Various Garments

Ἐξεδυσάμην τὸν χιτῶνά μου, πῶς ἐνδύσομαι αὐτόν; ἐνιψάμην τοὺς πόδας μου, πῶς μολυνῶ αὐτούς; Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ πῶς ὑπακούει τῷ λόγῳ ἡ νύμφη, πῶς ἀνοίγει τῷ νυμφίῳ τὴν εἴσοδον. Ἐξεδυσάμην, φησί, τὸν χιτῶνά μου· πῶς ἐνδύσομαι αὐτόν; ἐνιψάμην τοὺς πόδας μου· πῶς μολυνῶ αὐτούς; καλῶς ἤκουσε τοῦ κελεύσαντος ἀδελφὴν αὐτὴν καὶ πλησίον γενέσθαι καὶ περιστερὰν καὶ τελείαν, ἵνα διὰ τούτων εἰσοικισθῇ τῇ ψυχῇ ἡ ἀλήθεια· ἐποίησε γὰρ ἅπερ ἤκουσεν ἐκδυσαμένη τὸν δερμάτινον ἐκεῖνον χιτῶνα, ὃν μετὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν περιεβάλετο, καὶ ἀπονιψαμένη τῶν ποδῶν τὸ γεῶδες, ᾧ ἐνειλήθη ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν παραδείσῳ διαγωγῆς εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀναλύσασα, ὅτε ἤκουσεν ὅτι Γῆ εἶ καὶ εἰς γῆν ἀπελεύσῃ. διὰ τούτων ἤνοιξεν ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ λόγῳ τὴν εἴσοδον διασταλέντος τοῦ τῆς καρδίας παραπετάσματος, τουτέστι τῆς σαρκός. Σάρκα δὲ εἰπὼν τὸν παλαιὸν λέγω ἄνθρωπον, ὃν ἐκδύσασθαί τε καὶ ἀποθέσθαι κελεύει ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος τοὺς μέλλοντας τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ λόγου τὸν ῥύπον τῶν βάσεων τῆς ψυχῆς ἀποκλύζεσθαι. Oὐκοῦν ὁ τὸν παλαιὸν ἀπεκδυσάμενος ἄνθρωπον καὶ περιελὼν τῆς καρδίας τὸ κάλυμμα, ἤνοιξε τῷ λόγῳ τὴν εἴσοδον, ὃν ἐντὸς γενόμενον ἔνδυμα ποιεῖται ἑαυτῆς ἡ ψυχὴ κατὰ τὴν τοῦ ἀποστόλου ὑφήγησιν, ὃς κελεύει τὸν ἐκδυσάμενον τὴν ῥακώδη τοῦ παλαιοῦ ἀνθρώπου περιβολὴν Ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν χιτῶνα τὸν κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα ἐν ὁσιότητι καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ· Ἰησοῦν δὲ λέγει εἶναι τὸ ἔνδυμα. ἡ δὲ ὁμολογία τῆς νύμφης τοῦ μηκέτι τὸν ἀποβληθέντα χιτῶνα πάλιν ἀναλαμβάνειν, ἀλλ’ ἀρκεῖσθαι τῷ ἑνὶ χιτῶνι κατὰ τὸν δοθέντα τοῖς μαθηταῖς νόμον, ὃν διὰ τῆς ἄνωθεν γεννήσεως ἀνακαινισθεῖσα μετημφιάσατο, βεβαιοῖ τοῦ Kυρίου τὸν λόγον τὸν κελεύοντα τοὺς ἅπαξ τῷ θείῳ κοσμηθέντας ἐνδύματι μηκέτι ἐπενδύσασθαι τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας χιτῶνα, μηδὲ δύο χιτῶνας ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἕνα μόνον, ἵνα μὴ δύο περὶ τὸν αὐτὸν ὦσιν οἱ ἀσύμβατοι πρὸς ἀλλήλους χιτῶνες. τίς γὰρ κοινωνία τῷ σκοτεινῷ ἐνδύματι πρὸς τὸ φωτοειδές τε καὶ ἄϋλον; Oὐ μόνον δὲ τοῦτό φησιν ὁ νόμος τὸ μὴ δεῖν δύο χιτῶνας ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ ἐπιρράπτειν τὸ καινὸν ὕφασμα τῷ παλαιῷ ἱματίῳ, ἵνα μὴ χείρων γένηται ἡ ἀσχημοσύνη τοῦ τὸ τοιοῦτον περιβαλλομένου μήτε τοῦ ἐνραφέντος μείναντος καὶ τοῦ παλαιοῦ χεῖρον τὸ σχίσμα παθόντος καὶ δυσθεράπευτον· Αἴρει γάρ, φησί, τὸ πλήρωμα τὸ καινὸν τοῦ παλαιοῦ καὶ χεῖρον σχίσμα γίνεται, ὡς δημοσιεύεσθαι δι’ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἀσχήμονα. διὰ τοῦτό φησιν Ἐξεδυσάμην τὸν χιτῶνά μου· πῶς ἐνδύσομαι αὐτόν; Tίς γὰρ ἂν βλέπων περὶ ἑαυτὸν τὸν ἡλιοειδῆ τοῦ Kυρίου χιτῶνα τὸν διὰ καθαρότητος καὶ ἀφθαρσίας ἱστουργηθέντα, οἷον ἐπὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους μεταμορφώσεως ἔδειξεν, εἶτα καταδέχεται τὸ πτωχόν τε καὶ ῥακῶδες ἱμάτιον ἑαυτῷ περιθεῖναι, ὅπερ ὁ μέθυσος καὶ πορνοκόπος, καθὼς ἡ Παροιμία φησί, περιβάλλεται; Ἅγιος Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Ἐξηγησις Του Αἰσματος Των Ἀσμάτων, Ὁμιλία IAʹ Source: Migne PG 44.1004d-1005c

