THEOSISJohn Chrysostom
As he said concerning the woman, "If she will not be covered, let her also be shorn" (1 Cor 11:6), so also concerning the man he says, "If he has long hair, it is a dishonor to him" (1 Cor 11:14).
He did not say, "if he is covered," but, "if he has long hair." Therefore at the beginning also he said, "Every man praying or prophesying with his head covered."
He did not say, "having put on a covering," but, "with his head covered." He was showing that one who prays with his head bare, yet with long hair, is equal to one who has covered himself.
"For," he says, "hair is given... for a covering" (1 Cor 11:15).
"For if a woman will not be covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered" (1 Cor 11:6).
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First he requires that the woman not uncover her head. Then he explains that she must be covered constantly: "for this is the same as if she were shaved."
She must be covered with all care and circumspection. For he did not simply say καλύπτεσθαι, "let her be covered," but κατακαλύπτεσθαι, that is, she must be carefully covered on every side.
He also shows the indecency of the contrary way of acting and sharply reproves it when he says, "If she will not be covered, let her also be shorn."
If, he says, you cast off the covering established by the law of God, then cast off also the covering given by nature.
But someone will say: how can it be a dishonor to a woman if she rises to the honor of the man?
We reply that by this she not only does not rise, but is deprived even of her own honor.
For not to observe one's own boundaries and the laws established by God, and to transgress them, is not exaltation but abasement.
One who desires what belongs to another and seizes what is not his does not acquire anything, but is abased and loses even what he had. This happened, for example, in paradise.
So also in this case, the woman does not acquire for herself the nobility of the man, but loses even the propriety of the woman. Moreover, not only this is shameful for her, but also the greed itself.
Thus, having pointed to what is undoubtedly acknowledged as shameful, in the words, "But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved," the Apostle finally speaks on his own behalf: "let her be covered."
He did not say, "let her grow her hair," but, "let her be covered." He shows that the two are equivalent, proving this from two sides: from the law and from the opposite side, that is, from nature.
The covering and long hair, he says, are one and the same. Likewise a shaved head and an uncovered head are one and the same. "For this," he says, "is the same as if she were shaved."
But someone will ask: how are they the same, when one has a natural covering, while the shaved woman does not even have this?
We shall say that by having her head uncovered, she has rejected the natural covering by her own will. If she is not deprived of hair, that is the work of nature, not of her will.
Consequently, as the shaved woman has her head uncovered, so does she. For this reason God commanded nature to cover the head with hair, so that the woman, taught by nature, might also cover herself.
Next the Apostle gives the reason, reasoning with his hearers as with free persons, as I have often observed. What is the reason?
"But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God" (1 Cor 11:16). Therefore opposition is a sign of obstinacy, not of good sense.
Yet here also he rebukes moderately, and at the same time strongly shames them. This made his words very forceful.
We, he says, have no such custom of disputing, contending, and contradicting. He does not stop there, but adds, "nor do the churches of God."
By this he indicates that, by disobeying, they are at enmity with and oppose the whole world. But if the Corinthians then contradicted this law, now the whole world has received it and preserves it.
Such is the power of the Crucified One!