Cylinder seal (c. 2100 BCE) depicting goddesses conducting mortal males through a religious rite
Sumerian and AkkadianEN were top-ranking priestesses distinguished by special ceremonial attire and holding equal status to high priests. They owned property, transacted business, and initiated the hieros gamos ceremony with priests and kings.[10]Enheduanna (2285–2250 BC), an Akkadian princess, was the first known holder of the title "EN Priestess".[11]
Ishtaritu were temple prostitutes who specialized in the arts of dancing, music, and singing and served in the temples of Ishtar.[12]
Puabi was a NIN, an Akkadian priestess of Ur in the 26th century BC.
Nadītu, sometimes described as priestesses in modern literature, are attested from various cities from the Old Babylonian period. They were recruited from various social groups, ranging from craftsmen to royal families, and were supposed to remain childless; they owned property and transacted business.
Later, Divine Adoratrice of Amun was a title created for the chief priestess of Amun. During the first millennium BC, when the holder of this office exercised her largest measure of influence, her position was an important appointment facilitating the transfer of power from one pharaoh to the next, when his daughter was adopted to fill it by the incumbent office holder. The Divine Adoratrice ruled over the extensive temple duties and domains, controlling a significant part of the ancient Egyptian economy.
Female figure carrying a torch and piglet to celebrate rites of Demeter and Persephone (from Attica, 140–130 BCE)
In ancient Greek religion, some important observances, such as the Thesmophoria, were made by women. Priestesses, Hiereiai, served in many different cults of many divinities, with their duties varying depending on the cult and the divinity in which they served.
At several sites women priestesses served as oracles, the most famous of which is the Oracle of Delphi. The priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi was the Pythia, credited throughout the Greco-Roman world for her prophecies, which gave her a prominence unusual for a woman in male-dominated ancient Greece. The Phrygian Sibyl presided over an oracle of Apollo in AnatolianPhrygia. The inspired speech of divining women, however, was interpreted by male priests; a woman might be a mantic (mantis) who became the mouthpiece of a deity through possession, but the "prophecy of interpretation" required specialized knowledge and was considered a rational process suited only to a male '"prophet" (prophētēs).[18][19]
The Virgo Vestalis Maxima, the highest-ranking of the Vestal Virgins
The Latin word sacerdos, "priest", is the same for both the grammatical genders. In Roman state religion, the Vestal Virgins were responsible for the continuance and security of Rome as embodied by the sacred fire that they were required to tend on pain of extreme punishment. The Vestals were a college of six sacerdotes (plural) devoted to Vesta, goddess of the hearth, both the focus of a private home (domus) and the state hearth that was the center of communal religion. Freed of the usual social obligations to marry and rear children, the Vestals took a vow of chastity in order to devote themselves to the study and correct observance of state rituals that were off-limits to the male colleges of priests.[20] They retained their religious authority until the Christian emperor Gratian confiscated their revenues and his successor Theodosius I closed the Temple of Vesta permanently.[21][22]
The Romans also had at least two priesthoods that were each held jointly by a married couple, the rex and regina sacrorum, and the flamen and flaminica Dialis. The regina sacrorum ("queen of the sacred rites") and the flaminica Dialis (high priestess of Jupiter) each had her own distinct duties and presided over public sacrifices, the regina on the first day of every month, and the flaminica every nundinal cycle (the Roman equivalent of a week). The highly public nature of these sacrifices, like the role of the Vestals, indicates that women's religious activities in ancient Rome were not restricted to the private or domestic sphere.[23] So essential was the gender complement to these priesthoods that if the wife died, the husband had to give up his office. This is true of the flaminate, and probably true of the rex and regina.[23]
The title sacerdos was often specified in relation to a deity or temple,[23][24] such as a sacerdos Cereris or Cerealis, "priestess of Ceres", an office never held by men.[25] Female sacerdotes played a leading role in the sanctuaries of Ceres and Proserpina in Rome and throughout Italy that observed so-called "Greek rite" (ritus graecus). This form of worship had spread from Sicily under Greek influence, and the Aventine cult of Ceres in Rome was headed by male priests.[26] Only women celebrated the rites of the Bona Dea ("Good Goddess"), for whom sacerdotes are recorded.[27]:371,377[c] The Temple of Ceres in Rome was surved by the Priestess of Ceres, Sacerdos Cereris, and the Temple of Bona Dea by the Priestess of Bona Dea, Sacerdos Bonae Deae. Other Priestesses were the Sacerdos Liberi, Sacerdos Fortunae Muliebris and the Sacerdos Matris Deum Magnae Idaeae; sacerdos also served as priestesses of the Imperial cult.
