Berezniki basic school-branch of the Municipal Budgetary educational institution Yuryevskaya secondary school
Essay
Subject: "Ohagain religious culture and secular ethics»
WOMAN IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Executor
Frolova Olga Lvovna
S. Berezniki – 2018
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
The question of the role of women in the Orthodox Church has been raised many times throughout the history of Christianity, starting from the first decades of the existence of the Church. Therefore, when this question is asked in the twenty-first century, what is most often meant is not the role itself - Christ Himself preached about this, and the Apostle Paul wrote about this, but the actual problem of relationships between men and women in the family, in society and in the Church.
The purpose of women in the world has not changed at all over the past 2 thousand years. Everything they teach Holy Bible, The Church, as before, is vital and relevant, and the place of a woman in the world remains unshakable, which was determined for her by God, who said: “Let us make him (the husband) a helper after him” (Gen. 2, 18).
Another thing is that now, in the modern civilized world, filled with pride in its imaginary values and cut off from its spiritual roots, a woman forgets more and more her original place in life... and feels more and more unhappy. After all, neither holding high positions nor successful career- none of this can ever replace her quiet family happiness, the happiness of loving and having support in the person of her husband, the happiness of motherhood and raising children.
Most church history The absence of women at church councils was determined by the words of the Apostle Paul: “Let your women be silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but to be in subjection, as the Law says. If they want to learn something, let them ask their husbands about it at home; for it is indecent for a woman to speak in church” (1 Cor. 14:34-35).
The topic of this essay remains especially relevant in our time and poses modern generation there are many questions and tasks related to the participation of women in the life of the Orthodox Church.
THE ROLE OF WOMAN IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Woman and religion are one of the most controversial phenomena in the history of human development. In the spiritual aspects of all religions, the feminine principle plays an important, and in some cases, a decisive role. It is the combination of masculine and feminine principles that gives rise to everything that exists in society.
However, almost all world religions ignore woman as a secondary being, make it impossible for a woman to play a role as a minister of worship, but she is assigned a certain place in the temple, where she performs functions specific to her. .
In Orthodoxy, a woman belongs to her family, children, husband, and last of all to herself, if she has enough time and energy for this.
The Orthodox Church predetermines the fate of a woman - the birth of children in pain and conscientious obedience to her husband. This dogmatic point of view is also characteristic of modern Orthodoxy. Thus, Orthodoxy in its views adheres to a clear patriarchal line, placing exclusively on the man responsibility for the woman in the family and society.
This approach of Orthodoxy and the Church is characterized by asceticism and harsh dogmatism, traditionally considering a woman as a mother, wife and helper to her husband, whose main task should be caring for the well-being of the family. That is, the Orthodox Church is significantly narrowing the scope of women’s activities - a similar trend is observed now .
To determine what the position of women is in Christianity, it is necessary to study this issue in detail in a historical excursion. To do this, you need to turn to primary sources on this topic, compare the position of women, which characterizes theoretical materials, and, based on the statements of clergy, determine the connection between religious views and trends modern world, globalization processes, determine the role of the media in the formation of stereotypes regarding the female role in society .
The relevance of this topic is evidenced by the interest in it in scientific literature, as well as a large number of publications on this topic. We can talk about a scientific discussion on the issue of the position of women in the Orthodox Church and the attitude of the church itself towards women, its social functions. The point of view is defended that a woman at the present stage has a respectful position in the church, which encourages her social initiative, approves of a conscious civic position, but calls for respect for the dogmas of the church and respect for her husband .
Another group of researchers talks about openly discriminatory attitudes towards women in Orthodoxy, about their non-observance of rights and freedoms, and about the narrowing of their social roles. It must be said that both groups of researchers openly avoid polemics on this issue, highlighting only one side of the problem and using comparisons with other religions, without taking into account the trends in the modern development of the world .
According to a tradition dating back to early Christian times, men and women stand separately in the church. This division corresponded to ancient ideas about piety. The conventional division of the temple into male and female halves is still preserved, for example, among the Copts.
On the days of the celebration of the Bright Resurrection of Christ, all believers are rewarded with the generous mercies of God and experience the extraordinary joy of the celebration of Easter. But special Easter grace on Easter holidays Believing women are rewarded, just as the myrrh-bearing women were rewarded, who were not only the first to hear from the Angels the news of the Risen Savior, but also the first to see the Risen Lord. Therefore, the Orthodox Church established on the first Sunday after Antipascha to honor the memory of the myrrh-bearing women.
Why did the myrrh-bearing women have such great honor with the Lord? This question is answered by the Gospel, which speaks of the fiery love of the myrrh-bearing women for their Lord and Savior. They not only diligently served Jesus Christ in His saving death, but also, in an outburst of their deep love for Him, at dawn of the third day of Christ’s stay in the tomb, they went to anoint His body with aromas, and had the honor of being the first to see the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ, to become the first witnesses of the Resurrection The Lord's.
