The Church against luxury in early christianity

Abstract

Sermons preaching against luxury in the Middle Ages were based on Scripture and the theological works of early Christianity and the early Middle Ages. The starting point was the Bible's teaching on the rejection of worldly goods and its precepts of chastity (virginity), poverty and temperance. The separation of body and soul is a characteristic of Christian doctrine. The dualist conception proposed a renunciation of the desires of the body as completely as possible, a kind of ascetic way of life for salvation: the exaltation of the soul as opposed to the body. In the early Christian writings we find praise for virginity and condemnation of luxury. The works of the patristic period primarily gave guidance to women on how to live a godly life and on how to preserve their purity and innocence. The everyday man drew his conclusions from external signs. There were fixed patterns to justify the sanctity of life or penitence. Ornated dresses, jewellery, makeup and hair dyeing, in short, the female ornament are not a sign of virtue or purity of soul, but of sin, and is therefore contrary to morality, modesty and Christian faith.