structural:summarization, structural:scholar_edition
Bible and the Early Church

Multiple Church Fathers taught that the hair of a woman has sexual potency, therefore it should only be for her husband to see and covered the rest of the time. 1 Corinthians 11:2–6, teaches: "... keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered." 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). The Church Father Hippolytus of Rome (c. 170 – c. 235) while giving instructions for church gatherings said "... let all the women have their heads covered with an opaque cloth, not with a veil of thin linen, for this is not a true covering." The early Christian apologist Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 220) likewise held that the covering should be a substantial one (cf. headscarf):