The Sheepskin and the Goatskin

The last item of their dress is the goatskin, which is called a melotes, or pera, and a staff. They carry these in imitation of those who in the Old Testament foreshadowed the outlines of the monastic life. Of them the apostle says, “They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, in need, distressed, afflicted, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” This garment of goatskin signifies that, having destroyed every lustful stirring of the passions of the flesh, they ought to remain in the utmost soberness of virtue, and that nothing of the lust or heat of youth, or of their old frivolity, should be left in their bodies. [a]