Abbey-Roads2

Why many Orthodox priests do not shave and have long hair.

I never knew this before, but it has long been the tradition in the Orthodox Church that priests and monks neither cut their beards nor their hair, which explains why they look like the icons.  I suppose I knew this unconsciously, but I never gave it any thought.  Yet the reason is very much tied to the Old Law (Leviticus 19:27 and 21:5); that priests not trim their beards or cut their hair.  Of course, it is also in imitation of Christ, a Nazorean, who neither trimmed His beard, nor cut His hair.  Since the priest acts in place of Christ (persona Christi), it is fitting he resemble his Master. 

In the Roman Church, Capuchin Franciscans wore beards for similar reasons, since both Christ and St Francis were bearded, although Roman Catholic clerics were always tonsured.  (It was customary that Romans shaved, since not to do so identified one as a barbarian.)

“Don’t change a hair for me…”

Many Orthodox Jews keep the same rule, especially Hassidic Jews, who keep the Nazarene custom of long hair and beards.  Interestingly, Jews recognize that Orthodox priests are keeping the Old Law, although they say they do not keep other aspects of it, such as circumcision.  As Christians, we know we are not obliged to do so, although Coptic and Ethiopian Christians keep the part of the Old Covenant’s dietary regulations, such as not eating pork, and so on.

One day I was standing, talking with a Roman Catholic priest, while two Hassidic Jews were walking down the street ahead of us.  Father nudged me and pointed to them, laughing at their hair and beards, with their customary fedoras, and the prayer shawl tassels hanging from their coats.  I can’t repeat what he said.  I  couldn’t avoid thinking how strange our religions seem to one another, yet how closely related we really are.  It was at that moment, I understood Christ, the Jew, had long hair, a beard, and would have worn a prayer shawl.  Now I also understand why the Orthodox priest has long hair and a beard as well.

Orthodox priests who work at secular jobs, and those whose wives (Matushkas) do not like beards, may shave and cut their hair, and many do.  I assume the Orthodox must have their own controversies  over which priest shaves and those who don’t.  What would Church be without our petty differences, huh?

Roman Catholics who favor married clergy might want to look more closely at the Orthodox married clergy - a wife, children to raise, a normal job, and your weekends are always booked, Batiushka.

Links:

The Truth About The Beard

Concering the Tradition of Long Hair and Beards

Long Hair and Beards For Orthodox Clergy

Priestly Attire

When the Pope speaks. 

Cardinal Bertone revealed the Holy Father is finishing a new social encyclical, with special concern for the third and fourth world .  It is rumored it will be signed on the feast of St. Joseph and released during Easter.  CNA  has the story.

Are papal encyclicals infallible?

Maybe not according to dissident Catholics or those outside the Church, and even die-hard traditionalists who reject Vatican II.  Nevertheless, when the Pope speaks through an encyclical, what he says does command consent on the part of the faithful.  As Pius XII affirmed in his 1950 encyclical Humanae generis:

“Nor must it be thought that what is expounded in encyclical letters does not itself command consent, on the pretext that in writing such letters the Popes do not exercise the supreme power of their teaching authority. For these matters are taught with the ordinary teaching authority, of which it is true to say, ‘He who heareth you, heareth me.’ … But if the Supreme Pontiffs in their official documents purposely pass judgment on a matter up to that time under dispute, it is obvious that the matter, according to the mind and will of the same Pontiffs, cannot be any longer considered a question open to discussion among theologians.” - Pius XII

Later, the Council Fathers of Vatican II teach that:

“loyal submission of the will and intellect must be given, in a special way, to the authentic teaching authority of the Roman Pontiff, even when he does not speak ex cathedra in such wise, indeed, that his supreme teaching authority be acknowledged with respect, and that one sincerely adhere to decisions made by him, conformably with his manifest mind and intention, which is made known principally either by the character of the documents in question, or by the frequency with which a certain doctrine is proposed, or by the manner in which the doctrine is formulated.”- Lumen Gentium

Links:

What is Papal Infallibility?

RCIA and incompetence. 

The woman who cuts my hair sends her children to school at St. Richard’s, a Catholic church/community and school in Richfield, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.  Her husband is ‘undergoing‘ RCIA at the ‘community center’.  Typically, the parish priest or pastor has little to nothing to do with the formation of RCIA candidates - at St. Richards any way.  In fact, the pastor is on sabbatical - so he definitely is not involved.  He is traveling the Middle East.  The parissh website explains:

“Our pastor, will be gone on sabbatical January through April in 2008. The focus of his sabbatical is the meeting of East and West in Christian spirituality. He received a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment that will allow him to travel to Egypt, Turkey, Greece, and Italy.” - St. Richard’s

[Strange to be away on sabbatical over the most important feast in the Christian calendar.]

First Communion - then First Penance.

My friend’s husband is Lutheran, but attended Mass with his wife and children and wanted to receive the Eucharist - so he decided to enroll in RCIA.  My friend is young, still in her 20’s, but was raised in a conventional Catholic parish.  She made her first confession, and then  made her first communion.  Her child’s religious education person told her she had to adapt to change when she asked why her children couldn’t make their first confession before communion.  The teacher explained that first penance is reserved for the 5th graders - “because children younger than that just couldn’t sin.”  (And people wonder why there is a loss of a sense of sin in our society.)

My friend’s husband will be confirmed at the Easter Vigil, although he has never been prepared for the sacrament of penance.  In fact, he has been told nothing about the sacrament, and it appears he is not required to make a confession before his profession of faith and confirmation.

Once my friend asked the woman in charge of RCIA about aspects of the faith she felt were important for her husband to learn about, the instructor pretty much blew her off.  My friend told me that every parish she checked out in south Minneapolis and the southern suburbs seemed like entirely different denominations of Catholic, each appeared to have their own rules and way of celebrating Mass.

So - What’s in your parish?