www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology Long Haired Monastics, Old Believers, and St. Paul

Dear Friends:

St. Paul said it is shameful for a man to pray with his head covered, just as it is shameful for a woman to pray with hers uncovered. Also men are not to have long hair.

So my question is: What does the Eastern Church use to justify our monastics wearing klobuks during liturgies, and some not cutting their hair?

Also, Fr. John Meyendorff in one of his articles referred to Patriarch Nikon's reforms causing scandals in Russia, causing the Old Believer schism, with one complaint being these two issues. Do Old Believer Monastics not follow this practice?

Thank you,

anastasios

I dunno, but it's interesting that both the Lord and the Baptist are invariably portrayed with long hair, and Jewish men always wear at least a kipah (sometimes both kipah and over-the-head tallit) at prayer.

Cheers,


Sharon

Sharon Mech, SFO
Cantor & sinner
sharon@cmhc.com

As far as headgear goes, it may have to do with the symbolism behind it. For instance in the Syrian Church, priests and bishops wear a skullcap of seven triangular sewn pieces called the phiro. It is meant to symbolise the seven gifts of the priesthood in which they share. Deacons either wear nothing, or in India, wear a small cylindrical cap. It kinda looks like a tuna fish can, except fitting on one's head nicely. Among Indian Orthodox priests, it's so common that once when I saw an Orthodox priest friend of mine without it, I didn't recognise him for a minute. Bishops and monks wear a skimo, which is like a veil, sorta. It fits over the head, covering it, and some of it goes down the back. It has twelve small crosses embroidered on the top of it, with a larger cross embroidered at the part that goes by the neck. It was explained to me thus: bishops and monks wear this as a prayer that their minds would constantly seek to understand and grasp the faith of the Twelve Apostles, and that they would be willing to carry the Cross of the Lord. Since vestments in our traditions carry a lot of meaning, headgear may fall in the same category. I know it does in the Syrian tradition, but I can't say that I know for the Byzantine.

[This message has been edited by Mor Ephrem (edited 02-07-2001).]

Speaking personally for myself, I think the question of hair rests on a fundamental and informal societal rule of most cultures in history that women must naturally have longer hair than men. But what probably passed for long hair for a very long time was hair up to the waist that would cover a women's body. The Western Rennaisance paintings of St. Mary Magdalene are a good example. In India for example, women have a tendency to keep this traditional habit and grow their hair quite long while many men, mostly religious, have shoulder length hair or locks almost halfway down their backs (like yours truly).

In my opinion, if you live and grow up in a society like that, you'll soon start seeing such men as having "short hair" compared to the Rapanzel-like Indian damsels. In feudal medieval Europe, men, certainly the Norse and other Christian descendants of the once barbarian nations, grew their hair to such lengths. (I'm sure St. Paul has nothing against chivalric looks, now does he?) The problem is we're conditioned in our societies to seeing most women cutting their hair short (what's the use of the veil in church, if you have nothing to cover?), with bobs, or sporting shoulder-length or slightly longer hair at best (which has not done much good to the Western medieval habit of nuns having the locks they spent their whole lives growing and taking care of in their previous lives cut off as a sign of detachment form the world). With hardly anyone looking like the average simple peasant girl who by custom would usually take the life-long trouble to grow her hair long and perfect that beautiful, special crown of her sex, it's not surprising that any chap with a ponytail might seem to violate that Pauline rule.

Long hair (as in up to the waist) for men I believe was considered either as a sign of mourning or of consecration. Anyone who has read Gilgamesh should remember that he didn't cut his hair in mourning for Enkido. As for consecration, someone suggested to me that our monks and priests do this as a sign of poverty. And of course there's Samson. Most movies would have him portrayed as a hippie, but one realistic Italian production took into account that a razor literally never touched his head throughout his life. The end result was a Samson with locks to the ground.

In any case, I think the tendency for societies to advocate extremely short hair for men comes from a military mindset. In the ancient world, the Romans stood out from amongst the bunch. No hippies in their ranks. With a modern 20th century that has seen the worst of modern warfare, men naturally didn't go into battle without looking more and more like someone from the Marines. My two cents.

