Christ and his bride

Published: Saturday September 26, 2009

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Sir:

I have just returned to London from Tehran via Armenia; in Tehran, I was invited by Archbishop Sepouh Sargsian to make my humble contributions to a week's seminar of religious lectures and question-and-answer sessions on religion organized for the local Armenian teachers of Armenian schools and Sunday schools, the majority of whom were women. On my return I read the comments (Armenian Reporter, August 20 and 27) generated by a letter written by Simon Y. Balian in response to the ordination of the 27 priests on July 19 in Yerevan.

Mr. Balian and all those who have responded to his letter, "The exclusion of women from the priesthood," have missed a very vital point. The exclusion of women from the priesthood has been the position down the ages of the "One, Catholic and Apostolic [Holy] Church" to which the Armenian Church has belonged since 301 C.E. The author of the letter and the comments made upon the issue ignore the much-rehearsed fundamental theological objections to women's ordination.

First of all, it must be recognized that two quite distinct questions are involved.

The first is whether it is possible for women to be priests. The second is whether it is right and desirable for them to be priests. Unless the first question is answered in the affirmative, the second cannot arise. This is important, because it is frequently assumed without argument that a woman upon whom the traditional rites of ordination to the priesthood have been performed by a bishop will undoubtedly have become a priest. That leaves only ethical questions ("Is it not unjust to withhold the priesthood from women?") and pastoral ones ("Will not women perform the traditional duties and functions of the priesthood just as efficiently as men?")

It must be stressed that what we are concerned with is the Catholic priesthood, as that has come down to us in the great Episcopal communions of East and West, and not with the various forms of ministry that exist in the Protestant churches and communities. This is not an attitude of unfriendliness to our separated brethren but simply recognizing the fact that the Endhanrakan (Catholic) conception of the ministry is different from the Protestant conception.

The decision of the Anglican Church, the Episcopal Church of the United States, and the Anglican Church in Canada has become a grave new obstacle and threat on the path to Christian reconciliation. Such decisions needs the consensus of West and East, for it explicitly refers to the "remarkable unanimity" of the churches of the East on this question of women's ordination. The Ecumenical Patriarch in his declaration to Dr. Coggan (April 1977) expressed his "joy" at the firm witness of the Roman Catholic Church against the possibility of women's ordination, which he described as haka-arakelakan (anti-apotolic ).

The objection to women's ordination are Christological, because the sacrament of holy order is, like the other sacraments, a Christological mystery (Kristosabanakan khorhourd), and because there is only one priest - Jesus Christ.

In the celebration of the Divine Liturgy, the celebrant is more that the people's representative. In taking, breaking, and consecrating, he acts in Christ's name and in the name not only of the particular congregation but of the Holy Church down the ages. Both Church and ministry are gifts of the divine Lord Jesus. He appointed 12 that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth. When he ascended on high he gave gifts to men. The apostle draws his commission and authority from Christ alone, and he uses an authority given to him when in Christ's name he ordains and commissions the priest.

This stance of the church in no way diminishes the role and place of women in the Armenian Church. The first prayer the celebrating priest offers during the liturgy is addressed to "the holy Mother-of-God." She is the first intercessor with the Father in heaven.

Yours prayerfully,
Rev. Dr. Nerses (Vrej) Nersessian
London