And finally he arrived in Greece

Ioanna Sahinidou

Is God male? Did woman bring sin into the world? Are women subordinate to men according to the apostle Paul? Many such thoughts have alienated women from the Christian church.

Other women do not completely reject the Bible. They aim to liberate the Bible from male-dominated elements, rewriting the story.¹

Biblical feminists claim that our experiences and our spirituality as women are different from those of men. We need to read the Bible from our own perspectives.²

The Bible was written by men in patriarchal societies and interpreted by men. Interpretation is a complex task. Male theologians usually have allowed their thinking about women to be clouded by the male-dominated cultures in which they have lived. Women commentators and interpreters are needed to bring out the female side of the book.

Starting from Genesis and up to the apostles, passages from the Bible provide us with enlightening information on the real status of women before God, in life and in the Church.

The Greek Evangelical Church has never ordained women. Arguments against ordination are based, for many, on a fundamentalist biblical and theological interpretation of the Bible. For others, the arguments are contextual, historical and traditional, since the Greek Orthodox Church does not ordain women.

Our church has never initiated a debate on women's ordination, and also has not joined in the World Council of Churches' Ecumenical Decade of Churches in Solidarity with Women, 1988-1998.

In this article, I will focus briefly on the status of women as reflected in the story of creation, in the tragedy of disobedience and punishment, and in the experience of new creation in Jesus Christ. I will end my reflections by making a brief reference to the situation of the status of women in our church.

Creation

Genesis 1 contains a brief statement about the creation of man and woman in God's image and their purpose on earth (Gen 1.26-28). This statement is a declaration of equality. Both sexes together stand apart from the rest of creation in being uniquely like God. God blessed them both and to both gave two commands. He told them to be fruitful and rule over the earth. The first title deed of this earth was given alike to the sons and daughters of God, to be his representatives, his stewards.³

Gen 2.18-25 describes in greater detail the creation of woman. A traditional interpretation shows:

1. A male God creating first man (2.7) and later woman (2.22). First means superior and last means inferior.
2. A woman is created for the sake of man: a helpmate to cure his loneliness (2.18-23).
3. Woman is the rib of man, dependent upon him for life (2.21-22).
4. Taken out of man, woman is derivative, not an autonomous being.
5. Man names woman (2.23) and thus has power over her.⁴

Although such specifics continue to be cited as support for female inferiority, not one of them is altogether accurate and most of them are not even present in the text.

1. The God of the Bible is above gender differentiation. God is spirit (John 4.24). "God" may be a noun of masculine gender, but that does not make God male. The image of God that we assimilate from our cultures (arts, etc.) is male. In this case, God has been remade in man's image. In the Bible, we learn about God through male and female imagery (father, king, woman, mother). Imagery helps us understand God's character, but God transcends all imagery.⁵
2. The Lord God said: "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him". "Not good" is the only negative note in the account of creation. A solitary man was not self-sufficient. In Hebrew, "helper suitable for him" means identity, mutuality, companionship, equality, not subordination.
3. Woman was created by God from one of man's ribs. She was "taken out of man". This means to be differentiated from him, while still being bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.
4. Woman is not an extension of man. They are both of the same essence, the same divine origin. Put into a deep sleep, man plays no part in the event (Gen 2.21). So woman is not his possession. He moves towards her for union. Woman is the culmination of creation, fulfilling humanity in sexuality (Gen 2.24-25).
5. In calling her woman, man is not establishing power over her, but rejoicing in their mutuality.⁶

Disobedience - punishment

Life in Eden goes on in harmony. God has provided human beings with all they need, but there are limits. They must not eat the fruits of a certain tree. Transgression (Gen 3.1-24) means ignoring set limits and wishing to become God. The woman eats the fruit and then the man eats too. Eve was thought to be the one whose deficiency gave sin a toe-hold in the world. Interestingly, those who have condemned Eve for listening to the serpent, have not attacked Adam for listening to Eve!⁷

The consequences of disobedience are alienation from God, from each other, and from creation. God curses the serpent. Adam and Eve are both sentenced to hard labour. The fruit of the body and the fruit of the earth alike will now be produced only by hard work. They are both sentenced to death and, finally, man will rule over woman.