I wonder what our priests would think of this. It's a shame though that Melkite and Eastern Catholic priests have stopped this practice altogether (including beards *sigh* the good old days), while it is possible to find some Orthodox clergy with ponytails (Kudos to the Russians). The Orthodox styles can't be beat. I really should say Eastern Byzantine, since we Eastern Catholics should be emulating that same style. The Latins of course got us clean-shaven. Yikes!

In IC XC
Samer

CnaBa Iucycy Xpucmy!

Excellent points, Samer.

The problem is we're conditioned in our societies to seeing most women cutting their hair short (what's the use of the veil in church, if you have nothing to cover?), with bobs, or sporting shoulder-length or slightly longer hair at best

Guilty! For example, I think Jennifer Aniston�s hair (in its natural or slightly lighter color) and famous �Rachel� �do are very attractive.

<a href="http://oldworldrus.com">Old World Rus�</a>

Dear in Christ Anastasios,

God Bless you!

Monastics, after their Tonsure, should not cut their hair nor shave their beards. In the Athonite monasteries neither do they wash their hair nor even comb it. It is seen , in some ways , as a way to make one unattractive and not a part of "society". It does go further back though .

If you review Numbers, Chapter 6, you will see outlined the Nazarite Vow. This was taken as a sign of mourning, and this of course was thus adopted by early monastics who were mourning over theri own sins of those of the world.

Monastics also had the Holy Prophet Elias and the Forerunner, St. John the Baptist as examples of the eremetic life, and they were both " wild and crazy guys", with long disheveled hair and beards, dressed in skins and tatters.

Some of our present monastics still follow this tradition, most notably the Athonites and those influenced by and throught them, and many of the monastics in the Russian tradition. I am particularly reminded of +Fr. Seraphim (Rose), whose beard looked like dredlocks.

I think I would be wary of perfumed and clipped monks, who seem to be more attentive to the fashions of the day than the care of their souls...and there are quite a few of these "monks in name", but not in practice.

As far as the monastic habit, it is said that it was given to man by the Angels so who are we to question why we wear this or that. Basically the monastic habit is the same for all monastics, male and female. It is meant to make us look sexless, shrouded in our formless garb.( I am sorry but this reminds me of a rather funny experience I had last year. I was invited by a dear Carmelite Friar friend to meet the Father General of the Order and so I agreed to attend at a Liturgy one Sunday. I arrived and when I got out of my vehicle I put on my Outer Rasa and Klobuk. After the Liturgy I was having a coffee and piece of cake when a woman approached and told me that when I arrived she had just stepped out of the Chapel and saw me from the back at my car and wondered "now who is that nun in full habit". When I turned and she saw my rather long beard, she knew I was an Italian nun...no she knew I was a monk of some sort) That in a small way illustrates what sort of detachment the habit is supposed to help us achieve.

unworthy servant

+Kyrill

Serge,

Two words: Olivia Hussey.

In IC XC
Samer

Bless, Father.

Those are very interesting comments and no doubt the best exposition of the subject from an Eastern Christian standpoint that I've ever heard.

But to get back to our main point and tackle athanasios' question, since you've confirmed that what you just described not only is permitted, but even a monastic rule of sorts, how is one supposed to understand and interpret St. Paul's instruction in the light of all that has been said on this thread so far?

In IC XC
Samer

Dear Anastasios,
Glory to Jesus Christ!

May I put in my two cents worth?

There are Eastern traditions that relate the beard to show that the priest is an Icon of Christ, as we know.

In the Orthodox Catholic East, the beard was always the quintessential declaration of one's manhood.

St Basil said, "When I grab my beard, I know I am not a woman."

Even Orthodox Laity wore beards. Sts. Anthony, John and Eustathius of Vilna were Lithuanian Slavs who refused to, among other things, shave their beards. Olgerde martyred them, of course, for refusing to deny Christ. But for them their beards were an outward symbol of their allegiance to Christ and His Orthodox Catholic Church.

The Old Believers continued this tradition.