Latin dedication to the goddess IsisAugusta by Lucretia Fida, a sacerdos (priest), from Roman Iberia
From the Mid Republic onward, religious diversity became increasingly characteristic of the city of Rome. Many religions that were not part of Rome's earliest state religion offered leadership roles as priests for women, among them the imported cult of Isis and of the Magna Mater ("Great Mother", or Cybele). An epitaph preserves the title sacerdos maxima for a woman who held the highest priesthood of the Magna Mater's temple near the current site of St. Peter's Basilica.[29]Inscriptions for the Imperial era record priestesses of Juno Populona and of deified women of the Imperial household.[23]
Under some circumstances, when cults such as mystery religions were introduced to Romans, it was preferred that they be maintained by women. Although it was Roman practice to incorporate other religions instead of trying to eradicate them,[30]:4 the secrecy of some mystery cults was regarded with suspicion. In 189 BCE, the senate attempted to suppress the Bacchanals, claiming the secret rites corrupted morality and were a hotbed of political conspiracy. One provision of the senatorial decree was that only women should serve as priests of the Dionysian religion, perhaps to guard against the politicizing of the cult,[31] since even Roman women who were citizens lacked the right to vote or hold political office. Priestesses of Liber, the Roman godidentified withDionysus, are mentioned by the 1st-century BC scholar Varro, as well as indicated by epigraphic evidence.[23]
Other religious titles for Roman women include magistra, a high priestess, female expert or teacher; and ministra, a female assistant, particularly one in service to a deity. A magistra or ministra would have been responsible for the regular maintenance of a cult. Epitaphs provide the main evidence for these priesthoods, and the woman is often not identified in terms of her marital status.[23][24]
Ani Pema Chodron, an American woman who was ordained as a bhikkhuni (a fully ordained Buddhist nun) in a lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in 1981. Pema Chödrön was the first American woman to be ordained as a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
The tradition of the ordained monastic community in Buddhism (the sangha) began with the Buddha, who established an order of monks.[34] According to the scriptures,[35] later, after an initial reluctance, he also established an order of nuns. Fully ordained Buddhist nuns are called bhikkhunis.[36][37]Mahapajapati Gotami, the aunt and foster mother of Buddha, was the first bhikkhuni; she was ordained in the sixth century BCE.[38][39]
However, the bhikkhuni ordination once existing in the countries where Theravada is more widespread died out around the 10th century, and novice ordination has also disappeared in those countries. Therefore, women who wish to live as nuns in those countries must do so by taking eight or ten precepts. Neither laywomen nor formally ordained, these women do not receive the recognition, education, financial support or status enjoyed by Buddhist men in their countries. These "precept-holders" live in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, and Thailand. In particular, the governing council of Burmese Buddhism has ruled that there can be no valid ordination of women in modern times, though some Burmese monks disagree. However, in 2003, Saccavadi and Gunasari were ordained as bhikkhunis in Sri Lanka, thus becoming the first female Burmese novices in modern times to receive higher ordination in Sri Lanka.[42][43] Japan is a special case as, although it has neither the bhikkhuni nor novice ordinations, the precept-holding nuns who live there do enjoy a higher status and better training than their precept-holder sisters elsewhere, and can even become Zen priests.[44] In Tibet there is currently no bhikkhuni ordination, but the Dalai Lama has authorized followers of the Tibetan tradition to be ordained as nuns in traditions that have such ordination.
The bhikkhuni ordination of Buddhist nuns has always been practiced in East Asia.[45] In 1996, through the efforts of Sakyadhita, an International Buddhist Women Association, ten Sri Lankan women were ordained as bhikkhunis in Sarnath, India.[46] Also, bhikkhuni ordination of Buddhist nuns began again in Sri Lanka in 1998 after a lapse of 900 years.[47] In 2003 Ayya Sudhamma became the first American-born woman to receive bhikkhuni ordination in Sri Lanka.[37] Furthermore, on February 28, 2003, Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, formerly known as Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, became the first Thai woman to receive bhikkhuni ordination as a Theravada nun (Theravada is a school of Buddhism).[48] Dhammananda Bhikkhuni was ordained in Sri Lanka.[49] Dhammananda Bhikkhuni's mother Venerable Voramai, also called Ta Tao Fa Tzu, had become the first fully ordained Thai woman in the Mahayana lineage in Taiwan in 1971.[50][51]
A 55-year-old Thai Buddhist 8-precept white-robed maechee nun, Varanggana Vanavichayen, became the first woman ordained as a monk in Thailand, in 2002.[52] Since then, the Thai Senate has reviewed and revoked the secular law passed in 1928 banning women's full ordination in Buddhism as unconstitutional for being counter to laws protecting freedom of religion. However Thailand's two main Theravada Buddhist orders, the Mahanikaya and Dhammayutika Nikaya, have yet to officially accept fully ordained women into their ranks.
In 2009 in Australia four women received bhikkhuni ordination as Theravada nuns, the first time such ordination had occurred in Australia.[53] It was performed in Perth, Australia, on 22 October 2009 at Bodhinyana Monastery. Abbess Vayama together with Venerables Nirodha, Seri, and Hasapanna were ordained as Bhikkhunis by a dual Sangha act of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis in full accordance with the Pali Vinaya.[54]
In 1997 Dhamma Cetiya Vihara in Boston was founded by Ven. Gotami of Thailand, then a 10 precept nun; when she received full ordination in 2000, her dwelling became America's first Theravada Buddhist bhikkhuni vihara. In 1998 Sherry Chayat, born in Brooklyn, became the first American woman to receive transmission in the Rinzai school of Buddhism.[55][56][57] In 2006 Merle Kodo Boyd, born in Texas, became the first African-American woman ever to receive Dharma transmission in Zen Buddhism.[58] Also in 2006, for the first time in American history, a Buddhist ordination was held where an American woman (Sister Khanti-Khema) took the Samaneri (novice) vows with an American monk (Bhante Vimalaramsi) presiding. This was done for the Buddhist American Forest Tradition at the Dhamma Sukha Meditation Center in Missouri.[59] In 2010 the first Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in America (Vajra Dakini Nunnery in Vermont) was officially consecrated. It offers novice ordination and follows the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism. The abbot of the Vajra Dakini nunnery is Khenmo Drolma, an American woman, who is the first bhikkhuni in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism, having been ordained in Taiwan in 2002.[60][61] She is also the first westerner, male or female, to be installed as an abbot in the Drikung Kagyu lineage of Buddhism, having been installed as the abbot of the Vajra Dakini Nunnery in 2004.[60] The Vajra Dakini Nunnery does not follow The Eight Garudhammas.[62] Also in 2010, in Northern California, four novice nuns were given the full bhikkhuni ordination in the Thai Theravada tradition, which included the double ordination ceremony. Bhante Gunaratana and other monks and nuns were in attendance. It was the first such ordination ever in the Western hemisphere.[63] The following month, more bhikkhuni ordinations were completed in Southern California, led by Walpola Piyananda and other monks and nuns. The bhikkhunis ordained in Southern California were Lakshapathiye Samadhi (born in Sri Lanka), Cariyapanna, Susila, Sammasati (all three born in Vietnam), and Uttamanyana (born in Myanmar).[64]
The first bhikkhuni ordination in Germany, the Theravada bhikkhuni ordination of German nun Samaneri Dhira, occurred on June 21, 2015, at Anenja Vihara.[65]
The first Theravada ordination of bhikkhunis in Indonesia after more than a thousand years occurred in 2015 at Wisma Kusalayani in Lembang, Bandung.[66] Those ordained included Vajiradevi Sadhika Bhikkhuni from Indonesia, Medha Bhikkhuni from Sri Lanka, Anula Bhikkhuni from Japan, Santasukha Santamana Bhikkhuni from Vietnam, Sukhi Bhikkhuni and Sumangala Bhikkhuni from Malaysia, and Jenti Bhikkhuni from Australia.[66]
The official lineage of Tibetan Buddhist bhikkhunis recommenced on 23 June 2022 in Bhutan when 144 nuns, most of them Butanese, were fully ordained.[67][68]
In the liturgical traditions of Christianity, including the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, the term ordination refers more narrowly to the means by which a person is included in one of the orders of bishops, priests or deacons. Among these historic branches of Christianity, the episcopacy and priesthood have been reserved for men, although women have served as deacons and apostles.[69][70] This is distinguished from the process of consecration to religious orders, namely nuns and monks, which are typically open to women and men. Some Protestant denominations understand ordination more generally as the acceptance of a person for pastoral work.
