Shearing

Shearing is performed:

• over the newly baptized after the sacrament of anointing ^[1] as the first free joyful sacrifice of man to God.
• when placed in clerics (usually as a reader ), the bishop tonsures the initiate in a cruciform form ^[2] as a sign of his separation from the society of ordinary believers. In the ancient tradition, all clergymen were shaved with a humenzo , or papalitra, fouling - a circle on his head symbolized a crown of thorns . The shaved part was covered with a small hat, which was called "Humenzo", or " scoop ." The custom of clipping humenzo existed in Russia until the middle of the 17th century. In Catholicism, a similar haircut - tonzura - persisted until 1973 ^[3] .
• in monastic tonsure. It should be noted that monastic tonsure over one person can be performed up to three times:

1. upon initiation into the Riasophore ,
2. upon initiation into the mantle ,
3. upon initiation into the great schema ^[4] .

Monastic tonsure

Shearing is the main action of initiation into monasticism and its degree ^[5] . One of the first about tonsure was mentioned by John Climacus ^[6]

Before shearing, the novice crawls on the floor from the porch of the temple to the pulpit , on which the abbot awaits him. From the prying eyes of a crawling novice, the accompanying monks protect them with their robes. The abbot experiences the toughness of being tonsured by questions and warnings about the difficulty of monastic life, for which it is necessary to answer God at the Last Judgment . Shearer makes vows . Prayers are being read. Then the abbot throws the scissors three times and requires the haircut to lift them with humility . Each time, the shearer humbly submits them and kisses the abbot's hand. Having taken the scissors for the third time, the abbot cuts the cross of the initiate with the pronunciation of the words: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”, and calls him a new name, thus marking the final renunciation of the tonsured from the world. After the tonsure, the initiate wears a tunic , paraman , cassock , belt, mantle , hood , sandals and receives a bridle ( rosary ) ^[7] .

The rite of tonsuring the great schema is called the “follow-up of the great schema” and differs from the rite of small schema only in its longer duration and solemnity. After confirming the firmness of intention to accept the great schema, the initiate accepts tonsure, moreover, he receives a new name and is dressed in highly chemical clothes ( cockle and analogue ).

In the ascetic tradition of the Byzantine aristocracy and Russian princes, dying tonsure was also practiced.

During the period of persecution of the church in the USSR in the 1920s – 1930s, secret clanning as a monk ( monasticism in the world ) also gained some popularity.

In Catholicism, tonzura was used - a shaved spot on the top of the head, a sign of clergy membership.

The initial value of tonus is not fully understood. Previously, repentants shaved their heads baldly. In this regard, tonus can be interpreted as a sign of an appeal to God . The first monks adopted this custom, which since the 6th century has spread to all clerics. The official prescription for wearing tonus was adopted by the fourth synod in Toledo .

Tonzura was canceled by Pope Paul VI on January 1, 1973.

In Russia, there was a custom of the first hair cutting in male children - cut ( obsolete. Postreg ). At first he practiced in the families of great and specific princes, and then noble nobles and nobles.

Shearing was performed after three, four or more years of birth, with a special prayer , in the church, for which the godfather brought the “spiritual son” there. This rite is also reported by the Polish chroniclers Gall Anonymous and Vincent Kadlubek ; the latter says that shearing "gave birth to a spiritual property , and the mother of the sheared was considered the named sister of the shearing."

Tatishchev writes that even in his time, some noble people kept this ancient custom and that the children passed after shearing from female hands to male hands. Sometimes the prince-parents themselves tonsured and after that they put the sheared horse on a horse in the presence of a bishop , boyars and people. For princes, this rite was usually accompanied by a feast .

Fedor Uspensky indicates:

Possibly, a kind of boundary, after which the prince acquired the “first degree” of patrimonial capacity, was tonsure and, apparently, the rite of riding a horse that was combined with them in dynastic everyday life. It is no accident that this event, like weddings and princely name days, was often accompanied by a large congress of princes relatives. Apparently, the exact age at which the prince went through these procedures was not strictly determined. Judging by the cases known to us, the princes could have passed it at the age of two to four years, and much here was determined by family circumstances. So, two siblings of Konstantinovich, Vasilko and Vsevolod , grandchildren of Vsevolod the Big Nest , go through this rite at the same time, despite the difference in age of about two years ^[8] .

The ritual shearing of the first hair was condemned by the Christian church, however, it was considered obligatory to cut the strands in the baptismal rite and when cutting the monks ^[9] .

• Eruption from dignity
• Nazarene
• Initiation

• Tongs / Sedakova I. A. // Slavic antiquities : Ethnolinguistic dictionary: in 5 volumes / under the general. ed. N. I. Tolstoy ; Institute of Slavic Studies RAS . - M .: Int. Relations , 2009. - T. 4: P (Crossing the water) - C (Sieve). - S. 212-215. - ISBN 5-7133-0703-4 , 978-5-7133-1312-8.
• L.V. Belovinsky . Sheared // Illustrated encyclopedic historical and everyday dictionary of the Russian people. XVIII - beginning of XIX century / ed. N. Ereminoy . - M .: Eksmo, 2007 .-- S. 520 .-- 784 p.: - ill. from. - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-699-24458-4 .

• Sheared // Russian Humanitarian Encyclopedic Dictionary . - M .: Vlados: Faculty of Philology, St. Petersburg State University , 2002. - T. 3: P — Ya . - ISBN 5-8465-0037-4 .