Weaving the Body of God: Proclus of Constantinople, the Theotokos, and the Loom of the Flesh

Abstract

Proclus of Constantinople was a popular preacher who was deeply involved in the controversy surrounding the Mother of God that preceded the Council of Ephesus in 431. One of Proclus' most distinctive images of the Virgin is that of the textile-loom. This peculiar metaphor is closely related to the biblical exegesis of cloth and clothing, contemporary changes in the manufacture and symbolism of clothing and other textiles, and, perhaps, to the influence of the empress Pulcheria. Pulcheria, the virgin empress who spent much of her time spinning and weaving, modeled herself on the image of Mary, and sided with Proclus in his defense of the Mother of God. Women's workrooms, especially those where yarns were spun and woven, were the favored sites for the fabrication of stories and aphorisms, and this paper suggests that Pulcheria and her circle of high-born weavers may have been the authors of Proclus' images of the Virgin as a textile-loom. Finally, the symbolism of clothing and dress was particularly well suited to express the mystery of God's Incarnation in the flesh, both in terms of divine self-disclosure, and as a redemptive exchange of otherness.