No, there’s no universal rule in the Antiochian Archdiocese requiring women to wear head coverings. But you’ll see plenty of women at St. Michael’s wearing them anyway.
Here’s the situation. The practice comes from 1 Corinthians 11, where St. Paul writes that women should cover their heads when praying or prophesying. The Church Fathers, including St. John Chrysostom, understood this as a sign of reverence, humility, and proper order in worship. For most of Christian history, women covered their heads in church. It wasn’t controversial. It was just what you did.
In Antiochian parishes today, the practice varies. Some churches, especially those with strong Middle Eastern roots or more traditional communities, expect it. They’ll have a basket of scarves by the door for visitors. Other parishes treat it as entirely optional. You’ll walk in and see some women wearing veils, some wearing nothing, and nobody making a fuss either way.
St. Michael’s falls somewhere in the middle, like many Antiochian parishes in America. Women are free to cover or not cover. We’re not going to stop you at the door or give you the side-eye if you show up without a scarf. But we also won’t discourage you if you want to embrace this ancient practice.
The theological reasoning matters here. Paul doesn’t just say “do this because I said so.” He connects head covering to the created order, to the relationship between man and woman, to glory and honor. He even mentions angels, which the Fathers interpreted as meaning that we worship alongside the heavenly hosts. When you cover your head, you’re acknowledging that something sacred is happening. You’re setting yourself apart from the everyday world and entering into the presence of God.
That’s not legalism. It’s not about earning points or following arbitrary rules. It’s about cultivating an interior disposition through an exterior sign. Orthodox worship is deeply physical. We stand, we bow, we make the sign of the cross, we kiss icons, we light candles. We don’t believe the body and soul are separate things that can be dealt with independently. What you do with your body shapes your soul.
So why don’t all Antiochian parishes require it? Partly because we’re a mission church in America. Most of our members come from backgrounds where head covering disappeared decades ago. For a Baptist woman visiting for the first time, Orthodoxy already involves a lot of new things: icons, incense, standing for an hour, venerating the cross. Adding a mandatory dress code on top of that can feel like piling on. Pastoral discretion matters.
But here’s what I’d say to women asking this question. Don’t approach it as “what’s the minimum I can get away with?” Ask instead: “What helps me pray? What helps me remember where I am and who I’m standing before?” Some women find that covering their heads genuinely deepens their experience of worship. It’s a physical reminder that they’ve entered sacred space. Others don’t find it helpful and would spend the whole service distracted by the scarf slipping off.
If you’re coming from a Protestant background where head covering got associated with legalistic fundamentalism or patriarchal control, I get why you might be wary. But the Orthodox practice comes from a different place. It’s not about women being inferior or shameful. Paul himself says the woman is the glory of man. The covering isn’t hiding something bad. It’s veiling something precious in the presence of something holy.
You’ll notice that priests cover their heads too when they vest. The bishop wears a crown. We cover the chalice with veils. We cover the altar with cloths. Covering in Orthodoxy is about honor, not shame.
If you visit St. Michael’s, you’ll see women in lace mantillas, women in simple scarves, women with nothing on their heads at all. All are welcome. All are participating fully in the liturgy. The woman in the veil isn’t holier than the woman without one. But she’s also not being oppressed or old-fashioned. She’s connecting to a practice that goes back to the apostles.
My advice? Try it. Wear a scarf to liturgy a few times and see how it feels. You might find it awkward and distracting. Or you might find it helps you pray. Either way, you’ll have made the choice thoughtfully rather than just reacting to whatever your Baptist aunt or your feminist friend thinks about women covering their heads.
The Orthodox life is about freedom, not compulsion. We fast, but the fasting rules are a guide for healing, not a legal code. We pray, but your prayer rule should fit your life, not crush you. Head covering works the same way. It’s a tool, not a test. Use it if it helps.
