Monastic Tonsure

The rite by which a monk or nun is made, with a cutting of the hair in the form of a cross as a first offering of the whole self. It comes in stages. A novice becomes a rassophore, receiving the black robe and usually a new name, without vows. The small schema brings the vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, the mantle and a prayer rope, called in the rite a sword of the Spirit. The great schema, which some receive only near death, is the full angelic habit. The service is spoken of as a second baptism, because the one tonsured is washed of what went before and begins again, and the Church sings over him the parable of the prodigal son, and the Father who ran to meet him.