Jacob M.

G Choudhary

Reli 637
Asceticism

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

On Discomforting Clothing:
The wearing of discomforting attire in the ancient world seems to us today somewhat
counterintuitive, almost sadistic in quality and purpose, and yet it seems its purpose represented
tremendous significance to those who fashioned and wore them. We will peruse Biblical origins
and reasoning behind such clothing and then assess its appearance within the Life of St. Melania
as well as what historic evidence which might allow us to glean more from the issue. Why did
ancients wear such uncomfortable clothing? What did it achieve?
When St. Melania arrives before her uncle he is utterly shocked to see her overall
physical state. He had always been used to seeing her in delicate and fine clothing befitting of a
girl of her standard. St. Melania was born into a high senators family and throughout her life she
was carefully attended to and constantly provided for. And here she appears before him in
tatters.1 What is the significance of this particular passage? It highlights a phenomena, that of
wearing discomfiting and shabby clothing, and it quite commonly appears throughout the Bible.
There are a tremendous amount of Biblical sources that make use of sackcloth or other
clothes of discomfort. We may consider for instance Amos 8:9-102 1 Chronicles 21:163 Daniel
9:2-34 Genesis 37:31-345 Jeremiah 49:36 Joel 1:137 Jonah 3:5-78 Matthew 3:1-49 Psalm
35:11-1310 2nd Samuel 1:6-811 and 2nd Samuel 3:30-3112 among others where the wearing of
sackcloth or discomforting clothing is significant. The purpose from Biblical sources it seems is
that donning sackcloth signifies a period of either fasting, mourning, deep prayer, repentance or
any combination of thereof. With so many sources rooted in scripture there is no doubt to mind
that ancient Christian ascetics were influenced by the practice of wearing sackcloth and the
functions it therein implied via biblical inference.
It is entirely possible to assert that St. Melania drew upon Biblical sources concerning the
wearing of sackcloth in certain given instances. Consider for instance where St. Melania
confesses that she was eager to fulfil the word citing particular inspiration from Matthew 19:2113
a theme it seems is most common to ancient Christian ascetics extending as far back as Abba
Antony in the third and fourth centuries. From this we may glean that St. Melania understood
this verse in the literal sense much like St Antony and thus the wearing of shabby clothing seems
only natural to the occasion. We may consider the instances from the Life of St. Melania to be

Jacob M.G Choudhary

Reli 637
Asceticism

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

read as either a form of a humbling experience, as in the case where St. Melania arrives at
Jerusalem, sick, and with nothing to rest with except sackcloth14 or a device to illicit further
focus into the divine pursuit.15 16 17 18
Beyond what is revealed in Biblical sources and in the Life of St. Melania the question
arises: what does historic evidence have to say about this discussion? Are there any
contemporaneous historic items that match the profile of something as bizarre as a shirt designed
for discomfort? Historically we may consider the cilice which is derived from the latin cilicium
referring to a covering fashioned from goats hair and coming from the Roman province of Cilicia
(modern Turkey). The clothing piece was by no means desirable (save one) or fashionable. It was
perhaps desirable only in the interest of those so spiritually inclined to believe that it would assist
them in achieving increased focus in their spiritual pursuits. In reality it must have been horribly
discomforting, made of harsh and rough spun materials, very likely to chaff the skin or otherwise
cause severe itch, a constant reminder. But of what? When associating the irritating sensation of
discomforting tunics upon the flesh with a call for one to be in thanks to God it quickly becomes
apparent just how powerful of a tool a discomforting tunic can be.
In conclusion the origins for the wearing of discomforting clothes certainly take solid
root within Biblical sources. Concerning Biblical sources it is critical to remember that the
intentions for wearing such clothing was for the purposes of fasting, mourning, deep prayer,
repentance or any combination therein, but the purpose was not to cause harm to the self. In the
Life of St. Melania there is a contrast while sackcloth indeed features in the text we are met with
something slightly different. St. Melania wears, on differing occasions, a shirt spun of hair, the
purpose being expressly to capitalize off of the discomfort and pain caused by the harsh material,
the capitalization being its usefulness as a tool for the ascetic in their journey to find God. The
differences between the Biblical and the Life of St. Melania, and by extension the historical
sources on discomforting clothes are not major, but they are none the less significant.

Jacob M.G Choudhary

Reli 637
Asceticism

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

(pg 65 v.53) When he, [St. Melanias uncle] who carried himself about in such dignity of worldly glory, saw her
in that extremely simple and shabby clothing, with many tears he began to tell my humble self, Perhaps you don't
know, lord priest, how delicately she was brought up, more so than the rest of our family? And now she has humbled
herself to such a degree of austerity and poverty!
1

8:9-10) 9 In that day, declares the Sovereign Lord,I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the
earth in broad daylight. 10 I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will
make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the
end of it like a bitter day.
2(Amos

(1 Chronicles 21:16) 16 David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a
drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
3

(Daniel 9:2-3) 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of
the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to
the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
5 (Genesis 37:31-34) 31 Then they got Josephs robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They
took the ornate robe back to their father and said, We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your sons robe.
33 He recognized it and said, It is my sons robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been
torn to pieces. 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.
4

(Jeremiah 49:3) 3 Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is destroyed! Cry out, you inhabitants of Rabbah! Put on sackcloth and
mourn; rush here and there inside the walls, for Molek will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.
6

(Joel 1:13) 13 Put on sackcloth, you priests, and mourn; wail, you who minister before the altar. Come, spend the
night in sackcloth, you who minister before my God; for the grain offerings and drink offerings are withheld from
the house of your God.
7

(Jonah 3:5-7) 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least,
put on sackcloth. 6 When Jonahs warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal
robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.
8

(Matthew 3:1-4) 1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: A
voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 4 Johns clothes
were made of camels hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
(Psalm 35:11-13) 11 Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing about.
12 They repay me evil for good and leave me like one bereaved. 13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and
humbled myself with fasting.
10

(2nd Samuel 1:6-8) 6 A man came to meet us, they replied. And he said to us, Go back to the king who sent
you and tell him, This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending messengers
to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly
die!7 The king asked them, What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?8 They replied,
He had a garment of hair[a] and had a leather belt around his waist.The king said, That was Elijah the Tishbite.
11

(2nd Samuel 3:30-31) 30 (Joab and his brother Abishai murdered Abner because he had killed their brother
Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.) 31 Then David said to Joab and all the people with him, Tear your clothes and put
on sackcloth and walk in mourning in front of Abner. King David himself walked behind the bier.
12

(Matthew 19:21) Jesus replying to a man concerning the Rich and the Kingdom of God: If you want to be
perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.
13

(pg 51 v.35) It happened that St. Melania was sick when we were first in Jerusalem and had nowhere to lie down
except in her sackcloth
14

15

(pg 29 v.4) Under her silken clothing she began to wear a coarse wooden garment.

(pg 45 v.24) As we earlier said, she fasted from the week of the holy Pentecost until Easter, not taking oil at all.
Many who knew her well testified that she never slept outside her sackcloth nor ate on Saturday before she finished
the entire divine office
16

Jacob M.G Choudhary

Reli 637
Asceticism

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

(pg 48 v.31) St. Melania made for herself a garment, a veil, and a hood of haircloth, and did not abandon these
clothes from the time of the holy Pentecost until the fifth day of the festival of holy easter not by day or night.
17

(pg 54 v.40) There, after the day of the Holy Epiphany, she [St. Melania] shut herself in, and sat in sackcloth and
ashes, seeing nobody, with the exception that on some days she met with her very holy mother and her spiritual
brother.
18