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To the Lord be glory. He did not demand that his church should have a woman as a priestess(1). The Bible, after studying and examining it, has no words on this level, as women always seem to be exempt from the priesthood in the Bible. Despite the brilliance of a number of women in the Bible, it does not seem that they were asked to go to fortune telling. If personal values are capable of drawing the features of entitlement to this sacred degree, then I do not think that there is anyone in existence who precedes the Most Holy Virgin to this position, I mean to the priesthood. However, like the Virgin, Mother of the Believers, and the Mother of God, who is more spacious than the heavens and most holy, she did not find it necessary to exempt her from the preaching priesthood. ministrial priesthood Anger and insult. If this was Mary’s situation with regard to the priesthood, where do all the women on earth stand in relation to it?

After this, I think it is appropriate to raise the issue of women’s priesthood, in this time, a time of one sex unisexIt is not a demand or an issue, as some claim. It is also not a timely proposal, because our time is full of people demanding and speaking about women’s freedom and women’s rights with ambiguity and ambiguity. Movements and movements, federations, unions, institutions, and so on, were born for this purpose, all of which work together and call for the declaration of the status of women. Some have seen the inclusion of women in the field of politics as a civilized aspect, a sign of modernity, and an expression of respect for them that we should undertake. Women have been here and there, and even though this phenomenon has subsided, as heads of state, ministers, representatives, and so on. All of these inventions, and I like the word a lot, come in depth to deal with women in a way other than the calling to which they were called, and in contrast to the talents and energies that God placed in Eve’s being. Women's liberation movements, as they are within the scope of modernity (secularised), are endeavors that involve denying the divine miracle in creation and denying the indescribable wisdom of God. They - that is, women's liberation movements, and in some of their manifestations - call, directly and indirectly, for women to be removed from the framework in which they grew up, worked in, and unleashed their talents in. The woman is a mother, and the mother is the earth that embraces the seed of being, so she nurtures it and takes care of it. Of course, we do not forget that female liberation movements contributed to eliminating injustice and injustice against women, and helped launch them positively and on different levels, but in a limited way.

From reading civilizations, we find that the highest status with which we can honor a woman, and raise her to Him, is to say to her: O mother.(2) . We have learned that a mother is capable of shaking the world with one hand and the bed with another, and that it is a school that if you prepare it, you will prepare a people of good ethnicity. We need to know who women are before we throw the arrows of the priesthood at them and demand such a leadership position from them.

Confirmation of this is that when we read the New Testament, we find that the divine Paul sees the salvation of women, as he himself says in his first letter to his son Timothy, as follows: “I want men to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without anger or argument. Likewise, women adorn themselves with modest clothing, not with braids, gold, pearls, and expensive clothing. Rather, as befits women who pledge to fear God with good deeds. Let the woman learn in silence in all submission. But I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. Because Adam was created first before Eve. Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and committed transgression. But she will be saved by bearing children if she continues in faith, love, and holiness with sobriety” (1 Timothy 2:8-14).

Certainly, we are not surprised if we hear that so-and-so people have comments, criticisms, and even objections to Paul the Apostle’s position on the mirror, but we must know, on the other hand, that Paul’s rulings on this level (regarding women) stem from a historical framework. However, stressing the issue of history does not mean that Paul’s opinion of women is outdated. Paul’s opinion of women is at the same time the opinion of the church and its position today, and that is recorded in the Holy Bible. The qualities that the Apostle demands of women are the same qualities that the church also demands of them. .

However, the church does not agree with Paul on the basis of the historical context in what he said regarding women’s silence, because this silence is a statement made within a historical context, but women today are educated, and may seem superior to men in many fields, and may even lead a family that they are today. In the hands of women, not in the hands of men. How many houses would have to be demolished if their fate had been left to their men. However, the call for women’s silence according to the Apostle Paul does not mean that women are without dignity, and this is what we must understand well.

