Orthodox Women in Theological Education

From a Greek orthodox perspective

I would like to express my thanks to the organizers for including me among the speakers of this meeting. It is the second time that I visit this beautiful, blessed and full of spirituality place and I feel extremely privileged to be among you. I have to confess that I faced various difficulties throughout the preparation of my paper due to some objective limitations. First of all, I can only comment on some aspects of my theme as an observer, since I am just a state teacher of religion, seconded to Volos Academy for Theological Studies and member of its academic team, and not staff of a Theological Faculty. Someone would argue for my approach for being more objective and neutral. I will advise him/her to be more suspicious. A second difficulty comes from the fact that due to the lack of publications (at least in English, German or French), my paper will be limited in describing mainly my Greek context and make some superficial references to other orthodox situations. Orthodox women and theology. Theological education has been defined as the task to motivate, equip, and enable the people of God to develop their gifts and offer their lives in meaningful service. It has been affirmed as theological in the term that it involves people in a commitment and ministry, a commitment to the Study of God in the sense of Gods revelation in the life of Jesus Christ and Gods continuous working through the Holy Spirit. Two significant questions raised often regarding the purpose and the meaning of the theological education: 1) who is and ought to be doing theology today and 2) what is and ought to be the perspective for doing theology today. The historical, social and cultural situation of the past fifty years has pressed theology to under-go several large-scale or paradigm changes. In other words, the ways in which theology understands its tasks, presuppositions, sources and methods have shifted; moreover, the ways in which it arrives at metaphysical, logical and existential judgments about truth have changed in many contexts as well. Among the various perspectives of theology and theological education, the one that comes from women theologians and feminists sounds quite interesting, especially in the following areas: 1) theological education should be seen in an ecumenical and pluralist perspective. Pluralism is meant in terms of tradition, context, ethnic background, gender etc. 2) theological education cannot be a clergy-based education. It is offered to facilitate theological production and make the latter as relevant as possible, relevant to the communitys faith and relevant to the communitys traditions and to the situation in which the community is living. 3) the epistemological 1

foundations of theology should being questioned. Rather than learning historical facts, this involves learning to analyze and reconstruct history; rather than accepting biblical and traditional testimonies without suspicion, re-examining the Scripture and the written Tradition and discovering their andocentric elements. 4) the theory - practice relationship should being reinforced. According to Ofelia Ortega: the experience of the excluded teach us that we need to work for a permanent integration between theology and life. This involves true integration between theory and praxis and between discourse and pastoral ministry.1 A feminist understanding of theology and education reminds us that our theological methods and processes are full of stereotypes, that is standardized mental images that are based on prejudiced attitudes or lack of critical judgment. An example of such beliefs would be stereotypes of women as weak, passive, irrational and men as strong, active and rational. Stereotypes such as these are used to support claims in theology and in the Church as well-that women are inferior to men and thus legitimate relations of male domination and female subordination. Women theologians deconstruct stereotypical assumptions about women and gender in Christian theological tradition and they examine the ways stereotypes about masculinity and femininity have been imposed on God and explore the interrelation of gender stereotypes and gendered theological symbols. The discussion on women in the Orthodox Church, especially regarding contemporary issues, is a relatively recent field of research. Feminist theology and feminist history are not, as yet, active and recognized academic fields for Orthodox women scholars. While some feminist theological research in the Orthodox Tradition has been undertaken by women scholars, for example in USA, France and Greece, the main focus is biblical exegesis and their work is seldom available in English, with the exception of occasional papers in international journals. However, scholars as Eva Katafygiotou - Topping (USA) and Elisabeth Behr-Sigel (France) research and write with an understanding and awareness of feminist perspectives.2 In Eastern Europe and the Middle East where Orthodoxy constitutes the traditional form of Christianity and in diaspora where, during the twentieth century Orthodox communities were formed and inculturated in West, Orthodox women today continue to take an active role in the life of the Church. Their role in the transmission of faith in the heart of the family, as mothers and educators, has always been essential. But today it largely extends beyond this familial framework. Women either alone or in equal partnership with male catechists, work in religious education. They sign in the choir, a role so important in Orthodox worship and sometimes even direct it. They are members (at least in the Church which originated with the Russian emigration) of the parish and the diocesan councils, like the diocesan assembly that elects the bishop. 3 But, the debate on women in the Orthodox Church most often takes place outside the community,
Theological Education in Dictionary of Feminist Theologies, Letty M. Russel & J. Shannon Clarkson (ed.), Westminster John Knox Press, 1996, 282-283. 2 Elizabeth Behr-Sigel and Kallistos Ware , The Ordination of Women in the Orthodox Church, Geneva: WCC, 2000. 3 Dee Jaquet, Women in Society, The Saint Nina Quarterly, Volume 2, No.2, 1998, p.1, 8-10
1

