17: Keep Your Garments

Psalms 103:2 describes God as one: “Who cover[s] [Himself] with light as with a garment…” God’s first creation was light. Genesis 1:3 But it is not until verse 14 that God creates the heavenly bodies in the firmament that give off light. There was light before there were lights. This makes sense. We know there was light before there was creation at all. For our Saviour said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” -John 8:12 In Orthodox theology, this Divine light that emanates from God is called “uncreated light.” It is true light and true life. According to St. Saphrony of Essex: “Uncreated Divine Light by its nature is absolutely different from ordinary physical light.” St. Saphrony tells us that “[p]hysical light is the image of Divine light in the natural world…” He says that “Faith is light but in small measure. Hope is light but not yet perfect. The perfect light is love.” God also created man in His image, after His trinitarian likeness. And Genesis 2:25 tells us that “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” The Greek word translated “ashamed” in the Septuagint is “aischuno.” According to Thayer’s word dictionary, this word means: 1) to disfigure 2) to dishonor 3) to suffuse with shame, make ashamed, be ashamed St. Augustine of Hippo observes from this verse that “[Man and woman] were aware, of course, of their nakedness, but they felt no shame, because no desire stirred their organs in defiance of their deliberate decision. The time had not yet come when the rebellion of the flesh was a witness and reproach to the rebellion of man against his Maker.” They were, in a sense disfigured and suffused with shame. Therefore, God made Adam and Eve “garments of skin and clothed them” before banishing them from paradise. St. John Chrysostom explains this verse: “[T]he loving God, when [Adam and Eve] rendered themselves unworthy of that gleaming and resplendent vesture in which they were adorned and which ensured they were prepared against bodily needs, stripped them of all that glory and the enjoyment they were partakers of before suffering that terrible fall.” that “[Man and woman] were aware, of course, of their nakedness, but they felt no shame because no desire stirred their organs in defiance of their deliberate decision. The time had not yet come when the rebellion of the flesh was a witness and reproach to the rebellion of man against his Maker.” Adam and Eve were created without physical clothing, but they were clothed by God like the angels, in the radiance of the Divine light. They were completely naive of sin, being completely illumined within paradise. In a very real sense, they were unaware of their physical nakedness as a result of their constant contemplation of the Divine. However, once they attended to the evil one, and in their disobedience to themselves, they fell from their blessed state. Immediately their eyes were “opened” and they perceived their nakedness, not just of the body, but of the soul. They were, in a sense disfigured and suffused with shame. Therefore, God made Adam and Eve “garments of skin and clothed them” before banishing them from paradise. Transfiguration is our aim as Christians. St. Paul tells us that “as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:27. For Christ, Himself tells us: “Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame.” Revelation 16:15