Why Does Pastor Wear A Bathrobe To Church?

In the Old Testament, God commanded certain garments be worn by the priests when they were performing liturgical duties (Exodus 28). Although not commanded in the New Testament, the Christian Church has continued this usage through vestments (the clothing worn by clergy during worship services). The first clergy in the early Christian Church wore long tunics, which was the formal Roman style of clothing of the day. Over time, white-colored tunics (called Albs from the Latin word albus, meaning white) became vestments to symbolize the robe of righteousness that all God’s people wear (Is. 61:10; Rom. 13:14; Gal. 3:27; Rev. 21:2). They are white to symbolize grace covering us and our sin, making us white as snow in God’s eyes.

By the sixth century, the popular style of clothing had changed away from tunics, but clergy continued to wear them, now both in and out of worship services because they had become uniforms to distinctively identify the office of clergy. Uniforms are worn to cover up and hide interchangeable individuals and represent, and point to, something larger than themselves. As the middle ages began, clergy started wearing black tunics, known as cassocks, as every day wear. Black was worn because it is the color of sin, mourning, and death, therefore, symbolizing that people are totally sinful and in need of dying to themselves to rise again and serve the Lord. By the early thirteenth century, cassocks were distinctively clerical clothing. Clerical clothing is defined as non-liturgical clothing worn by clergy, in other words, a pastor’s non-worship uniform.

Later, in the sixteen century, poncho-like outer garment called chasubles were adopted as vestments during communion services because they were more formal wear. For non-communion services, long cape-like vestments called copes were sometimes worn to stay warm. In the nineteenth century, as clergy from different denominations began wearing more modern clerical clothing, collars were invented and widely adopted to better identify clergy. Collars are what slaves wore, symbolizing that the pastor is a servant of God. They also symbolize obedience and show that pastors represent their master, not themselves.

Today, the purpose of clerical clothing and vestments is twofold: liturgical and universal. The liturgical purpose is to mark the person who is in the office of pastoral ministry. The universal purpose is to provide continuity with the church universal. Today, clerical clothing is usually a black suite with a white clerical collar. Albs are still used as modern vestments and are accompanied by a rope around the waist called a cincture, which functionally acts as a belt and symbolizes chastity. Stoles are narrow bands of cloth worn over the neck, which represent the yoke of preaching and are the color of the liturgical season. Chasubles, being more formal, have varied amount of use. Some pastors don’t wear them at all, some wear them for special festivals, and some wear them for every communion service. Copes are now usually only worn during outdoor services to stay warm, if at all.