Sacred Fictions: Holy Women and Hagiography in Late Antiquity

3. The Rhetorical Uses of Clothing in the Lives of Sacred Males

3 The Rhetorical Uses of Clothing in the Lives of Sacred Males IN THE HEBREW BIBLE, GOD SENDSEzekiel a vision about the dangers of consecrated, symbolic vestments. Yahweh instructs the prophet that "when they [the Hebrew priests] go out into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, lest they communicate their holiness to the people with their garments" (Ezekiel 44.19).1 The warning is conveyed that the clothing of the Hebrew priesthood , the sole reserve of the inner sanctum of the Temple and the altar, should not be visible in profane spaces. Hebrew sacred discourse contains meticulous descriptions of the ceremonial dress of male altar servants. The books of Exodus, 1 Kings, and Ezekiel include detailed regulations concerning the sanctification of material objects and the consecration of those who wear or carry them. Linen coats, turbans, caps, breeches, girdles, and the embroidered ephod comprise the most important material embodiments of the spiritual authority of the sanctified Hebrew priesthood. The intricate ephod, the jeweled breastplate, the urim and thummim (the sacred lots carried in the pouches of the breastplate), and the ceremonial headpiece signify the power of priestly intercession, Temple sanctification, and altar officiation (Exodus zxff, 39.lff; 1Samuel 2.28; 2 Samuel 6.14; Ezekiel 21.26; Zechariah 3.5). Yahweh consecrates the Hebrew sacrificial table and all those who come in contact with it (Exodus 29.37), but divine power destroys those men who approach the hallowed space without wearing the proper ritual clothing (Exodus 28.43). The Temple precinct similarly requires the donning of appropriate sacred vestments and the cutting of the hair in a symbolic fashion (Ezekiel 44). In contrast, the Christian scriptures offer very little information on the outward appearance of Iesus and his disciples. They wear the common attire of the Mediterranean-sandals, seamless shirts, and mantles (John Rhetorical Uses of Clothing 53 19.23; Acts 12.8). The simple clothing of the Son of God and his male votaries inverts the ritualized garments of the consecrated Hebrew priesthood . The charismatic power of these second-covenant holy men emanates from bodily and spiritual purity, not from altar status. The late antique Christian hierarchy, however, gradually transformed the simple, apostolic tunics of the gospels and Acts into a complex, ritualistic assortment of vestments that physically embodied the unique powers (charismata) of Christian altar servants and through which masculine sacred gender was constructed. Male garments increasingly represented the special status of hallowed men who dutifully served at the Christian sacrificial table. Whereas female metaphorical clothing personified repentance and submission, ritualistic male dress signified charismata and institutional authority. Biblical Sacred Dress In the Hebrew Bible, the adornment of women's bodies exemplifies the spiritual chasm between apostate humankind and the divine, while the elaborate ornamentation of the bodies of male priests represents divine consecration and power.' Late antique and early medieval ecclesiastical sources suggest that Christian writers appropriated Hebrew images of sacred space and objects. Jerome in his commentary on Ezekiel 44 advises the adoption of special, pure garments by those who hold the sacraments." Early medieval church councils describe the Christian altar as the Holy of Holies." Specific canons compare the Christian clerical tonsure with the unique hairstyle of Levite priests and claim that the lower clergy who carry enthroned bishops to mass are like the Levites who bore the Ark of the Covenant on their backs." Hebrew discourse therefore contributed to the later Christian display of consecrated power through metaphorical clothing and hallowed objects." In Exodus (28.4), Yahweh instructs the Israelites to make for the male priests "a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a girdle." The Lord continues to specify the colors, fabrics, embroidery , engravings, jewels, and shape of each garment. The ephod and the breastplate both symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel. Aaron and his sons are to wear these symbolic garments when they "go into the holy place" and serve as priests (Exodus 28.5ff). The blue robe of the ephod was decorated with golden bells which safeguarded the priest from demons. The headpiece was engraved with the signet "Holy to the Lord" (Exodus 28.36). Yahweh warns that those priests who do not wear consecrated vest- 54 Chapter 3 ments when they approach the altar shall...