it condemns ostentation, pomp, worldly pride, vanity and blindness of a depraved heart, and not decency. Luxury and self-love, which does not care about the benefit of one's neighbor and for the most part happens with the offense of one's neighbor, are condemned, and not moderation, which is almost necessary in civil society. Excessive care for the mortal and perishable body and neglect of the immortal soul are also condemned. For there is no concern for the soul and its eternal salvation in that heart which is possessed by the vanity of this world. True is the word of our Saviour: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart also be" (Matthew 6:21). Clothing, whatever it is, in itself does not partake of either virtue or sin, like any other thing. But only its use, purpose and intention, can be, as it happens, bad, and therefore it turns into sin for the one who uses it: for it is not used for what God gave it for. There is vanity in the heart of him who wears a black, monastic and ragged dress for this purpose, so that people may revere him as a desper of the world and a saint; Like the one who dresses in colorful and expensive clothes for this purpose, so that he may have the first place in the assembly, and receive prostrations from those who meet him, and admire his garments, like a peacock's feathers. Every garment must have one purpose, that is, to cover the nakedness and protect the weak body from cold and bad weather, for which it was given to us by our Creator, as it was said above. However, every Christian must remember and heed that any excess, both in food, in structure, and so on, proper for this life, and in clothing, does not exist without sin. God gives us possessions and wealth not only for our own sake, but also for the sake of the poor, so that we ourselves may be moderately satisfied with them, and provide for the poor. And if a person does not do this, but squanders wealth on excess and luxury, he acts against the will of God and therefore sins, for all that is sin is done against the will of God: for which he will also be punished, as an unrighteous steward and squanderer of God's good. As for a woman's personal adornment, it cannot have any excuse, but is only charm, intrigue, cunning, and the invention of an evil spirit, committed to the deception and corruption of chastity. And although many of the wives adorn their faces not for the sake of evil, but following an inert custom, yet this adornment does not exist without temptation to the young and to themselves without sin.

Article 4: On Certain Sins Especially

Prelude

At the beginning of this article, I need to announce something to the reader.

1) Here I have not included my discourse on the sins known to all, which all, even the crudest people and nations, abhor, such as: robbery, open violence and robbery, murder,