Yes and Orthodox wives, always striving to glorify the Lord, they prepare themselves especially carefully and with deep love and decorate the church and their homes for the holiday of Easter. By sacrificing their labors and love to the holiday, believing wives accordingly receive the most gracious gifts and mercies from the Risen Christ. Therefore, on the feast of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, the Orthodox Church honors the works and exploits, love and devotion to the Church of Christ of its believing Orthodox women .
The Easter holiday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women further strengthens the grace-filled power of Orthodox women, which greatly facilitates their service to the family, the Church and society. The Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women becomes for them a holiday of spiritual triumph of love and deeds and blessed Easter inspiration in life and work.
While highly appreciating the social role of women, the Church simultaneously opposes modern trends towards diminishing the role of women as wives and mothers. Equality between a man and a woman does not cancel their natural differences and does not mean the identity of their vocations, both in the family and in society. Everyone has their own purpose, laid down in nature by the Creator Himself, and to contradict this means to oppose all of God’s providence for man.
CONCLUSION
There is no salvation outside the Church, they say. fathers. Only in the Church, in its Sacraments and rituals, do we receive the grace of God, which strengthens us on the path of returning to virtues and gives us the strength to cleanse ourselves of sin. Virtue is generally a gift of grace. Where else, if not in the Church, can one draw strength to change oneself? modern woman?
Only in Christianity does a woman become equal to a man, subordinate her temperament to higher principles, and acquire prudence, patience, the ability to reason, and wisdom.
No matter what the Fathers of the Church proclaim, women in Christianity have no longer been on the margins, although they cannot occupy a leading place. Christianity cannot be accused of looking at a woman as a lower being: this is the only religion that has proclaimed the woman as the highest and most perfect representative of the human race - “ Honest Cherub and the most glorious without comparison, Seraphim" Holy Virgin Maria. But She also obeyed her Betrothed Joseph. This is explained by the fact that a more perfect creature may well submit to a less perfect one, since the relationship of subordination in Christianity is determined not by quality, but by function.
Orthodox religion represents an independent and final value, and all non-religious needs fade into the background. Among people of this type, women predominate. Religion and the Church save them from worries and fears, give them a feeling of joy and freedom and, ultimately, help them realize their highest spiritual potential. It is in religion that many women find the most important value orientations, and God for them is the necessary interlocutor to whom they can turn in internal dialogue. Each individual woman can now choose what social role she will play, the role of a leader or a mother, perhaps a combination of these two hypostases, which is quite natural.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Begiyan Sergius, priest Man and woman [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/66988.html (accessed March 11, 2018)
Lorgus Andrey, priest Woman in Orthodoxy [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://www.zavet.ru/vopr/pism/004.htm (accessed March 11, 2018)
Lorgus Andrey, priest Woman in Orthodoxy [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://www.zavet.ru/vopr/pism/004.htm (accessed March 11, 2018)
Kuraev Andrey, protodeacon Woman in the Church [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: https://predanie.ru/kuraev-andrey-protodiakon/book/71851-zhenschina-v-cerkvi/ (accessed March 12, 2018)
Evdokimov P.N. Woman and the salvation of the world / P.N. Evdokimov. - Minsk: Rays of Sofia, 1999. - P. 263-267.
Municipal educational institution Pervomaiskaya secondary school No. 2
Essay
Subject: “Fundamentals of religious culture and secular ethics”
WOMAN IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Executor:
Korolyuk Tatyana Vladimirovna
2018
1. Introduction
2. THE ROLE OF WOMAN IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
3. CONCLUSION
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
The question of the role of women in the Orthodox Church has been raised many times throughout the history of Christianity, starting from the first decades of the existence of the Church. Therefore, when this question is asked in the twenty-first century, what is most often meant is not the role itself - Christ Himself preached about this, and the Apostle Paul wrote about this, but the actual problem of relationships between men and women in the family, in society and in the Church.
The purpose of women in the world has not changed at all over the past 2 thousand years. Everything that the Holy Scriptures and the Church teach, as before, is vital and relevant, and the place of a woman in the world remains unshakable, which was determined for her by God, who said: “Let us make him (the husband) a helper after him” (Gen. 2:18) .
Another thing is that now, in the modern civilized world, filled with pride in its imaginary values and cut off from its spiritual roots, a woman forgets more and more her original place in life... and feels more and more unhappy. After all, neither holding high positions, nor a successful career - none of this can ever replace her quiet family happiness, the happiness of loving and having support in the person of her husband, the happiness of motherhood and raising children.
