“Badness” is defined by only one thing - committing a sin, and in this both the “weak” and “strong” sexes are the same. I undertake to assert that from the point of view of the Gospel revelation and church teaching, the problem of “woman in the Church” does not exist. The “weaker sex” is represented in one way or another, albeit with reservations, in all aspects of church life. Let me remind you that among those whom the Church calls “saints” and whom the Church presents as an example of Christian life, both men and women are equally revered. More than all the saints and even more than the angels in the Orthodox Church, a woman and mother is revered - the Most Holy Theotokos.
In modern church life we see women philosophers, theologians, liturgists (specialists in organizing divine services), teachers, missionaries, catechists (teaching newcomers the basics of doctrine), abbess of monasteries, journalists, lawyers, accountants, regents, elders of parish communities, singers and even those that they serve in the temple during worship. We even see women who, contrary to the general rule, go to the altar, even if only to clean. We know representatives of the “fairer sex” who donate money to the Church and through this have significant, albeit non-public, influence. It is well known that women even participate in church councils and vote on the most important issues. The voice of women was also taken into account in the elections of the Patriarch.
I would especially like to draw your attention to the fact that in modern church life, women are represented on equal terms with men in areas that are much more significant both for our culture and for the life of the Church than “presence at the altar” or “serving the priest during divine services.” Writers, journalists, teachers, catechists - these are those church professions or ministries in which the church tradition is transmitted, where women actually “influence minds” and speak on behalf of the Church.
It is enough to turn to the Orthodox Christian teaching about men and women, to the teaching and experience of veneration of the Most Holy Theotokos, as well as to the Christian understanding of the rules of behavior in the temple, and everything will fall into place. The life of women in relation to God and Christians is not infringed in any way and depends, just like the life of men, only on their own faith, will and zeal.
Despite the fairly clear evangelical and theological position of the Church regarding the “weaker sex,” there are certain aspects in Orthodoxy that influence the church life of women. In this case, “practice,” being more severe, contradicts “theory,” and nothing will change in the foreseeable future. I am talking primarily about the attitude towards “female impurity” and the perception of women through the prism of archaic medieval society.
Why can't a woman be a priest?
I dare say that ultimately, there is only one answer to this question and it is enough not to return to this topic. Priests are called to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ to the best of their ability. They, like Him, are men and shepherds. The Lord is the head of that large family, that congregation that was called the Church. The priest is also the head, he carries out paternal service in relation to the Christian community entrusted to him by God.
The experience of Protestant churches and the “female priesthood” is not suitable for comparison with Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The priesthood in Protestantism, as far as I understand, is identical to the concept of “elder” and is close to the concepts of “elder”, “teacher” and “speaker”. I once wrote about the priesthood in Orthodoxy; the key distinguishing point is the special blessing of God taught to priests, the special gifts of God that are necessary for serving in the image of Christ Himself. In the Orthodox tradition, women can be “elders,” and “elders,” and “teachers,” and “speakers,” but they cannot become like Christ in his shepherding.
About female “uncleanness”
“The uncleanness of women” is the Old Testament views on the birth processes in a woman’s life that have become obsolete and necessary only at a certain historical stage, but have sprouted and taken root in Orthodox life. This probably happened due to some pedagogical and hygienic considerations, which later faded into the background, giving way to the traditional “this is how it should be.” It is important for us that from very ancient (but by no means apostolic) times, women began to be considered “unclean” during the days of “monthly cleansing” and during the forty-day postpartum period. This understanding overlapped with the traditional division of the world into “sacred” and “profane”, which was traditional in ancient times, but not always approved by Christians, when shrines were thought of as something self-sufficient that could be desecrated. From here, by the way, ultimately came the ban on women entering the altar as a “shrine” of the temple.
The concept of female “uncleanness” is reflected in numerous statements of church preachers and writers, as well as in church rules (canons) and prayers for a woman who has given birth to a child. Some commentators agree that women are not recommended to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in a state of “uncleanness” without special need. Although even with such a strict understanding, church legislation does not contain any “punishments” for violating this discipline. Other interpreters point out that “uncleanness” comes only from sin, that there is and cannot be a connection between the “birth processes” and the communion of women. Without going into details, I will refer those who wish to study this issue and remind you that even at the beginning of the last century (before the revolution), the attitude towards a woman as “unclean” was subject to serious criticism from the laity, the priesthood and even the episcopate.
