The Role of Women in the Church, the Ordination of Women, and the Order of Deaconesses: An Orthodox Theological Approach

Abstract

The article attempts to develop an Orthodox theological approach to understanding the role of women in the church, their access to the hierarchical priesthood and the possibility of reviving the order of deaconesses. These issues are considered in the light of the theological debate in recent years, as well as on the basis of the decisions of the Pan-Orthodox Council, held in Crete in June 2016. The article also emphasizes that, in the final analysis, the issue is so thorny not because of the ordination of women as such (in other words, not as the sociological problem and the challenges of the present), but rather due to the missiological, liturgical, anthropological and ecological dimensions of understanding the Christian priesthood.

Keywords

• ordination of women
• order of deaconesses
• pan-orthodox council
• ecclesiology
• anthropology
• женское рукоположение
• чин диаконисс
• всеправославный собор
• антропология
• экклезиология