Recently, I came across a Christian blog that touched my heart and soul.
http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/fe ... in-christ/
Previously at this blog, a young woman described what she thought was a correct response when encountering young women who were immodestly dressed at church. Certainly if a visitor wearing a plunging T-shirt and a short skirt were to come to a church in which almost all the ladies were wearing long blouses and skirts, she would feel awkward and out of place.
On the one hand, if the women in that parish were to remain silent and focused on their own sins, might that encourage an immodest woman to remain in her own sin? In other words, by silence, might not one be giving consent? On the other hand, by silence might the modest ladies appear to be snobbish, aloof, and judgmental?
Years ago, I invited a young fashionably addressed woman to attend my parish just before the Nativity Fast. Since a few of the women in my parish also wore fashionable clothing, I did not think to advise her on what to wear as she already looked very chic but modest. However, the few parishioners who were very aware of fashion did not attend that Sunday as there was some ordination taking place elsewhere that same Sunday. Instead most of the women wore casual black, brown, or blue matching pant suits or modest skirts and blouses, while she stood out in her gorgeous bright red dress with puffy sleeves. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, she was obviously embarrassed and quickly walked out of that church never to return.
Here are some excerpts from: http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/fe ... omment-697
A young woman we’ve known since she was a wee child came to spend a time with us. Although her parents are christians they had not been taught how to teach their daughters. As this young woman developed physically she also developed friends who encouraged her to “show what you have”. Her father’s complaints were taken to be the remarks of someone hopelessly out of touch with reality and ignored. Anyway, she ended up at our place because she needed a place to go to escape a boyfriend who was threatening her life. We took her in and gave her love and acceptance. As she came to fit into the home we were able to develop a closer relationship with her and we started working towards changing her way of thinking, because that was the root of the problem. As she started learning about God’s love ... that is when we started seeing the changes we’d been praying for.
We got a book for her that tells young women what their way of dressing says to the average man or boy on the street. And that was something that her so called friends had never told her. ...
What “did the trick” was loving her as she was and NOT pushing for external change. As we love her into Christ she began to change on the inside. And those internal changes eventually “bled through” into external changes in her way of dressing.
He concluded his essay with this paragraph:
On a side note, when we lived and ministered in Brazil there was a sect which was very strict about outside adornment. Long dresses, long hair and not jewelry were the norm for their women. But so much emphasis on the external had lead them to forget the internal aspects of the Gospel. Their women were also characterized as gossips, liars and nags. They had “all the right things” about their attire (according to their way of thinking) but had neglected the inner beauty that belongs to a person truly guided and ruled by Jesus the Christ. To those who didn’t measure up to their standard they could be very vicious. No love was shown to those who were “in the wrong” according to their narrow view, just a call to repentance from a way of dressing rather than repentance from a way of thinking.
This link has a lot of other interesting articles which have to be carefully screened as they are not Orthodox Christian.
http://www.achristianhome.org/ModestFem ... eIndex.htm
There is also a link to follow that contains Christian clothing.
