Actually, I was with the mission in Plano so it was a smaller group than at the cathedral. I am glad to hear that more of the ladies are covering their heads at the cathedral. Many in our parish actually went there for a wedding not too long ago and I think I did see a fair number of head coverings but I was too busy oohing and aaahhhing over the beauty of your temple to notice much else. It is really an incredible temple you have there and the choir sounded great 
In Christ,
Rd. David
In Defense of Women Covering Their Heads
On Account of the Angels Why I cover My Head
(Reprinted by permission from the Spring 1997 issue of The Handmaiden, Conciliar Press)
At first reading of this verse I thought, "Good grief, that, at least, can't have anything to do with women today." I was a new convert to Christianity and making a valiant effort to read the Bible "as if it were true." St. Paul was hard to swallow, and so were angels – along with fairies and trolls! My grudging acceptance of Christianity was based on honest doubt rather than conviction. No one had proved to me that it was true, but neither could I prove it false. On that flimsy hope I chose to make what Kierkegaard called "a leap of faith over the abyss of the absurd." It was a desperate act. I was at the end of my rope, at a loss to explain the painful contradiction between my good intentions and the reality of my life. I was no longer able to pretend success as a wife, mother of four, or writer (even though my book had been sold on first submission to a leading publisher). In truth I didn't even know who I was, although I loudly proclaimed my manifesto as atheist, humanist, and feminist, with strong opinions on most issues. I had spent most of my young life trying to define myself by "proving" I could do anything a man could do, only better. (What man could bear children!) But inside was a black hole and I was about to fall in.
Somehow I "happened" across a Bible and read that God (whoever He or It was) created "man in our image, male and female created He them." I read of Moses encountering a burning bush which was not consumed – and a God who identified Himself as I AM. That caught my attention. If there was a great I AM from whom all small "I ams" received their identity, there was hope of discovering myself and what it meant to be a woman. One night, under a canopy of stars in the desert, I cried out: "God, if you are there, I want to find You!" But my mind refused to accept the Bible stories of sacrificial lambs and Christ crucified and resurrected. Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am," and I agreed. My ability to reason was my life! With a heavy heart I gave up on the "mindless" Christian solution. But when all seemed lost, a quiet little thought lodged in my head: "If it were true – would you accept it? And can you prove that it is not?" The question would not let go. In fear and trembling I chose to "sacrifice" my reason, accept the incomprehensible in hopes it would prove true, and live the rest of my life as if it were. It felt as if I were dying, but I saw no other way.
The proof of the pudding, of course, was in the eating. The truth of the Bible could only be tested through obedience. I determined to do whatever "leapt at me" in the daily reading of Scripture. I disagreed with St. Paul's view of women, but he did say, "there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). Clearly we were equal in salvation and worthiness – then why different rules? Were they only cultural, not applicable to us today? Then one day I prayed, "God, You made me a woman; I want to live the fullness of womanhood as you meant it – spiritually, emotionally, every way, even if it means doing as St. Paul says!"
Soon after that, during morning prayer, I Corinthians 11:10 leapt at me. It seemed silly, but I got up from my knees, found a kerchief to put over my head, and went on with prayers. Somehow it felt right. One day I wore the scarf in my Southern Baptist church. There were glances, but no comments. Gradually it became more of a habit, both during prayers at home and in church. As the only woman with a head-covering, I felt conspicuous at times, but could not bring myself to take it off. I decided I would rather err on the side of obedience than against it. And there were the angels to consider. By now I believed in them, but why they should care about my head was still a mystery.
After I had been a Christian for thirteen years, a desire for the sacraments drew me to the Episcopal Church. It was 1979, and three-fourths of the women in the congregation wore head-coverings. I rejoiced. During the Eucharist the priest, standing before the altar, chanted: "Therefore, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious Name, evermore praising Thee, and saying, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts: heaven and earth are full of Thy glory…' " The glory hit me: We were worshipping God in the company of a heavenly host! Was St. Paul alluding to that?
When I learned of the Jesus Prayer and adopted a rule of prayer, it seemed appropriate to wear something on my head at all times. I sewed matching dresses and scarves which my friends accepted as my "style" – artistic and a bit eccentric. That was fine with me (and I hoped, with the angels!) I was saddened when other women in our parish stopped wearing a head- covering. They though it unnecessary and outdated, and some saw it as a sign of inferiority. Women and men were equal, and – according to current unisex fashions in clothing, life and hairstyles – practically alike and interchangeable. For nearly two thousand years Christian women had covered their heads in church, and usually elsewhere – but now we were "liberated" from that.