For most of church history, the absence of women at church councils was due to the words of the Apostle Paul: “Let your women be silent in the churches, for they are not allowed to speak, but to be in subjection, as the Law says. If they want to learn something, let them ask their husbands about it at home; for it is indecent for a woman to speak in church” (1 Cor. 14:34-35).
In Orthodox dogma there is simply no problem of gender, just as the question of the role of women in the Church does not arise in Orthodoxy. These kinds of problems and questions are brought into the Church from society and family by people living in society and family. Having quarreled with his wife, for example, a man can throw at her a quote from the epistle of the Apostle Paul, which will undoubtedly affect the church identity of both husband and wife. And having heard feminist warnings about discrimination against women on TV, a person consciously or unconsciously brings them to the Church and begins to compare Church life - at least as he sees it - with humanistic, including feminist, principles. In addition, the problem is often aggravated by the altar servers themselves, who, some jokingly and some seriously, quote from the Holy Fathers something like “Stay away from women and bishops,” while forgetting to mention that the advice was given by a very specific elder -a monk to a very specific young novice and is not some kind of generalizing principle of Orthodox consciousness.
The topic of this essay remains especially relevant in our time and poses many questions and challenges for the modern generation related to the participation of women in the life of the Orthodox Church.
THE ROLE OF WOMAN IN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Woman and religion are one of the most controversial phenomena in the history of human development. In the spiritual aspects of all religions, the feminine principle plays an important, and in some cases, a decisive role. It is the combination of masculine and feminine principles that gives rise to everything that exists in society.
However, almost all world religions ignore woman as a secondary being, make it impossible for a woman to play a role as a minister of worship, but she is assigned a certain place in the temple, where she performs functions specific to her..
In Orthodoxy, a woman belongs to her family, children, husband, and last of all to herself, if she has enough time and energy for this.
The Orthodox Church predetermines the fate of a woman - the birth of children in pain and conscientious obedience to her husband. This dogmatic point of view is also characteristic of modern Orthodoxy. Thus, Orthodoxy in its views adheres to a clear patriarchal line, placing exclusively on the man responsibility for the woman in the family and society.
This approach of Orthodoxy and the Church is characterized by asceticism and harsh dogmatism, traditionally considering a woman as a mother, wife and helper to her husband, whose main task should be caring for the well-being of the family. That is, the Orthodox Church is significantly narrowing the scope of women’s activities - a similar trend is observed now.
To determine what the position of women is in Christianity, it is necessary to study this issue in detail in a historical excursion. To do this, you need to turn to primary sources on this topic, compare the position of women, which characterizes theoretical materials and, based on the statements of clergy, determine the connection of religious views with the trends of the modern world, the processes of globalization, determine the role of the media in the formation of stereotypes regarding the female role in society.
The relevance of this topic is evidenced by the interest in it in the scientific literature, as well as a large number of publications on this topic. We can talk about a scientific discussion on the position of women in the Orthodox Church and the attitude of the church itself towards women and their social functions. The point of view is defended that a woman at the present stage has a respectful position in the church, which encourages her social initiative, approves of a conscious civic position, but calls for respect for the dogmas of the church and respect for her husband.
Another group of researchers talks about openly discriminatory attitudes towards women in Orthodoxy, about their non-observance of rights and freedoms, and about the narrowing of their social roles. It must be said that both groups of researchers openly avoid polemics on this issue, highlighting only one side of the problem and using comparisons with other religions, without taking into account the trends in the modern development of the world.
According to a tradition dating back to early Christian times, men and women stand separately in the church. This division corresponded to ancient ideas about piety. The conventional division of the temple into male and female halves is still preserved, for example, among the Copts.
On the days of celebrating the Bright Resurrection of Christ, all believers are rewarded with the generous mercies of God and experience the extraordinary joy of the celebration of Easter. But believing women are awarded special Paschal grace on the Easter holidays, just as the myrrh-bearing women, who were not only the first to hear from the Angels the news of the Risen Savior, but also the first to see the Risen Lord, were awarded. Therefore, the Orthodox Church established on the first Sunday after Antipascha to honor the memory of the myrrh-bearing women.
Why did the myrrh-bearing women have such great honor with the Lord? This question is answered by the Gospel, which speaks of the fiery love of the myrrh-bearing women for their Lord and Savior. They not only diligently served Jesus Christ in His saving death, but also, in an outburst of their deep love for Him, at dawn of the third day of Christ’s stay in the tomb, they went to anoint His body with aromas, and had the honor of being the first to see the miracle of the Resurrection of Christ, to become the first witnesses of the Resurrection The Lord's.
Likewise, Orthodox wives, always striving to glorify the Lord, prepare themselves especially carefully and with deep love and decorate the church and their homes for the holiday of Easter. By sacrificing their labors and love to the holiday, believing wives accordingly receive the most gracious gifts and mercies from the Risen Christ. Therefore, on the feast of the Myrrh-Bearing Women, the Orthodox Church honors the works and exploits, love and devotion to the Church of Christ of its believing Orthodox women.
