Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, Set

ORIENTAL ORTHODOX TRADITIONS AND THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH

518 l WOMEN IN ORTHODOX AND ORIENTAL ORTHODOX TRADITIONS roles were limited, what might we do in the Church of Christ in the twenty-first century? (St. Nina Quarterly 1.1 [1996]: 1, 4) Raising questions about two millennia of church practice in which women have been excluded from participating equally with men is almost beyond the strength or spirit of most women. The job of winnowing out heretical sociocultural incursions from the truth of the faith requires a willingness on the part of both genders to acknowledge the sin of sexism when it occurs. Orthodoxy has a history of courageous, outspoken, and challenging women, women who were often ignored , publicly criticized, or dismissed as misguided proponents of heresies in their time but who now wear holy crowns of martyrdom and sanctity. Their commitment was continually renewed and strengthened by their faith. Their stories and witness are a source of constant admiration and challenge, as they reveal historical evidence of the participatory role of women in the “royal priesthood of believers” (1 Peter 2:9). These are women to learn about and emulate in the twenty-first century. It remains to be seen if the seeds of renewed commitment to truth and integrity, generated by the courageous Orthodox women of the European consultations in the late 1900s and planted by a handful of women in the New World, will be tended to fruition by the Holy Spirit’s presence and action in the women and men clergy and monastics in the American Church. SOURCES: Excerpts and summaries of international Orthodox women’s conferences are archived at the MaryMartha Web site at http://members.iinet.net.au/⬃mmjournl/MaryMartha/ CONSULTATIONS and at the Women’s Orthodox Ministries and Education Network http://www.orthodoxwomens network.org/. Orthodox Women Speak (1999), ed. Kyriaki FitzGerald , documents the complete proceedings of the Orthodox women’s conferences in Damascus, Syria, 1996, and Istanbul, Turkey, 1997. Echoing Eva Topping’s perspective, Romanian theologian Anka Manalache addresses misogyny in Orthodox Church Fathers in her article “Orthodoxy and Women,” in Women, Religion and Sexuality, ed. Jeanne Becher (1991). Sr. Nonna Verna Harrison provides an in-depth study of gender themes in the anthropology of the Greek Fathers in her article “Femininity and Masculinity in the Theology of the Cappadocian Fathers,” Journal of Theological Studies (1990): 8. Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church (1998), by Kyriaki FitzGerald, offers the most comprehensive treatment challenging a common myth that the Orthodox Church had never ordained women as deacons. “Gender Issues and Sexuality,” by Demetra Velisarios Jaquet, summarizes the concerns of the European consultations for an American audience in Sickness or Sin? ed. John Chirban (2001). Proceedings from the “Gifts of the Spirit Conference,” Dedham, Massachusetts, in 2000 and “Discerning the Sign of the Times Conference” in Crestwood, New York, in 2003 are online at http://www.stnina.org/. Elisabeth Behr-Sigel’s landmark books in English are The Ministry of Women in the Church (1991), Discerning the Signs of the Times (2001), and The Ordination of Women in the Church (2000), with Bishop Kallistos Ware. See also Mark Stokoe, Orthodox Christians in North America (1995); Frederica Mathewes-Green, “Letter to the Editor,” The Handmaiden 2.4 (Fall 1997): 51–52; Nonna Verna Harrison, “The Fatherhood of God in Orthodox Theology,” St. Vladimir Theological Quarterly 37.2–3 (1993): 185–212; Orthodox Women: Their Rule and Participation in the Orthodox Church (1976). ORIENTAL ORTHODOX TRADITIONS AND THE ARMENIAN APOSTOLIC CHURCH Barbara J. Merguerian THE ROLE OF women in teaching, preaching, pastoral work, and liturgical functions has been a subject of increasing interest (and in some cases controversy) in the Oriental Orthodox churches, all of whom trace their origins to the earliest years of Christianity. Men have dominated the clerical and administrative functions in these churches in modern times, and their attitudes toward women have been conservative. However, recent research has revealed many forms of active participation by women in the establishment and development of the Oriental Orthodox churches, raising questions about the retention of measures that were later additions and that restrict the role of women, particularly in liturgical practice . Today all these churches are faced with the problem of defining their basic underlying principles, which should remain intact, while identifying those peripheral areas in which modifications to meet new conditions are possible. Sentiment in America for modernization, including efforts to expand the role of women, must take into account the fact that these are hierarchical churches whose leaders are based...