Historians Gary Macy, Kevin Madigan and Carolyn Osiek report having identified documented instances of ordained women in the early Church.[71][5] In 2021, excavations at the site of a 1600-year-old Byzantinebasilica revealed mosaics that provided evidence of women serving primarily as diaconal ministers in early Christendom, although there has been speculation of other females in ministry as leaders of convents.[72] Additionally, Paul's letter to the Romans, written in the first century AD, mentions a woman deacon:
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae.
In 494 AD, in response to reports that women were serving at the altar in the south of Italy, Pope Gelasius I wrote a letter condemning female participation in the celebration of the Eucharist.[5] However, according to O'Brien, he never specified the scriptural or theological foundation for restricting priesthood to men only.[76] Several textual ambiguities and silences have resulted in a variety of contrasting interpretations.[77] Roger Gryson asserts that it is "difficult to form an idea of the situation which Pope Gelasius opposed" and observes that "it is regrettable that more details" about the situation are not available.[78]
The Protestant Reformation introduced the dogma that the authority of the Bible exceeds that of Roman Catholic popes and other church figures. Once the Roman Catholic hierarchy was no longer accepted as the sole authority, some denominations allowed women to preach. For example, George Fox founded the Quaker movement after stating he felt the "inner light" of Christ living in the believer was discovered in 1646.[79] He believed that the inner light worked in women as well as in men, and said:
And some men may say, man must have the power and superiority over the woman, because God says, "The man must rule over his wife [Genesis 3:16]; and that man is not of the woman, but the woman is of the man [1 Corinthians 11:8]." Indeed, after man fell, that command was; but before man fell there was no such command; for they were both meet-helps [Genesis 2:18,20], and they were both to have dominion over all that God made [Genesis 1:26,28]. And as the apostle saith, "for as the woman is of the man", his next words are, "so is the man also by the woman; but all things are of God [1 Corinthians 11:12]". And so the apostle clears his own words; and so as man and woman are restored again, by Christ up into the image of God [Colossians 3:10], they both have dominion again in the righteousness and holiness [Ephesians 4:24], and are helps-meet, as before they fell.
Supporters of women's ordination interpret the above-mentioned New Testament texts as being specific to certain social and church contexts and locations and addressing problems of church order in the early Church period.[91] They regard Jesus as setting the example of treating women with respect, commending their faith and tasking them to tell others about him and Paul as treating women as his equals and co-workers.[91][92] They point to notable female figures in the Bible such as Phoebe, Junia (considered an apostle by Paul) and others in Romans 16:1,[93] the female disciples of Jesus, and the women at the crucifixion who were the first witnesses to the Resurrection of Christ,[94][95] as supporting evidence of the importance of women as pastoral or episcopal leaders in the early Church.[92][96][97]
The teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, as emphasized by Pope John Paul II in the apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, is "that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgement is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful".[98]
This teaching is embodied in the current canon law (1024)[99] and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), by the canonical statement: "Only a baptized man (Latin: vir) validly receives sacred ordination."[100] Insofar as priestly and episcopal ordination are concerned, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that this requirement is a matter of divine law; it belongs to the deposit of faith and is unchangeable.[101][102][103]
In 2007, the Holy See issued a decree stating that attempted ordination of a woman would result in automatic excommunication for the women and bishops attempting to ordain them,[104] and in 2010, that attempted ordination of women is a "grave delict".[105]
An official Papal Commission ordered by Pope Francis in 2016 was charged with determining whether the ancient practice of having female deacons (deaconesses) is possible, provided they are non-ordained and that certain reserved functions of ordained male permanent or transitional deacons—proclaiming the Gospel at Mass, giving a homily, and performing non-emergency baptisms—would not be permitted for the discussed female diaconate. In October 2019, the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region called for "married priests, pope to reopen women deacons commission."[106] Pope Francis later omitted discussion of the issue from the ensuing documents.[107]
Dissenters
Various Catholics have written in favor of ordaining women.[108] Dissenting groups advocating women's ordination in opposition to Catholic teaching include Women's Ordination Worldwide,[109] Catholic Women's Ordination,[110]Roman Catholic Womenpriests,[111] and Women's Ordination Conference.[112] Some cite the alleged ordination of Ludmila Javorová in CommunistCzechoslovakia in 1970 by Bishop Felix Davídek (1921–1988), himself clandestinely consecrated due to the shortage of priests caused by state persecution, as a precedent.[113] The Catholic Church treats attempted ordinations of women as invalid and automatically excommunicates all participants.[114]
Mariavites
Holy Mass celebrated by woman bishops and priestesses at the Mariavite monastery in Felicjanów (Poland)
Inspired by a mystically inclined nun, Feliksa Kozłowska, the Mariavite movement originally began as a response to the perceived corruption of the Roman Catholic Church in the Russian Partition of 19th century Poland. The Mariavites, so named for their devotion to the Virgin Mary, attracted numerous parishes across Mazovia and the region around Łódź and at their height numbered some 300,000 people. Fearing a schism, the established church authorities asked for intervention from the Vatican. The Mariavites were eventually excommunicated by Papal Bull in 1905 and 1906. Their clergy, cut loose from the Catholic Church, found sanctuary with the Old Catholic Church and in 1909 the first Mariavite bishop, Michael Kowalski, was consecrated in Utrecht. Twenty years later, the now constituted Mariavite Church was riven by policy differences and a leadership struggle. Nevertheless, Archbishop Kowalski ordained the first 12 nuns as priests in 1929. He also introduced priestly marriage. The split in the church took effect, in part, over the place of the feminine in theology and the role of women in the life of the church. By 1935, Kowalski had introduced a "universal priesthood" that extended the priestly office to selected members of the laity. The two Mariavite churches survive to this day. The successors of Kowalski, who are known as the Catholic Mariavite Church and are based in the town of Felicjanów in the Płock region of Poland, are headed by a bishop who is a woman, although their numbers are dwarfed by the adherents of the more conventionally patriarchal Mariavites of Płock.[115]