Thus, the rule of man over woman results from disobedience, and expresses a breaking away from God; a perversion of the order that God desired.⁸ This is the first time that domination appears in human relationships.

Women in the Old Testament.

Under Mosaic law, the man was the master of his family. The value of a woman was slightly more than half that of a man. A woman who gave birth to a girl remained impure for twice as long as if she had a boy. She could not divorce her husband. Only he could divorce her. There were no inheritance rights for widows. The widow could not manage her family. Her first born son did. Concubines cohabited permanently with the family; they had equal rights with the legal wife.⁹

Under the law, women were second-class people. The following exceptional case shows us that it is not the same with God. His blessings are for all, men and women, but we need to ask for them!

Zelophelad's daughters (Num 27.1-4) lost their father. The law deprived them of their father's inheritance, which was reserved for sons only. In a male-dominated society, they dared to express their request in front of Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders and the whole congregation. "Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father's brothers" (27.4). Zelophelad's daughters received Godqs blessing and took their inheritance. Their attitude revealed a truth for the next generations, for women in a similar position. They confronted the law, they challenged tradition. Their claim is one of the earliest lawsuits on record. Those first feminists remain models for all women.¹⁰

New creation

Jesus came to earth to reconcile alienated humanity with God. Reconciliation with God brings reconciliation with ourselves, with each other and with nature. If we are in Christ, we are born again, we are new creations (2 Cor 5.17). The old has gone. The new has come. Jesus is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1.29). The consequences of disobedience, the punishment of God, are taken away.

The rule of man over woman resulted from disobedience and signified the breaking away from God. Liberation from sin is liberation from any kind of oppression, domination, exploitation or discrimination that may appear in human relationships. This is God's originally intended order that is restored through Christ.

All believers are filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.1-5). In the one Spirit we are all baptized into one body (1 Cor 12.12-26). We all have different gifts (Rom. 12.4-8). We all are the holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices (1 Pet 2.5). Since all of us are one in Christ Jesus, there is no longer male or female (Gal 3.28). We are all heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8.17).

The above-mentioned statements give a global idea about the content of the new creation in Christ concerning the dignity of all human beings. Those affirmations contradict any personal or institutional positions that marginalize or exclude women.

Jesus and women

In Luke 8.1-3 we meet a group of women who were following Jesus and the twelve, supporting them out of their own means. Considering that first-century women were separated from men for most of their lives, the travelling group is amazing!

The woman with the flow of blood (Mark 5.25-34) was seen as cursed, contagious, ritually "impure" and a source of pollution among the people. She touched Jesus' clothes and was healed. Jesus called her "daughter", he commended her faith and told her to go in peace.

Jesus removed the woman's shame and shattered the purity laws that enslaved women.¹¹

Jews did not speak to Samaritans. Men did not speak to women in public. Christ chose the Samaritan woman (John 4.4-42), a notorious sinner and poor, to reveal that he was the Messiah. Refreshed in soul and spirit, she ran to her neighbours to spread the news about the Messiah. Because of her, the Samaritans invited Jesus to stay a couple of days with them.

Mary of Bethany (Luke 10.38-42) adopted what was the traditional role of a student sitting at the feet of a rabbi. It was prohibited to instruct women in matters of faith. Jesus violated all expectations, affirming Mary's right to sit, learn and question.

Mary Magdalene was the first person to whom Jesus entrusted the task of spreading the good news of his resurrection - a fact that is significant, because women were deemed unreliable witnesses. The disciples considered her story an idle one till they saw the linen wrappings (John 19.25, 20.1-18).¹²

Jesus' attitude towards women was a radical break with rabbinical Judaism, the Old Testament and the Mosaic law. Under it, only the free, Jewish male was a full member of the religious community.

