Early Christian Views on Perfume and Modesty
Early Christian writers usually urged modest dress, plain behavior, and restraint with perfume or costly adornment. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Cyprian all warn against luxury or dress that feeds desire. The Bible passages behind these talks also include both holy anointing oil and warnings about outward display.
109 early-church witnesses · 184 source quotations · compared with Scripture
What did early Christians believe about perfume and Christian Modesty?
Early Christian writers generally urged women to keep modest dress and behavior and treated perfume, ointment, and jewelry with caution when they were used to stir desire or display luxury. Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Cyprian, and the Apostolic Constitutions all connect Christian modesty with plainness, self-control, and avoiding showy adornment.
At the same time, the Bible passages used by these writers also include positive uses of perfume and oil, so the issue was not perfume itself in every case, but its use as luxury, vanity, or sexual attraction. The evidence is broad on modesty and restraint, but mixed on perfume because some texts allow useful or holy oil while others condemn adornment and sensual display.
Many more early Christian quotations, Bible passages, and source links are gathered below so you can study the evidence for yourself.
Key Takeaways
- Early Christian writers tied modesty to plain dress, self-control, and avoiding showy luxury.
- Perfume was not always treated as evil, but it was often criticized when linked to vanity, seduction, or excess.
- Bible passages used in these writings include both holy anointing oil and warnings against outward adornment.
Questions Answered by the Sources
What did early Christians teach about modesty and outward adornment?
The clearest pattern is that Christian writers urged modesty, sobriety, and inward character rather than costly display. They repeatedly cite or echo Scripture when warning against braided hair, gold, pearls, fine clothing, and other forms of attention-seeking adornment.
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching
...d perfumes, and also the dyers of flower-colored wool. For it is not right for trapping clothes and ointments to be allowed into the city of truth. Instead, it is very fitting for the men among us to give off not the scent of ointments, but the fragrance of nobility and goodness. And let a woman breathe the fragrance of the true royal ointment, that is, Christ, not of ointments and scented powders. Let her always be anointed with the heavenly chrism of modesty, and take delight in the holy ointment, the Spirit. Christ prepares this sweet-smelling ointment for His disciples, mixing this ointment from heavenly aromatic ingredients.
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
..., he sets a proper limit for your clothing and ornaments. He said, "Let women adorn themselves with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or expensive clothing, but as is fitting for women who profess chastity, with a good way of life." 1 Timothy 2:9-10 Peter also agrees with these same teachings and says, "Let a woman's adornment not be outward, in clothing, or gold, or fine dress, but the adornment of the heart." 1 Peter 3:3-4 But if they also warn that women who are used to excusing their dress by referring to their husband should be restrained and limited by religious observance according to the Church's discipline, how much more right is it for the virgin to keep that observance? She has no excuse for adorning herself, nor can the deceitfulness of her fault be laid on another, but she herself remains guilty of it!
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Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Direct teaching
...to please by means of sensual attraction, all these things are rejected as frivolous, as hostile to modesty. For where God is, there is modesty; there is sobriety, her assistant and ally. How, then, shall we practice modesty without her instrumental means, that is, without sobriety? How, moreover, shall we bring sobriety to bear on the discharge of the functions of modesty, unless seriousness in appearance, in countenance, and in the general aspect of the entire man marks our conduct?
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
... to mixed public baths? They offer to lustful, curious eyes bodies that are devoted to chastity and modesty. When they shamelessly look at naked men, and are themselves seen naked by men, do they not offer temptation to vice? Do they not stir up and invite the desires of those who are present, to their own corruption and harm? You say, "Let each person consider the attitude with which he comes there. My only concern is to refresh and wash my poor body." That kind of defense does not clear you, and it does not excuse the sin of lust and wantonness. That kind of washing defiles; it does not purify or cleanse the body, but stains it. You do not look at anyone in an immodest way, but you yourself are looked at in an immodest way. You do not pollute your eyes with shameful pleasure, but by giving pleasure to others, you yourself are polluted. You put the bathhouse on display. The places where you gather are more filthy than a theater. There, all modesty is taken off along with clothing. The honor and modesty of the body are laid aside. Virginity is exposed, to be pointed at and touched. So now consider this: when you are clothed, are you modest among men, when the boldness of nakedne
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Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor (Paedagogus) Direct teaching
... part seems to be called the private part, because this part of the body ought to be used with more modesty than any other. For nature has allowed us to use food, and also lawful marriage, as much as is fitting and useful. And it has allowed us to desire the procreation of children. But whoever pursues these things beyond measure falls away even from what is according to nature, harming himself through relations that are against law. Above all, it is right that we should never use sexual intercourse with youths as with women. And so he who was made a philosopher by Moses says that seed must not be sown on rocks and stones, because it will never take root there or receive the generative power of seed. Therefore the Word through Moses most plainly commanded: "And with a male you shall not lie as with a woman. It is an abomination," Leviticus 18:22. In addition, the noble Plato, gathering from the divine Scriptures that one must also abstain from every female field except one's own, gave counsel from a law taken from there: "And you shall not give the intercourse of seed to your neighbor's wife, to be defiled with her," Leviticus 18:20. The seed spent with concubines is barren and
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
...ly practice of bathing in the same place with men, for the nets of the evil one are many. And let a Christian woman not bathe with a hermaphrodite; for if she is to veil her face and hide it with modesty from strange men, how can she bear to enter the bath naked together with men? But if the bath is set apart for women, let her bathe in an orderly, modest, and moderate way. And let her not bathe without a reason, nor too much, nor too often, nor in the middle of the day, nor, if possible, every day. Let the tenth hour of the day be the appointed time for such fitting bathing. For it is proper that you, being a Christian woman, should always keep away from curiosity that has many eyes.
