Replies

“Given that a priest (or bishop or cardinal or pope) is in the presence of Jesus Christ during the consecration of the Eucharist, attire, appropriate to the reverence that should be shown to our Lord, is the dictate. For this, we turn once again to scripture for an explanation and justification.”

This is of course a false argument. Not required at the Last Supper. Not taught in the New Testament Scriptures - anywhere.

“For your brother Aaron you will make sacred vestments to give dignity and magnificence. You will instruct all the skilled men, whom I have endowed with skill, to make Aaron’s vestments for his consecration to my priesthood. These are the vestments which they must make: a pectoral, an ephod, a robe, an embroidered tunic, a turban, and a belt. They must make sacred vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons, for them to be priests in my service. They will use gold and violet material, red-purple and crimson, and finely woven linen. Exodus 28:2”

This is telling. The only passage seized upon to justify wearing costumes in the church is a passage related entirely to Israel - that God laid out in detail. And yet no such instruction from God exists in Holy Writ for the church. You are left with a pagan wish and reading backwards into scriptures about Israel.

“Nothing in the New Testament requires abolition of priestly vestments.”

This is another false argument that makes silence a justification for action - and this used to justify doing things as the pagans did and still do.

“Our Lord attacked the Jewish leaders for a number of sins, but he never condemned their priestly garb.”

Why would he? Again, using an argument that has nothing to do with the church to justify imitating religions.

“It’s true the early Church didn’t use the Old Testament vestments, but this is because Christians didn’t want to identify their leaders with the Jewish priesthood.”

This is simply an opinion without grounding.

The only passage seized upon to justify wearing costumes in the church is a passage related entirely to Israel - that God laid out in detail. And yet no such instruction from God exists in Holy Writ for the church. You are left with a pagan wish and reading backwards into scriptures about Israel.

In the OT, the priest served in the presence of God. The same is true for Catholic and Orthodox priests.

If you were invited to sit on the dais with an important dignitary in the company of other personages of great notoriety, how would you dress? Would it be your finest suit or sweats?

“Nothing in the New Testament requires abolition of priestly vestments.”

This is another false argument that makes silence a justification for action - and this used to justify doing things as the pagans did and still do.

“Our Lord attacked the Jewish leaders for a number of sins, but he never condemned their priestly garb.”

Actually, Jesus DID:

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. “Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others. “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matthew 23:1-12)