new thread
Reading some of the posts farther down the board, I was reminded of a guest lecturer in a history of religion class I took who was a Reader in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He had a beard past his shoulders and hair about mid-back length. I did a quick search to see what official Orthodox beliefs on hair was, and found this page.
Evidently,not only is long hair and a beard not frowned upon by the Eastern Church, having short hair and a shaved face are actively discouraged. The article mentions this was actually one issue in the Great Schism of 1054. Very interesting read, even for us non-believers.
Here is the link, the URL doesn't seem to be showing up in the original message.
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/clergy_hair.htm
Just found it and yes thank you ! :-) I found it extremely interesting too although the early religious scrambled texts lost me a bit.
Particularly intriguing I found was the reference to the Greek word for hair where it is used in the context of describing hair as an ornament...."cunningly devised intertwinings" and "contrary to pious Jewish and Christian modesty". Although the writer appears to be referring to men, thoughts of one or two of the reasons for the black head/ veil covering for Eastern women arise too.
It's also interesting to consider that whilst perhaps many short haired women today might see their hair as merely an ornament in this same "stylized fashion" context as well, I feel most really long-haired or super-long haired women are far more likely to see their hair as an extension of themselves or of their identity, as many of us also felt recently in answer to the question posed by Curious "Why do you have long hair ?" I know I have never thought of my own long hair as an ornament at all, an extension of the body yes....
Finally food for thought from the legal workplace harassment standpoints especially as it could be argued, solely from this article of course, that long hair (and beards) are part and parcel of their ancient Christian tradition, heritage, culture and identity as well.
(Presumably the Great Schism was when East and West Christianity finally divided and went their separate ways ?)
Thanks again.