Until recently, I was unaware of the history of women covering their heads in the Christian church. In 1 Corinthians 11, St. Paul writes the following:
“I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the traditions just as I passed them on to you. But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved. For if a woman does not cover her head, she might as well have her hair cut off; but if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut off or her head shaved, then she should cover her head.
A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man did not come from woman, but woman from man; neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. It is for this reason that a woman ought to have authority over her own head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.
Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice—nor do the churches of God.”
For years, I have heard this passage simply dismissed as a cultural command from St. Paul. The idea as I understood it, was that Paul wrote this, but he didn’t mean it for all people throughout all time, unlike the rest of the New Testament. He said it only for that one time and place. I thought this was odd, as that was exactly the same argument I heard people use for allowing female pastors. They say that while Paul did command women not to speak publicly in the church, he didn’t mean it for all time. It was just a cultural thing!
However, I figured I must just not understand this and so frankly, I dismissed it. After all, I sure didn’t want to wear a head covering in church!
Upon reading this passage again some weeks ago, something stood out to me that I couldn’t ignore. St. Paul says that the reason women should cover their heads in public worship and in prayer is because of the order of creation and the angels, not because of something temporary, a custom, or simply a cultural practice. The order of creation doesn’t change, and the angels don’t change. I read the passage again and again. This began my investigation into veiling.
What I have discovered is astonishing. Christian women have been covering their heads in public worship and in prayer in all cultures, throughout all ages, since the time of the apostles. Many of the church fathers promoted and encouraged this practice, even throughout the Reformation and beyond!
This practice did not change until the 1960s and it was largely due to an organization called NOW (National Organization of Women) that became a significant political force here in America. This organization sook to shift public policy and promote feminist ideas throughout the country. One of their primary targets were the conservative churches across all church bodies and the common practice of veiling. They claimed it was an oppressive practice, and they urged women to send in their veils to be publicly burned.[1] They were highly successful in their campaign.
This historic practice died a rather shocking and quick death.
Which church fathers advised women to cover their heads, according to St. Paul’s command? There are too many to list here, but you can find a few notable examples below:
Irenaeus (130-220):
“A woman ought to have a veil upon her head, because of the angels.”
Clement of Alexandria (c150-c211):
“This is the wish of the Word. For it is becoming for her to pray veiled.”
Tertullian (160-240):
Wrote an entire book about this called, “The Veiling of Virgins.” He discusses what types of cloth veils he considers appropriate and argues that all women, not just married women should veil.
Hippolytus (d.236):
“Let all the women have their head covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering.”
John Chrysostom (d.407):
“The problem Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 is “Their women used to pray and prophesy unveiled and with their head bare.” And if it be given her for a covering,’ say you, ‘wherefore need she add another covering?’ That not nature only, but also her own will may have part in her acknowledgment of subjection. For that thou oughtest to be covered nature herself by anticipation enacted a law. Add now, I pray, thine own part also, that thou mayest not seem to subvert the very laws of nature; a proof of most insolent rashness, to buffet not only with us, but with nature also.”
Jerome (345-429):
“How great is the dignity of souls to have from the time of their birth an Angel appointed to guard each one of them! And so we read in the Apocalypse of St. John, “Write this to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus”, and to the Angels of the rest of the churches. The Apostle, too, commands that woman should have their heads veiled in churches, because of the Angels.” He also wrote that the women in Egypt and Syria do not “go about with heads uncovered in defiance of the apostle’s command, for they wear a close-fitting cap and a veil.”
Augustine (354-430):
“We ought not therefore so to understand that made in the image of the Supreme Trinity, that is, in the image of God, as that same image should be understood to be in three human beings; especially when the apostle says that the man is the image of God, and on that account removes the covering from his head, which he warns the woman to use, speaking thus: ‘For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man.” And “It is not becoming, even in married women to uncover their hair, since the apostle commands women to keep their heads covered.”
William Tyndale (1494 – 1536):
“I answer, that Paul taught by mouth such things as he wrote in his epistles. And his traditions were… that a woman obey her husband, have her head covered, keep silence, go womanly and Christianly appareled.”
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546):
“The wife… shall not rule over her husband, but be subject and obedient to him. For that reason the wife wears a headdress, that is, the veil on her head.”