Eastern Orthodox
The Eastern Orthodox Church follows a line of reasoning similar to that of the Roman Catholic Church with respect to the ordination of bishops and priests, and does not allow women's ordination to those orders.[116]
Thomas Hopko and Evangelos Theodorou have contended that female deacons were fully ordained in antiquity.[117] K. K. Fitzgerald has followed and amplified Theodorou's research. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware wrote:[6]
The order of deaconesses seems definitely to have been considered an "ordained" ministry during early centuries in at any rate the Christian East.[...] Some Orthodox writers regard deaconesses as having been a "lay" ministry. There are strong reasons for rejecting this view. In the Byzantine rite the liturgical office for the laying-on of hands for the deaconess is exactly parallel to that for the deacon; and so on the principle lex orandi, lex credendi—the Church's worshipping practice is a sure indication of its faith—it follows that the deaconesses receives, as does the deacon, a genuine sacramental ordination: not just a χειροθεσια (chirothesia) but a χειροτονια (chirotonia).
On October 8, 2004, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece voted to permit the appointment of monastic deaconesses—women to minister and assist at the liturgy within their own monasteries. The document however does not use the term χειροτονία, 'ordination', although the rites that are to be used are rites of ordination of clergy.[118][119][120][121]
A justification given by many Protestants for female ministry is the fact that Mary Magdalene was chosen by Jesus to announce his resurrection to the apostles.[122]
A key theological doctrine for Reformed and most other Protestants is the priesthood of all believers—a doctrine considered by them so important that it has been dubbed by some as "a clarion truth of Scripture":[123]
This doctrine restores true dignity and true integrity to all believers since it teaches that all believers are priests and that as priests, they are to serve God—no matter what legitimate vocation they pursue. Thus, there is no vocation that is more "sacred" than any other. Because Christ is Lord over all areas of life, and because His word applies to all areas of life, nowhere does His Word even remotely suggest that the ministry is "sacred" while all other vocations are "secular". Scripture knows no sacred-secular distinction. All of life belongs to God. All of life is sacred. All believers are priests.
—David Hagopian. Trading Places: The Priesthood of All Believers[123]
Most Protestant denominations require pastors, ministers, deacons, and elders to be formally ordained. The early Protestant reformer Martin Bucer, for instance, cited Ephesians 4[124] and other Pauline letters in support of this.[125] While the process of ordination varies among the denominations and the specific church office to be held, it may require preparatory training such as seminary or Bible college, election by the congregation or appointment by a higher authority, and expectations of a lifestyle that requires a higher standard. For example, the Good News Translation of James 3:1 says, "My friends, not many of you should become teachers. As you know, we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than others."[126]
Usually, these roles were male preserves. However, Quakers, who have no ordained clergy, have had women preachers and leaders from their founding in the mid-17th century.[127] Women's ministry has been part of Methodist tradition in the UK for over 200 years. In the late 18th century in England, John Wesley allowed for female office-bearers and preachers.[128] The Salvation Army has allowed the ordination of women since its beginning in 1865, although it was a hotly disputed topic between William and Catherine Booth.[129] The fourth, thirteenth, and nineteenth Generals of the Salvation Army were women.[130] Similarly, the Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its foundation in 1908, at which time a full 25% of its ordained ministers were women.[131]
Many Protestant denominations are committed to congregational governance and reserve the power to ordain ministers to local congregations. Because of this, if there is no denomination-wide prohibition on ordaining women, congregations may do so while other congregations of the same denomination might not consider doing likewise.
Today, over half of all American Protestant denominations ordain women,[136] but some restrict the official positions a woman can hold. For instance, some ordain women for the military or hospital chaplaincy but prohibit them from serving in congregational roles. Over one-third of all seminary students (and in some seminaries nearly half) are female.[137][138]
Church of the Nazarene
The Church of the Nazarene has ordained women since its foundation as a denomination in 1908, at which time fully 25% of its ordained ministers were women. According to the Church of the Nazarene Manual, "The Church of the Nazarene supports the right of women to use their God-given spiritual gifts within the church, affirms the historic right of women to be elected and appointed to places of leadership within the Church of the Nazarene, including the offices of both elder and deacon."[131]
The Church of Denmark became the first Lutheran body to ordain women in 1948. The largest Lutheran churches in the United States and Canada, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), have been ordaining women since 1970. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, which also encompasses the Lutheran Church-Canada, does not ordain women; neither do the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod or the Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The first local woman cleric ordained in the Holy Land was Sally Azar of the Lutheran church in 2023.[139]
In 1917 the Church of England licensed women as lay readers called bishop's messengers, many of whom ran churches, but did not go as far as to ordain them.