A woman can delve deeply into motherhood when she raises a virtuous family whose members are all burning divine candles. She can also give up marriage and become a nun in the monastery, paying love for love, according to the words of Saint John of Damascus. We have no half solutions, just as we have no other options than these two options and these two situations for women.

What do we know about the reality of women today? What was its condition at the end of the twentieth century? A careful reading of the reality of women today makes us see them in the following image: They are a tool for promoting goods in contemporary media. In fact, women have become the frame and promoter of consumption...

In today's lustful age, a woman is merely a body that attracts attention and invites those who look at it, and through it, to consume. Women have become a commodity in the market of lust, as Dr. Kosti Bandali says, and thus they have become a thing in today's society, without realizing it. The woman has become the window through which the world looks at sex. Indeed, she has become the frame of sex and the embodiment of the sexual act, which decades ago was surrounded by a taboo that the woman revealed with premeditation and premeditation, and after a deceptive upbringing prepared for her. On this basis, the woman has become a vulnerable vessel in a broader sense. Indeed, her temptation has increased to the extent of her vulnerability in the male world. Thus, today we do not read a newspaper without an incident of rape of a minor and an adult.

Women today are so tempted, and at the same time they fall under the blows of increasing rape. On the other hand, she may experience pressure in her parents’ home, and this pressure will quickly transfer with her when she moves to her husband’s home, so that she is subsequently raised to use temptation in the face of male pressure. In addition, there is the great distress that she experiences deep down when she stops to contemplate her share of the inheritance. How many homes have their owners oppress their daughters and honor their boys? Injustice increases and becomes entrenched when a woman finds herself a despised person whose testimony is not taken and whose testimony is not accepted in government departments. If the woman's condition is like this, then what strength remains deep inside her to take her to the calling that God wanted her to undertake? In fact, the daughters of Eve have fallen into the game of seduction today. Seduction improved and became popular in the eyes of the girls of this time because women felt that by developing and employing seduction, they could gain some balance with men. In short, how miserable today's girls are!

Hence, women today, more than ever before, need an effort beyond their capacity - so to speak - in order to escape from this injustice and dependency. It needs a force beyond its power to stop the game of self-objectification and turning it into a commodity. You need in-depth home education in order to live up to the calling to which you have been called. It needs great strength to lift the characteristic of talkativeness with which the popular proverb describes it. It takes tremendous strength not to be said to be a necessary evil. She needs more strength than she can handle so that her body no longer becomes a toy that men demand for a while. It takes tremendous power to erase popular proverbs in which they were said to insult, not to honor. Anyone who would like to read these examples can consider the following:

  1. The more a woman is touched by your love, and the more you pamper her, the more you spoil her
  2. A woman is like a carpet that can only be cleaned with dirt
  3. The house that they raised is all owned by Laura
  4. Only every traitor listens to the woman...
  5. This time is called sanctity because God has forbidden it from reason
  6. A woman is like a goat, if left to her own devices, she will eat green and dry things
  7. May God curse the girl. She is a disaster in her family’s home, a disaster with her husband, a disaster if she marries, and two disasters if she does not marry.

For commentary and explanation on these popular proverbs, see Dr. Kosti Bandali’s book, “The Woman in Her Position and Desire,” pp. 143-144.

In fact, if a woman wants true dignity, she needs to struggle beyond her strength, especially in this time and its temptations. Society has oppressed her beyond the limits of description, the patriarchal system has oppressed her, her male brothers have oppressed her, and her husband has oppressed her. Society adopted this injustice and then the state perpetuated it by despising her testimony and her benefit in official transactions. .

The Holy Bible does not deny the suffering of women in this world. It sees it and understands it. However, the woman in Jesus the Redeemer has a sacred message and a very sacred calling. “...nor will I stone you...”, “..this is your mother...”, “..and he was obedient to his parents...” “.