I understand that for a modern woman it is quite strange to read and know that she can be considered “unclean”, and sometimes even “defective” only for the manifestations of her nature, which, moreover, thanks to the high level of medicine and hygiene, now have no effect no matter what. Nevertheless, women need to be prepared that in Orthodox churches they may be tactlessly asked if they are “on their period.”
Orthodox psychology
Dear brothers and sisters! From time to time, serious disputes arise on the site regarding the nature and place of men and women in society and the family. It’s good, of course, that there is an opportunity to express your opinion. Let me present to your attention the sayings of the Holy Fathers “About a woman, for a woman...”. The reaction will be very different, but I ask you - before you become indignant, look at who it belongs to... If, for example, St. John Chrysostom or St. Let me remind you of Basil the Great - it was they who compiled the Divine Liturgies celebrated in our churches... And if we like the sayings of the Holy Fathers: about prayer, about repentance, about the fight against passions, and so on. wouldn’t it be stupid to neglect this heritage too...
* * * ...Walking, dragging clothes behind you, having a gait that is not natural, but freely accustomed to indecent movements, is a sign of an arrogant and voluptuous woman (St. Basil the Great).
* * * Women should be silent in church, but at home engage in conversations about pleasing God (St. Basil the Great).
* * * Just as fragile ships sink from storms and bad weather, so the weak souls of their “husbands” perish from the bad inclinations of wives (St. Basil the Great).
* * * No wealth will be used to satisfy women’s wishes, even if it flows like rivers... (St. Basil the Great).
* * * Oh, what the worst evil of all evil is the wicked wife! If only she is crafty, then she is already rich in malice; and if she has wealth to further her wickedness, then she is pure evil, an intolerable animal, an incurable disease, an indomitable beast (St. Ephraim the Syrian).
* * * ...Whoever has a wicked wife, let him know that in her he received retribution for his iniquities (St. Ephraim the Syrian).
* * * It is good for a wife to honor Christ in the person of her husband; It is also good for the husband not to dishonor the church in the person of his wife (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * It is indecent for women to show masculine character; any other rule, except modesty, is alien to a well-behaved woman (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * Do not, women, build towers of false hair on your heads, do not flaunt your delicate neck; do not cover God’s face with vile colors, and do not wear masks instead of a face. It is indecent for a woman to show men her open head, even if gold is woven into curls, or untied hair... It is indecent for her to wear a comb on top, like a helmet, or a shiny tower visible from afar to men. It is also indecent for your hair, covered and open together, to shine through the thin linen, and shining like gold where the veil has escaped, showing the skill of your laboring hand, when, having placed before you a blind mentor - a soulless image of your face, with his help you wrote your beauty. If nature has given you beauty, do not cover it up with polishes, but keep it pure for your spouses alone, and do not turn greedy eyes on strangers, because the heart follows the eyes indecently. And if at birth you did not receive the gift of beauty, then avoid the second ugliness, that is, do not borrow beauty from your hands - the beauty that the earth provides, which dissolute women buy... beauty that is erased and flows to the ground, cannot stay on to you during laughter, when joy makes the cheeks tremble, - beauty, which is exposed as a forgery by streams of tears, fear moisturizing the cheeks, and destroyed by a drop of dew (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * One color is kind in women - this is the kind blush of modesty. Our Painter paints it. If you want, I’ll give you another color; make your beauty pale, exhausting yourself with deeds for Christ, prayers, sighs, vigils day and night. Here are rubbings suitable for both single and married people! And we will save the dyes for the walls and for such women in whom rabies and the droppings of young people are produced. Let them jump and laugh shamelessly; and we are not even allowed to look at dissolute women. The best treasure for women is good morals, that is, to sit more at home, talk about God’s word, engage in weaving and yarn... wear bonds on your lips, eyes and cheeks, do not often cross the threshold of your home, seek entertainment only in a society of chaste women and in one of your husbands, for whom you, with God's blessing, allowed a virgin belt. And set limits to your husband’s liberties, so as to assure him how far you keep yourself from other people’s men (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * First, honor God, and then your spouse - the eye of your life, the director of your intentions. Love him alone, make your heart happy, and the more, the more tender the love he has for you; under the bonds of unanimity maintain an inseparable affection. Allow yourself not such freedom as your husband’s love calls you to, but such as is decent; because satiety is possible in everything. But although there is satiety in everything, it