Bearded Church History: Bearded Apologist: Tertullian (A.D. 155

It was said by the early church father, Tertullian, that to shave the beard is “blasphemy against the face."

Beard Quotes

“Nor may men destroy the hair of their beards, and unnaturally change the form of a man."
- Apostolic Constitutions

(A.D. 375)

“The clergyman shall not let his hair grow, neither shall he remove his beard"

4th Council of Carthage

(A.D. 398)

“None of the clerics shall not let his hair grow, or cut the beard."

- 3rd Canon of the 1st Council of Barcelona

(A.D. 540)

“The beard signifies the courageous… the earnest, the active, the vigorous. So that when we describe such, we say, he is a bearded man."

- St. Augustine

“The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness and strength."

- Lactantius

“[God] adorned man like the lions, with a beard, and endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest–a sign of strength and rule. This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man."
- Clement of Alexandria

“We know that the beard of man was created by God."
- John Knox

“...grow your beards! A habit most natural, scriptural, manly, and beneficial."

- C. H. Spurgeon

Bearded Apologist: Tertullian (A.D. 155 - 240)