In 1995 I was chrismated Orthodox and was surprised to find myself again the only woman wearing a head-covering in my parish. An Orthodox sister told me, with a nod to my scarf, "We don't have to wear that anymore." I smiled and said, "I know, but I want to." St. Paul had said "ought," not "must." It was my voluntary obedience, even if I didn't understand the "why's." By now I had no intention of giving up the benefits. I felt blessed and protected, feminine, and, paradoxically, confident and free – in the presence of guardian and ministering angels.
In Orthodox worship the angels were even more in evidence. The Divine Liturgy is full of references to the various ranks of angels, emphasizing our participation with them in the joyous worship of the Holy Trinity. St. John Chrysostom (d. A.D. 407), in a sermon at the Feast of the Ascension, spoke both of angels and the veiling of women: "The angels are present here…Open the eyes of faith and look upon this sight. For if the very air is filled with angels, how much more so the Church! ...Hear the Apostle teaching this, when he bids the women to cover their heads with a veil because of the presence of the angels." Origen, another early Church Father, said, "There are angels in the midst of our assembly…we have here a twofold Church, one of men, the other of angels…And since there are angels present…women, when they pray, are ordered to have a covering upon their heads because of those angels. They assist the saints and rejoice in the Church." Instructions for catechumens in The Apostolic Tradition, probably written in the second century by St. Hippolytus of Rome, include this: "Moreover, let all the women have their heads veiled with a scarf…" And St. Cyril of Alexandria, commenting on I Corinthians, wrote: "The angels find it extremely hard to bear if this law [that women cover their heads] is disregarded."
The Church taught that it mattered to the angels whether women cover their heads. But why? Was the covering "a sign of submission to her husband," as some commentaries say, or "a cultural statement of inferiority," as one woman told me in explaining why she would not wear a veil? A friend and former dean of a Lutheran seminary in Norway, Håkon Haus, pointed to another possible reason. He looked up I Corinthians 11:10 in Greek: "Therefore the woman shall have exousia [right, power, authority] on her head for the sake of the angels." The word exousia, said Håkon, also occurs in John 1:12: "As many as received Him, to them He gave exousia to become children of God, to those who believe in His name." I felt a light go on. Was St. Paul saying that the head-covering was an outward sign of my "authority, right, power" as a female child of God, recognized by the angels? It rang excitingly true! God asks voluntary submission and obedience of His children. I chose to wear the sign of my feminine – as distinguished from masculine – authority. But why should the angels care?
In her book, The Holy Angels, Mother Alexandra writes: "The Celestial hierarchies are the…spiritual reality of ordered creation, the stable patterns in which disruption is unknown…" Obedience is characteristic of the angelic realm. Dionysius the Areopagite, influential since the fifth century, wrote of nine orders or hierarchies of celestial beings, arranged in three choirs. Seraphim and cherubim are in the first, archangels and angels in the third choir, closest to us. Without obedience there is chaos and disorder. St. John Chrysostom, in a sermon on I Corinthians, speaks of how distinction in male and female dress – and particularly the veiling of women – "ministers effectively to good order among mankind." Taking off the veil was "no small error," said St. John; "…it is disobedience." It "disturbs all things and betrays the gifts of God, and casts to the ground the honor bestowed…For to [the woman] it is the greatest of honor to preserve her own rank." To some who argued that a woman, by taking off her covering, "mounts up to the glory of man," Chrysostom answers: "She doth not mount up, but rather falls from her own proper honor…Since not to abide within our own limits and the laws of God, but to go beyond, is not an addition, but a diminution…" Always emphasizing the equality between man and woman, Chrysostom admonishes the man "not to dishonor her who governs next to thyself." The issue was order, not superiority or inferiority. At Matins for Orthodoxy Sunday, we sing, "Come and let us celebrate a day of joy: Now heaven makes glad! Earth with all the hosts of angels and the companies of mortal men, each in their varied order, keeps the feast."
The answer to my prayer nearly thirty years ago, that I might know what it means to be a woman, and to live it as God wills for me, is becoming clearer in obedience – often in little things, like putting on a scarf. The mystery of womanhood is still incomprehensible, but now I think, so it must be. I don't have to understand fully what it means to be a woman in order to know that I am a woman and to live it. God knows the meaning and I trust Him. I don't have to fight for my place or my right; it is given me in the glorious ranks of angels and mortals.
