Beards in the Orthodox Tradition from http://holyorthodoxy.tripod.com
Metropolitan Gabriel (Petrov) of Petersburg and Novgorod was once going to a service, where the Archpriest Andrew Samborsky, whose beard was shaved off, was supposed to serve together with him. Seeing Samborsky, the Metropolitan said: "What kind of man are you? Our Church does not accept those who shave the beard. Get out!" Little Russian Philokalia, Vol. 3, St. Herman. Pages 71-72 For many centuries in the Orthodox Church, the commandment to wear a beard was taken very seriously. Even the casual observer of Orthodox iconography will notice that almost every male face, with few exceptions, has a beard. This is no accident. Beards have been the standard apparel of God's people Israel since the creation of Adam. Wearing a beard is so serious a matter that our Messiah even made it a commandment when He revealed the Law to His servant Moses. Leviticus 19:27 clearly states: "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard". The passage carries with it the implication that if we are not permitted to even disfigure the edges of our beard, then how much more the beard itself? This is how sacred the beard is. God put it on the human male for a purpose.
In the times of the Exodus of our Fathers from enslavement in Egypt, being clean-shaven was rather common among idolaters. As mankind had departed from the worship of God and turned to the self-serving pit of idol worship, all things associated with the antithesis of God's commandments became the norm. God had forbidden infanticide. The Canaanites made this a standard practice. Prostitution was forbidden. Temple prostitutes became common. Man had begun to forsake the worship of the Creator for that which He created and, since the beard was placed on man by his Creator, it became standard practice to shave it.
In answer to this, when our Lord revealed His Law to Israel, He formalized the use of the beard by making it obligatory. This obligation was no trivial matter. Every pious Israelite knew full well that it was against his moral ethics to shave off what God had put on him. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had all worn beards. Moses and Aaron wore beards, David and Solomon, and even Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be so meek that He would give his cheeks to those that plucked His beard (Isaiah 50:6).
Apostolic times were no different. The clean-shaven Roman was seen as a model of civilization while the bearded Israelite was looked down on as barbaric. That didn't stop the Apostles, however. The earliest iconography of the Church, with little exception, shows that the Apostles were bearded men, in keeping with the long tradition of our people. By His wearing a beard, the Messiah showed us that not only the obeying of the commandments was the correct path to travel, but that all things natural, when used in accordance with God's will, were a gift and were to be treasured rather than discarded.
Post-Apostolic times also confirmed this. The long-standing tradition of obedience was still going strong. As we can see from the following quotes, the post-Apostolic Fathers were completely in harmony with their ancestors: "The beard must not be plucked. "You shall not deface the figure of your beard." St. Cyprian of Carthage AD 250
"Men may not destroy the hair of their beards and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, "You shall not mar your beards." For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." The Apostolic Constitutions AD 390
"How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself for the sake of fine effect, and to arrange his hair at a mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, and smooth them! For God wished women to be smooth and to rejoice in their locks alone, growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He has adorned man, like the lions, with a beard, a sign of strength and rule." St. Clement of Alexandria AD 195 In the Orthodox West, so strict were they in their adherence to the practices of our Fathers, that there is even a Service for the Tonsure of a Beard. It was not until after the Renaissance that the idea of a clean-shaven face as acceptable even entered the Church. In the 1700's we find that St. Kosmas Aitolos had to exhort men to once again grow their beards in accordance with God's will. His statement is perhaps the most accurate and levelheaded that one will find on the subject. He states: "You, young men, honor those with beards. And if there is a man of thirty with a beard and one of fifty, or sixty, or a hundred who shaves, place the one with the beard above the one who shaves, in church as well as at the table. On the other hand, I don't say that a beard will get you to heaven, but good works will. And your dress should be modest, as well as your food and your drink. Your whole conduct should be Christian so that you will be a good example for others". He makes the clear point that wearing a beard is not for our salvation, it is out of obedience to our Master. And if our Master requires a beard of us, then we shall grow a beard.
In modern times we have made a complete 360-degree turn and have lapsed back into the ancient practices of idolatry and paganism. We find nowadays that everything that was once associated with piety and godliness is being cast aside for that which is anti-God. The birth pangs of the Antichrist are upon us. How much longer we have until the reign of the last persecutor of Israel is unknown. But what we do know is what God requires of us as a people in the meantime. And one of those things, for men anyway, is a beard. It may not seem like much, but everything done for the glory of God is a worthwhile endeavor, no matter how insignificant it might feel. As St. Kosmas said, it will not gain us our salvation, which is a gift from God Who died for us, but it is our obligation nonetheless. May all the men of the Orthodox Church return to the practices of their fathers and grow their beards in obedience to God's will!
*Note: It is pertinent to mention the following story. The author of this article once asked his spiritual father, an accomplished ascetic from Mount Athos, what to do if a job required that he be clean-shaven. His spiritual father told him to shave. This same ascetic told another one of his spiritual children that they should never lose a job over their beard. In stressing the importance of the beard, the Fathers of the Church were advocating this as a general rule. Mitigating circumstances must always be taken into account.