Why then Jesus did not include women in the special group of the twelve? The Orthodox believe that Jesus' choice of the twelve inaugurates an all-male apostolic succession. They claim that sacramental powers were passed on by direct lineal contact with the apostles. Here again comes the argument against women leaders in the church, based on the presupposition that a leader directly represents Christ and hence should be male.¹³

Protestants have understood the priesthood of all believers to mean that it is the task of the church as a whole to represent God and Christ to the world and to the faith community. We do not look to a special God-ordained priestly class to carry out what is the religious vocation of his whole covenant people.

As believers and ministers of God, we receive different gifts from the Spirit. There is no hint that the Spirit restricts only to men certain gifts, such as teaching, preaching, leadership (Rom.12.6-8).¹⁴

Perhaps only cultural and practical reasons excluded women from the twelve. In Jewish society women belonged to the domestic sphere, taking care of the children, the old people and giving work to the slaves. Women who were following Jesus did it for a certain period of time when he was travelling around their houses.

There were no women among the twelve, but equally there were no slaves or gentiles among them. Did Jesus establish sex, race and class criteria for leaders?

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was "a chosen woman". She is a powerful model for other women (Luke 1.26-57). She was blessed among women, highly favoured. The Lord was with her. The Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her in a unique way. Christ had her genes and resembled her!

Accepting God's purpose, she became an unmarried pregnant woman. There was the possibility of public disgrace and estrangement from Joseph, relatives, neighbours. Would they understand her mission? She did not hesitate to say: "I'm the Lord's servant". In her Magnificat, a song of praise that is a link between the Old and New Testaments, she proclaims the great things God has done for her people and is doing in her life.¹⁵ She offers God, not only her body, but herself.

The apostle Paul and women

Among a long list of individual names (Rom. 16.1-16), eight are women.

One of them, Priscilla, with her husband Aquila, perfected the Christian instruction of Apollos, an Alexandrian Jew, eloquent and versed in the Scriptures. Three times, Priscilla, a woman, is mentioned before her husband, as perhaps the dominant personality in this marriage. The couple's home in Ephesus or Rome or Corinth was a meeting place for the faithful. Paul calls them his "fellow workers" as his direct associates in the work of the Gospel (Rom. 16.21).

All the individuals listed, men and women, appear to be engaged in tasks of ministry, spreading the good news.

A radical change in the status of women in the church took place, when the church moved from the house-based structure of the early apostolic period to a patriarchal institution. Women were now excluded from leadership (elders, bishops). The domestic role of women and the public role of men that included leadership come again to predominate. Orgies in the temples of the ancient Greeks, where women were sacred prostitutes, and Gnosticism that led women either to asceticism or to libertine behaviour, were also factors that excluded women from leadership, in order to protect the Christian communities from such practices.¹⁶

In the writings of Paul we meet the radical statement, "There is no longer male or female" (Gal 3.28), that is the declaration of equality in the New Testament, but also other statements that have been characterized as misogynist.

In reading the apostle Paul, it is important to consider several factors:

Is the reading of universal value, or is it directed to certain people in a certain historical and cultural context? In 1 Cor 11.13 we read that a woman who prays must have her head covered. The married or widow Jewish woman had to cover her head in public. If not, that meant that she was a punished prostitute or slave. With this instruction, Paul wants the women's dignity to be protected.¹⁷

Many times a word or phrase has its explanation in the surrounding verses. In 1 Cor 11.3 we read: "The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God". If we see the relationship of man and woman in the light of the relationship of Christ and God, we understand that the Christological foundation of equality is so strong, that if we reject it, we reject also the divinity of Christ.¹⁸

A passage revealing a truth can not be read in the light of a passage that limits its value, but vice versa. In 1 Cor 14.33-40 Paul gives instructions to women to remain silent in the church. This contradicts the earlier assumption that women prayed and prophesied openly in the church (1 Cor 11.3-16). Perhaps Paul is addressing a specific problem within the Corinthian church. Probably, some women habitually were interrupting worship meetings with foolish questions.¹⁹

Women in the church in Greece

The Greek Orthodox Church is a state church; 96% of the Greeks belong to it. Mary, Jesus' mother, women saints, empresses in Byzantium, nuns and abbesses, women hymn writers constitute the female presence in church history. The institution of deaconesses was very important in the first centuries. Catechism, preaching to women and pastoral ministry was their work. They were called "right reverends". In the 12th century the institution was driven into complete elimination.²⁰

Nowadays there are no women elders and women are not accepted to the priesthood. They are excluded during menstruation and after childbirth from participating in the sacraments and are prohibited to enter the altar.