Fr. Basil Rhodes wrote in his Master of Divinity thesis in 1977 on The veiling of women in I Cor. 11, "Man is the head of the woman, according to Genesis and to St. Paul who compares the relationship of man and woman with that of the Son to the Father: 'And the head of Christ is God' (I Cor. 2:3). It would be a grave error to say that Christ is inferior to His Father. The veiling of the woman, for St. Paul, is an outward sign of the acceptance of God's order, and His divine purpose in creation. The veil is the woman's 'yes' to God, a physical, visual 'Amen'." St. John Chrysostom thought that Paul, in admonishing women to wear a covering "because of the angels," meant it "not at the time of prayer only, but also continually, she ought to be covered." Fr. Rhodes agrees: "The veil can be the constant symbol of the true woman of God…a way of life…a testimony of faith and of the salvation of God, not only before men, but angels as well." Timothy McFadden, who is working on his doctoral thesis at Oxford on the subject of "man/woman – God/Christgod," writes: "Members of the Godhead – and His image – are not interchangeable. As God Father and Son are equal and One in nature, so also they are unique and not interchangeable. Similarly, though equal in nature, man is not woman, woman is not man. They are distinguishable."
In my pre-Christian days, when I sought to understand myself in light of the doctrines of feminism, I believed that men and women shared male and female characteristics, which made us pretty much interchangeable. (And if we were interchangeable, we didn't really need each other except to conceive babies!) Today some say we have both a masculine and a feminine self that must be lived out. But how do women live out their "masculine self," and men their "feminine self"? That presents an identity problem (another modern notion) for both men and women (not to mention adolescent boys and girls!). No doubt it also adds to the chaos and gender confusion of our times. I no longer believe we are a mixture of masculine and feminine characteristics and selves. As God in Trinity is One in essence and three Persons in function, so man and woman, created in God's image, share a human nature, yet are distinct personal selves with different functions. As Christians we both have exousia – power, right, and authority – as children of God, but woman's authority is distinctly feminine, as man's is distinctly masculine. Hers does not contradict or usurp his, but complements it. And as the Trinity would not be complete with one of the Three missing, so man and woman are both essential to each other and to the whole. Being in the holy order of God's creation as lived in Orthodoxy calms the troubled waters of my soul. I don't understand the mystery of Trinity – nor the mystery of man and woman – but I know I am woman, and I both want and love to live it. St. Paul wrote, "woman is the glory of man" (I Cor. 11:7), a hard verse to take for some of us. McFadden suggests that "all women may somehow participate in the glory of the Theotokos."
Woman's unique and God-given capacity to give birth made the Incarnation possible. The woman Theotokos is indeed the glory of all mankind, "our solitary boast," as one writer called her. Eve, our first mother, contributed to the fall of man by choosing to disobey. Mary, the mother of our Lord – and of the Church which is His Body – made our salvation possible by obeying God's will. If she whom we hymn as "more honorable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim" is always seen in icons wearing her head-covering, it certainly cannot be a sign of "inferiority to men"! McFadden calls the veil a "badge of authority" between equals, perceived by the angels who maintain order among themselves. Why head-coverings matter to the angels may be unclear, but that they matter seems evident. Fr. Rhodes says, "The angels watch what we do and rejoice when we obey." A scarf may be a small matter, but obedience often hinges on small things, small choices. My scarf is seen by men, but to me it signifies obedience to God, a way of living my womanhood. It is my feminine "I am" reflected outwardly. In putting on my head-covering I mean to say to God, "Behold your handmaiden, be it unto me according to Your word –Your will, not mine." For twelve years I have worn a scarf at all times. I now perceive that it has been – and continues to be – essential for the pilgrim journey and salvation of my soul. The bottom line for me – and a growing number of my sisters – remains obedience. And with it comes a sense of being in our rightful place in God's ordered universe, rejoicing with the angels. Now I gratefully say, "I am!" in the presence of the great I AM – at prayer and in church, surrounded by the angelic host, worshipping our Lord and King. To God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be the glory, now and ever and unto ages of ages, amen! † Elisabet is a professional writer and parish- council member of an OCA parish in Southern California.
(Reprinted from the Spring 1997 issue of The Handmaiden, Conciliar Press)
SCRIPTURE COMMENTARY
(Part XVI of a continuing series on the Epistles of Saint Paul)
I CORINTHIANS
http://www.roca.org/OA/111/111d.htm
by Archbishop Averky
The eleventh chapter contains an exposé and remedy for certain improprieties in church gatherings, namely: 1) women not covering their heads in church, and 2) disorders at agape dinners. The essence of the first injunction lies in the fact that at common church gatherings women should attend with their heads covered, and men with their heads bared. St.
