Further Thoughts on Women in the Church

The Holy Myrrh-Bearing Women of the Ancient Church

By Victoria and Beverly Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

After our session on the Wisdom of God, called Holy Sophia, many of you had questions that deeply resonated with us. We decided to collect our written responses and put them together in article form, so that we could continue the process of sharing as mother and daughter-in-law with our fellow sisters and priest wives in our Archdiocese of Manila! We pray that our further meditations will be a blessing to you all. 

In our way of thinking, women are as important as men, and not less valuable than men. We are equally able to become saints and reflect the glory of God. Protestants focus on Eve’s sin, but not on Mary’s triumph over sin and crushing the head of the serpent by bearing Christ. We are physically weaker, but we are spiritually incorporated into the New Covenant as equals, and we are often spiritually stronger than men, because there is no limit to what the Holy Spirit can do in our lives. As Orthodox women, we can acknowledge our sin and weakness, such as Eve’s fall, but we can also be very glad that Jesus brought our redemption, completion, and the possibility of our glorification - because in Christ, we are mighty, full of God, and able to shine with all of the saints! The greatest saint is the Holy Theotokos, the Mother of Our God, and so many wonderful women saints in all of our icons in Church!

An Icon Representing All the Women Saints, Martyrs, Queens and Virgins of Christ’s Holy Church 

These are just some of the great women saints of the Church throughout time - the Myrrh Bearing Women, the 40 Virgins Martyrs of the Early Church, the Great Evangelist Women (called “Equal to the Apostles”), and the holy and righteous Christian Queens and Martyrs throughout time. These women were all great saints, and show us that women have a special place in God’s Kingdom!

In the Ancient Church, women were allowed to pastorally serve other women and children. This role was blessed by the Bishop of the Diocese and was called the office of “Deaconness.” This is an important role for the older, more experienced, godly women of the Diocese to have. This gives them an official place of service, and allows them to take care of the women of the Diocese through teaching, prayer, spiritual direction, and baptizing (with the Bishop) the women who convert at an older age. Our Church still has this ministry, and we encourage women of age and maturity to function in this way as women’s ministers. Of course, this must all be accountable, just like the men, and must be under the Bishop.

The Bible tells us that women should not be pastors over men, because women are extremely motivated to serve and take care of their children. Men struggle with being care-givers and being a pastor is often difficult for them, especially in a culture that doesn’t understand that our pastors are shepherds and priests, not counselors and public servants. They have to struggle to learn how to be good spiritual fathers, and this is what God wants them to do. What we often see happen is that a good mother does everything in the home, and mothers can often smother their children with love and affection, and make it hard for a father to be a leader. We see this in churches that allow women pastors. The women come in, do a good job taking care of people, and the men run away from the church. This is what happened in the Church of England. In 1997, they allowed women priests, and now 20 years later, 70% of priests are women. The men ran away, and attendance is down 50%. Men naturally want to compete with one another, and they do not want to compete with women. Women and men naturally create couples, pairs of complementing teams, and this is not possible or appropriate in the ministry (outside of real husbands and wives). When women come into the ministry, men cannot form a hierarchy with them, and so they leave. I think this is what history, culture and recent experience shows us.

Being a woman of virtue and godly character should be our life goal. This means being a “handmaiden” of the Lord by allowing Him to bless us with children, and ultimately lay down our lives to serve and raise them for His glory! This is a mystical calling in and of itself! In old age, we reap the rewards and benefits of giving up our freedoms ("me time" as it’s called in our culture) to serve our husbands and children. We thank God that this vision of holiness was communicated to me early by other godly women, early in our family's ministry. Their lives helped me to change my definition of success, from a worldly one based on power and money to a godly one based upon holiness and service! We are not perfect by any means and have made our share of mistakes along life’s way, but we are profoundly grateful for the Lord’s mercy and grace as we learn and grow! Proverbs 31 was one of my “go to” scripture to help me focus on what was and is truly important in this short time we have on earth and to make a difference with our life. We have no regrets as Christians and priests’ wives. God’s grace is by far greater than any earthly pleasures, richest, possessions or titles we could acquire from what the world has to offer today. Trust God and his word and you will be blessed in the end with true happiness that the world cannot give, just as Proverbs says! 

Love and Blessings to all of you!

The Influence of Godly Women Comes Down through Many Generations, Just Like We See in the Generations Leading Up to the Birth of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!