is better to have such love that does not know it. Having been born a woman, do not assume to yourself the importance inherent in a man; and do not be proud of your birth, do not be puffed up in your clothes or in your wisdom. Your wisdom is to obey the laws of marriage, because the knot of marriage makes everything common between the wife and her husband. When your husband is irritated, give in to him, and when he is tired, help him with gentle words and kind advice. And the lion tamer does not by force pacify the enraged beast, whose breathing is interrupted in rage, but tames it by stroking it with his hand and saying kind words (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * Consider your husband’s joys and sorrows to be common to you as well. Let your concerns be common; because through this the house grows (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * Be arrogant, but not arrogant (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * There should be no lustful movements or angry tremblings on your cheeks. This is shameful for every person, especially for a woman, and makes the face ugly. Decorate your ears not with pearls, but with the habit of listening to good speeches, and for bad speeches, close them with the key of the mind. Let both your open and closed ears be chaste listeners (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * There should be no lustful movements or angry tremblings on your cheeks. This is shameful for every person, especially for a woman, and makes the face ugly. Decorate your ears not with pearls, but with the habit of listening to good speeches, and for bad speeches, close them with the key of the mind. Let both your open and closed ears be chaste listeners (St. Gregory the Theologian).
* * * ... What makes a wife lovable is not the beauty of the body, but the virtue of the soul, not rubbing and tinting, not gold and precious clothes, but chastity, meekness and constant fear of God (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * Just as trappers, having spread their nets, try to lure wild animals in order to slaughter them, so these “depraved” women, having spread the nets of lust everywhere, with their eyes, and body movements, and words, lure and entangle their lovers, and are not left behind , like drinking their very blood, and then they themselves attack them, laugh at their stupidity and mock them a lot (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * It is not so much nature that makes a face beautiful as the disposition of the person looking at it; and disposition is usually acquired by nothing more than chastity and modesty (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * ...Adorn your face with chastity, modesty, almsgiving, philanthropy, love, friendliness to your husband, meekness, humility, patience; these are the colors of virtue; with them you will attract the love of not only people, but also Angels; God Himself will praise you for them; when God will favor you, then, of course, He will bind your husband to you (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * If a prudent husband is only allowed to smile quietly, then a wise woman is hardly advised even this (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * ... A depraved, intemperate, quarrelsome "wife", even if she finds countless treasures in the house, will squander them faster than any wind and plunge her husband, along with poverty, into countless misfortunes (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * This creature (woman), in fact, is persistent and decisive: if she deviates towards evil, she commits great atrocities; and if he takes up virtue, he will sooner give his life than deviate from his intention (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * What is the use of gold to you, wife? To appear beautiful and comely? But this does not in the least add beauty to your soul. Be beautiful in soul, then you will be pleasant in body (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * Don’t talk to me about the beauty of the body, but look at the virtues of the soul. What is a beautiful woman like? The coffin is decorated, if she did not decorate herself with chastity (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * All women devoted to chastity are worthy of the name courageous (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * This evil “pride and arrogance” is intolerable everywhere, but especially in the female sex. A wife filled with arrogance, being more frivolous and unreasonable, is easily corrupted, drowns, and suffers shipwreck from every stormy breath, since pride and arrogance drown her (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * ...The covering of "a woman's head" is a sign of humility and submission; it encourages one to look down, to humble oneself, and to practice virtue; the virtue and honor of a subordinate consists precisely in remaining in obedience. The husband is not ordered to do this, since he is the image of the Lord Himself... (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * God created you, “woman,” to be beautiful in order to arouse in us amazement at Himself, and not so that we would offend Him. Do not repay Him for this with gifts, but with chastity and modesty. God created you to be beautiful in order to increase your feats of modesty through this. It is not to the same extent (it is difficult) to maintain chastity for