Note 65 — Chapter VI · THE SKIRTS OF THE MOUNTAINS (RABBAN HORMIZD, BAVIAN, AND AKRA)
Reading edition
A clean-shaven man in the East is regarded as something emasculate, and in order to escape reproach one must wear at least a moustache. Laymen often shave the beard and whiskers, but a bishop or priest never shaves; and to shave a priest is esteemed as practically equivalent to unfrocking him.