Peter the Great was enamoured with western traditions, as we know. He visited England where he spent six hours with surgeons and, afterwards, always carried a doctor's black bag. It was said that people in his Imperial Palace who were sick pretended not to be to avoid Peter's "medical attentions."

Peter also did not like beards, he thought them to be barbaric and unwestern. Anyone who dared show up at a banquet with an unshaven beard was liable to be pinned to his chair with both of Peter's knees as he shaved the beard off right there and then!

Old Believers were obliged to pay a special tax to allow them to wear their beards and received a coin depicting a man with a beard on it. Without that coin, a bearded Orthodox Christian was liable to be whipped.

The beard also depicts the Grace of God. in the Scriptures and the Fathers, the Grace of God is symbolized by olive oil dripping down upon us to the edges of our garments.

To remind us of our dependency on God's Divine Grace, tassels were worn that visibly resembled dripping strands of oil.

The beard was also a symbol like that. Knots and tassels were considered very holy things for this reason, beards included.

The monastic habit also reminds us of the Scriptures and how we are to fight temptation and live the life in Christ.

The analavos is like the Cross one takes up on one's shoulder. The Sword of the Spirit is the knots and tassels of the Prayer Rope for continual prayer to Jesus Christ in the Jesus Prayer. The Klobuk is the helmet of salvation etc. The Scapular or Askeem is made from the hide of a dead animal to indicate being dead to the world.

The Angel who revealed this to St Pachomios was giving him a visible sacramental to assist him and his monks in their struggles. I love recalling the words of Psalm 132: Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, that wen down to the skits of his garments.

God bless,

Alex

Hello:

The historical fact is that the great majority of Mediterranean men,
including priests and monks, in the first several centuries of the Christian
era were clean-shaven. In fact, that was a custom of several centuries
pedigree, having its traditional origin with Alexander the Great.

Of course, there were always exceptions. But, in this case, the exceptions
were more likely to be counter-examples. That is, when the beard reappeared
it was just as often a symbol of Roman authenticity (as with Emperor
Hadrian, who reigned A.D. 117-138) or of resurgent Hellenistic paganism (as
with Emperor Julian the Apostate, c. A.D. 331-363). In fact, Julian made
the wearing of the beard one of his great symbols of the Old Religion. He
even wrote a book attacking his Christian enemies, a book called the
*Misopogon*--the beard-hater!

Prof. Paul Zanker has detailed how beards, in their great variety, in the
Hellenistic world were badges of the various Greek philosophical schools.
See Paul Zanker, *The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in
Antiquity*, trans. Alan Shapiro (Berkeley [etc.]: University of California
Press, 1995).

And, of course, the beard was also a continuing feature of rabbinic Judaism.

For all these reasons, Christian men were generally (again there were always
exceptions) clean-shaven (i.e., while they did not necessarily shave daily
ad cutem--to the skin--they did not wear the barba prolix--the great beard)
for the first several centuries. The beard was really only revived in the
5-6/c. by the Greek clergy and monastics, and it quickly became the norm
(including in canon law). Subsequently, the clerical beard became a minor
casus belli between East and West. For the most complete study of the
question, see Giles Constable, "An Introduction on Beards in the Middle
Ages," in *Apologiae Dvae* , ed. R.B.C. Huygens (Turnholti: Brepols, 1985),
pp. 47-150.

Wearing the beard is a wonderful symbol and a great tradition (in fact, many
men, like St. Constantine and Emperor Constans II, who were in life
clean-shaven, are later depicted as wearing beards because of their symbolic
power). It is simply, though, not the original practice of the Church. As
with many of our Byzantine customs, it has a somewhat late origin but became
deeply entrenched and so traditional as to SEEM to be the ancient custom.

Pax.

William M. Klimon
http://www.gateofbliss.com

What an interesting question! When I was reading some of the documents and issues surrounding the "great schism" not only was the Eastern Orthodox rejection of Papal Infallibility/supermacy and the Filioque mentioned but also the use of "somes" (communion bread)with levening, long hair and beards of the priests and monastics were also mentioned named as examples of eastern heresy in the building of Rome's legal case against the eastern Orthodox at the time. I realize that Rome's stand on the hair and beard changed during the Renaissance and later periods, but it is interesting that it was one of the minor charges made against the eastern church.