Within Anglicanism the majority of provinces now ordain women as deacons and priests.[141]
The first three women ordained as priests in the Anglican Communion were in Hong Kong: Li Tim-Oi in 1944 and Jane Hwang and Joyce M. Bennett in 1971.
On July 29, 1974, Bishops Daniel Corrigan, Robert L. DeWitt, and Edward R. Welles II of the U.S. Episcopal Church, with Bishop Antonio Ramos of Costa Rica, ordained eleven women as priests in a ceremony that was widely considered "irregular" because the women lacked "recommendation from the standing committee", a canonical prerequisite for ordination. The "Philadelphia Eleven", as they became known, were Merrill Bittner, Alison Cheek, Alla Bozarth (Campell), Emily C. Hewitt, Carter Heyward, Suzanne R. Hiatt (d. 2002), Marie Moorefield, Jeannette Piccard (d. 1981), Betty Bone Schiess, Katrina Welles Swanson (d. 2006), and Nancy Hatch Wittig.[142] Initially opposed by the House of Bishops, the ordinations received approval from the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in September 1976. This General Convention approved the ordination of women to both the priesthood and the episcopate.
Reacting to the action of the General Convention, clergy and laypersons opposed to the ordination of women to the priesthood met in convention at the Congress of St. Louis and attempted to form a rival Anglican church in the US and Canada. Despite the plans for a united North American church, the result was division into several Continuing Anglican churches, which now make up part of the Continuing Anglican movement.
In the Church of England, Libby Lane became the first woman consecrated a bishop in 2015.[144] It had ordained 32 women as its first female priests in March 1994.[145] In 2015 Rachel Treweek was consecrated as the first female diocesan bishop in the Church of England (Diocese of Gloucester).[146] She and Sarah Mullally, Bishop of Crediton, were the first women to be consecrated and ordained bishop in Canterbury Cathedral.[146] Also that year Treweek became the first woman to sit in the House of Lords as a Lord Spiritual, thus making her at the time the most senior ordained woman in the Church of England.[147]
On June 18, 2006, the Episcopal Church became the first Anglican province to elect a woman, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as a primate (leader of an Anglican province), called the "Presiding Bishop" in the United States.[148]
From their founding in the mid-17th century, Quakers have allowed women to preach.[155] They believed that both genders are equally capable of inspiration by the Holy Spirit and thus there is a tradition of women preachers in Quaker Meetings from their earliest days.[156] In order to be a preacher, a Friend had to obtain recognition by a Quaking Meeting. In the 18th century, ministers typically sat at the front of the meeting house, with women on one side and men on the other, all on the same raised platform.[156]
Women ministers were active from the earliest days. In 1657, Mary Howgill, one of the Valiant Sixty (an early group of Quaker preachers), rebuked Oliver Cromwell for persecuting Quakers, saying, "When thou givest account of all those actions, which have been acted by thee,[...] as my soul lives, these things will be laid to thy charge."[157] Later, in 1704, Esther Palmer of Flushing, Long Island, and Susanna Freeborn of Newport, Rhode Island, set out on a 3,230 mile journey across eight colonies of North America, including visits to preach in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina.
Other well-known Quaker women preachers were Mary Lawson of Philadelphia, Mary Bannister of London, England, Mary Ellerton of York, England, Rachel Wilson of Virginia, Catharine Payton of Pennsylvania, Ann Moore of New York, Susanna Hatton of Delaware, and Mary Dyer of Boston.[156]
The Assemblies of God of the United States accepted women's ordination in 1927.[163]:46 In 1975, the ordination of women began in the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, founded by female evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson.[163]:55 As Pentecostal churches are often independent, there is a variety of differing positions on the issue, with some of them appointing women as pastors and in other missional roles, and others not.
Seventh-day Adventist
According to its Working Policy, the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church restricts certain positions of service and responsibility to those who have been ordained to the gospel ministry. The General Conference (GC) in session, the highest decision-making body of the church, has never approved the ordination of women as ministers, despite the significant foundational role and ongoing influence of a woman, Ellen G. White. Adventists have found no clear mandate or precedent for or against the practice of ordaining women in Scripture or in White's writings. In recent years the ordination of women has been the subject of heated debate, especially in North America and Europe. In the Adventist church, candidates for ordination are recommended by local conferences (which usually administer 50–150 local congregations) and approved by union conferences (which administer 6–12 local conferences). The church's Fundamental Beliefs and its worldwide practice as set forth in its Church Manual, including the worldwide qualifications for ordination currently restricted to men, can be revised only at a GC session.
In 1990, the GC session voted against a motion to establish a worldwide policy permitting the ordination of women.[164] In 1995, GC delegates voted not to authorize any of the 13 world divisions to establish policies for ordaining women within its territory.[164] After a delegate at the 2010 GC session recommended it, the GC administration on September 20, 2011 established the Theology of Ordination Study Committee, which included representatives from each of its 13 world division biblical research committees, to study the issue and prepare a recommendation for 2015 GC session.[165] In October 2011 at its Annual Council meeting, the GC Executive Committee voted 167–117 against a request from the North American Division (NAD)—supported by the Trans-European Division—to permit persons (including women) with commissioned minister credentials to serve as local conference presidents.[166] Later that month, the NAD ignored the GC action and voted to permit women with commissioned minister credentials to serve as conference presidents.[167]
In the wake of the Annual Council vote, a small group of Adventists in the Southeastern California Conference (SECC) organized the Ordination Political Action Committee (OPAC) with the goal of bringing political pressure on the SECC leadership to unilaterally adopt the policy of pastoral ordination without regard to gender. The group launched the OPAC on January 1, 2012 with the stated intention of achieving its objective by March 31, 2012. After creating a comprehensive web site, a widely distributed petition, and a presence on various social media platforms and after holding multiple meetings with various groups, including SECC officials, the OPAC reached its goal on March 22, 2012, when the SECC Executive voted 19–2 to immediately implement the policy of ordaining pastors without regard to gender.[168]
Meanwhile, early in 2012, the GC issued an analysis of church history and policy, demonstrating that worldwide divisions of the GC do not have the authority to establish policy different from that of the GC.[169] However, in their analysis, the GC confirmed that the "final responsibility and authority" for approving candidates for ordination resides at the union conference level. Several union conferences subsequently voted to approve ordinations without regard to gender.