John Chrysostom explains this injunction by saying that in Corinth, "women with uncovered and bared heads both prayed and prophesied, while men grew their hair, like those who occupied themselves with philosophizing, and covered their heads when they prayed and prophesied, adhering in both cases to a pagan law." The holy Apostle, finding this inappropriate for Christians, requires that women cover their heads, as a sign of their submissive state in relation to the husband. Besides this, at that time pagan women would go into their temples with uncovered heads, having impure motives, and a bared head for a woman came to be considered a sign of her shamelessness. A profligate woman was punished for her profligacy by having her hair cut off. This is why the Apostle says, if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn (v. 6).
"At first the man," writes Bishop Theophan, [was created] according to God's image, and then, as though according to the image of man, from him was created woman, who "for this reason is the likeness of the likeness, a reflection of the man's glory." For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head (v. 10). "If," writes St. John Chrysostom, "you pay no attention to your husband, then you shame the angels." This covering of the woman is thereby a sign of her meekness, submissiveness and subjection to her husband. But in order that the husband not lord it over his wife and not ill-use his headship, the Apostle says further: Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man in the Lord (vv. 1-12). "Does not nature itself teach you that if the man grows his hair long that this is for him a dishonor?" Sectarians use these words to criticize Orthodox clergy, who wear long hair. But here St. Paul is speaking not about clergy but about ordinary believers and has in mind a widespread custom according to which only women grew long hair, while men cut theirs. Sectarians forget that God Himself gave an ordinance that men giving a vow to be Nazarenes had to grow their hair (Numbers 6:5). The wearing of long hair among today's Orthodox clergy and monastics comes from this same idea of Nazarenes, i.e., the dedication of oneself to God (vv. 14-16).
From verse 17 to 34 the holy Apostle denounces the disorders which took place among the Corinthians at their agape dinners. As in the first community of Christians in Jerusalem, everything was held in common, and all the faithful came together to partake of food at a common table. This custom was preserved for a long time and was kept in all the early Christian communities. At the end of the Divine Liturgy, after partaking of the Holy Mysteries, a common meal was held for everyone; the wealthy would bring food and invite the poor who had nothing. In this way everyone ate together. These were the so-called agape dinners.
The Apostle reproaches the Corinthians first of all for the divisions which arise when they come together in church (v. 18), i.e., that they are divided into factions, either according to families, or friendship, forgetting the poor, which destroys the very purpose of holding these love feasts. In calling them to a reverent participation in these feasts, the holy Apostle speaks (vv. 22-23) about the establishment of the Mystery of the Eucharist, which was usually celebrated before the agape feasts. According to the Typicon, this passage is read during the Liturgy on Great Thursday. Of particular importance to us here are the words: Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord (v. 27)-i.e., those desiring to partake of the Holy Mysteries must prepare by examining their conscience and shunning all that would hinder them from partaking worthily.
The Orthodox Church has for this reason established the practice of fasting and confession before reception of the Holy Mysteries. This is absolutely essential, For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body (v. 29).
In conclusion (vv. 33-34), the Apostle admonishes the Corinthians to wait for one another when they come together for the agape feasts, that they behave themselves and not fall upon the food greedily with no thought for others. And the rest will I set in order when I come (v. 34). This is important: everything comes from the Apostles-all the rules for the well-ordering of Church life are established by them, although not everything is laid out in the Holy Scripture.
The twelfth chapter speaks about the spiritual gifts in the Church. A distinctive feature of the life of the Church of Christ in apostolic times was the extraordinary manifestation of the grace of God in the form of spiritual gifts possessed by the faithful. Here the Apostle enumerates the following spiritual gifts: the gift of wisdom, knowledge, faith, wonderworking, prophecy, discernment of spirits, the gift of tongues and their interpretation. These gifts were to promote success in preaching the Gospel among unbelievers. But among the Corinthians many began looking at these blessed manifestations of the Holy Spirit as a source of personal glory and superiority. In trying to acquire a more striking gift, some fell even into delusion, and having no gift at all, acted like one possessed, uttering inarticulate sounds which no one could understand; sometimes they even darkened their mind and heart in shouting blasphemous ideas, pronouncing, for example, an anathema on Jesus Christ. Here was felt the influence of pagan prophetesses like Pythia and Sibyl. In an artificial and false ecstasy, foaming at the mouth, their hair loose, they would shout incomprehensible or ambiguous diatribes and made a strong impression on people, insistently soliciting answers from them. Certain contemporary sectarians, such as the Khlysti and Pentecostals, are like this. The Apostle warns the Christians against this pagan attitude towards spiritual gifts. He explains that all the spiritual gifts in the Church are the work of the One Spirit of God (vv. 3-11). For this reason, just as one who is under the influence of the Holy Spirit cannot utter blasphemies against God, so too there should be no rivalry between those who possess various spiritual gifts. Just as a person's body is composed of various members, and each of them has its particular function, and among them there can be no antagonism, so too in the Church there can be no rivalry among Christians, who comprise the one Body of Christ.