Your brother in Christ,
Thomas

[This message has been edited by Thomas (edited 02-11-2001).]

This is a most interesting thread. As a former member of a religious community (with both Eastern and Western folks), the issue of 'how one looked' came up from time to time. I learned, and I think it's time to reiterate, the idea that how one treats one's body, i.e., bathing, clothing, vesture, etc., carries several different levels of meaning.

The monastic ideal was a spiritual one, and one's 'lack of interest' in the body and its needs was meant to signify the monastic's focus upon the spiritual over the physicial. This led to not cutting the hair, not bathing during Lent, wearing tattered clothing, etc. Unfortunately, this 'lack of interest' got transformed from a 'negative' (rejection of the body's demands) to a 'positive' (I do this in order to show the world that I'm a monastic, I'm not concerned about the needs of the body-- despite the fact that my garments have to be specially made- and are not the garments of the poor, and I'm different from the rest of the community.)

There is nothing specifically 'holy' about a man having a beard -- if there were, ZZTop would be Patriarchs-- nor is there something special about wearing black robes -- they were just poor-people 'old-timey' variants of what the rich wore. The true spirit of being a monastic is the devotion to prayer and to fasting, and the willingness to serve the community as a conduit of prayer.

For the parochial clergy, it seems to me the best approach is to wear inexpensive daily wear (including the car) and to be approachable by 'our own' as well as 'the others'. Originally, Catholic and Orthodox clergy in the U.S. wore the cassock/riason, but it eventually became so alien in general society that the clergy began to wear the (Anglican invented!!) so-called "Roman Collar" that was both 'clerical' as well as 'Sunday Best suit' for ordinary men.

One can say that not shaving, not cutting one's hair, wearing a 'dress', and not bathing are signs of the rejection of the world. But when one sees such a person on the DC-Boston shuttle (as I did), it prompts curiosity (or school-yard teasing) among the fellow passengers. It doesn't induce people to approach the cleric for the purpose of making a faith inquiry. It's OK within the confines of the monastery or the church/chapel, but among the general society, it might not be the best idea.

Let's let the monastics live their lives within the 'house' as they see fit; but when among general society, let's make sure that we are not alienating people from the message of the Gospel. Let them wear a pair of cheap jeans, a simple worker's shirt, a pair of simple shoes/boots, an adequate coat and a simple cross. And for heaven's sake, get a haircut. (Unwashed, untrimmed hair and beards also lead to pediculosis -- i.e., cooties. This is not holiness; it affects the health of the monk, and saps energy from the spititual work that he needs to do. There's no virtue in it, in itself.)

Blessings.

(Let the grenades fly.)

Dear Friends,
Glory to Jesus Christ,

There is also no doubt that the reason why priests wore and continue to wear beards is to symbolically represent, in this and other ways, the icon of Jesus Christ.

The beard was the badge of the philosophical caste in Greece and was something that was treasured in Judaism.

There was much in Roman culture that was initially repulsed by Christians who saw Rome as a kind of "Babylon."

In terms of what is "ancient," then who really knows?

The Old Rite Orthodox always maintained that their two-fingered sign of the Cross was more ancient than the three-fingered version.

We can cite examples in ancient history for both.

Beards were and are symbols of people who are consecrated to "theoria" and are receptacles of Grace, owing to their status as priests, monks or every committed members of the Royal Priesthood of the laity.

There are sufficient examples in the writings of the Fathers, all of whom had beards, regarding its religious significance. How old it exactly is as practiced in the Christian Church or whether or not the Romans had them are questions of lesser weight.

God bless,

Alex

Dr John:

You have no idea what you are talking about. While I don't advocate monastics walking around in public unbathed, the fact is we have gained many members in our parish and/or our Project Rachel program because Fr. wears the clerical dress. Wearing jeans?? Come on! Even the latins wear clerical shirts!

anastasios

>>> if there were, ZZTop would be Patriarchs<<<

I always wondered how the Phanar was financed. Now I know.