In the Theological Faculty of the University of Thessaloniki, there are courses on feminist theology. Young theologians, some of whom are writing their dissertations in this field, create a new reality.²¹

The Greek Evangelical Church is a young church, only 150 years old. It is a small church: about 0.02% of the Greek population belong to it. We live in an Orthodox context which permeates all aspects of our lives. We have deaconesses, but we don't have women elders, or ordained women pastors. We don't have any women theologians. Only recently have a few women begun to attend biblical studies. Women do pray in public prayer meetings. There are women in various committees of our Synod. Women serve as directors in our children's camps and in the Young People's Fellowship leadership committees. We have participated for 46 years in the World Day of Prayer and since 1990 in the Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women.

By the beginning of the 80s there was a greater awareness on the part of some of our church leaders that there were no biblical reasons why women could not be elders or serve as pastors. So two of them prepared a well-documented paper. The Executive Committee of our Church sent the paper to all the Church councils. When the paper was brought forward for discussion in the General Assembly in May 1982, however, so vocal and biased was the stance of some of the delegates that the paper had to be retracted as the Church was threatened by a split. The situation today is not very different.

It is worth noticing, however, that our Constitution (amended in 1969) deliberately makes no mention of gender when it speaks about prospective elders or pastors.²² Therefore it will be interesting to see what will happen when a young woman comes forward and offers to prepare herself to enter the ordained ministry and work in our church.

Some Greek evangelical women

Aneta Bostanjoglou was a teacher in Asia Minor. In 1914, she married Pastor Haralambos Bostanjoglou, who a year later was thrown into prison with no charges against him.

Nothing occupied Aneta's mind but the Sunday morning service. She wrestled in prayer. "You will take his place". The voice in her ear was clear. This was her call. At that time women preachers were unheard of in Anatolia. A young woman of twenty-two was preaching before college students, professional people and many others! The sacredness of that hour remained in Aneta's memory. One man said: "In this couple, there is a lion and a lioness". Her husband sent an encouraging letter from the prison. After the execution of her husband by the Turks, Aneta worked as a Bible-woman.²³

Angeliki Papadopoulou worked as catechist in an organized Greek Evangelical Church in Asia Minor, from 1900-1922. Her father was an Orthodox priest. When the Turks exiled Greek men, Angeliki replaced the Evangelical church's pastor, and was many times asked to preach in the Orthodox church. Once she conducted the funeral of an Orthodox priest.²⁴

Eleftheria Sidiropoulou is the first Greek Evangelical woman pastor. She is from Katerini, a town at the foot of Mount Olympus. Ancient Greeks believed that their gods and goddesses lived on Mount Olympus. As a child, Eleftheria, used to open her window in order to preach the gospel to the ancient gods. She loved to preach. This was her call. She followed theological studies in USA and is today working as a pastor in an American church in Boston.²⁵

Conclusion

Nineteenth-century Christians marshalled support from the Bible to maintain slavery in society and segregation in the church. Today, some twentieth-century Christians remain convinced that the Scriptures demand discrimination on the basis of gender.²⁶

In a world that people continue to do wrong and be vile, let us continue to do right and be holy (Rev 22.11). Let us allow the vision of new creation and reconciliation (2 Cor 5.1-19) among people of all races, any social standing and both genders, to transform the present reality, till God will make everything new (Rev 21.5).

Ioanna Sahinidou is a member of the Greek Evangelical Church.

Notes