What Does the Orthodox Church Say about Tattoos?

There is no canon, at least to my knowledge that teaches Christians should not get a tattoo.
However, we do find the following in the Law of Moses:
“Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the
Lord” (Leviticus 19:28).

Unfortunately, I do not have any patristic commentaries that address this verse, though they may be
some out there. But if all we had was this verse, it could be argued that this is just a  ceremonial
law that no longer applies to Christians. However there are several reasons why that would be an
incorrect conclusion:
 
1. With the exception of the Copts, Ethiopians, and Bosnian Croats, the Christian Tradition has
universally rejected tattoos. And there are historical reasons why these Christian groups are an
exception – they tattoo their children with crosses so that if they are kidnapped by Moslems, they
can later be identified as Christians; and given the intense level of persecution they have faced, this
has also been a way of proclaiming their intention of remaining a Christian, no matter what may
come (a tattoo being, by its nature, a very permanent statement). However, it is both interesting and
instructive that Orthodox Christians living in the same circumstances never adopted a similar
custom.
 
2. Most of the tattoos that people have in our culture are not modest and pious crosses designed to
protect children from kidnapping or to testify to one’s commitment to standing firm for Christ, but
are all kinds of things that are usually frivolous at best, and often unwholesome. If you read what
the Scriptures have to say about modesty, it is unlikely that the inspired writers would have spent so
much time encouraging us to dress in ways that are not immodest, or draw unnecessary attention to
ourselves, and yet would be O.K. with a tattoo just above the crack of your behind (just to cite one
popular trend as an example).
 
3. St. Paul says that our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit: “What? know ye not that your
body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your
own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which
are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Imagine if someone took a spray paint can, and expressed
themselves over the walls of a Church. We would all be shocked that someone would do such a
thing, but it is no different to express yourself by defacing your body – because you are bought with
a price, and are not free to so whatever you want with your body… if indeed you are a believer.
 
Of course if someone already has a tattoo, it is certainly not an unpardonable sin. And when we see
someone with a tattoo, we should not judge them, because they may have repented of getting that
tattoo a long time ago. But those contemplating getting a tattoo should ask themselves why they
want one in the first place, and they should ask whether this is really something that pleases God.
Once you get a tattoo, they are not easy to get rid of, and what you think looks cool today, may not
seem so cool to you in ten or twenty years.

Update:

Here are two replies to some comments this post has received on Facebook.
In response to a comment that saw a contradiction between acknowledging that there are no
canons against tattoos, but my statement that the Christian Tradition has universally rejected
tattoos.

The actual practice of the Church is a testimony to the Tradition of the Church. It is not as if tattoos
were a recently discovered technology, They had tattoos when Moses wrote the Law. But aside
from the unique cases of the Copts and Ethiopians, Christians have universally rejected tattoos. It is
only in my lifetime that having a tattoo has gone from something those on the fringes did (sailors,
soldiers, and marines – away from home; gang members, and convicts) to something that young
ladies from decent homes are doing.

In response to a catechumen who has religious tattoos, and similarly questioned whether the
Church really has rejected tattoos.

Not all of the Tradition of the Church has been written out in the form of canons. We generally only
have canons to guard against people doing something when there are some people in the Church
who are doing it. Tattoos were something that no Christians (outside of the exception I discussed)
did. Until only very recently, no Christian group of any kind would have suggested that such a
practice was befitting a Christian. Now, in your case, your tattoos were probably very well
intentioned, but people often do things in ignorance that they should not do. As St. Paul put it in 1
Corinthians 11:16: “But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the
churches of God.”

And on the authority of unwritten Traditions, consider St. Basil’s words, which were specifically
endorsed by the 4th, 6th, and 7th Ecumenical Councils.
In response to some who have disputed whether Christians really have historically rejected tattoos.

It is not merely coincidence that the pagan Romans, Slavs, and Germans practiced various forms of
tattooing, but when Christianity was established in those areas, these practices ceased. Even the
word “tattoo” demonstrates that this was not part of the Christian culture, because it is a Polynesian
word, that was not in use in English prior to the 18th century, and there is no record of any tattoo
artists in either England or the United States prior to the 19th century.

Fr. John Whiteford