Both men and woman share human nature and the experience of salvation equally. God did not design men and women to be the same, but distinct, different, and complimentary to each other. Men cannot be mothers and women cannot be fathers. Men cannot give birth to children and women cannot hold the ordained Priesthood. Consistently throughout the history of both ancient Israel and the Church, God has called men to be Priests, but not women to be priestesses, which were part of pagan religious practice. Note that the feminine form of the word for Priest (presybter), which is Presbytera, is used within the Church. The wife of a Priest is called Presbytera as a sign of respect.
Women and men share in the same collective priesthood of the Church, which is the Body of Christ. Women have held, and still hold, a wide variety of responsibilities within the Church in support of the family, the community of the Faithful, and our neighbors in the world.
Who is regarded as the greatest of the Saints? A woman. We call her more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim and describe her womb as more spacious than the heavens. The Orthodox hold the Virgin Mary higher in honor than all others. She fulfilled her ministry on earth by being a mother, the Theotokos and Mother of God. She is extolled as our chief intercessor, our Champion Leader, who leads the Saints in prayer for the world before the Throne of God.
The Theotokos held a particularly unique calling and ministry, but what have other women done within the Church? Like the Theotokos, some women fulfilled their ministry through motherhood. Ss. Emilia, Nonna, and Monica, the mothers of Saints, nurtured their children in the Way. While the secular world often diminishes the significance of a woman being a wife and mother, the Church highly repects these honorable, uniquely feminine ministries. These roles are so important for women to do because only woman can do them.
Some women dedicated themselves to prayer for the world as monastics (nuns), either as hermits, like St. Syncletica, the Desert Mother, or in monasteries with other women. St. Brigid of Kildare in Ireland, St. Etheldreda in England, and St. Matrona in Constantinople, led monastic communities as Abbesses. The New-Martyr Elizabeth (grand-daughter of Queen Victoria), who was executed by Russian Communists, and the Martyr Maria of Paris, murdered by German Nazis, dedicated themselves to serving the poor.
Ss. Mary Magdalene and Susanna, with St. Joanna, who was the wife of King Herod’s steward, financially supported Christ’s ministry with His Twelves Apostles. St. Junia, alongside St. Andronicus, served as one of Christ’s Seventy Apostles. (The ministry of the Seventy is distinct from the ministry of the Twelve.) During certain historical periods, Deaconesses, like St. Olympia in Constantinople, were chosen from among older women (40 years or older) who lived a celibate life as unmarried virgins or widows. The Deaconesses assisted the Priests in their ministry to women.
Some Orthodox women, including the Empresses Ss. Theodora, Pulcharia, and Alexandra led nations as pious rulers. Some Right Believing Sovereigns, like St. Helen, mother of St. Constantine, and Olga of Kiev, mother of St. Vladimir, contributed to the spread of the Gospel among the people. St. Priscilla, with her husband, Aquilla, as well as St. Lydia, engaged in business while serving the Church. St. Photini of Samaria (known as the Samaritan woman in Scripture), St. Thekla, the first woman martyr of the Church, and St. Nina in Georgia, designated as Equals to the Apostles, courageously labored as missionaries.
St. Marina, shown in icons beating the Devil with a hammer, provides an image of spiritual strength. St. Katherine of Alexandria remains famous for her intelligence and skill defeating pagan philosophers. St. Ia of Beijing worked as a school teacher. Early Christian physicians included Ss. Philonella, Zenaida, and Hermione. The Great Martyr Anastasia of Sirmium is also associated with healing. In the Eastern Roman Empire, women physicians worked in hospitals, established in an Orthodox society. St. Kassiani the Hymnographer served God and the Church as a poet and musician. As iconographers, women have filled churches with sacred images. When Atilla the Hun approached Paris, St. Genevieve spoke courage into the hearts of men who wanted to run away in the face of danger. When Christians came under attack by the murdering Boxers, St. Maria of Beijing selflessly helped rescue fellow Chinese believers before her own martyrdom.
From ancient times until today, women have held a variety of important roles, formal and informal, alongside men within Christ’s Holy Church. One of the most important ministries of women, of course, is inner prayer. Whatever else is done, let prayer from a humble heart be the foundation and support of everything else.
Read: Luke 8.1-3; Acts 18.1-28; Romans 16.7; 1 Timothy 1.5
Text copyright © 2018 by Fr. Symeon D. S. Kees