After achieving its initial objective in the SECC, the OPAC shifted its focus to the Pacific Union Conference (PUCon), which, by policy, must review and act on all ordination recommendations from its local conferences. For many years the PUCon had supported the concept of ordaining women pastors. It took up the matter again on March 15, 2012 but tabled any action until May 9, 2012, when it voted 42–2 to begin processing ministerial ordinations without regard to gender as soon as it could amend its bylaws. The vote also included the call for a constituency meeting on August 19, 2012, when it would consider such a bylaws change.[170] The PUCon constituents voted 79% (334–87) to support this recommendation and amend the bylaws accordingly.[171] Some local conferences within the PUCon began to implement the new policy immediately.[172] By mid-2013, about 25 women had been ordained to the ministry in the Pacific Union Conference.
Stimulated at least in part by the international reach of the OPAC and even before it achieved its ultimate objective with the PUCon, other church administrative entities took similar actions. On April 23, 2012, the North German Union voted to ordain women as ministers[173] but by late 2013 had not yet ordained a woman. On July 29, 2012, the Columbia Union Conference voted to "authorize ordination without respect to gender".[174] On May 12, 2013, the Danish Union voted to treat men and women ministers the same and to suspend all ordinations until after the topic would be considered at the next GC session in 2015. On May 30, 2013, the Netherlands Union voted to ordain female pastors, recognizing them as equal to their male colleagues[175] and ordained its first female pastor on September 1, 2013.[176] When Sandra Roberts was elected president of the SECC on October 27, 2013,[177] she became the first SDA woman to serve as president of a local conference, However, the GC never recognized her in that role.[d] Eight years later, Roberts was elected executive secretary of the Pacific Union Conference on August 16, 2021.[178] On September 12, 2021, the Mid-America Union Conference Constituency voted 82% to authorize the ordination of women in ministry, becoming the third union conference in the NAD to do so.[179]
At the 60th GC session in San Antonio on July 8, 2015,[180] Seventh-day Adventists voted not to permit regional church bodies to ordain women pastors.[181] The President of the GC, Ted N. C. Wilson, opened the morning session on the day of the vote with an appeal for all church members to abide by the vote's outcome and underscored before and after the vote that decisions made by the GC in session carry the highest authority in the Adventist Church. Prior to the GC vote, dozens of delegates spoke for and against the question: "After your prayerful study on ordination from the Bible, the writings of Ellen G. White, and the reports of the study commissions; and after your careful consideration of what is best for the church and the fulfillment of its mission, is it acceptable for division executive committees, as they may deem it appropriate in their territories, to make provision for the ordination of women to the gospel ministry?"[182] By secret ballot, the delegates passed the motion 1,381 to 977, with 5 abstentions, thus ending a five-year study process characterized by open, vigorous, and, sometimes, acrimonious debate.[182]
Philippine Independent Church
The Philippine Independent Church is an independent Catholic church in the Philippines founded in 1902. It has approved women's ordination since 1996. In 1997, it ordained its first female priest in the person of Rev. Rosalina Rabaria. As of 2017[update], it has 30 women priests and 9 women deacons. On May 5, 2019, the church consecrated its first female bishop in the person of The Right Reverend Emelyn G. Dacuycuy and installed her as an ordinary of Batac Diocese, Ilocos Norte. According to Obispo Maximo XIIIRhee Timbang, the ordination of women has enabled the church to become more relevant to its time and to society.
Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses consider qualified public baptism to represent the baptizand's ordination, following which he or she is immediately considered an ordained minister. In 1941, the Supreme Court of Vermont recognized the validity of this ordination for a female Jehovah's Witness minister.[183] The majority of Witnesses actively preaching from door to door are female.[184] Women are commonly appointed as full-time ministers, either to evangelize as "pioneers" or missionaries, or to serve at their branch offices.[185] Nevertheless, Witness deacons ("ministerial servants") and elders must be male, and only a baptized adult male may perform a Jehovah's Witness baptism, funeral, or wedding.[186] Within the congregation, a female Witness minister may only lead prayer and teaching when there is a special need, and must do so wearing a head covering.[187][188][189]
The Community of Christ adopted the practice of women's ordination in 1984,[190] which was one of the reasons for the schism between the Community of Christ and the newly formed Restoration Branches movement, which was largely composed of members of the Community of Christ church (then known as the RLDS church) who refused to accept this development and other doctrinal changes taking place during this same period. For example, the Community of Christ also changed the name of one of its priesthood offices from evangelist-patriarch to evangelist, and its associated sacrament, the patriarchal blessing, to the evangelist's blessing. In 1998, Gail E. Mengel and Linda L. Booth became the first two women apostles in the Community of Christ.[191] At the 2007 World Conference of the church, Becky L. Savage was ordained as the first woman to serve in the First Presidency.[192][193] In 2013, Booth became the first woman elected to serve as president of the Council of Twelve.[194]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) does not ordain women.[195] Some (most notably former LDS Church members D. Michael Quinn and Margaret Toscano) have argued that the church ordained women in the past and that therefore the church currently has the power to ordain women and should do so;[196][197] however, there are no known records of any women having been ordained to the priesthood.[198] Women do hold a prominent place in the church, including their work in the Relief Society, which is one of the largest and longest-lasting women's organizations in the world.[199] Women thus serve, as do men, in unpaid positions involving teaching, administration, missionary service, humanitarian efforts, and other capacities.[200] Women often offer prayers and deliver sermons during Sunday services. Ordain Women, an activist group of mostly LDS Church women founded by feminist Kate Kelly in March 2013, supports extending priesthood ordinations to women.[201]
Liberal Catholic
Of all the churches in the Liberal Catholic movement, only the original church, the Liberal Catholic Church under Bishop Graham Wale, does not ordain women. The position held by the Liberal Catholic Church is that the Church, even if it wanted to ordain women, does not have the authority to do so and that it would not be possible for a woman to become a priest even if she went through the ordination ceremony. The reasoning behind this belief is that the female body does not effectively channel the masculine energies of Christ, the true minister of all the sacraments. The priest has to be able to channel Christ's energies to validly confect the sacrament; therefore the sex of the priest is a central part of the ceremony hence all priests must be male. When discussing the sacrament of Holy Orders in his book Science of the Sacraments, Second Presiding Bishop Leadbeater also opined that women could not be ordained; he noted that Christ left no indication that women can become priests and that only Christ can change this arrangement.
