Do all Eastern priests have beards?

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It’s seen as traditional for an Orthodox priest to have a beard, but it’s not necessary, and there are many Orthodox today that do not, including my own.
 
andrewstx said:
I was loooking at the Antiochian site directory of parishes and notice that their are Eastern Rite Catholics, but thier are Western Rite Orthodox as well.

That was a surprise.
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Indeed! One is forming in my area as well using the Anglican rite. I’m still not sure what I think of it 🤷
 
dcointin said:
It’s seen as traditional for an Orthodox priest to have a beard, but it’s not necessary, and there are many Orthodox today that do not, including my own.
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I have heard that Metropolitan Philip prefers that his clergy not grow long beards. 😦

I like to see the traditional ways. 🙂
 
Mickey said:
I have heard that Metropolitan Philip prefers that his clergy not grow long beards. 😦

I like to see the traditional ways. 🙂
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I think we need to be careful not to emphasize things that are custom but not a part of the faith. I hear traditionalists go on tirades that frankly have more in common with the Pharisees than Christ.

I’m a convert and part of the Antiochian Archdiocese so I may be biased. 😃
 
dcointin said:
I’m a convert and part of the Antiochian Archdiocese so I may be biased. 😃
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I have regularly attended Antiochian Churches and I love them and their priests.

I also attend Greek, Romanian, OCA, and Russian services (I love them too).

For the most part, the ones who have developed a “new tradition” of being relatively beardless and without cassocks, is the Antiochians (not thrilled with the auxilliary bishops designation either).😉

I like the small “t” traditions…I understand it is not integral to the faith…and yes…I am biased.😃
 
Mickey said:
Do you have links? I have not seen beardless Icons unless they are depicted as very young or female saints.
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;);)…I’ve been trying to goad somebody into finding some images. I only ever saw an Orthodox priest mention the fact that in the ancient iconography, the holy fathers were often clean shaven, with short hair. I never did go look…but I never forgot what he’d said.

Ok…Imma pita…🙂

M.
 
I have seen Orthodox priests and bishops with and without beards.

It may be “traditional” for Orthodox clergy to wear beards but…does that make them holier or better priests? I don’t think so. Are Hasidic Jews holier or more “Jewish” than other Orthodox Jews because the wear the traditional garb of Eastern European Jews? I don’t think so.

It can be soooo easy to get caught up in the externals of “tradition” that we can forget either why they exist or we can forget that what is important is our interior life and our relationship with God and our neighbor.

If a priest is supposed to be the “image” of Christ, I’m thinking that that might mean interiorly not necessarily exteriorly.

Just my 2-cents worth :D.

Jeff
 
dcointin said:
Indeed! One is forming in my area as well using the Anglican rite. I’m still not sure what I think of it 🤷
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I am western rite Orthodox(Antiochian), just received yesterday, we use the Liturgy of St. Gregory which is basically the pre VaticanII mass in English. We are almost all converts. Our priest and deacon are clean shaven.
 
MrPip said:
It can be soooo easy to get caught up in the externals of “tradition”
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In Holy Orthodoxy, everything has meaning. I don’t think things should be dismissed so quickly with explanations of “being caught up in externals”. We love our “externals” and it does not mean that we are pharisaical. I love my incense with bells on the censer…I love the colorful vestments…I love the countless Icons…I love the beeswax candles…and yes…I like a priest or bishop with a nice long beard. 😃

Is he holier if he has a beard? Of course not.

What does the beard signify? The article posted earlier is a good explanation.
orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/clergy_hair.aspx
 
Elijahmaria said:
;);)…I’ve been trying to goad somebody into finding some images. I only ever saw an Orthodox priest mention the fact that in the ancient iconography, the holy fathers were often clean shaven, with short hair. I never did go look…but I never forgot what he’d said.

