Sovereign Emperor bans shaving

The Empire of Pavlov is a social and cultural project which seeks to model the society, customs, and traditions of the medieval Slavic principalities and the Roman Empire in a contemporary framing. The standards of what is and isn't acceptable were drastically different in the era that Pavlov is modeled after, and many of today's societal concepts didn't exist at all. More in the Disclaimer.

6 August 7528 AM

His Imperial Majesty Alexander IV, Defender of the Faith, Turtle and Elephants, may the Almighty God bless his reign, gave Imperial Assent to an Act of Senate placing a categoric ban on shaving for all natural-born male subjects of the Empire, save for members of the Imperial Family.

Stating that a male who shaves his beard "voluntarily rejects his masculinity and commits an act of treason against the Almighty God", the provisions of the Act include forceful castration of violators, regardless of social status. Noble who shave their beards will be stripped off their lands and titles and sold into serfdom, while plebeians will be whipped 500 times and exiled from the Realm.

The ban on shaving constitutes a time-honoured Pavlovian tradition, originally enacted on 9 October 7522 (1 November 2014 according to the Calendar of the Heretics). It was first introduced in Leviticus 19:27 ("Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard"), while the Apostolic Constitutions in Book 1 Sec. II reaffirmed its status as binding for Christians.