So Why The Funny Clothes?

When looking at Orthodoxy for the first time it is not uncommon to stumble on the most elementary of things. "So why the funny clothes? Why don't the priests just dress normal?" Okay, define "normal". This issue is most often posed by a Westerner, someone born in the West. Please forgive, but it is birthed out our of ignorant arrogance that presupposes that the world evolves around the West and anything else is not normal.

In the movie, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp is talking to his good friend Doc Holiday while dying. "I just want to have a normal life Doc," Wyatt says. In his deathbed wisdom Doc replies, "There ain't no normal life, Wyatt, there's just life. Now get about livin' it." There ain't no normal clothes either, there are just clothes and they vary according to the culture. The culture of he Kingdom of God on this earth is not of this world. Clothes worn by the clergy have as their purpose not to make a man stand out but to hide the man so that God may be exalted. The idea that physical matter is evil is foreign to the church, in fact it is heretical. Matter is of God and sanctified for him. This includes the clothes worn in worship. Such has its roots in the Judaic Temple worship from which Christianity was birthed. The Orthodox Temple itself is designed to pattern such. There is the outer court, the inner court and the Holy of Holies. In place of the Torah in the Holy of Holies, is the Word Himself-Jesus Christ-in the Eucharist.

"This emphasis on sensory involvement has its basis in the Orthodox and thoroughly Biblical conviction that it is the whole world, and not only man's soul, that will be transfigured - "saved" - when Christ establishes His Kingdom at the end of time. The Liturgy is the anticipation and conditional realization here and now of that promised end. Far from denying God's material creation, it sanctifies it. The Eucharist itself is proof of this. However, the beauty of the Liturgy is of a kind that is consistent with the Church's vision of that transfigured world."

Here is a quick glimpse of matter that is sanctified to God. See the Vestments, the incense, the Eucharist:




Vestments have evolved somewhat over the 2000 years the church has existed but every garment with their varying shapes, coverings and colors are designed with reason and message. In the Orthodox Liturgy, physical matter is sanctified not held in disdain. No clergy dares approach the altar, where the mystical presence of Christ Himself is present, in common clothes, blue jeans, Hawaiian shirt, etc. Not even the Western suit and tie will suffice. The office of Bishop, Priest and Deacon are set aside and sanctified so as to lead all the people to the altar of Holy Trinity.

Study the meaning of the vestments and you will see the gospel of Emmanuel, God is with us, visibly displayed. Here are a couple of sites for a more thorough look:

http://www.orthodoxchristian.info/pages/vestments.htm
http://www.roca.org/OA/32/32f.htm
http://www.annunciationgoc.com/worship09b3.htm

That's why the funny clothes. By the way, why do many protestant clergy wear that funny, skinny piece of cloth around their necks that first appeared in 1860 as a sign used of British aristocracy? Who designed the TIE anyway? What significance does that have in worship?? Now that's funny.