After this, whoever clings to the injustice of women is wrong. I knew her smarter than me. I knew the brilliant woman, the sacrificial woman, the generous woman, and the compassionate woman. I saw it in many of those around me. I saw it in closeups. I saw her in the innocence of little girls. I saw the greatness of a woman in embracing her parents in their old age. I saw its greatness in this, in the face of the superiority of males, especially when they are asked to take care of their parents. I saw the greatness of women in the Myrrhbearers and in Saint Thecla, Saint Pelagia, Saint Barbara, Saint Euphemia, Saint Sophia, and her daughters Faith, Hope, and Love. I saw the greatness of a woman in a good morsel that promised to pour the blood of the heart. I saw the woman with the tenderness and patience she extended to her sick child. I saw the greatness of a woman in her care for her children’s affairs with love and sobriety (3). But I saw a woman's weakness in the affection she exerts that turns her children into factional people. I saw the greatness of a woman in a woman who guides the weary and the tired. I saw its greatness in the power of intuition of the women I knew. However, I saw her weakness in those who feared that she would miss the marriage train. I saw the weakness of women in every woman who says deep down: I am a spinster without declaring it. I saw the greatness of women in Jeddah, compassionate and guiding. I saw the greatness of women in every woman who held her sadness and emotion to the leash of faith. I saw a great woman in those who resist temptations and confront difficulties. I have seen women greater than men time and time again, especially in this time, and with great regret, I despair of the path of the majority of Eve’s daughters with the media. In my view, they are moving from an inferiority imposed by a false masculine superiority, to an inferiority in which they become a body that is merely desired. And now Eve is suffering under forms of baseness and inferiority when she exposes her body and her charms. But alas, she is one of those who displays her charms but fears rape. Alas, she is the one who sells her body to the instincts of men whom she disgusts in her depths. Alas, she is the one who sells her body to the eyes of passers-by and every passer-by, but she claims values and morals. Alas, her daughter was married to someone who remained younger than all her daughters. Alas, she is the one who sees marriage as beautiful but does not know the conditions for happiness. Alas, he is one of those who do not love or interact with each other. Alas, from a woman who does not know the conditions of love. Alas, for a woman who exposes herself without realizing that she is trapping most of the onlookers in her net. Alas, for a woman who insists that she is oppressed, but she is just a body and a mere source of revolution for the lust of many males! Alas, from a woman who seeks motherhood and does not know the conditions for achieving and achieving it. Alas, for a mother who married her daughter while she herself did not know why she got married. Alas, from a woman who appears beautiful to the eye but not to the mind and heart. Alas, for a woman who has not yet realized that the sobriety resulting from faith in the Lord freed her from many slavery. Alas, for a woman who marries just because marriage is the norm of life. Alas, for a woman who gives birth while she is still a child. Alas, from a person who raises herself, and she herself needs someone to raise her.

All of these sighs and regrets, and many others, come before our minds repeatedly every day. Every day we discover a face of human weakness that is lost in the depths of the instincts and desires of both men and women. Every day we see human dirt being blown away in vain, and every day many are wasted as a result of triviality. But where are women today in terms of faith? Where is her great example, by which I mean the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary? In fact, there is a difference between the Pleiades and the Pleiades, so where are the daughters of today regarding the Virgin Mary? Did the Lord hear Mary, the Mother of God, express her opinion about the daughter of this time? What would you say if you spoke?

She would say if we were given the honor of hearing her: My daughter, my heart breaks with sadness for you. Your being has been lost and I fear that you will fall to the extremes. My daughter, what happened that made the body become a god over you? What is the value of charms that you would sacrifice your entire being for? Is this how a girl in your time prepared to enter another Galilee at Cana? Is this what Paul taught you in his letter to the Ephesians, which was read to you at the wedding?

In short, talk about a female priesthood in this time seems like a joke and a joke that causes a lot of laughter and guffaws in us. In addition to the fact that the Church does not accept it, there is the oppression of women and their reality and capabilities that do not allow them to demand their priesthood.

Talking about the priesthood of women seems meaningless; It is a useless demand and there is no point in activating it. I am convinced that man is the same in every place and time. Women in the West are not in a better situation, and their humanitarian concerns are the same everywhere. Women in the West are still beaten today, just as they are in the East. In a study announced on a television program, it was said that more than 60% Western women are beaten by their husbands. What is the meaning of this?

