Early Apostolic attitudes:
* St Clement of Alexandria
o "The hair of the chin showed him to be a man." St Clement of Alexandria (c.195, E), 2.271
o "
How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, and to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, and smooth them!…F
or God wished women to be smooth and to rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, and endowed him as
an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest--a sign of strength and rule." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275
o "
This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of the superior nature….
It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness.” St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.276
o "It is not lawful to pluck out the beard, man’s natural and noble adornment." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.277
* St Cyprian
o "In their manners, there was no discipline. In men, their beards were defaced." St Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.438
o "The beard must not be plucked. '
You will not deface the figure of your beard'." (Leviticus 19:27) St. Cyprian, 5.553
* Lactantius
o "
The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness and strength." Lactantius (c. 304-314, W), 7.288
*
Apostolic Constitutions
o "Men may not destroy the hair of their beards and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, “You will not deface your beards.” For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c.390, E) 7.392.
Furthermore, in later centuries the pope ordered priests to start being clean shaven around the same time as he mandated celibacy, both were attempts to emasculate the priesthood. The first thing the protestant minsters did to show they were neither celibate nor catholic was grow a beard. Likewise I choose not to be mistaken for a papist !!!
So after much soul searching even though my
clean shaven effeminate looking brethren choose to take the pulpit in such an unApostolic condition (although it was the
only practice of the first century church) I have decided to not oppose them in the pulpit as long as they don't shave that morning and have at least started their beard.
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