that is, Orthodox women in ecumenical relationships rather than within the Orthodox community. The WCC Decade, the consultations and the Bossey seminars were catalysts for a few progressive minded Orthodox women across the various jurisdictions. There is a kind of resistance to the womens questions and the feminist movement, which both perceived as the province of secular feminism that is destructive of tradition and family.4 It is well known that in some quarters of Orthodoxy, the term modernism is commonly understood as an attempt to promote dogmatic heresy in the church. In this frame, women theologians who are seeking contemporary expressions of the ancient Faith in their own lives are readily labeled as feminists and therefore, automatically also modernists, in the most destructive sense of these words. Such ideas are widespread not only among the clergy but among academicians as well.5 It is important to take into consideration also that women in many Orthodox Churches were not allowed to go to the seminaries or theological faculties since recently. The hope is that through education and training the new generation will understand better its role in the Church and in the theological process.6 Some reflection on my context The lesson of religion is obligatory in Greece. Orthodox pupils are taught the main principles of their orthodox faith from the third class of the elementary school till the last class of high school (10 years). The same curriculum is followed by both, public and private schools. Pupils who are members of other religious communities or Christian traditions are discharged unless they want to attend the lesson. Most of the teachers of religion in Greece are women. Many of them are over qualified, holding a Master or a PhD on theology or pedagogic. Butamong the directors, trainers or advisors of the Secondary Educational System (positions that they are better paid and earn a higher respect) women are few (less than 25%). Similar is the situation at the universities. In a revealing article, written by Pr. Dimitra Koukoura in 2001, a realistic description of the contradictory situation is given (seven years later, the situation has been improved but not sufficiently changed).7 Female students are the majority in the theological faculties. Statistics show that they are better and more consistent students. Most of them continue their studies for a Master or a PhD degree. Although they are hard workers during their studies, only few of them succeed finally to find a job as a staff of a Theological Faculty. Women lecturers or professors are less than 30% of the staff, most of them teach pedagogic,

Leonie Liveris, Ancient Taboos and Gender Prejudice. Challenges for Orthodox Women and the Church, Ashagate : Hampshire, 2005, xv. 5 Christina Shaheen Reimann, Orthodox Women in Theological Education, in Orthodox Women Speak. Discerning the Signs of the Times, Kyriaki Karidoyannes FitzGerald (ed.), WCC Publications/ Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1999. 6 Teny Pirri-Simonian, Authority and community in the church. A personal Reflection, in Womens Voices and Visions of the Church. Reflections of Orthodox Women, Christina Breaban, Sophie Deicha, Eleni Kasselouri-Hatzivassiliadi (eds), WCC, 2006, 131-135. 7 Dimitra Koukoura, The role of woman in the Orthodox church and some studies of ecumenical concern, Thessaloniki: Sfakianaki Publications, 2005 (in Greek).

history, arts, foreign or ancient languages and only few of them teach systematic theology, patristic, biblical hermeneutics, that is the core lessons of theology. For example, at the Department of Theology of the Theological Faculty of Thessaloniki (I would dare to say, one of the most progressive and open to the ecumenical dialogue, to the new methods and trends of theology), there is no woman lecturer or professor teaching Old or New Testament, Patristic, Ecumenical or Systematic theology. Additionally, another paradox is that women are slowly promoted. That is, they stay more years at the first levels of the hierarchical structure and as a result away from the decision making bodies. Another challenging characteristic of my context is the structure, the philosophy and the content of the curricula. Most of the curricula give the impression that theology means the erudite transmission of a set of information about God and his work in the world, backed by arguments from the Holy Scriptures and the Church Tradition. All too often the height of theological knowledge was the memorization of texts instead of the meeting with the living personal God. 8 Most of the times, they do not include the modern theological trends, methods and approaches of theology as main courses. One of the main reasons for that, according to my understanding, is that theological education in Greece, although public (state), is still under the umbrella or the influence of some conservative clerical environments. Since the theological faculties prepare church leaders and teachers of religion they can not sometimes avoid such an influence. But if we deny as orthodox to dialogue with the present, we lock theology in a specific era. The Church and its theology can not be locked into a specific era, because they demonstrate in every way the immutable truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This means that Church and its theology is dynamic and alive, not static and lifeless. As a result theology can respond to the issues of the time courageously, and this means change. Are we eternally bound to the tyranny of the argument that because it has never been done before it must never been considered? The Cappadocians did not fear to utilize the language of Hellenism to transmit the faith in a Hellenistic world.9 How is that we so often fear to tread in their footsteps? We have to stress here that in each theological faculty, two groups can be distinguished: those who defend the traditional faith which they associate with a nationalistic understanding of orthodoxy and the set of traditional Greek values and those who are open, ready to connect with the society at large, with members of the other Christian traditions and faiths. From an optimistic point of view, it is important that Greek theological Faculties have at least incorporated some elective lessons regarding the role of women in the Church and society in their curriculum at the graduate and post-graduate levels of study. The majority of those courses, of course, are taught by male professors and unfortunately very often they end up as a course exclusively for a few women students.
Pr. Dan Sandu, Romanian Orthodoxy at the Crossroads: Past, Present in the Higher Theological Education, www.dansandu.ro/biblioteca/, p.7 9 Fr. Antony Hughes, On Change St. Nina Quarterly, Volume 2, No. 2 (1998) 13-14.
8

