A person who is raised by the king from extreme poverty to wealth, who is invested by him with high office and a splendid uniform and commanded to stand in his presence, will be full of devotion for the king and will revere him as his benefactor. He will be fully aware of his splendid robes, of his high office and the wealth he has been given. Similarly, if a monk has truly withdrawn from the world and its affairs and has come to Christ, if he is fully conscious of his calling and has been raised to the heights of spiritual contemplation through the practice of the commandments, then he will look unwaveringly on God and be well aware of the change that has taken place in him. He will see the grace of the Spirit always illuminating him – the grace that is called a garment, the royal purple or, rather, that is, Christ Himself, if it is indeed true that those who believe in Christ are clothed in Christ (Gal. 3:27).
– St. Symeon the New Theologian, “Practical and Theological Texts.” Philokalia, Vol. 4
Featured image: Textile, 1675-1725 From the collection of Russian noblewoman Natalia de Shabelsky, who traveled extensively through greater Russia in order to preserve the vanishing folk traditions of her native country. She collected many examples of textile art from the wealthy peasant class. Portions of Shabelsky’s collection are housed at the Metropolitan Musuem, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Cleveland Art Museum, and the Russian Museum of Ethnography in St. Petersburg.
