Part two of two
"Any woman who acts in such a way that she cannot
give birth to as many children as she is capable of,
makes herself guilty of that many murders."
St. Augustine (354-430 CE)
"Do you know that each of your women is an Eve?
The sentence of God - on this sex of yours - lives
in this age; the guilt must necessarily live, too. You
are the gate of Hell, you are the temptress of the
orbidden tree; you are the first deserter of the
divine law."
Tertullian in 22 CE
"Woman in her greatest perfection was made to
serve and obey man, not rule and command him."
John Knox (1505-1572)
"The souls of women are so small that some
believe they've none at all."
Samuel Butler (1612-1680)
"What a misfortune to be a woman! And yet,
the worst misfortune is not to understand
what a misfortune it is".
Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
"It seems to me that nearly every woman I know
wants a man who knows how to love with authority.
Women are simple souls who like simple things, and
one of the simplest is one of the simplest to give...
Our family Airedale will come clear across the yard
for one pat on the head. The average wife is like that.
She will come across town, across the house, across
to your point of view, and across almost anything to
give you her love if you offer her yours with some
honest approval."
Episcopal Bishop James Pike in a letter to his son (1968)
"Let us set our women folk on the road to goodness
by teaching them to display submissiveness." "Every
woman should be overwhelmed with shame at the
thought that she is a woman."
St. Clement of Alexandria in 96 CE
In the year 584 CE, in Lyons, France, forty-three
Catholic bishops and twenty men representing other
bishops, held a most peculiar debate: "Are Women
Human?" After many lengthy arguments, a vote was
taken. The results were: thirty-two, yes; thirty-one, no.
Women were declared human by one vote!
Council of Macon
"Blessed art thou, O Lord our God and King of the
Universe, that thou didst not create me a woman."
Daily prayer, still in use, of the orthodox Jewish male
"Woman should remain at home, sit still, keep house,
and bear and bring up children." and "If a woman grows
weary and, at last, dies from child bearing, it matters not.
Let her die from bearing; she is there to do it."
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
With this kind of really negative attitude among the male population over the Millennia Is it really difficult to believe that the historical record of women's participation in the leadership of the Church has mostly been expunged by the "Selective memory," of the male scribes of that day. Jesus and Paul lived in a culture of male domination. This practice followed into the Church after Pentecost although some women were leaders in the synagogues in that day. A lot of Christian women were poor, but some were also wealthy: like Lydia. Women were managing their own households, which often had a lot going on like maintenance of property, running a business, managing a family along with its many responsibilities and supervision of slaves in some cases. The women greatly served the early believers by simply extended their homes in order to host the Church, which met in homes during the first and second centuries.
During the third and forth centuries as the church slowly became institutionalized, the women were displaced - then the leadership became masculine dominated. This is also the crowd who eradicated almost all traces of women in leadership from the written records. There were women in leadership before the purge took place. The best example extant is Junia mentioned by St. Paul as an Apostle. Translators “Corrected†the female name to that of Junias - the male form. There is no historical male name “Junias.“ The evidence of early Female leadership remains mostly in the fraises, mosaics, and grave markings in places like the catacombs.
Another example: There is a mosaic in a Basilica that depicts four women, Mary the mother of Jesus, Prudentiana, Praxedis, and a forth woman whose name was Theodora Episcopa - Bishop Theodora. Episcopus is the male form and episcopa is the female. It is also noteworthy that the ending letter of the word episcopa in the mosaic was partially defaced - I wonder why? As a side note, the image of Theodora had a square halo instead of a round one like the other three women, which symbolically indicated that she was still alive when the mosaic was made.
And there are more examples. I find the book “When Women were Priests†very informative as to the history of female leadership. Highly recommended.