The Easter holiday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women further strengthens the grace-filled power of Orthodox women, which greatly facilitates their service to the family, the Church and society. The Sunday of the Myrrh-Bearing Women becomes for them a holiday of spiritual triumph of love and deeds and blessed Easter inspiration in life and work.
While highly appreciating the social role of women, the Church simultaneously opposes modern trends towards diminishing the role of women as wives and mothers. Equality between a man and a woman does not cancel their natural differences and does not mean the identity of their vocations, both in the family and in society. Everyone has their own purpose, laid down in nature by the Creator Himself, and to contradict this means to oppose all of God’s providence for man.
CONCLUSION
There is no salvation outside the Church, they say. fathers. Only in the Church, in its Sacraments and rituals, do we receive the grace of God, which strengthens us on the path of returning to virtues and gives us the strength to cleanse ourselves of sin. Virtue is generally a gift of grace. Where else, if not in the Church, can a modern woman draw strength to change herself?
Only in Christianity does a woman become equal to a man, subordinate her temperament to higher principles, and acquire prudence, patience, the ability to reason, and wisdom.
No matter what the Fathers of the Church proclaim, women in Christianity have no longer been on the margins, although they cannot occupy a leading place. Christianity cannot be accused of looking at a woman as a lower being: this is the only religion that has proclaimed the highest and most perfect representative of the human race is the woman - “The Honest Cherub and the most glorious without comparison Seraphim”, the Blessed Virgin Mary. But She also obeyed her Betrothed Joseph. This is explained by the fact that a more perfect creature may well submit to a less perfect one, since the relationship of subordination in Christianity is determined not by quality, but by function.
The Orthodox religion represents an independent and ultimate value, and all non-religious needs fade into the background. Among people of this type, women predominate. Religion and the Church save them from worries and fears, give them a feeling of joy and freedom and, ultimately, help them realize their highest spiritual potential. It is in religion that many women find the most important value orientations, and God for them is the necessary interlocutor to whom they can turn in internal dialogue. Each individual woman can now choose what social role she will play, the role of a leader or a mother, perhaps a combination of these two hypostases, which is quite natural.
So, the role of a woman in the Church is the same as the role of every Christian, regardless of gender, nationality, social status, state of health, etc. - co-worker with Christ in the work of our salvation. By virtue of her individual talents, a woman can choose administrative service in the Church, be a theologian, icon painter or choir director, acquire equal angelic life in the monastic rank or holiness in high rank mother, but all these are only external expressions of some aspects of the life of a Christian. The main thing is “the hidden person of the heart in the imperishable beauty of a meek and silent spirit, which is precious before God.” Because the Body of Christ consists not of administrators, theologians or icon painters, not even of clergy, but of Christians. And the role of every Christian, man or woman, according to the word of Rev. Seraphim of Sarov, “acquiring the Holy Spirit of God.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Begiyan Sergius, priest Man and woman [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/66988.html (accessed March 11, 2018)
- Evdokimov P.N. Woman and the salvation of the world / P.N. Evdokimov. - Minsk: Rays of Sofia, 1999. - P. 263-267.
- Kuraev Andrey, protodeacon Woman in the Church [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: https://predanie.ru/kuraev-andrey-protodiakon/book/71851-zhenschina-v-cerkvi/ (accessed March 12, 2018)
- Lorgus Andrey, priest Woman in Orthodoxy [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://www.zavet.ru/vopr/pism/004.htm (accessed March 11, 2018)
- The place of women in the Orthodox Church and the question of the ordination of women [Electronic resource].
- Sveshnikov Sergius, priest On the role of women in the Church [Electronic resource]. – Access mode: (date of access – March 10, 2018)
annotation
The book is the first in Russian historiography to examine the legal status of women in Orthodoxy. Analysis of the monuments of canon law allows us to show the basis of this status. The authors trace the place of women in Russian church history right up to the present day. A separate topic is the influence of Orthodoxy on the institution of marriage and family in Russia. For the first time, based on a wide range of archival sources, the legal status of convents, their place in social life Russia. The status of women in the Old Believers was studied: and its influence on Russian culture was traced. The book analyzes attempts to restore the rank of deaconess in the Russian Church and publishes materials for the first time Local Council 1917–1918 related to this topic. The study examines the activities of religious women under conditions of persecution, and also presents the course of international discussions about the place of women that actively unfolded within the framework of inter-church dialogue in the 20th century.
The book is addressed to historians of the Russian church, culture, and everyone interested in the history of Orthodoxy in Russia and problems of social and gender history.
