I had always been told by priests that until a girl reaches confessing age she does not have to wear a headscarf, but of course, if she wishes to, she can.
Appropriate Modest Clothing in Church
Theotokes in the icons...we should model ourselves after such examples.
Oh Yes - let's all start wearing robes -- because that's the way the Theotokos is depicted in the icon! And also, let's stop using deoderant, or brushing our teeth... because the Theotokos didn't do it when she was alive!
:shock:
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They say that I am bad news. They say "Stay Away."
-
romiosini
Wo... no need to bash the Mom of our God! 
Unless, we become Moanstics then we take the exact same examples of the Saints. But, there is the questionning on "economy", the necessity of becoming just like the Saints. Sure, it would be nice to not brush our teeth, or even take showers as actual podvigs in Russia or Serbia do, we could become Fools-for-Christ, but we the sad part is, we live in America. It is hard to follow such an old way of living. Hey, these are many ways the reach the riches of heaven, but must be taken in piety. Taking the examples of the Icons sure can help us. But there are times, that we should not. (Such as Christ in the Temple smashing all the merchants kiosks.)
Anyways, the Icons intend to show a sign of better living, it is up to us with the help of our Spiritual Father, to form that way of better living.
Hi ya'll... As far as icons go... many are not true to life. There is much symbolism. For example, St. Christopher is portrayed in some icons with the head of a dog. Christ is portrayed in some icons, though in his mother's arms, looking almost adolescent. The Royal Martyrs are often portrayed in either traditional ceremonial dress of the Middle Ages, and the Tsaritsa & Grand Duches often portrayed as nurses, or dressed in Greek/Latin looking clothing. However, I've been to exhibits where their clothing is on display... they liked hats, BIG hats.
The Mother of God, is often portrayed wearing a headcovering, even when pictured as a young girl. The reason for this is not to show realism in what she wore (who knows, did she wear red, like Orthodox like to paint her, or blue, or, well, maybe she had a fondness for green?), but to identify her as the Virgin. Tradition back in those days was that girls didn't wear headcoverings, women did. Now if this came into play after they began to menstruate, or after they got married, I'm not so sure about. I have seen icons of the Virgin with her hair down & without headcovering, as to portray her purity.
What people don't realize, is how much it takes to be an accurate iconographer. My grandfather was an iconographer, though he started out as an artist. Many times comments would be made that his icons were not like others. Why? Because, unlike many iconographers of our day, who think, "ok, female, martyr, 5th century= face w/ no beard, cross in hand, standard robe, maybe green this time," or "St. Nicholas= beard, bald spot, miter."
Dedushka did some research. His process was somewhat like this...
A. Read the life of the saint
B. Look through many many reference books to find previous icons of the saint, the older, the better.
C. Research to make sure clothing in icon coincides with clothing worn in that time period/culture.
D. Start writing icon.
A lot of iconographers don't do that, and people can be misled by believing everything they see in ALL icons is literal. Not bashing iconographers here, just a comment.
Theotokes in the icons...we should model ourselves after such examples.
Oh Yes - let's all start wearing robes -- because that's the way the Theotokos is depicted in the icon! And also, let's stop using deoderant, or brushing our teeth... because the Theotokos didn't do it when she was alive!
Tom
BTW: I'm one of the guys falling off the Ladder
<---darn right you are!
Also many Orthodox Christians do all the stuff you mentioned. They're called Serbian. hahaha
Господе Исусе Христа, Синe Божји, Помилуј ме грешну!
