Even the various churches have not been able to present a united front or to give women any clear, reliable direction as to how we ought to order our lives or what sort of model we ought to follow.  Indeed, most churches seem to be just as confused as individual women are as to how to respond to rapidly changing social conditions and the demands of feminism. So where does all this leave us? Must we choose between equally unacceptable extremes, or is there another way? Is there a way that offers peace amidst chaos; that speaks of balance and right proportion; that offers eternal rather than temporal regards; that promises true fulfillment, not of passing earthly desires and ambitions, but of the deepest longings of our souls?

There is indeed such a way, and it is to be found within the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox model of womanhood is based upon the wisdom of the ages rather than the shifting sands of philosophical fads. The Orthodox way sees woman as God sees her as a creature of honor and dignity, with gifts and responsibilities uniquely her own, with her own essential role to play in the salvation of mankind.  To flesh out that vision and see it more clearly, we must look first at the historical development of the place of women within the community of faith.

In the Beginning

To understand the history of women in the Church, we have to go back to the very beginning: to Eve. Church Fathers and scholars have expressed a variety of opinions about Eve, about the nature of her relationship with Adam before the Fall, and about the true significance of the "curse" laid on her after the Fall. But beyond all the controversy, several things are clear:

I) Eve was created in the image of God, just as was Adam. "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). In their essence as created beings, men and women stand with equal worth and honor before God.

2) Eve was created to be Adam’s "helper" (Genesis 2:18). This does not mean she was to be his servant, still less his slave. The Hebrew word used here (ezer) is often used of God Himself as the Helper of His people. Clearly, the relationship intended is one of mutual cooperation, not of domination. Adam, on the other hand, was given the task of naming the animals before Eve was made from his rib: so the work of "subduing the earth" was primarily his.

3) Eve, as we all know, made a dreadful mistake. She listened to the seductive words of the serpent and, without consulting her husband, ate the forbidden fruit, thus condemning herself and all her progeny to a life outside Paradise. Some have speculated that Satan chose to tempt Eve rather than Adam, not because she was weaker, but because he knew that Adam would follow her in her sin (making him equally guilty). The righteousness of the world was entrusted to Eve’s keeping, but she did not keep the trust.

4) As a result of her sin, Eve was condemned to sorrow and pain in child bearing, and to a life of subordination to her husband (Genesis 3: 16). The wording of this curse ("you shall have sorrow he shall rule") suggests that God was simply predicting what would happen to women living in a fallen world, rather than deliberately laying a punishment upon them. Certainly the curse is an accurate description of what happens to women when they are left at the mercy of fallen men.

So we have a picture of God’s intention for men and women a relationship of loving cooperation between two people equal in value and honor, but differing in roles. And we have a picture of that relationship perverted by sin: women bound by their own desire and their need for children to men who wrongfully dominate and belittle them. But in that very hour when God pronounced the fate of fallen woman, he also pronounced her hope: the Seed that would bruise Satan’s head.

The Second Mother

The next great epoch in the history of women is embodied by the one who has been called the second Eve, as Christ is the second Adam: Mary, the Mother of God. As it was given to a woman to exercise her free will to banish all humanity from Paradise, so it was given to a woman to provide, by her own will, the means of man’s restoration to his blessed state. Without Mary’s willing and complete surrender to the will of God, there could have been no Incarnation, and thus no crucifixion and no Resurrection in other words, no Savior and no salvation for mankind.

As Eve was the mother of all man kind, so it was through motherhood that Mary gave this most precious gift to all humanity. Thus Mary became the Mother of all those who would become the children of God. In Mary we see the epitome of all that redeemed woman can become a state even more glorious than that Eve held before her Fall.

1) Mary willingly submitted to the will of God. Although she was chosen, she was not forced: her obedience was voluntary and wholehearted. Later, as Joseph’s wife, she also submitted willingly to her husband she who had known God more intimately than any other human being as she carried Him within her womb.

2) Mary responded to God in faith. What was asked of her must have been frightening and was certainly dangerous; but Mary trusted the love of God for her protection.

3) Mary risked everything for motherhood. In her society, for a young woman to become pregnant outside of marriage was the ultimate degradation. Had Joseph been a hardhearted man, Mary could have become a complete pariah, ostracized by her neighbors, unable to marry, with no means of supporting her self and her child. How many women in our society have chosen abortion rather than face circumstances less difficult than these? But Mary chose rather to risk her own life to give life to another. 

4) Mary took on the role of interceding for men and of leading them to Christ. At the wedding at Cana, she first made known the people’s need to her Son, knowing in spite of His protests that He would fill that need; then she said to the people, "Whatever He says to you, do it" (John 2:5). She thereby exhorts us all, her spiritual children, to respond to Christ with the same loving, trusting obedience she herself showed.

Paul Evdokimov, in his book Woman and the Salvation of the World (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. 1994), sums up the spiritual role (or "charism") of women, as exemplified by Mary, thus: to give birth to Christ in other people. We may be called to physical motherhood, to pass on our faith to our children: or we may be called to spiritual motherhood, to show forth the image of Christ to all men and call them to Him.

[Part 2 will conclude next month]