All of this raises in my opinion - from one point of view - the futility of the issue of women’s priesthood. Why?. Is it possible that raising the issue of the female priesthood is a reward for women’s patience with men’s oppression and injustice? Is it possible that the female priesthood is the price for potential inferiority? The priesthood of men itself exhausts the body of Christ, so what if we talked about the priesthood of women? Satan resides in the clergy, says Chrysostom. Complaints about the clergy are as great today as in the past. Father Schmemann, may God have mercy on him, described the condition of the seminarians and said: “People love priests as they love graves.”(4).

But when you deal with the clergy at its core, you see at the same time the extent of their slavery to what might be called the superiority of the clergy. It is shame and suffering. We want the priest to shine, because we have all the love for him.

We also know the injustice of the parish and the injustice of the priests. This phenomenon can be said a lot if we want. Some people with narrow horizons and limited vision may also think that priests are a meaningless job.

Our society, and indeed our world, cannot tolerate the priesthood of women, and at the same time it is tired and exhausted by priests, and this is not an insult, for the priesthood is fire and light. If we say this about men, what about women?

Our Lord Himself exempted women from the priesthood, exempting them from it, even though He made them the first heralds of the Resurrection. Our Lord loved the woman, but in His infinite wisdom He did not want to make her a priestess. The answer to the question of the woman’s lack of priesthood lies in the depths of God, and yet God loved her, and in it the Apostle said: “...there is neither male nor female, but all are one in Christ” (Galatians 3:28). Mary, most holy, we call her in the depths of the heart: “the most welcoming.” From the heavens.” However, the woman is exempt from the priesthood without this detracting from the Lord’s love for her, and without this causing a defect to her femininity, dignity, and uniqueness. How do we respond to women's fortune-telling? This is what we will see in the following pages of this book.

 