About 1 Corinthians 11:10, Luther commented; “the women should… be covered with a veil for the sake of the angels.”
John Knox (1505-1572):
“First, I say, the woman in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man, not to rule and command him. As saint Paule doth reason in these wordes: ‘Man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. And man was created for the cause of the woman, but the woman for the cause of man; and therfore oght the woman to have a power upon her head,’ (that is, a coverture in signe of subjection).”
Knox quotes Chrysostom: “‘Even so, (saith he) oght man and woman to appeare before God, bearing the ensignes of the condition whiche they have received of him. Man hath received a certain glorie and dignitie above the woman; and therfore oght he to appeare before his high Majestie bearing the signe of his honour, havinge no coverture upon his heade, to witnesse that in earth man hath no head.’ Beware Chrysostome what thou saist! thou shalt be reputed a traytor if Englishe men heare thee, for they must have my Sovereine Lady and Maistresse [Queen Elizabeth–GLP]; and Scotland hath dronken also the enchantment and venom of Circes [the enchantress represented by Homer as turning the companions of Odysseus into swine by means of a magic drink–GLP], let it be so to their owne shame and confusion. He procedeth in these wordes, ‘But woman oght to be covered, to witnesse that in earth she had a head, that is man.’ Trewe it is, Chrysostome, woman is covered in both realmes, but it is not with the signe of subjection, but it is with the signe of superioritie, to witte, with the royal crowne.”
The Lutheran church’s doctrinal statement, The Augsburg Confession (1530), states in Article 28:54-55; “Paul ordains, 1 Cor. 11:5, that women should cover their heads in the congregation… It is proper that the churches should keep such ordinances for the sake of love and tranquility.”
John Bunyan (1628 – 1688):
When speaking against private women’s prayer meetings, Bunyan writes this; “‘For this cause ought the woman to have power’, that is a covering, ‘on her head, because of the angels’. .. Methinks, holy and beloved sisters, you should be content to wear this power or badge.”
Jonathan Edwards (1637 – 1716):
He also affirmed the apostolic tradition of women covering their heads in public worship. “Paul’s will is that the Corinthian men, who were converts and saints, should be bare-headed in their religious assemblies. And from St. Paul all Christians generally have received and practiced this usage… The Christian Churches at this day conform to this usage… That which the Apostle delivers in this chapter concerning women’s behavior in the churches did not only oblige the women of that time, but is obligatory to this very day. All Christian women are engaged by virtue of what the Apostle here saith, to be always with their heads covered in time of prayer and other religious exercises… But it will be said, ‘The argument of the Apostle will not hold now, covering the head being not a sign of subjection [in our culture]’. . . I answer, Christian women may… observe the Apostle’s injunction [for reasons beyond the issue of submission, because]. . . there are other reasons, which will always hold…[Regarding Paul’s mention of ‘angels’ in v.10,] this reason is perpetual.”
Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892):
“The reason why our sisters appear in the House of God with their heads covered is ‘because of the angels.’ The apostle says that a woman is to have a covering upon her head because of the angels.”
Martyn Loyd Jones who believed in the tradition of women covering their heads when they
participated in divine worship along with the late R.C. Sproul. Sproul was another who affirmed head coverings and can be found on several occasions stating his unpopular position. He said at one time; “It does disturb me, that the… tradition of the women covering her head in America did not pass away until we saw a cultural revolt against the authority of the husband over the wife.”
I decided to read 1 Corinthians 11 with my children and explained a bit about the history of veiling (as well as unveiling) to them. All five of them wanted to cover their heads the following Sunday and were so excited to do so. They waited in eager anticipation for their beautiful veils, which they picked out themselves, to arrive in the mail, and they were proud to wear them to church. Interestingly, many of the older women in the congregation approached us afterward and said they remembered covering their heads in church during their childhood and even into early adulthood. None of them knew why the tradition stopped; they just noticed fewer Christian women wearing veils in church and felt they should stop wearing them too. The stories have started pouring in from women in other denominations as well. It has been an amazing and eye-opening experience, and shows how quickly things can change within the church when we are open to secular influence.
[1] https://now.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/NOW-Issues-M-Z-Policy-Manual-1966-1996.pdf