Introduction
This book is not a history of Orthodox women; it does not contain the history of holy women.
Moreover, it does not pretend to be the history of a family in Russia. It is devoted to the consideration of another issue - the status of women in Orthodoxy. The fact that raising this question is not only justified, but also extremely necessary is evidenced by the abundance of ever-new publications and discussions on this topic not only in Russia, but throughout the Christian world. Two issues of the yearbook “Kanon – Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft fur das Recht der Ostkirchen” 1 are devoted to the topic of the legal status of women in Orthodoxy.
Russian society began discussing this topic in the second half of the 19th century, but these discussions were interrupted. When in the 20th century The “women’s issue” became on the agenda of European churches; in the USSR this topic did not exist at all. Here, on behalf of Orthodox women, statements were made about the complete solution of social issues in the country of victorious socialism. The new rise of Orthodoxy and at the same time the acute demographic crisis that came with the change in the social system made the “women’s issue” extremely relevant.
Work on the book began with a study of documents from the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church 1917–1918 The collected material was only partially presented in the book: E. V. Belyakova“Church court and problems of church life / Church reforms. Discussions in the Orthodox Russian Church beginning of the 20th century. Local cathedral. 1917–1918 and the pre-conciliar period." M., 2004.
In this book, we again turn to the materials of the Local Council, because the discussion that began at it was forcibly stopped precisely at that moment in church history when it could have yielded real fruit.
We have made an attempt to give an outline of the history of the legal status of women in the Church. Of course, this essay cannot claim to be complete, but such reviews outline the path for further in-depth research.
At first we thought of limiting ourselves to considering the status of women only in the Church, because we were able to find important and largely unknown material about deaconesses. We will not hide that initially the very formulation of the question of deaconesses raised great doubts in us and was associated primarily with feminism, but the identified historical documents, unexpectedly for the authors, showed something completely different. Behind the revival of the status of deaconesses is the problem of the social service of the Church, expanding the boundaries of its influence on society, and its participation in the life of society.
The history of female monasticism in Russia is closely related to the theme of deaconesses - a topic that has now become extremely relevant in connection with the new growth of female monasticism. For the first time, based on archival sources, information about the number and charity of women's communities. Significant material about the fate of female monasticism in Russia remains to be comprehended not only by those who embark on this path, but also by the entire modern Russian society.
Of course, many will find the chapter on women in the Old Believers unexpected, but we must remember that the Old Believer subculture had a strong influence on the entire Russian society, and in the 19th century. There was not only a process of rapprochement between the two branches of Russian Orthodoxy, but also the influence of ancient Russian cultural traditions, preserved in the Old Believers, on Russian culture as a whole. The study of the Old Believers provides material that proves the important function women performed in preserving and transmitting religious traditions in conditions of persecution.
The study showed that the Christian ministry of women cannot be reduced only to their activities in the space of church buildings and monasteries, so it was necessary to consider the question of the position of women in the family. In presenting this issue, we do not touch upon many points concerning the educational role of a woman-mother - this topic requires special research, as well as the property rights of women, since this is a special topic related not only to the influence of Christianity, but to the history of classes in Russia. We focused our attention on the problems of marriage and divorce, because it is in this area, in our opinion, that the influence of Christianity on Russian traditional culture can be traced. In addition, until 1917, this area was controlled by church institutions; changes in legislation in this area influenced the entire state of Russian society. The theme of repression church marriage remains unexplored in modern historiography, but it is directly related to the problems of modern society.
The modern Russian demographic crisis is caused, among other things, by the expulsion of Christian values from the Russian family. However, it would be naive to believe that a return to Orthodoxy means a solution to family problems. The “patriarchal” attitude raises many questions, primarily for women, whose social status has undergone dramatic changes. In our study, we present data on social support for families for 2003 and did not change them. They allow a better assessment of contemporary changes in government policy on this issue.
Considering the issue of women's storage of Christian values, we could not help but touch upon the topic of persecution and repression to which religious women were subjected in the 20th century. This is a big topic that is still waiting for its researchers. We did not set out to collect all the material on this topic; it was important for us to show that without asking this question it is impossible to understand that historical role, which women played in the fate of the Russian church in the 20th century.
It is surprising that church discussions of the 20th century. about the position of Christian women in modern society, which were by no means reduced to the question of the female priesthood, are still not in demand in the Russian Orthodox Church and have passed by our contemporaries, so we decided to give the reader an idea of them.
It is necessary to say words of gratitude to our predecessors and to those women who decide to write on “women’s topics” in Orthodoxy, because the very formulation of this question requires masculinity. The authors are grateful to the MacArthur Foundation and the Russian Humanitarian Foundation, which provided support in the initial stage of development of the topic.