Female ascetics are referred as Sannyasinis, Yoginis, Brahmacharinis, Parivajikas, Pravrajitas, Sadhvis, Pravrajikas.[203]
Bhairavi Brahmani is a guru of Sri Ramakrishna. She initiated Ramakrishna into Tantra. Under her guidance, Ramakrishna went through sixty four major tantric sadhanas which were completed in 1863.[204]
Ramakrishna Sarada Mission is the modern 21st century monastic order for women. The order was conducted under the guidance of the Ramakrishna monks until 1959, at which time it became entirely independent. It currently has centers in various parts of India, and also in Sydney, Australia.
Furthermore, both men and women are Hindu gurus.[205] Shakti Durga, formerly known as Kim Fraser, was Australia's first female guru.[206]
Although Muslims do not formally ordain religious leaders, the imam serves as a spiritual leader and religious authority. There is a current controversy among Muslims on the circumstances in which women may act as imams—that is, lead a congregation in salat (prayer). Three of the four Sunni schools, as well as many Shia, agree that a woman may lead a congregation consisting of women alone in prayer, although the Maliki school does not allow this. According to all currently existing traditional schools of Islam, a woman cannot lead a mixed gender congregation in salat (prayer). Some schools make exceptions for Tarawih (optional Ramadan prayers) or for a congregation consisting only of close relatives. Certain medieval scholars—including Al-Tabari (838–932), Abu Thawr (764–854), Al-Muzani (791–878), and Ibn Arabi (1165–1240)—considered the practice permissible at least for optional (nafila) prayers; however, their views are not accepted by any major surviving group. Islamic feminists have begun to protest this.
Women's mosques, called nusi, and female imams have existed since the 19th century in China and continue today.[207]
In 1994, Amina Wadud (an Islamic studies professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, born in the United States), became the first woman in South Africa to deliver the jum'ah khutbah (Friday sermon), which she did at the Claremont Main Road Mosque in Cape Town, South Africa.[208]
In 2004 20-year-old Maryam Mirza delivered the second half of the Eid al-Fitr khutbah at the Etobicoke mosque in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, run by the United Muslim Association.[209]
In 2004, in Canada, Yasmin Shadeer led the night 'Isha prayer for a mixed-gender (men as well as women praying and hearing the sermon) congregation.[210] This is the first recorded occasion in modern times where a woman led a congregation in prayer in a mosque.[210]
On March 18, 2005, Amina Wadud gave a sermon and led Friday prayers for a Muslim congregation consisting of men as well as women, with no curtain dividing the men and women.[211] Another woman, Suheyla El-Attar, sounded the call to prayer while not wearing a headscarf at that same event.[211] This was done in the Synod House of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York after mosques refused to host the event.[211] This was the first known time that a woman had led a mixed-gender Muslim congregation in prayer in American history.[211]
In April 2005, Raheel Raza, born in Pakistan, led Toronto's first woman-led mixed-gender Friday prayer service, delivering the sermon and leading the prayers of the mixed-gender congregation organized by the Muslim Canadian Congress to celebrate Earth Day in the backyard of the downtown Toronto home of activist Tarek Fatah.[212]
On July 1, 2005, Pamela Taylor, co-chair of the New York-based Progressive Muslim Union and a Muslim convert since 1986, became the first woman to lead Friday prayers in a Canadian mosque, and did so for a congregation of both men and women.[213] In addition to leading the prayers, Taylor also gave a sermon on the importance of equality among people regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation and disability.[213]
In October 2005, Amina Wadud led a mixed gender Muslim congregational prayer in Barcelona.[214][215]
In 2008, Pamela Taylor gave the Friday khutbah and led the mixed-gender prayers in Toronto at the UMA mosque at the invitation of the Muslim Canadian Congress on Canada Day.[216]
On 17 October 2008, Amina Wadud became the first woman to lead a mixed-gender Muslim congregation in prayer in the United Kingdom when she performed the Friday prayers at Oxford's Wolfson College.[217]
In 2010, Raheel Raza became the first Muslim-born woman to lead a mixed-gender British congregation through Friday prayers.[218]
In 2014, Afra Jalabi, a Syrian Canadian journalist and peace advocate delivered Eid ul-Adha khutbah at Noor cultural centre in Toronto, Canada.
