ordination

John Sanidopoulos, whose posts on tidbits of Orthodox tradition and the Saints I enjoy reading, re-posted an article by Alice Linsley today.  Linsley is a former Episcopalian priest who left the priesthood and eventually joined the Orthodox Church.  She appears to be a sort of living proof-text used by some Orthodox assure us that women are not called to the priesthood (except, as she says in one explanation of both her call and eventual departure, when men fail to serve.  Only then does God call women to serve in this capacity.)  Since my response was a bit longer than most comments warrant, I decided to post it here.  

The Mystagogy post is here, and the original post at Preachers Institute is here.

Question: So many opportunities exist for women in the Church, why are you so concerned about the priesthood? Women can be parish council presidents, Sunday school teachers, the wives of priests, why do they need more? Why can't you be satisfied with what you already have?

I recently spoke at Huffington Ecumenical Institute's 2010 Symposium on Women and Church, East and West. My talk, "Virtuous Icons: Unique Persons or Gendered Stereotypes" is available in four parts below via YouTube. Videos of all the lectures are available via LMU's iTunesU podcast.  I have included the intro and conclusion as text below.

“I can’t imagine women in the altar, as priests, deacons, alter servers….”  These are the words of a kind and thoughtful 91-year old man who has spent his whole life in the church, whose children serve the church in a variety of significant capacities.  His is a distressed response to what was likely the first conversation he has ever heard regarding the possibility of women priests in the Orthodox church.