one who arouses love for herself in everyone, and for one for whom no one feels inclination (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * ...We will not decorate ourselves, because this is an unnecessary and useless concern; Let us not accustom our husbands to love appearance alone. If you decorate yourself like this, then he, accustomed to this, (looking) at your face, can easily be seduced by debauchery. On the contrary, if you teach him to love good manners and modesty, then he will not soon fall into adultery, because he will not find this in a harlot, but will find the opposite of it. So, do not teach him to be seduced by laughter or free body movements, so that through this you do not prepare poison for yourself. Teach him to find pleasure in modesty; and you can do this when you behave modestly. In fact, if you yourself are frivolous and voluptuous, then how can you start a decent conversation with him? (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * ...And the wife inherited an important part of the overall management of affairs, namely the household; and without her, civil affairs could never have taken place. If household affairs were in disorder and disorder, then each of the citizens would have to sit at home, and civil affairs would be in a bad state. Thus, she participates in these matters no less (her husband) and in spiritual ones (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * ...Now you decorate the body, but desecrate the souls. But what is the pleasure of having a golden vessel if the drink it contains is deadly? Isn't that what harlots are like? Their faces bloom with colors, but their souls perish. Do they not, by rouging their faces with purple paint, create with their fingers the likeness of the fire that threatens them, when they should sprinkle their very hearts with the blood of Jesus and whiten their souls with His Spirit, so that the color of the soul shines like a rose in union with lily? (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * Do you want to seem beautiful? And I desire this, but only with the beauty that God requires, the beauty that the (Heavenly) King wants (St. John Chrysostom).
* * * Some women, not having the patience to hide women’s illnesses, if they are handsome and rich, are proud of the shine of precious stones set in gold, and if they are ugly and poor, they manage to give themselves beauty by using ointments and tinting their eyes. And those who want to be considered honest, although they are content with natural beauty, do not refuse to give it a better appearance. The truly chaste, making every effort to take care of the soul, do not refuse to serve the body, as an instrument of the soul, in moderation, but consider it an unworthy and low thing for themselves to adorn the body and be proud of it, so that it, by nature being a slave, did not become proud before the soul to which the right of dominion was entrusted; on the contrary, they train the body to know its proper order and do not expose it as a bait to serve as arson and a reason for lewdness, but, if possible, they take away from it everything that would turn into food for this fire. And from one truth-loving husband I heard a story worthy of attention and memory... One day a young man, a lustful and feminine servant, saw a beautiful girl, was greatly captivated by her, and used all the tricks to satisfy his desire, but the girl refused him from the very beginning; because she was noble, chaste, and vowed to keep both soul and body inviolable to Christ. But when she heard that the young man was behaving like a frantic and mad man, she invented a way to preserve her innocence and extinguish the fire in him. Having cut her hair, or rather, shaved off all the splendor of her hair and anointed her face with ashes mixed with water, she ordered the young man to come to her. Then he said to the person who came in: “Do you really love this disgrace?” And the young man, as if coming to his senses from his fury, not only extinguished the fire of lust within himself, but even became an ardent lover of chastity (St. Isidore Pelusiot).
* * * ...<Women's> caress, in my opinion, is more powerful than fear... seducing with her decoration and laying aside the robe of voluptuousness, a woman is this spirit strong in the charm of the inattentive, this is the ancient weapon of the devil, with which he has overthrown many courageous (St. Isidore Pelusiot ).
* * * A woman’s gaze is a poisonous arrow, wounds the soul and pours poison into it; and the more old this ulcer becomes, the more damage it produces (St. Neil of Sinai).
* * * The good Lord also shows great providence for us in that the shamelessness of the female sex is restrained by shame, as if with some kind of bridle, for if women themselves resorted to men, then no flesh would be saved (St. John Climacus).
* * * She... who does not use clothes to cover and warm the body, but for ostentation and flaunting their grace and color, not only reveals the barrenness of the soul before those looking at her, but also becomes covered in harlotry shamelessness (St. Gregory Palamas).
* * * Blood predominates in a woman; all the passions of the soul operate in her with particular strength and sophistication, mainly vanity, voluptuousness and slyness. The latter covers the first two (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov).
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