Special thanks to those who took the trouble to familiarize themselves with the work at the stage of its preparation: E. V. Smirnitskaya, T. A. Lapteva, N. A. Aralovets, N. M. Rogozhin, as well as the staff of the Center for History and Church of the Institute Russian history RAS to Ya. N. Shchapov, V. M. Lavrov, I. A. Kurlyandsky.
Probably nothing has been written about as much as the relationship between... And in the Orthodox context too. Or maybe - especially in the Orthodox context.
It seems to me that there are some nuances in Orthodox relationships between men and women that are not entirely correctly understood by both sides. Therefore, some often blame others (some out loud, some mentally). I constantly come across publications by Orthodox authors who somewhat aggressively affirm male dominance. Let's just say this is only partly true. Let us together trace through the Scriptures God's plan for man and woman.
So, for the first time we encounter God’s will for man and woman in (see: 1: 26–29), where God commands the human family to be fruitful and multiply and have dominion over the beasts. There is not even any talk of any hierarchy here yet. Because in the beginning it speaks of creation person as a phenomenon, and then about the division of this phenomenon. As he writes: “In God’s idea man, one might say – man as a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no distinction between husband and wife, but God, knowing in advance that man would fall, made this distinction.”
Eve is as much a helper to Adam as Adam is a helper to Eve. Helper - in the knowledge of God through one's neighbor
In the 2nd chapter of the book of Genesis, we learn more about the creation of man: Adam was created first, Eve the second - from Adam’s rib, as a “helper like” Adam (cf. Gen. 2:20). Some are inclined to see hierarchy in the fact that Eve is Adam’s helper: since she is a helper, that means Adam is in charge. However, in order to more correctly understand this place, you need to ask the question: what did Adam need to help with? Of course, in Genesis there are words that Adam had to cultivate Eden and keep it (see: Gen. 2:15), but it is naive to believe that Adam and Eve, according to God’s plan, were supposed to plow the land. “What was missing in paradise? – St. John Chrysostom notes in his interpretation of this fragment. - But even if a worker was needed, then where did the plow come from? Where do other farming tools come from? The work of God was to do and keep the commandment of God, to remain faithful to the commandment... that if he touches (the forbidden tree), he will die, and if he does not touch it, he will live.” In this light, it becomes clearer what “helper” means. As theologians say, Adam did not see one thing in heaven - man. And in order to improve, he lacked, among other things, to peer into another image of God, go out from myself to look at the same creation of God. From this point of view, Eve is as much a helper to Adam as Adam is a helper to Eve. Helper - in the knowledge of God through one's neighbor.
When the Lord brought Eve to Adam, he said: “Behold, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she will be called woman, for she was taken from [her] husband. Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; and the [two] shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:23–24). The creation of Eve from Adam's rib also indicates not the subordinate state of Eve (this will be seen more clearly later), but the identity of their nature. For Adam and Eve to truly be one flesh - for this, the Lord uses not the earth to create Eve, as was the case with all animals and Adam, but a part of Adam’s body.
For the third time we witness the relationship of God with the human family after the Fall. After both Adam and Eve shift the blame for their sin onto the other, the Lord pronounces His righteous judgment. Here we need to listen carefully to the biblical text: The Lord “said to the woman: I will multiply and multiply your sorrow in your pregnancy; in illness you will give birth to children; and your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. And he said to Adam: Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying: You shall not eat from it; cursed is the ground because of you; you will eat from it in sorrow all the days of your life; She will bring forth thorns and thistles for you; and you will eat the grass of the field; By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:16-19).
Please note: God announces His judgment. Everything that is written in these verses is God’s punishment. That is, for a woman, the punishment is the grief of pregnancy, and the pain of childbirth - then logic does not allow us to stop - and the attraction to her husband, and the husband’s dominance over her. This new reading allows us to go back a little and understand that if the husband’s dominion over his wife is a punishment for the Fall, therefore, before the Fall, the husband did not dominate the wife, but they had full rights. As he says: “As if justifying himself to his wife, the man-loving God says: at first I created you of equal honor (to my husband) and wanted you, being of the same dignity (with him), to have communication with him in everything, both to your husband and to you. entrusted power over all creatures; but since you did not take advantage of the equality as O It’s false, for this I submit you to your husband: your attraction is to your husband, and he will possess you...
Since you did not know how to boss, then learn to be a good subordinate. It is better for you to be under his command and to be under his control than, taking advantage of freedom and power, to rush along the rapids.”
In fact, in the New Testament, the apostle also exhorts women to submit to their husbands: “And you, wives, be subject to your own husbands” (1 Pet. 3:1). But here there is already another note, completely unthinkable for Old Testament relationships: “You, husbands, also treat your wives wisely, as with the weakest vessel, showing them honor, as heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7). A woman is no longer perceived quite the same way as before, and the love of spouses is perceived more spiritually: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her” (Eph. 5:25).