A list of Arabic and foreign references

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  • Bible
  • The Status of Women in the Church (Greek), Kermeris, Athens, 1971
  • The Role of Women in the Church (English EM Ady London, 1947)
  • Women in the Apostolic Church (English TB Alwathy Cambridge, 1917)
  • The relationship between men and women in Christian thought (English D.F, Bailey  London 1959)
  • Women's Condition and Priesthood (English) An Anglican theological Review 1976, p. 86- 106
  • Male and Female, a Christian Introduction to Sex (English) 1976 N. York, R. T. Baruhouse
  • Women and the priestly rank in the Bible SVS G. Barrios
  • Women and their conditionality (English) P. 51 101. 1978; K. Coule
  • Women's Ministry in the Early Church (English) L. Buzzar
  • Women and the Salvation of the World (English) P. Evdokimov
    Translated by Mitsuk, Thessaloniki 1975.
  • Question about women and the priesthood (English) VEHannom, London 1967
  • Women's Service (English) R.W. Howard, Oxford 1949.
  • Women in the Church (Greek) E. Theodoron, Athens 1976.
  • Is Saint Paul a liberator or is he against women? - (English) SVS, V Kesich quarterly 21 ( 1917 ) pp. 123- 147
  • Church Tradition and the Question of the Conditionality of Women (English) 1967 GWH Lampe.
  • The ordination of women, a Protestant experience from an ecumenical perspective, J. E. Lynch 1975, p. 173- 197.
  • Women and the Priesthood in the Church (English) El Mascall  London 1960
  • Women in the Church: Role and Renewal (English), 1967, N. York SM McKenna.
  • Women in the Bible, (Greek) p. Mpratsiotou , Athens 1940
  • .Christianity and feminism, the same, Athena. 1939, pp. 65-68
  • Ecumenical relations and the ordination of women to the priestly level in the Episcopal Church By W. Norgrens
  • Women and the Priesthood, Father Thomas Hopko SVS
  • magazine Again Three articles on women, the priesthood, and femininity.
  • Bible Dictionary
  • The Crisis of Women in Arab Male Society, Bou Ali Sassine, Dar Al-Hiwar for Publishing and Distribution, Lattakia.
  • The Woman in His Position and Demand, Kosti Bandali, Middle East Council of Churches.
  • Sex and its human meaning, Kosti Bandali, Al Noor Publications
  • Mary, Mother of Jesus, Father Gabriel Farah Al-Boulsi, Living Faith Series.
  • In Knowing God (An Orthodox View), Bishop Kallistos Ware.
  • Spiritual Dimensions of Sex Education, Kosti Bandali, Al-Nour Publications
  • Women and Salvation, Avdokimov, (SVS) English.
  • The Social Dimension of Spiritual Life, Kosti Bandali, Al-Nour Publications.
  • Virginity in the Thought of Fathers, Antoine Fahmy George (Egypt).
  • Three Essays on Sexual Theory, Sigmund Freud, Dar Al Maaref.
  • The Image of Christ in Marriage and Family, Kosti Bandali, Al-Nour Publications.
  • Sex in Christianity and Psychoanalysis, (William Graham Cole), Galaxy Book - New York - Oxford University Press 1966 (English)
  • Interpretation of the first and second chapters of the Book of Genesis, translated into English by Klaus Westermann by John Scullion (spck).
  • Participation in the Divine Life, George Mandatridis, chapter:
    • – Marriage and celibacy in the Church (p. 187) (Greek).
    • – Orthodox testimony in the contemporary world (p. 273) (Greek).
  • Sex and Health, Espero Fakhoury, Dar Al-Ilm Lilmalayin.
  • Women and Sex, Dr. Nawal Al-Saadawi.
  • Slavery No. 23, Dr. Abdul Salam Al-Tarmanini, World of Knowledge, Kuwait.
  • Arab Youth and the Problems They Face, No. 6, Dr. Ezzat Hegazy, World of Knowledge.
  • The Ascension of Man, No. 39, translated by Muwafaq Shakhashiro, The World of Knowledge.
  • Marriage among the Arabs, No. 80, Abd al-Salam al-Tirmanini, The World of Knowledge.
  • Death Anxiety, No. 111, Ahmed Muhammad Abdel Khaleq, the world of knowledge.
  • The Nature of Life No. 125, Francis Crick, The World of Knowledge.
  • Man between essence and appearance, No. 140, Erich Fromm, The World of Knowledge.
  • Motherhood, No. 166, Fayez Quntar, The World of Knowledge.
  • Genetic Engineering and Ethics, No. 147, Nahida Al-Baqsami, World of Knowledge.
  • The Creation of Man, Saint Gregory of Nyssa (Greek).
  • Sayings of the Elder Fathers (Arabization), Al-Nour Publications and the Institute of Theology in Balamand.
  • The Conditionality of Women, An Orthodox Answer, (in English) by Father Thomas Hopko - Magazine again .
  • “Since God Doesn't Sin, So Woman's Conditionalism Denies the Incarnation” by Sloane VanCocken (Article) - Magazine again .
  • Feminism at its Curious Roots, magazine again, by Frank Schaffer (English).
  • Women's rights in Christianity, Dr. Maha Fakhoury (Al-Nour Publications).
  • Can we regulate our sex life? Father Robert Clément, Arabization of Antoine Al-Ghazal - Dar Al-Mashreq.
  • Fakhoury M., Psychosocial Relationships for Christian Women, 1987.
  • Rev. Dr. Anwar Zaki, “Women in the Egyptian Church,” 1995.
  • Zidan Abdel Baqi, “Women between Religion and Society,” 1977.

 

 


(1) The priesthood of women is not a doctrine, and it does not exist in the Bible

(2) We have two positions in the church for women. Eve can choose one and the other, by which I mean: the mother and the nun. We do not know in the Church a status for women outside of these two scopes

(3) Sectarianism and isolationism are the fruits of a stifling and stifling upbringing

(4) See the book “For the Life of the World” by Father Alexander Schmemann, p. 137 - Al-Nour Publications, Arabized by Archimandrite Touma Bitar.

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