In issue no. 6 of
The Russian Pastor, an article by Archpriest Boris Kizenko, "Do not
associate yourself with this age," was printed. There he touched upon the
question of whether or not priests should wear their cassocks or riasa. I would
like to share a few thoughts on this matter.
Very often in the
sphere of Church laws and traditions we, for one reason or another, allow
ourselves to compromise these laws. In our society today, the reasons and
circumstances for such compromises can seem very justifiable. However, the
danger lies in the fact that any compromise can become habitual, and the
compromised behavior then becomes the norm, giving rise to further compromises
and a general degradation of standards. Fr. Boris very aptly describes this
progression in his article. At a time when we are perhaps at risk of completely
losing the ideal in the realm of priestly attire, it is fitting to review the
Church rules and directives concerning the attire of a priest, as well as look
at some examples from contemporary life which shed light on this question.
1) The 27th Canon
of the 6th Ecumenical Council states: "None who is counted with the clergy
should dress inappropriately, when in the city, nor when travelling. Each
should use the attire which was appointed for clergy members. If someone breaks
this rule, may he be deprived of serving for one week."
Here everything is
clear. If you do not wish to wear a priest's clothing, do not dare to stand
before the altar of God.
2) The great
interpreter of Church Canons, Balsamon, in his interpretation of the 14th canon
of the 7th Ecumenical Council, which speaks of the ordination of readers,
notes: "He who has put on black attire with the purpose of entering the
clergy, cannot remove it, for he has stated his intent of serving God and
therefore cannot break his promise to God and ridicule this holy image, as
other ridiculers do."
If constant wearing
of "black attire" is expected of the first rank of the priesthood,
the reader, then all the more does it refer to those who are fully in the rank
of the priesthood.
3) In the
questioning period of the candidate before the ordination, the candidate to the
priesthood, in the presence of his spiritual father makes the following
promise: "I promise to wear the clothing appropriate to my priestly rank,
not to cut my hair nor my beard... for through such unseemly behavior I risk
belittling my rank and tempting believers" (Promise #5).
It is important to
note here that, in confirmation of his promise the candidate kisses the Gospel
and the Cross and signs his name.
4) The 16th rule
for the priests of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad says: "A priest, who
is fully supported by his parish, and is given the opportunity not to work at a
secular job, should have the appearance of an Orthodox priest, that is, should
have long hair, a beard, a riasa, wear a cross of a proper style, and not one
he has thought of himself and in his external appearance fully exemplify a true
pastor."
We must remember
that if the Church canons and laws were not important, the Church would not
have written them.
Physician heal
thyself. I must admit, that I am a young priest, and at times find it very
difficult to follow the above rules. There are times when one's nerves are raw,
and I want to go somewhere with my Matushka and children and not stand out,
i.e., be "one of the crowd." I am overweight, and in the summer it is
hard to bear the heat in my cassock. Yet all this merely exposes my weakness,
my lack of desire to constantly be a confessor of my faith; my lack of desire
to suffer for Christ even to the most microscopic degree. In my battle with
this weakness, I have found inspiration in a few true life accounts, which I
would like to share.
The Matushka of one
priest, who serves in one large American city, where pagan and Satanic cults
are rampant, told me of this incident:
It is clear that a
priest in a spiritual plane is always a priest, even when he is not dressed
properly. The evil powers feel this and most probably are pleased with our
"compromises."
A certain priest
decided to have a photograph of himself made. He put on his coat and hat. For
some reason he was embarrassed to be photographed with a cross on. He took the
cross off and put it into his left coat pocket. The photograph was taken,
developed and printed. To the amazement of both the photographer and the
priest, on the photograph there was a huge ray (by shadows one can see that
this ray is not from the sun), which pointed to the pocket, where the hidden
cross lay. Batiushka asked to have this published after his death.
In a small parish
of the Russian Church Abroad, because of the size of the congregation, the
rector holds a secular job. He works as a nurse in a local hospital. I was
certain that he removes his cassock when he goes to work. However to my
surprise, I discovered that this Batiushka works in his cassock, putting a lab
coat on top of it. This is regarded with respect by both medical personnel and
the patients. Often many patients even request that the
"priest-nurse" take care of them.
Concerned about the
question, "should and can a priest possible always wear a cassock?",
I began asking the grown children of elderly or deceased pastors, whether or
not their fathers always wore a cassock. Almost everyone has answered in the
affirmative, recalling that they rarely saw their father-priest without a
cassock. There are even cases where the children said that they never saw their
father without a cassock. This means that the requirement of the Church is
possible to fulfill with God's help. One only needs to try.
Proper Clerical
Dress
You make a religion
of robes, beards, and long hair. I know that the church canons say that we
should have beards and I know your arguments about long hair. I am unimpressed.
I am a follower of Christ, not man-written and man-enforced rules....Robes look
weird and cause people to laugh on [sic] us. They do not win over people to
Orthodoxy....I dress like a Roman Catholic and you dress like Mohammedan Turks.
Who is more in the [sic] tradition? Did you ever hear of anyone being defrocked
for what he wears? No. For serving like a lot of you Old Calendarists after he
was kicked out? You bet. Case closed....Keep sending your journal, since I find
certain useful purposes for the paper. (Fr. [initials deleted], Canada)
Your question,
which we received several years ago, despite its somewhat saucy tone, provides
us with an opportunity to clear up certain misunderstandings about a subject of
spiritual importance to contemporary Orthodox Christians. As you point out, the
traditional appearance of an Orthodox Priest—the attire and grooming which he
should maintain at all times, both in public and private—is a matter of
canonical regulation. The Sacred Canons of the Church reflect the proper
functioning and life of the Body of Christ; they are not simply laws and rules,
but guides to the life in Christ and patterns by which to accommodate the
action of the Holy Spirit to our daily activities. They are inspired and
binding on all who live in spiritual sobriety and uprightness. And though they
are enforced by men—one of the clear duties of the clergy, and especially the
Bishops, is, in fact, to uphold canonical order—, they are nonetheless Divinely
inspired. The Sacred Canons are also an integral part of Holy Tradition, which,
together with Scripture, forms the ground of administrative authority on which
our Faith is built.
We would also
remind you that St. John Chrysostomos, deposed falsely and for what was his
actual fidelity to the Faith, not only refused to recognize his illicit
deposition, but continued to serve, in defiance of what was manifestly a
spiritually wrong and invalid pronouncement. As such, he set a standard which
many Old Calendarists today, falsely maligned and punished for acting in good
conscience out of reverence for Holy Tradition, have rightly taken as their
own. Like him, we trust that many of these mistreated traditionalist champions
for Orthodoxy will win a Heavenly Crown for their courage. At the same time, we
pray that those who have wronged them and divided the Church by innovation will
escape that fearful "reward" which St. John Chrysostomos himself assigns to
ecclesiastical politicians and false shepherds who misuse the Church’s powers;
that is, Hell.
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