However, we see from the Gospel that these sublime relationships are not the limit that we must achieve, not God’s “plan” for man. We know perfection from the words of Christ, and it refers to the sacrament of the next century: “For when they are raised from the dead, then they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be like the angels in heaven” (Mark 12:25). And the apostle says: “There is no longer Jew nor Gentile; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).
Inequality between men and women is God’s punishment, penance, and any penance is temporary
So, we see that the equality of man and woman was violated by the Fall, but inequality is part of the relations of this fallen world, and there is no true love. This is God’s punishment, penance, and any penance is temporary and ends with permission from sin. In the Kingdom of God, where all sins are forgiven and forsaken, everyone dwells like Angels, differing from each other only in grace and glory, which the saints received for their exploits, and not at all by gender, title or anything other than earthly.
An analogy from ascetic works also comes to mind. Probably everyone remembers how the Monk Abba Dorotheos talks about the fear of God. He says that every Christian should have it, but the beginner and the perfect have it in different capacities. The fear of a beginner is the fear of a slave who is afraid of punishment. The fear of the average is the fear of a mercenary who is afraid of losing his pay. The fear of perfection is the fear of a son who is afraid of saddening his parent. In a sense, the woman Old Testament shows obedience like a slave. In the New - it is already more like a free person, having to receive a reward for this in eternity. And in the next century, he enters into the dignity of a daughter, like a man into a son, and renders true obedience only to the Father.
What follows from all these arguments? First of all, a warning to men. As a priest, I have seen a lot of men who believe that obedience is a special feature feminine nature, so they try to impose novitiate on their other half with words and sometimes with deeds. I have seen “Orthodox” bearded men who could kick their fair half in the teeth for their self-will. It is clear that such people cannot be brought to their senses; they simply need to be excommunicated from Communion until their brains fall into place. My word is to sane people. No need to put pressure on women! It's not easy for them anyway. Only God knows who will be higher in Heaven.
For disobedience, the grace of God departs from a woman. But men should also treat a woman like a crystal vessel.
Yes, women must show obedience, and, as Elder Paisius the Holy Mountain says, for disobedience, the grace of God departs from a woman. But in the same way, men should treat a woman as a crystal (“the weakest,” as the apostle says) vessel. If a man can say that he Always this is how he treats his wife - well, such a husband has the right to seek obedience. But I think that any man, hand on heart, will not find in himself unshakable condescension and patience, constant affection and responsiveness, which means there is nothing to demand holiness from others. As they say, learn to observe akriviya in relation to yourself - and you will learn how to create oikonomia in relation to others.
Another very important point of obedience (regardless of anyone): obedience is true when it is carried out from the first word. That's what he says. If you have to repeat it a second and third time, this no longer has anything to do with the virtue of obedience. This is a demand, an urgent request, “nagging” - but not obedience. And this is so - among both monastics and laity, in relation to both children and adults. (This, of course, is not about if a person did not hear or understand.) Therefore, dear ones, if they do not listen to you the first time, then you need to think not about how to make a person obey, but about whether it is worth repeating the second time times (now I'm only talking about adults).
Third. As we noted at the beginning of the article, a man’s punishment is to “eat bread by the sweat of his brow,” that is, to earn money. In our difficult earthly conditions, sometimes it happens that a woman has to work alongside a man. (Let’s leave aside idle talk about the fact that work ennobles.) It turns out that not only does a woman bear a purely feminine punishment - the burden of pregnancy, childbirth and obedience to her husband, but she also has to “do time” for a man - work hard faces. It is clear that anyone can break under the weight of double punishment. I'm not even talking about the fact that harsh male punishment is not at all on a woman's shoulders. It is clear that a woman has her own work to do - and this has been the case from time immemorial. That's not really what we're talking about right now. The point is that in a normal everyday situation a woman should not work hard from eight in the morning to five in the evening. And from time immemorial, women were not included all the time, say, in field work. When a woman was needed - to help with harvesting or some other special cases, - of course, she got into formation with men, but outside of this emergency time she had her own specific field of activity. This area is the creation and maintenance of a family home, which in a sense is included in the notorious “your attraction to your husband.” This attraction prompts a woman to make such a cozy nest out of her home, when she comes to it her husband understands his family happiness especially keenly.
Therefore, if there is no other way out in the family (I mean the woman’s earnings), then the man should treat these conditions of existence, which are not specific to women, with the utmost understanding. And if the yoke of making money is thrown on both, then the yoke of household responsibilities should also be thrown on both, and not just on the wife.
