On Women's Ordinations

I decided to go ahead and write a whole blog post about the issue of women's ordination since I mentioned it briefly in my post on Holy Orders.

I'm just going to go ahead and say that there is no easy way to talk about this topic in the negative (or as against) without seeming sexist in today's world view. If you can't handle that then stop reading right now. If you can't handle that and still read on, just know that I will laugh at any comments you may leave and never take you seriously as a person ever again.

Go Vols!

 

So, first of all, I want to state that men and women are equal. Different, but equal. One is not less than the other. Both sexes, both genders, have their own roles to play in the life of the Church. And those roles are traditional.

Phyllis Meshel Onest wrote that, "Jesus broke the centuries-old barrier that existed between men and women. Although rabbis did not include women in their group of followers, nor offer women spiritual teaching, Jesus visited and taught His friends Mary and Martha, who were also among His disciples. And there were other women among His followers." 

 I've mentioned before that St. Mary Magdalene is called the Apostle to the Apostles. And there have been other women saints called Equal to the Apostles.

The Church has broken many boundaries between the two genders. The Church has elevated - and celebrated - many women. Women are honored and revered very much in the Church, and they have been since Jesus walked the Earth.

I can point to the obvious example of the Theotokos being the most highly revered woman, and I can point to other women, such as St. Macrina, St. Phoebe, St. Zoë, St. Dymphna, St. Ia, St. Theodula, St. Bridgit, and even St. Scholastica. All of those women did amazing things for the Church, and one of the women I listed was the first woman Deacon.

St. Phoebe is mentioned by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans as a deacon. And while women will often times bear the female versions of their husbands professions (such as Khouria, Presbytera, Matushka, Diakonissa), however, it should be noted that the Greek that St. Paul uses is διάκονον which is not diakonissa as seen above to denote - at least now - the wife of a Deacon. It seems to be that St. Phoebe was indeed a female deacon. 

There are, of course other women deacons (or deaconesses) that the Church venerates, so there was obviously a precedent for women to have some kind of function in the Church.

It has been argued that the deaconesses - which have fallen largely out of use, which I'll discuss in a bit - had a different role all together than that of their male counterparts. But it seems that since some nuns are made deaconesses that the roles are essentially the same.

One reason that deaconesses fell out of use is that there wasn't seen a need for them really any longer, outside of female monasteries. A deaconesses typically assisted the priest in administering the sacraments (such as Holy Unction and Baptism) to the female laity. It was seen as improper for males to be alone with women, and in many instances to even touch them. It isn't seen as improper anymore for a priest to be beside his female parishioner as she lies in a hospital bed, and sadly the office of deaconess fell into disuse.

It should be noted that in certain cultures where it is still seen as improper for males and females to be alone that they used deaconesses until relatively recently, such as Japan.

The Church in Alexandria a few years ago brought back the office of deaconess, and other jurisdictions have maintained the office, albeit in a very limited role.

I could go on and on about women deacons, but let it suffice to say that the Church has had them from it's earliest stages, and has venerated and respected them at all times.

But, whether you want to argue that deaconesses are ordained in a similar fashion or not to deacons, there is one point that can not be argued, and that is if any of those deaconesses were ordained to the priesthood.

The short answer is no. The long answer is noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Sorry.

Actually, both answers are the same. No. No woman Deacon was ever ordained to the priesthood. Not in the Church.

So, the answer being no, why haven't women been ordained to the priesthood?

I could say because Jesus is a male, and as He is the High Priest that all priests therefore must be male in an imitation of Him. But then that raises the question of if Jesus was a male then is salvation only for males?

Sorry, ladies. You won't be making it to Heaven because only males can be saved.

As Kh, Frederica Matthewes-Green points out, Christ's maleness was very little reflected on in the early days of the Church. 

Instead, we - the Church - focuses on His humanity. When we say in the Creed that Christ became man it is understood to be the inclusive form meaning human. Christ came to save all of us.

I'm not going to say that His gender was unimportant, it definitely was.

And I'm not saying now that gender is unimportant, but if we say that priests are only male because Christ was male it does raise some questions.

But again, we see no women priests in the Church at all from the time of the Church being established to now. It just never happened.

But, women have always been important to the Church. They have taught, they have preached, they have been missionaries. They have done just about everything that men have done in the Church. The only thing that they haven't done in the Church that men have is be priests.

Now, of course, there are those denominations that do indeed ordain women to their priesthood. Or, for lack of a priesthood, to being a pastor or reverend.

