Editing Tonsure (section)

===Ancient and medieval usage===

====Eastern Christianity====

=====Clerical tonsure=====
[[Germanus I of Constantinople|St. Germanus I]], [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]] from 715 to 730, writes "The double crown inscribed on the head of the priest through tonsure represents the precious head of the chief-apostle Peter.  When he was sent out in the teaching and preaching of the Lord, his head was shaved by those who did not believe his word, as if in mockery.  The Teacher Christ blessed this head, changed dishonour into honour, ridicule into praise.  He placed on it a crown made not out of precious stones, but one which shines more than gold, topaz, or precious stone &ndash; with the stone and rock of faith.” In the Eastern Orthodox Church today, priests, deacons, readers, and other tonsured offices do not have their heads shaved. Rather, four locks of hair are clipped from the top of the head in the shape of a cross to mark their obedience to the Church.

=====Monastic tonsure=====
St. Germanus I writes "The total tonsuring of the head is in imitation of the holy Apostle James, brother of the Lord, and the Apostle Paul, and of the rest."<ref>St. Germanus:69</ref>

====Western Christianity====
[[File:Carlo Crivelli 052.jpg|thumb|right|150px|St Bartholomew (by [[Carlo Crivelli]], 1473, in the [[Ascoli Piceno Cathedral]])]]

=====Clerical tonsure=====
In the [[Latin Church]] of the [[Catholic Church]], "first tonsure"  was, in medieval times, and generally through to 1972,<ref name="Motu_Poprio">[http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P6MINORS.HTM] "motu proprio", Retrieved 2011-08-14</ref> the rite of inducting someone into the clergy and qualifying him for the civil benefits once enjoyed by [[cleric]]s. Tonsure was a prerequisite for receiving the [[minor orders|minor]] and [[major orders]]. Failing to maintain tonsure was the equivalent of attempting to abandon one's clerical state, and in the [[1917 Code of Canon Law]], any cleric in minor orders (or simply tonsured) who did not resume the tonsure within a month after being warned by his [[Ordinary (Catholic Church)|Ordinary]] lost the clerical state.<ref>[http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_PC.HTM#GE Canon 136 par 3], [[1917 Code of Canon Law]]</ref> Over time, the appearance of tonsure varied, ending up for non-monastic clergy as generally consisting of a symbolic cutting of a few tufts of hair at first tonsure in the Sign of the Cross and in wearing a bare spot on the back of the head which varied according to the degree of orders. It was not supposed to be less than the size of a communicant's [[Host (liturgy)|host]], even for a tonsuratus, someone simply tonsured, and the approximate size for a priest's tonsure was the size of a priest's host. Countries that were not Catholic had exceptions to this rule, especially in the English-speaking world. In England and America, for example, the bare spot was dispensed with, likely because of the persecutions that could arise from being a part of the Catholic clergy, but the ceremonious cutting of the hair in the first clerical tonsure was always required. In accordance with [[Pope Paul VI]]'s ''[[motu proprio]]'' ''Ministeria quaedam'' of 15 August 1972, "first tonsure is no longer conferred".<ref name=Motu_Poprio/>

=====Monastic tonsure=====
Apart from this general clerical tonsure, some [[Latin liturgical rites|Western Rite]] monastic orders, for example [[Carthusian]]s and [[Trappist]]s, employed a very full version of tonsure, shaving the head entirely bald and keeping only a narrow ring of short hair, sometimes called "the monastic crown" (see "Roman tonsure", above), from the time of entrance into the monastic [[novitiate]] for all monks, whether destined for service as priests or brothers.