I have removed my tunic. How shall I put it on? I have washed my feet. How shall I soil them? 1 Let us see again how the Bride is obedient to the Word, how she opens a way in for the Bridegroom. 'I have removed my tunic,' she says. 'How shall I put it on? I have washed my feet. How shall I soil them?' Rightly she heard the One who exhorted her to become 'a sister' and 'a close one' and 'a dove' and 'perfect,' in order that in this way Truth might dwell in her soul, for she did what she heard, she put off that 'tunic of skin' that she had put on after sin, 2 and from her feet she washed off the earthy stuff that covered them after she returned to the earth from her time in the Garden, when she heard the words, 'You are earth and to earth you shall return.' 3 These are the ways in which she opened a way into her soul for the Word, having torn the veil of her heart, that is, the flesh. And when I say 'flesh,' I speak of 'the old man,' 4 who the holy Apostle commands should be scoured off by those who are going to wash off the filth of the soul’s feet in the bath of the Word. So whoever has scoured off the old man and torn the veil of the heart has opened a way in for the Word, and with His coming in, the soul makes Him her garment in accordance with the instruction of the Apostle, he who commands the one who has taken off the rags of the old man to put on the new tunic that has been 'created after the likeness of God in holiness and righteousness,' and he says that this garment is Jesus. 5 As to the Bride’s insistence that she will never again take up the tunic she has put off but will be content, in accordance with the command given to the disciples, 6 with the one tunic that she put on when she was renewed through being reborn from above, this confession, I say, confirms the Lord’s word, which commands that those who have once been adorned with the Divine garment should never again put on sin's shirt, nor possess two shirts, but only one, lest there be two conflicting garments on one person. For what does the garment of mourning have in common with the one that is full of light and immaterial? The law, though, does not merely say that one must not have two shirts but also that one must not sew new cloth on an old cloak, otherwise the shabby look of the person who wears it becomes even worse when the patch fails to hold, and when the old garment tears it is worse and impossible to mend. For He says, 'The new patch will tear away from the old cloth, and the result will be a worse tear,' 7 which will make disgrace public. Hence she says, 'I have removed my tunic. How shall I put it on?' For who seeing himself garbed in the Lord’s glistening tunic, woven out of purity and incorruptibility as He manifested it in His transfiguration on the mount, would then put on the poor, ragged garment with which, as Proverbs says, 'the drunkard and whoremonger attires himself? 7 Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Commentary on The Song of Songs, from Homily 11 1 Song 5.3 2 Gen 3.21 3 Gen 3.19 4 Colos 3.9 5 Ephes 4.24, Rom 13.14 6 Mt 10.10 7 Mk 2.21 8 Prov 23.21