ABSTRACT
It is commonplace in the encomia of early Christian ascetic women to fi nd stories of dramatic vows that involved radical changes of attire. Any scholar of early Christian asceticism can easily recall stories of the young girls-often aristocrats-who cast aside the opulent garb befi tting their status to don the humble and modest clothing appropriate to their newly vowed life of renunciation.1 Although such stories litter the pages of early Christian literature, we regularly skim over them. Perhaps we understand them to be rhetorical fl ourishes that simply add color to the dramatization of an ascetics’ vow. Or perhaps we have underestimated the signifi cance of dress in early Christian contexts, considering the careful construction on one’s physical appearance to be evidence of frivolity, sexuality, and luxuria, characteristics that ought not defi ne the good Christian, especially the good ascetic.
