"No man putteth a piece of new cloth on an old garment," which is to say that a wise man does not, but an ignorant man may.
This action symbolizes the usual, unchristian method of correcting a bad man by making superficial corrections; or reforming an old sinner merely by reading him a new lecture on morals; or giving a morsel to a prodigal son instead of turning him back to his father's house.
By these palliative measures, yea, by this mending of a big old evil with a little piece of something new, one makes the evil worse. This is a reproach to all superficial attempts to correct human society by mending it piecemeal, instead of by a fundamental and thorough renewal through Christ.
This is from St Nikolai's book The Universe as Signs and Symbols
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