{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/211/2110292.htm","path":"chr/ecf/211/2110292.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/211/2110292.htm","text":"Of the Sheepskin and the Goatskin. 657\nThe last article of their dress is the goat-skin, which is called melotes, or pera, 658 and a staff, which they carry in imitation of those who foreshadowed the lines of the monastic life in the Old Testament, of whom the Apostle says: \u201cThey wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted; of whom the world was not worthy; wandering in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth.\u201d 659 And this garment of goatskin signifies that having destroyed all wantonness of carnal passions they ought to continue in the utmost sobriety of virtue, and that nothing of the wantonness or heat of youth, or of their old lightmindedness, should remain in their bodies.\nThe melotes (\u03bc\u03b7\u03bb\u03c9\u03c4\u03ae\u03c2), a sheepskin garment hanging down on one side, was the usual dress of monks. S. Anthony bequeathed his, at his death, to S. Athanasius. Ath. Vita Anton, 91.\n203:658\nPera can hardly be used here in its ordinary sense of scrip or wallet \u03c0\u03ae\u03c1\u03b1. Gaz\u00e6us suggests that it may be a transcriber\u2019s error for p\u0153nula, while Ducange would read, \u201cqu\u00e6 melotes appellatur, vel pera, et baculus.\u201d Mr. Sinker, in the Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (Vol. II. p. 1619), suggests that possibly the word may be Egyptian.\n203:659\nHeb. 11:37, 38.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. XI: The Wor...","type":"page"}