From http://www.churchofthenativity.net/faq.html
Why must women be veiled when entering the church?
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In the Orthodox Church it has always been customary for the heads of men to be uncovered and for women to be veiled. Only men who have been set aside for the service of God, (e.g. bishops, monks, and other clergy) are permitted to wear the special head coverings of their respective offices. In his admonition to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul says "every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoreth her head," and later he asks, "is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered?" (I Corinthians 11:5,18) The veiling of women, then, is a custom that has come down to us from the time of the apostles. For a woman to be unveiled in our Church or for a man to wear a hat would be a sign of great disrespect....
What is the significance of the beard worn by many men of your church?
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The Orthodox Church looks upon the beard as the mark of a Christian man, in that it is the natural appearance of man created by God, and also the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise, the uncut hair of women as their particular glory. The general attitude of our church is that anything that alters this image in which we were created -- for example, masks, shaving, makeup, and such things -- is not appropriate for Christians. Lamentably, the younger generations of our Church are neglecting this apostolic tradition and following the styles of the world even when not pressured by concerns of employment and the like. There is still, however, a deep awareness of this revered tradition that former generations have instilled on our community, and most of our parishioners -- at least in their later years -- carefully observe it.Someone on page 18 spoke about being either the only or one of the few who wear a headcovering for services and wanted support.
I am fortunate to attend an OCA parish in which around half the women wear headcoverings, including our sweet Matushka. Our Priest does not allow dissention on this matter. Always we are reminded to focus on our own salvation and not to judge others.
Therefore, few people make any noise about headcoverings in my parish.
However, in another church near where I live no one wears headcoverings, including the Matuska (though she is also nice and honorable in all ways.) I was talking with someone from that church and they spoke to me agaisnst wearing headcoverings, saying that women who did were judgemental. (Yes, she said that if a woman wore a headcovering it was a sign that she was judgemental of the women who did not.)
On different Board on the internet, I have come accross this attitude. Even to have some people ridicule those who wear headcoverings saying that they are trying to show off their piety.
So, I understand your asking for support (to the women on page 18, sorry I don't recall your name am an too lazy to go and look it up... forgive me.) I have decided that I wear a headcovering not to show that I am inferior to men or because I am more pious than other women who do not wear a headcovering.
I wear a headcovering because it is good for my spiritual growth. Further, my Spiritual Father supports the wearing of my headcovering. I suggest that the best support you can have for the wearing of headcovering is the Communion of Saints... all of the Saints who are women in icons have headcoverings after-all.
It is not always easy to do what you know to be best for yourself when others are critical of you. This is our cross however.
Christianity is a faith about martyrdom. It comes in many forms.
You guys are talking about the ins and outs of head-coverings. I'm Antiochian.....in that Church, you can't get the women to wear skirts anything below the mid-thigh.....sometimes I have to look away from the person who is reading the Epistle so as to avoid evil thoughts! Head-coverings in this church went bye-bye a long time ago.
gimme your lunch money wrote:You guys are talking about the ins and outs of head-coverings. I'm Antiochian.....in that Church, you can't get the women to wear skirts anything below the mid-thigh.....sometimes I have to look away from the person who is reading the Epistle so as to avoid evil thoughts! Head-coverings in this church went bye-bye a long time ago.
gylm, I'm sorry about your parish, but I frequently visit an Antiochian Church about an hour from where I live and the wife of the Deacon and the wife of the Priest wear headcoverings... even in the fellowship hall. (I admit I take mine off when I leave the Nave unless I'm having a bad hair day.) A few others wear headcoverings there too. I think it is a parish thing. I would encourage you to speak to your Priest about this.