Closing Remarks In my view, if orthodox women theologians want to contribute in order to make theology an essential belief and a creative function in the lives of all, to make the ecclesia a genuine deposit as well as an expression of love, sacrifice and an unselfish struggle for society (A. Schmemman), have to find their own model of doing theology, and in doing so they need to begin with one of the key mottos of feminist exegesis, coined by Judy Chicago: Our heritage is our power. The female face of Orthodox tradition is largely unknown and is still to be explored. We are in the process of realizing that despite the positive and optimistic ecclesiological vision of our Church what we can describe as a democracy of heavensthis vision has been somewhat distorted in the practice.10 As Lev Gillet, a great contemporary spiritual writer, points out: the Orthodox church is somehow so strange a church of contrasts, at one and the same time so traditional and so free, so ritualistic and so lively. A church where the pearl of great price of the gospel is lovingly preserved, at times covered in dust.11 The position of Orthodox women provides a particular striking illustration of the contrasts highlighted by Lev Jillet. The deep contradictions include the liberating message of the gospel which exists alongside outmoded taboos; they include both the spiritual and the personal theological doctrine of humanity which exist alongside stereotypes of gender inherited from patriarchal societies. The universally present icon of Mary, Mother of Jesus, radiates a tender and deep femininity, but the altar is barred to women. The women who brought the spices to the tomb on the first Easter morning were the first to announce that Jesus was risen and are honored in the Orthodox Churches as apostles to the apostles. But the reading of the gospel in the public worship is still limited to male ministers Eva Topping-Katafygiotou suggests that it is now time to re-examine the androcentric prejudices in Orthodox tradition that have determined attitudes and praxis of the church even in these times.12 And Leonie Liveris stresses: in order Orthodox women to challenge the teaching of the Church that recognize the charisms of women but not their intellectual and spiritual equality
The reasons for this distortion are presented in my article Authority in Tradition. Reflections on Tradition and the role of women in the Orthodox Church, in: Angela Berlis / Charlotte Methuen (eds.), Feminist Perspectives on History and Religion (ESWTR Yearbook 9; Kok Pharos: Kampen 2000), 101-110. 11 A Monk of the Eastern Church, Orthodox Spirituality, Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius (London: SPCK, !945) 64. 12 Eva C. Topping, Holy Mothers of Orthodoxy (Light and Life: Minneapolis, 1987), 127. The same idea is shared among Orthodox women and men from different contexts and realities: see Kyriaki Karidoyanes Fitzerald (ed.) Orthodox Women Speak. Discerning the Signs of the Times (WCC Publications: Geneva 1999); Elisabeth Behr-Sigel / Kallistos Ware, The Ordination of Women in the Orthodox Church (WCC Publications: Geneva 2000); Dimitra Koukoura, What does it mean to Live in the World and for the World? in: On Being Church: Womens Voices and Visions (The Ecumenical Review 53/1; 2001), 36-43; Ioannis Petrou, Die Frauenfrage und die Kirchliche Tradition, in: Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift (1998), 244-259.
10

with men, there is a demand for using feminist hermeneutics of suspicion of canon law and scriptural interpretation, and critical analysis of the practices of hierarchy and patriarchy. 13 Women orthodox theologians, I would add, have an obligation to do so, because our foremothers did it centuries ago. I refer to the example of the courageous Kassiane, a sharp observer of human frailties, who expressed her opinion of those who lacked courage and commitment in a memorable phrase: I hate silence when it is time to speak. An independent woman, an hymnographer and poet, she encourages modern orthodox women theologians to speak, to write, to interpret, and to connect the past with the present and the future. We are in search of a dialogue and a synthesis between the eastern and the western Sophia on theological gender issues. Even more important than listening to the words spoken in the west is the willingness to take into account the experience of western women theologians, their joys and more particularly their sufferings and their open questions. This dynamic encounter will enrich both parties.14

13

Leonie Liveris, Ancient Taboos and Gender Prejudice, p.137. 14 Eleni Kasselouri-Hatzivassiliadi, Recapturing the Sacred: An Orthodox Response to Anne-Marie Korte Yearbook of ESWTR 12 (2004) . 37-45.