Maria G McDowell

Contemporary Eastern Orthodox discussion of sexuality and embodiment generally assumes a static, binary gendered essentialism. Opponents of female ordination, same-sex relationships, and the legitimacy of transgender persons generally define appropriate roles and relationships according to binary essentialism. Arguments in favor tend to focus on theories in which sexed bodies are eschatologically transcended. Using the iconodule arguments of Theodore the Studite and the gender-bending monastic discernment of Symeon the New Theologian, I suggest an alter- native trajectory: unique human per- sonhood exists in and becomes more fully divine through its embodied material diversity. Bodily experienc- es are metaphorical vehicles through which persons and the community may be transformed by participation in God. To say it another way, deifi- cation occurs in diverse bodies, each unique, whose real and imagined gender fluidity allows particular per- sons and communities to partake in the magnificent creativity of God.

Liturgically situated icons envision salvation in embodied transfigured persons who are unique, irreducible and free.  Through them, and through the life of the one fully human person towards whom they point, Christ, we become free, unique and irreducible.  In short, a properly iconodule theology of participation expresses an Orthodox ethic of becoming fully human as uniquely embodied irreducible persons.  The driving question is: does our iconic liturgical practice fully encourage this process in men and women?  As long as we continue to implement an exclusively male iconic priesthood, the answer is no.  A theological ethic of embodied participation as images of Christ is a compelling reason to ordain women to the priesthood in the Orthodox Church.

"Eastern Orthodox theology affirms the liturgy as an anticipatory icon of God's reign that establishes a pattern of relationships by which Christians are called to live in and for the world. Taking at face value an Orthodox theological claim that the liturgy is the sole source for
deriving ethical actions, Orthodox theologians typically address the question of female priesthood within the existing visual parameters of the liturgy in which it is men who exercise authority. Given patterns addressed by both aspects of ritual theory and contemporary anthropology, the articulation of anthropologies that likewise limit the authority and capability of women are to be expected. However, these defenses of the exclusion of women from full participation in the liturgy, including sacramental ordination, are the result of a reductionistic view of the priesthood, the liturgy, and human persons. Neither Orthodox personalism, its ethical implications, nor a few rarely glimpsed snippets of the Orthodox tradition support such
reductionism. Rather, recognition of the unique capabilities of women by the community and their welcome participation within the community encourages the joy which underlies the transformation of a people who live for the life of the world."

Late-ancient theologies of the priesthood frame its tasks, virtues and metaphorical relationships around its chief task: encouraging a common life of theosis as embodied virtue. Metaphorical relationships are used to evoke the manner in which, and the virtue with which, priestly tasks are to be practiced. In the priest, we hope to see an icon of the deified humanity to which all are called. This theological structuring allows the participation of women in the sacramental priesthood. Modern Orthodox arguments, in their efforts to defend an exclusively male priesthood, subvert this structure. The language of relationship and virtue is used to define the priesthood according to specifically gendered tasks. This theology results in, and derives from, a reduced view of the full personhood of women and the breadth of the priestly task, undermining the priest’s role of embodying and encouraging all the virtues of the deified life.

Eastern Orthodox theology affirms the liturgy as an anticipatory icon of God’s reign that establishes a pattern of relationships by which Christians are called to live in and for the world. Taking at face value an Orthodox theological claim that the liturgy is the sole source for deriving ethical actions, Orthodox theologians typically address the question of female priesthood within the existing visual parameters of the liturgy in which men exercise authority. Given patterns addressed by both aspects of ritual theory and contemporary anthropology, the articulation of anthropologies that likewise limit the authority and capability of women is to be expected. However, these defenses of the exclusion of women from full participation in the liturgy, including sacramental ordination, are the result of a reductionistic view of the priesthood, the liturgy, and human persons. Neither Orthodox personalism, nor its ethical implications, nor a few rarely glimpsed snippets of the Orthodox tradition support such reductionism. Rather, recognition of the unique capabilities of women by the community and their welcome participation within the community encourages the joy that underlies the transformation of a people who live for the life of the world.

Late-ancient theologies of the priesthood frame its tasks, virtues and metaphorical relationships around its chief task: encouraging a common life of theosis as embodied virtue. Metaphorical relationships are used to evoke the manner in which, and the virtue with which, priestly tasks are to be practiced. In the priest, we hope to see an icon of the deified humanity to which all are called. This theological structuring allows the participation of women in the sacramental priesthood. Modern Orthodox arguments, in their efforts to defend an exclusively male priesthood, subvert this structure. The language of relationship and virtue is used to define the priesthood according to specifically gendered tasks. This theology results in, and derives from, a reduced view of the full personhood of women and the breadth of the priestly task, undermining the priest’s role of embodying and encouraging all the virtues of the deified life.