“Women’s issue” in Orthodoxy: discussions in the second half of 20th — 21st century

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze how the question of women’s position in Orthodoxy entered the international agenda and how it became the subject of theological discussions within the Orthodox churches, which theologically significant principles were worked out during the discussion. The issue of women’s position in the church began to be considered in the context of the ecumenical dialogue and began to be discussed in the World Council of Churches since the moment of its emergence in the context of growing attention to human rights and dignity and the ceasing of discrimination against women. The emerging practice of the ordination of women in the Protestant churches in Europe prompted the WCC to collect a spectrum of theological positions on this issue of the WCC member churches. “The Ecumenical Decade 1988-1998: Churches in Solidarity with Women” demonstrated the severe confrontation of Protestant and Orthodox churches in the WCC, and not only in relation to the attitude to the women’s ordination, but to the issue of violence as well. The WCC stimulated in the middle of 1970s the conduct of regular inter-Orthodox meetings - conferences, where various aspects such as theological, social and cultural, determining the position of women were discussed. The largest was the conference held in 1988 in Rhodes “The Place of the Woman in the Orthodox Church and the Ordination of Women”; the next step in the theological interpretation of this issue was the conference in Thessaloniki in 2015 “Deaconesses, Ordination of Women and Orthodox Theology”. The argumentation of the Orthodox churches’ position has endured a serious evolution. If initially the thesis that the Orthodox Church does not know the practice of women’s ordination prevailed, and the prohibition for women to participate in the rituals is rooted in ecclesiology and christology, during the discussions were articulated the arguments showing convincingly that in the ancient church women were being ordained deaconesses and various forms of women’s church activity were practiced.