In many Evangelical Protestant denominations this means that women and men are doing the exact same thing. They aren't liturgical or sacramental. And in fact before women were allowed to be ordained they already did all of the same things as men, just in an unofficial capacity. It seems the only thing that they really gained was just a title. And I don't say this to be disparaging, but to point out that women have always preached, taught, and lead in the Church - such as St. Nina leading a country to Christianity. Now, in Evangelical circles they can put Rev. before their names.

In those denominations that are sacramental and liturgical, there is an obvious difference, as the male priests were able to serve in the altar area and administer the sacraments. Women in those denominations now can as well. Of course, from my point of view, those sacraments are without Grace, not because a woman is preforming priestly duties, but because they are not a part of the Church. I will die on this hill.

So why can't women be ordained to the priesthood in the Orthodox Church? The Church has never had priestesses. Ever. It has never happened. 

But just saying that it has never happened is not an argument in and of itself, surely there is some underlying reason as to why.

I will point out that the Orthodox Church is highly Traditional. So, there being no Tradition of priestesses does cause a hindrance. If we look at the fact that the Church sees its Tradition as being from the Holy Spirit, then one does have to wonder why, if women priests are permitted, there has never been one in the almost 2,000 years of Church history.

Now, I am not saying that the Holy Spirit can not still reveal things to us. Far from it. But, if women were allowed to be priests then why would God not let us know well before now?

We can't say that the time wasn't right, since as we saw, Jesus broke down a lot of cultural barriers by actually having women be His disciples. We can't say that women were being oppressed by the Church - culture, sure - as the Church has always venerated women saints, especially those who have ministered in many different ways.

Kh. Frederica Matthewes-Green seems to think that we may not ever truly know the answer. She writes about priests in Rhodes suggesting an image for a balance between the genders. The all male priesthood corresponded to the Priest and Christ, which was reflected in the correspondence between the Theotokos and the Church.

She goes on to state, "...that we’re blind to some spiritual realities that were obvious to earlier Christians. Take the value of male and female virginity, for example. I once spent a year reading intensively about saints, and at the end I was convinced that earlier generations knew something we don’t. They knew that virginity is a source of great spiritual power." (ibid) 

She mentions other religions also value the virginity of males and females, before stating,

"When it comes to understanding the power of virginity or gender differences or anything else related to sex, there’s a good chance we just won’t get it. We live under the bombardment of continual targeted, intoxicating messages about sex, which present it in a radically anti-wholistic way, as if it’s something that happens to an empty body. Though we are exhorted to be ecologically aware and “green” in every other aspect of life, when it comes to sexuality, the natural meaning is ignored. We are steadily evangelized by the consumer culture to treat sex as an isolated mechanical act with no relation to a person’s past, future, emotions, relationships, or health."(ibid)

She then goes on to close by saying that if we can't understand the differences between men and women we can't possibly understand the reason for an all male priesthood.

However, Alice C. Linsley suggests that the Church, "has no authority to change the ontological pattern since the Priesthood existed before the Church and was not established by the Apostles." She goes on to explain that Melchizedek was a type/ form of priest, and the book of Hebrews mentions that with Jesus becoming the High Priest according to the Order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 16).

She then mentions that the office of Priest goes back further than Melchizedek - that Cain and Abel performed priestly duties. So, according to Mrs. Linsley, the priesthood was started well before the Church and the Apostles. 

St. John Chrysostom said the priesthood ranked among the heavenly ordinances and that "the Paraclete Himself ordained this succession." (St. John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press (1977), p. 70. as taken from the above link).

Mrs. Linsley goes on to posit that since the priesthood was ordained by God that it is directly tied to the Blood of Jesus, and she explains how blood was always seen as sacred and life giving. She also mentions that it is Sacred Law that the blood shed by women when giving life should never mix with the blood shed by men by killing.

She definitely gives an interesting read.

One last argument before I close. As I mentioned earlier, the Orthodox Church is very Traditional, and traditional. And there are traditional roles for men and women. Christ is the Bridegroom, the Church the Bride. It makes sense then, that Christ, God, who ordained the priesthood, would want male priests to represent Him and be an image of Him. It fits the traditional gender roles.

I'm sorry if that offends you, but I'm not really. One thing I learned in my journey to Orthodoxy is that I had to submit to the teachings of the Church and have faith that the Holy Spirit has guided it truly thus far. If such had not happened, then the Church had not been the pillar of Truth and I was seeking a false Church. Humility is called for. Humility and faith that God has preserved His Church and the teachings therein.