Now, batushka is not a name at all. It is simply the diminutive form of an obsolete word meaning "father", and is usually applied to all village priests. The ushka is a common diminutive termination, and the root Bat is evidently the same as that which appears in the Latin pater.

From Donald Mackenzie Wallace, "Russia"

Only the boyars of the first state had the right, for example, to grow a beard, the rest being entitled only to a mustache.

From Wikipedia, >> Boyar

In 1705, Emperor Peter I of Russia instituted a beard tax to modernize the society of Russia following European models. Those who paid the tax were required to carry a "beard token". This was a copper or silver token with a Russian Eagle on one side and on the other, the lower part of a face with nose, mouth, whiskers, and beard. It was inscribed with two phrases: "the beard tax has been taken" and "the beard is a superfluous burden".

From Wikipedia, >> Beard tax

Little social psychological research has been conducted on this topic, and what there is seems rather basic. In 1969 Freedman reported that female students rated a bearded male face as more masculine, mature, independent, and sophisticated than a nonbearded face. Similarly, both Roll and Verinis (1971) and Kenny and Fletcher (1973) found students to rate a bearded face as more masculine, strong, and sincere, but also more dirty (versus clean). Pancer and Meindl (1978) found beardedness to lead to more positive ratings. However, Feinman and Gill (1977) found their female students to like least a man with a beard. They put this finding down to the possibility that their Wyoming students were more conservative than the Chicago, Midwestern, Memphis, and Canadian students of the above four studies.

From Ray Bull and Nichola Rumsey, The Social Psychology of Facial Appearance (1988)

Of all batushkas, the third one is a real batushka to me. He summons a story. Perhaps he just woke up, still drunk from the night before. He looks wild, messy. First batushka looks to me like some forest, ethtereal creature, and the second one is flat and too gentle to be a real batushka.

Goga

Of all batushkas, the third one is burdened with black paint the most. But it doesn't look bad. Somehow he doesn't fit well with the previous two, but I agree with you that he looks like a real batushka the most. He looks as if he just got out of bed and stepped on a piece of glass from a broken bottle.

Toni