Childbearing by itself doesn't save. And he saves when he leads a woman (and the whole family) to “faith and love in holiness”
And a few more words about the third factor in the family - children. Now there are a lot of speculative statements about the meaning of having many children in life, based on the words of the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy, that a woman “will be saved through bearing children” (1 Tim. 2:15). However, one somehow forgets that throughout New Testament the main conditions for salvation pass: the presence in a person of the spirit of love, humility, meekness, etc. They forget what is said, separated by commas after these words: “one will be saved through childbearing, if he continues in faith and love and holiness with chastity" (emphasis mine. - O. S.B.). That is, childbearing by itself doesn't save! This is not a ticket to the Kingdom of God. And it saves in the case when it naturally leads a woman (and the whole family) to “faith and love in holiness.” Due to a misunderstanding of these words, some mothers with many children consider themselves almost half saved and at the same time despise those with few children and those without children! It's amazing how the Holy Scriptures teach us nothing! It is enough to recall the Old Testament examples of the righteous Abraham and Sarah, the 20-year childlessness of Isaac and Rebekah, Anna - the mother of the prophet Samuel, as well as the New Testament righteous Joachim and Anna, Zechariah and Elizabeth, in order to understand from which channel this Pharisaic condemnation stems. From church history we see that the Lord equally blesses those with few children, those with many children, and those without children at all. John Chrysostom was the only child in the family. Basil the Great is one of 9 children. And in the family of John of Kronstadt there were no children at all, because he and his wife took a vow of chastity. And his feat is higher than involuntary childlessness, because living side by side with a woman, with his wife, and at the same time observe virginity and chastity - this is truly a stay in the Babylonian furnace! I think the monastics will understand me.
Therefore, let us beware of condemnation, brothers. Let us beware of cruelty and unmercifulness. Let us beware of everything that is contrary to the spirit of the love of Christ, and the Giver of this love Himself will abide with us forever.
What is the role of women in the Church?
IN Lately Many Christians around the world are increasingly raising the question of the role of women in the Church. Orthodox Christians were not spared from similar discussions. Are women’s rights really violated in the Church, and are women themselves considered something of secondary importance in Orthodoxy? We asked Priest John Kovalev, rector of the parish of the Church of the Archangel Michael in the village of Novy Dvor, Minsk region, to answer this question.
When we talk about the role of women in the Church, the words of the Apostle Paul immediately come to mind that in Christ there is neither male nor female. This suggests that in the New Testament and in Christianity the division between the sexes is already becoming somewhat conventional. On the other hand, in another letter of the Apostle Paul, which is read during the sacrament of marriage, it is said that the husband is the head of the wife, and let the wife fear her husband. Scripture initially says that the Lord created man and created Eve from the rib of Adam, and it was then that this God-established hierarchy of genders appeared, which is still in effect today. Here we find the basis for the Church's understanding of the role of women in the Church.
In Christianity, a woman has greater rights than in Old Testament society. A striking example of this is the Mother of God Herself, Who is in the Church the Image of female holiness. One can also recall the myrrh-bearing women, as well as the female deaconesses who existed in the first centuries of Christianity. Among them were many saints, for example, the martyr Tatiana.
What was their role? The word “deaconess,” like the word “deacon,” carries the meaning of service. The deaconesses helped in the apostolic ministry, taking care of the tables - distributing meals, so as not to distract the shepherds from counseling and preaching. We can say that this ministry in the Church has not completely disappeared; in fact, all the work of keeping the church clean and orderly today lies on women’s shoulders. This happens because it is closer and more natural to feminine nature. Men have always helped and continue to help with these needs, secondary needs, but necessary for the normal functioning of the church body.
Sometimes the question is raised as to why we do not have a female priesthood institution. This is due to the ancient norm, when in the Old Testament, when the divine service was established, its performance was entrusted to the tribe of Levi, and female ministry was not provided for. This was, of course, connected with the concept of female impurity. In addition, we must understand that in the future, every woman is a mother. Let’s imagine a situation where a girl is nevertheless ordained, and then she, our shepherd, goes on maternity leave for five or ten years. Typically, claims to the female priesthood are made by movements that do not attach due importance to the feat of motherhood. I think that if there was God’s blessing for this, then both in the Bible and in church history there would be certain signs of this.
From the fact that there is no female priesthood in the Orthodox Church, one should in no way conclude that a woman is someone of secondary importance; there is a different meaning here. Each has its own purpose. One is given service at the Throne of God, and the other is given service in another place, but these services are equivalent, one cannot say that one of them is higher or lower than the other. However, unfortunately, some Christians neglect this understanding of the equivalence of ministries, and often believe that the ministry of a clergyman or monk is higher than the ministry of the world. Proof of the opposite is the well-known example of the life of Mary of Egypt. There is a different logic at work here - not our human understanding that if you are not allowed to do something, then you are worse than others, the meaning here is that everyone is saved in their own place and everyone has their own path to God.
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