Ok…Imma pita…🙂
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:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
I was stationed at the Naval Station in Kodiak, Alaska in the early 1960’s. The congregation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the city of Kodiak was composed mainly of Aleute Indians. The pastor was quite elderly and died, so the Primate in New York City sent out a replacement. The new pastor was a young Russian-American who was clean shaven and wore a priest suit and Roman collar. The Indians were horrified and refused to believe he was a real priest, or atttend his services until he grew a full beard and wore the Russian style cassock and the head gear traditional to Greek and Russian Orthodox Priests all of the time!
 
Elijahmaria said:
Well…quit rollin’ around on the floor and go find some old icons of the holy fathers bare-faced!!..😛

I know they exist. I just don’t know where they exist on the internet.
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Have a blessed search. 😉

I have at least two hundred Icons adorning the walls of my house from all eras…and the only bare-faced ones are female saints…young men/boys…or Angels… All the others have long impressive beards. 😃
 
George_Stegmeir said:
I was stationed at the Naval Station in Kodiak, Alaska in the early 1960’s. The congregation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the city of Kodiak was composed mainly of Aleute Indians. The pastor was quite elderly and died, so the Primate in New York City sent out a replacement. The new pastor was a young Russian-American who was clean shaven and wore a priest suit and Roman collar. The Indians were horrified and refused to believe he was a real priest, or atttend his services until he grew a full beard and wore the Russian style cassock and the head gear traditional to Greek and Russian Orthodox Priests all of the time!
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Gotta love those Aleutians! 🙂
 
Elijahmaria said:
;);)…I’ve been trying to goad somebody into finding some images. I only ever saw an Orthodox priest mention the fact that in the ancient iconography, the holy fathers were often clean shaven, with short hair. I never did go look…but I never forgot what he’d said.

Ok…Imma pita…🙂

M.
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In my one Icon of the Apostles only Thomas is without a beard. Since he was the youngest it could be he just had not grown a beard yet. All the other Icons show the adult males with beards.
 
I asked an Orthodox priest friend of mine about this. Coincidently, he has a goatee, but not the big stereo-typical priest beard. What he told me is that it all comes down to the tradition in the ancient world that men wore beards as a sign of their masculinity. The icons of the Eastern fathers often show them wearing beards, unless they were mentioned as being particularly boyish, or died young. St. John the Evangelist comes to mind. Essentially, wearing a beard showed how manly the priests were–and bear in mind this is coming from a tradition that allowed married men to become priests.

The Western tradition actually looks at the same tradition, but took a different slant on it–at least that’s what my priest friend told me. The idea was that priests were to be clean shaven as a sign of humility. By denying them the sign of their masculinity Western priests were humbled before their fellow men and therefore before God, who was born a man.

None of this, however, is dogma, and it may well be just one of those pious stories that explains an old tradition without any bearing on reality; I’m not sure. I just find it interesting, and I thought others might like it.
 
FrancisB said:
I asked an Orthodox priest friend of mine about this. Coincidently, he has a goatee, but not the big stereo-typical priest beard. What he told me is that it all comes down to the tradition in the ancient world that men wore beards as a sign of their masculinity. The icons of the Eastern fathers often show them wearing beards, unless they were mentioned as being particularly boyish, or died young. St. John the Evangelist comes to mind. Essentially, wearing a beard showed how manly the priests were–and bear in mind this is coming from a tradition that allowed married men to become priests.

The Western tradition actually looks at the same tradition, but took a different slant on it–at least that’s what my priest friend told me. The idea was that priests were to be clean shaven as a sign of humility. By denying them the sign of their masculinity Western priests were humbled before their fellow men and therefore before God, who was born a man.

None of this, however, is dogma, and it may well be just one of those pious stories that explains an old tradition without any bearing on reality; I’m not sure. I just find it interesting, and I thought others might like it.
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I was told the reasons were practical. Beards were required so women cannot fake to be men and try to receive ordination. In the West, the priests were worried of the Precious Blood becoming stuck in their beards after receiving, so they shave clean.
 
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