Women in ministry are mentioned in the Bible and lives of the female Saints but their ministry was outside the Church preaching, healing, feeding the poor and more. They were not sacramental priests; that was the role for the men's ministry. Men and women are equal but have different roles. It's been tradition for over 2000 years. In the Orthodox church, women have exercised a vast range of ministries. A glance through history shows that woman in ministry in the early church was a healer, a missionary, a preacher, a teacher, an evangelist, a spiritual mother, a church-planter, a miracle-worker, an iconographer, a hymnographer, a pastoral counselor, a debater, a writer of prayers and theology, a martyr and a fool-for-Christ; there has never been an ordination ceremony or vestments required for women in ministry either - that has always been part of the Early Church tradition ☦
It is amazing how some theologians can express profound words that often bring confusion yet we have many Saints who brings much clarity with simplicity of words!
His Eminence is exactly right. Regardless of one's own personal opinion about whether or not women should be ordained as priests, the questions he raises here are essential and cannot be dismissed. According to Orthodox teaching, Holy Tradition isn't just something that has been done for a long time but rather conforms to the "faith once delivered to the saints." And therefore, if the male-only priesthood is an authentic aspect of Holy Tradition then there must be something which accounts for it other than being an ancient custom.
We need not know what the reason is that accounts for it. Just because there is a reason does not mean we will know it. This is the basis of tradition.
Very unkind comments about Met. Kallistos. He has not said he supports women priests at all. He has said that arguments that do not explain WHY women cannot be priests, as opposed to simply stating they can't, are necessary to end the debate. Simply stating that women cannot be priests without saying WHY, with theological backing, is not sufficient.
@@hsdjsdshdhsdnsmsd6247 Ironically, you've made exactly the same kind of argument that you claim His Eminence is making: that not giving an explicit condemnation is tacit support. HE is not making that argument, just saying that the theology hasn't been spelled out on that one yet
This is a faulty supposition. If no reason is given why, then the conclusion should be "no reason was given, therefore we have no grounds to change it," not "no reason was given, therefore we can alter it or debate it." The assumption that the reason needs to be clear to me is a distinctly western mindset, and has led to such things as transgenderism and homosexuality. If you do not understand an instruction, you should assume a good reason was behind it.
The Holy Scriptures clearly say women may not teach or exercise authority over a man because 1) They were created second; 2) They were deceived first. That's it. Very simple.
@@robertjarman4261 We should be able to question things. Orthodoxy is not just about scripture, it’s also about the mystery of God. The mystery requires us to ponder certain things for ourselves. I haven’t read the whole Bible yet, but nowhere do I know of does it say that women can’t be priests or that same sex marriage is a sin.
Maybe because they read St. Paul’s blatant instructions for church conduct and thus did not dare to question. For we are called to submit and be obedient, not to question why. But here we are, falling for the bait daring to question not only Christ but all our Saints. Lord have mercy on us sinners.
@@blessedamerican3541 Are you implying Jesus, St.Paul and the church fathers were not secure in their manhood because they all opposed female priests? If you support female priests, you are not orthodox.
@@hsdjsdshdhsdnsmsd6247 They said nothing of the sort, you're setting up a straw man. The point is that the kneejerk "no women" isn't an argument nor is it theology (sound or otherwise). They were making the point that His Eminence just isn't afraid to say it's not a closed case (which you've implied that it is) because it's not an explicit point of Holy Tradition. FWIW, I disagree anyway and I think the point is irrelevant, but we shouldn't misrepresent/distort what someone is saying just because we disagree with them
Women were made by God specifically for the interfacing between they and children. The internal order of women puts feelings before intellect for appropriate interfacing with infants who are born emotional creatures. If u read and interpret text through by way of this internal order there is a strong proclivity to alter based on emotional responses. Simply put: what makes women good mothers makes them bad at leading men and interpreting text. This is a case of being in your own way which is not a problem in the proper order layed out by God. Feelings are tyrannical if u put them before the Truth because without the truth you wouldnt exist to have feelings. When we put feelings before Truth, we put ourselves before God.
Lord have mercy on me for criticizing people. Nevertheless I cannot see any sincere or honorable position taken by Bishop Kallistos. Why is he saying that orthodox need to give this topic more thought? Of course women are not going to get ordained. They literally never have. For Orthodox this is supposed to be clear. I can’t imagine how any of his answers are doing anything other than casting doubt on tradition and the teaching of holy fathers. I suppose Bishop Kallistos would also have a problem using the term “holy fathers”. Very discriminatory towards women. This is the kind of ridiculous foolish teachings of the Devil that are being spread around the world by UK and US.
@@arnoldvezbon6131 I know women much stronger than me, for example late mother Siluana from Romania, and yet she couldn’t have been priest and I could.
@@radicr Siluana was strong enough to know her place as ordained by God I hope. And I agree there are probably may women stronger than you but that is because you are pathetic. Hit the gym and get your T levels checked.
If the early Church fathers did not speak to the significance of Christ's gender surely it was not because there was no significance about it. To say the least of it: What was not said about it was merely a consequence of how blatantly obvious and unfathomably banal doing so would have been. A more putrid blasphemy and shameful a mistake one could not hope to utter under extraordinary efforts than to say that Christ's manhood was insignificant. How dare any such thing be said against His incarnation. Glory to Jesus Christ. GLORY FOREVER!
Thank you for the reasoned points of ‘why not’. As you correctly pointed elsewhere, orthodoxy, is not another cosmo theory. A crucial difference between Socrates/Aristotle teachings and our faith/ piste as orthodoxs. Ευχαριστώ Πανιερώτατε. Τή ευλογημένη εύχή σας. Ό Κύριος νά σάς δίνει ύγεία καί μακροημέρευση στό άγιο έργο σάς. ❤️
Ask yourself this question why are we even asking our self this question? The tradition is men or priests. Leave it alone. We find our self in a time of complete insanity trying to trample every tradition known to man. Women have their rules traditionally and that’s exactly how it should stay. The patriarch a.k.a. man of the house is being frowned upon in today’s society with devastating consequences. We are seeing a decline in our culture in real time that’s destroying our society. Lord have mercy.
We are talking about it because the insidious satanic attack of feminism is trying to infiltrate all aspect of life. We should be ever vigilant against this poison of the soul.
So he didnt gave us any answer, he just questioed the holy tradition, i am not listening this men further on, to me is very clear this men dont have the Holy Spirit he looks like he does but he is not
Why? He doesn't say they can. He points out questions that need to be answered to better explain why they cannot. The work can be done by theologians to work out a deeper and richer understanding of both priesthood and femininity.
Here I am trying to have discernment when I run into the trustworthy COTEL! Thank you for the strong condemnation I think it’s very sad but we can’t be totally blind.