Can priests wear white collars?

[joasia]

This may sound like a silly question, so please forgive me, but I've always wondered why Ecumenist priests wore white collars. How do they explain that? I always thought it was a papist style. I've never seen a traditional Orthodox priest wear one.

I've always wanted to ask one of them, but didn't want to cause an awkward situation. But, lately the thought has been coming up.

Is this dress code really significant to the faith? And, for further insight, what is important as dress code for Orthodox clergy? Can they wear regular clothes to work? I'm referring to married priests in the world. Are they obligated to wear rasa (robes) at all times?

[Archimandrit Nilos]

White collars were Anglicans, Roman and Old Catholics, and also "priests" and "Bishops" of the fallen banned World Orthodoxy. This is the truth !

[Maria]

Metropolitan Philip of the Antiochians has forbidden his priests to wear the riasa outside the church. While Antiochian priests can wear the riasa (or frock) inside the church during Holy Services such as the Paraclesis to the Theotokos, these priests must wear the Roman Collar (white collar) outside the church while visiting patients in hospitals, etc. What is worse, their bishops look just like Roman Catholic bishops because they wear red piping on their clerical suits. Some even sport a red sash around their waists, especially the Western Rite Archpriests. It is just plain weird. Many of their clergy (deacons, priests, and bishops) also do not wear beards nor long hair.

[Archimandrit Nilos]

The so called "Metropolitan Philip" (Antiochian) is not a true Orthodox Christian. By his heresies he is ipso facto a banned layman in ecclesiastical garments. You can forget him, he is out of the True Church of Christ.

[Ephrem]

The clergyman's clothing is a symbol of his renunciation of vanity and his submission to the Church's rules. In this sense, it is very important to the faith! As for the specific kind of clothing, this was handed down to us by our fathers, and so we revere it as the tradition of the Church.

For an Orthodox clergyman the proper "street clothes" are a cassock, a ryassa, and the appropriate headcovering (this is according to rank). A Deacon, Priest, and Bishop will all wear these things. Sometimes a "clergy vest" is worn instead of a ryassa. For a Priest, one can add a pectoral cross (in the Russian Tradition, at least). A Bishop would wear a "Panagia" and his klobuk, and may also carry his staff.

All clergy I have known who work secular jobs have been given permission to wear normal business clothes to work. Outside of that, clergy are obligated to wear their clerical garments all times when they might be seen by the faithful.

[Maria]

The so called "Metropolitan Philip" (Antiochian) is not a true Orthodox Christian. By his heresies he is ipso facto a banned layman in ecclesiastical garments. You can forget him, he is out of the True Church of Christ.

Maybe that is why he shuns the frock and sports the Roman Catholic Collar, which he has forced on all his deacons, priests, and bishops?

[Matthew]

I even actually met an EP nun from the UK who wore the Roman Catholic Nun's habit with a huge cross. I asked her why she diverged from the Orthodox habit even in our parish services where we all know what an Orthodox nun should look like (I was New Calendar still at that time) She said it was because most people were taking her for a muslim, and she didn't want that. So she got a blessing to Catholic in garb. Sick. Just plain sick. Nobody wants to stand for the truth and take back the land for Orthodoxy. Some Orthodox women in the New Calendar churches also dont wear the head covering for the same reasons. They say it looks muslim and also that it messes up their hair and that it makes them feel demeaned and inferior to men. Lord have mercy. First of all the muslims stole the practice of head coverings from the Orthodox. That pious practice is the rightful property of the Church! Are we going to let the muslims totally own it? We need to take it back. Anways, just a few thoughts to chime in on the issue of Orthodox dress codes and the loss of our traditions among "Orthodox" leaders and monastics.

Symeon