Head covering for Christian women

[9][10][1] Manuals of early Christianity, including the Didascalia Apostolorum and Pædagogus, instructed that a headcovering must be worn by women during prayer and worship as well as when outside the home.

[1] Genesis 24:64–65 records that Rebecca, while traveling to meet Isaac, "did not flaunt her physical beauty" but "veiled herself, increasing her allure through an outward display of modesty.

"[38][57] In his explication of Saint Paul's command in 1 Corinthians 11:10, the Church Father Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202), the last living connection to the Apostles who penned Against Heresies, explained that the "power" or "authority" on a woman's head when praying and prophesying was a cloth veil (κάλυμμα kalumma).

[71] The early Christian Acts of Thomas, written in Syriac Aramaic, assigns Hell as the fate of women who did not wear a headcovering, stating:[37] And he took me unto another pit, and I stooped and looked and saw mire and worms welling up, and souls wallowing there, and a great gnashing of teeth was heard thence from them.

[33][72]John Chrysostom held that to be disobedient to the Christian teaching on veiling was harmful and sinful: "...  the business of whether to cover one's head was legislated by nature (see 1 Cor 11:14–15).

"[73] While at home, John Chrysostom taught that before picking up a copy of the Bible, in addition to washing one's hands, women (if not already veiled) should wear a headcovering "displaying a token of her inner piety".

[77][18] Until at least the 19th century and still extant in certain regions, the wearing of a head covering, both in the public and while attending church, was regarded as customary for Christian women, in line with the injunction to do so in 1 Corinthians 11, in the Mediterranean, European, Indian, Middle Eastern, and African societies.

[78][84][18][64] Christian literature, with respect to demonology, has documented that during exorcisms, possessed women have attempted to tear off their headcovering, as with the case of Frances Bruchmüllerin in Sulzbach.

[41][43][87][1][88][45] In the West, "up until World War I, a woman slipped on a white cap immediately upon arising...and some type of hat or bonnet was worn every time she left the house.

"[92][95] A text printed after the close of the 20th century reflects a general Western Christian attitude towards the practice of head covering for women, with American authors Ronald W. Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, and Gordon D. Fee opining in the book "Discovering Biblical Equality":[46] First Corinthians 11:3–16 deals with the significance of a "head covering" for women while they are praying and prophesying in the gathered church.

[101] The sociologist Cory Anderson stated that for those Christian women who continually wear it, such as Conservative Anabaptists, the headcovering serves as an outward testimony that often allows for evangelism.

[154][155] Calvin taught that headcovering was the cornerstone of modesty for Christian women and held that those who removed their veils from their hair would soon come to remove the clothing covering their breasts and that covering their midriffs, leading to societal indecency:[156] So if women are thus permitted to have their heads uncovered and to show their hair, they will eventually be allowed to expose their entire breasts, and they will come to make their exhibitions as if it were a tavern show; they will become so brazen that modesty and shame will be no more; in short they will forget the duty of nature...Further, we know that the world takes everything to its own advantage.

[183][184][185] The Central Yearly Meeting of Friends, part of the Gurneyite-Orthodox branch of Quakerism, teaches that in 1 Corinthians 11 Saint Paul instituted the veiling of women as "a Christian woman's way of properly honoring the headship of men in the church and of making a statement of submission to their authority (vs. 3, 5).

[187] Roger Williams, the founder of the first Baptist movement in North America, taught that women should veil themselves during worship as this was the practice of the early Church.

"[74] Women belonging to the community of Old Believers wear opaque Christian headcoverings, with those who are married keeping a knitted bonnet known as a povoinik underneath.

[207] Its former Metropolitan Bishop, K. P. Yohannan teaches that "When a woman wears the symbol of God's government, a head covering, she is essentially a rebuke to all the fallen angels.

'"[2] Passages such as Genesis 24:65,[208] Numbers 5:18,[209] Song of Solomon 5:7,[210] Susanna 1:31–32,[211] and Isaiah 47:2[212] indicate that believing women wore a head covering during the Old Testament era.

[219] Paul then explains the Christian use of head coverings using the subjects of headship, glory, angels, natural hair lengths, and the practice of the churches.

In the Old Testament, priests (who were all male) wore turbans and caps as Jesus was not known in that era, establishing "the reason why there was no command to honour Him by praying or prophesying with heads uncovered.

[90]Ezra Palmer Gould, a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School, noted that "The long hair and the veil were both intended as a covering of the head, and as a sign of true womanliness, and of the right relation of woman to man; and hence the absence of one had the same significance as that of the other.

"[64]John William McGarvey, in delineating verse 10 of 1 Corinthians 11, suggested that "To abandon this justifiable and well established symbol of subordination would be a shock to the submissive and obedient spirit of the ministering angels (Isaiah 6:2) who, though unseen, are always present with you in your places of worship (Matthew 18:10–31; Psalm 138:1; 1 Timothy 5:21; ch.

[225] Furthermore, verse 10 refers to the cloth veil as a sign of power or authority that highlights the unique God-given role of a Christian woman and grants her the ability to then "pray and prophesy with the spiritual gifts she has been given" (cf.

[193] This was taught by Early Church Father Irenaeus (120–202 A.D.), the last living connection to the Apostles, who in his explication of Saint Paul's command in 1 Corinthians 11:10, delineated in Against Heresies that the "authority" or "power" on a woman's head was a cloth veil (κάλυμμα kalumma).

"[231][232] In addition to Irenaeus, Church Fathers, including Hippolytus, Origen, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, Jerome, Augustine, and Bede write verse 10 using the word "veil" (κάλυμμα kalumma).

[226][233] Certain denominations of Christianity, such as traditional Anabaptists (e.g. Conservative Mennonites), combine this with 1 Thessalonians 5 ("Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

"[72][29][33] A Conservative Anabaptist publication titled The Significance of the Christian Woman's Veiling, authored by Merle Ruth, teaches with regard to the continual wearing of the headcovering by believing women, that it is:[30] ... worn to show that the wearer is in God's order.

[47][246] Thus, in the beginning he simply requires that the head be not bare: but as he proceeds he intimates both the continuance of the rule, saying, "for it is one and the same thing as if she were shaven," and the keeping of it with all care and diligence.

[262] Beginning in the 20th century, due to aforementioned issues, Bible commentators and Christian congregations have either advocated for the continued practice of wearing headcoverings, or have discarded the observance of this ordinance as understood in its historic sense.

[48][264][246] In the United States, an Alabama resident Yvonne Allen, in 2016, filed a complaint with the federal court after being forced to remove her headscarf for her driver's license photograph.

[273] Audra Ragland cited 1 Corinthians 11 as the reason behind the practice of Christian covering and noted that she felt "exposed and embarrassed as she had to walk in front of so many men whom she did not know" and that she was "sickened that she had to potentially compromise her faith" in order to visit her brother.