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Tertullian, On the Apparel of Women Direct teaching
You must know that in the eye of perfect, that is, Christian, modesty, (carnal) desire of one's self (on the part of others) is not only not to be desired, but even execrated, by you: first, because the study of making personal grace (which we know to be naturally the inviter of lust) a mean of pleasing does not spring from a sound conscience: why therefore excite toward yourself that evil (passion)?
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Commodianus, Writings Direct teaching
...at the matrons should be like the ladies of the world. You surround yourself with gold, or with the modest silken garment. You cast the terror of the law from your ears to the wind. You pursue vanity with all the pomp of the devil. At the mirror you adorn yourself, with your curled hair turned back from your brow. And moreover, with evil purposes, you put on false medicaments. On your pure eyes you put stibium, with painted beauty. Or you dye your hair so that it may always be black. God is the overlooker, who dives into each heart. But these things are not necessary for modest women. Pierce your breast with chaste and modest feeling. The law of God bears witness that such laws fail from the heart which believes. For a wife approved by her husband, let it suffice that she is so, not by her dress, but by her good disposition. Put on only the clothes that the cold and the heat, or too much sun, require, so that you may be approved as modest, and show forth the gifts of your capacity among the people of God. You who were formerly most illustrious, give yourself the appearance of one who is contemptible. She who lay without life was raised by the prayers of the widows. She deserved
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
...ch wants ornament, since all things which God has made are very good. But the lascivious additional adorning of what is already good is an affront to the bounty of the Creator. Look downward when you walk abroad, veiling yourself as becomes women.
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Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions Direct teaching
...letely innocent. You are not guilty of the act itself, but you are guilty in this way: through your adornment, you led the woman to desire you. For you are the cause of her being moved in this way, and by lusting after you she became guilty of adultery with you. Yet you are not as guilty, because you did not send for her, though she was ensnared by you, nor did you desire her. Since, therefore, you did not give yourself over to her, you will find mercy with the Lord your God, who has said, "You shall not commit adultery," and, "You shall not covet." For if such a woman, by seeing you or by meeting you at the wrong time, was struck in her mind and sent to you, but you, as a religious man, refused her; if she was wounded in her heart by your beauty, youth, and adornment, and fell in love with you, you will be found guilty of her transgressions, because you were the cause of scandal to her, Matthew 18:7, and you will inherit a woe. Therefore pray to the Lord God that no harm may come upon you on this account. For you are not to please men in such a way as to commit sin, but to please God so as to attain holiness of life and share in everlasting rest. Do not make more beautiful that
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Cyprian, Treatises Direct teaching
...that they have departed from true and divine worship. Lifted up, they have fallen. With their heads adorned, they earned dishonor and disgrace. Having put on silk and purple, they cannot put on Christ. Adorned with gold, pearls, and necklaces, they have lost the ornaments of the heart and spirit. Who would not hate and avoid what has been another person's destruction? Who would desire and take up what has served as the sword and weapon for another person's death? If someone died after drinking from a cup, you would know that what he drank was poison. If someone perished after taking food, you would know that what could kill when taken was deadly. Nor would you eat or drink what you had already seen had caused others to perish. Now what ignorance of the truth is this? What madness of mind is it, to want what both has harmed and always will harm, and to think that you yourself will not perish by the very things through which you know that others have perished!
Common Questions
Did early Christians allow perfume and ointment?
Sometimes, but they often warned against using them for luxury, vanity, or lust. Clement and Tertullian stress restraint, while Bible passages also include holy anointing oil.
What did early Christians teach women about modesty?
They urged women to dress simply, act modestly, and avoid outward display that draws attention. Cyprian and Tertullian both connect modesty with inward virtue more than ornaments.
Was all fragrance condemned in early Christianity?
No. Some Bible passages use perfume and oil in holy ways, and some Christian writers use fragrance as a picture of Christ or virtue. The concern was mainly with sensual or prideful use.
Source Index for Perfume and Christian Modesty
The guided sections above show the strongest quotations. This compact index highlights 155 ranked source links from 184 compiled sources for deeper study.
Source index 155 ranked links shown
Early Christian Writings 80 shown of 109
Primary-source quotations from early Christian writers and church documents.
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Bible Passages 75 included
Related Bible passages saved for comparison with the early Christian quotations.