Rabbi Regina Jonas, the world's first female rabbi, ordained in 1935
While several women engaged in the Torah and Talmudic study associated with rabbinic study in the middle ages, women were not ordained until the twentieth century. A possible exception is Asenath Barzani[220] of Iraq, who is considered by some scholars as the first woman rabbi of Jewish history.[221] The title referred to Barzani by the Jews of Afghanistan was Tannit, the feminine equivalent of Tanna, the title for a Jewish sage of the early Talmudic rabbis.[222] According to some researchers, the origin of the Barzani story is the travelogue of Rabbi Petachiah of Regensburg.[223] Another exception is the female Hasidicrebbe, Hannah Rachel Verbermacher, also known as the Maiden of Ludmir, active in the 19th century.[224]
In June 2009, Avi Weiss ordained Sara Hurwitz with the title "maharat" (an acronym of manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit Toranit[230]) rather than "Rabbi".[231][232] In February 2010, Weiss announced that he was changing Maharat to a more familiar-sounding title "Rabba".[233] The goal of this shift was to clarify Hurwitz's position as a full member of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale rabbinic staff. The change was criticised by both Agudath Yisrael and the Rabbinical Council of America, who called the move "beyond the pale of Orthodox Judaism".[234] Weiss announced amidst criticism that the term "Rabba" would not be used anymore for his future students. Also in 2009, Weiss founded Yeshivat Maharat, a school which "is dedicated to giving Orthodox women proficiency in learning and teaching Talmud, understanding Jewish law and its application to everyday life as well as the other tools necessary to be Jewish communal leaders". Maharat alumnae take a variety of titles upon ordination, including Maharat, Rabba, and Rabbanit.[235] In 2015, Lila Kagedan was ordained as Rabbi by that same organization, making her their first graduate to take the title Rabbi.[236] Hurwitz continues to use the title Rabba and is considered by some to be the first female Orthodox rabbi.[237][238][239]
In the fall of 2015 Rabbinical Council of America passed a resolution which states, "RCA members with positions in Orthodox institutions may not ordain women into the Orthodox rabbinate, regardless of the title used; or hire or ratify the hiring of a woman into a rabbinic position at an Orthodox institution; or allow a title implying rabbinic ordination to be used by a teacher of Limudei Kodesh in an Orthodox institution."[240] Similarly in the fall of 2015 Agudath Israel of America denounced moves to ordain women, and went even further, declaring Yeshivat Maharat, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, Open Orthodoxy, and other affiliated entities to be similar to other dissident movements throughout Jewish history in having rejected basic tenets of Judaism.[241][242][243]
Only men can become cantors (also called hazzans) in most of Orthodox Judaism, but all other types of Judaism allow and have female cantors.[244] In 1955 Betty Robbins, born in Greece, became the world's first female cantor when she was appointed cantor of the Reform congregation of Temple Avodah in Oceanside, New York, in July.[245]Barbara Ostfeld-Horowitz became the first female cantor to be ordained in Reform Judaism in 1975.[246]Erica Lippitz and Marla Rosenfeld Barugel became the first female cantors in Conservative Judaism in 1987.[246] However, the Cantors Assembly, a professional organization of cantors associated with Conservative Judaism, did not allow women to join until 1990.[247] In 2001 Deborah Davis became the first cantor of either sex (and therefore, since she was female, the first female cantor) in Humanistic Judaism, although Humanistic Judaism has since stopped graduating cantors.[248]Sharon Hordes became the first cantor of either sex (and therefore, since she was female, the first female cantor) in Reconstructionist Judaism in 2002.[249]Avitall Gerstetter, who lives in Germany, became the first female cantor in Jewish Renewal (and the first female cantor in Germany) in 2002. Susan Wehle became the first American female cantor in Jewish Renewal in 2006; however, she died in 2009.[250] The first American women to be ordained as cantors in Jewish Renewal after Wehle's ordination were Michal Rubin and Abbe Lyons, both ordained on January 10, 2010.[251]
In 2019, Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance created an initiative to support the hiring of female Jewish spiritual leaders and has released a statement supporting the ordination and hiring of women with the title Rabbi at Orthodox synagogues.[252]Open Orthodox Jewish women can become cantors and rabbis.
In Shintoism, Saiin (斎院, saiin?) were unmarried female relatives of the Japanese emperor who served as high priestesses at Ise Grand Shrine from the late 7th century until the 14th century. Ise Grand Shrine is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the goddess Amaterasu-ōmikami. Saiin priestesses were usually elected from royalty (内親王, naishinnō) such as princesses (女王, joō). In principle, Saiin remained unmarried, but there were exceptions. Some Saiin became consorts of the Emperor, called Nyōgo in Japanese. According to the Man'yōshū (The Anthology of Ten Thousand Leaves), the first Saiō to serve at Ise Grand Shrine was Princess Ōku, daughter of Emperor Tenmu, during the Asuka period of Japanese history.
Female Shinto priests were largely pushed out of their positions in 1868.[254] The ordination of women as Shinto priests arose again during World War II.[255] See also Miko.
Sikhism
Sikhism does not have priests, which were abolished by Guru Gobind Singh, as the guru had seen that institution become corrupt in society during his time. Instead, he appointed the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, as his successor as Guru instead of a possibly fallible human. Due to the faith's belief in complete equality, women can participate in any religious function, perform any Sikh ceremony or lead the congregation in prayer.[256] A Sikh woman has the right to become a Granthi, Ragi, and one of the Panj Piare (five beloved) and both men and women are considered capable of reaching the highest levels of spirituality.[257]
Taoists ordain both men and women as priests.[258] In 2009 Wu Chengzhen became the first female fangzhang (principal abbot) in Taoism's 1,800-year history after being enthroned at Changchun Temple in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, in China.[259]Fangzhang is the highest position in a Taoist temple.[259]
Wicca
In Wicca, as many women are ordained as men. Many traditions elevate the importance of women over that of men and women are frequently leaders of covens. Members are typically considered Priests and Priestesses when they are given the rite of Initiation within the coven, though some may choose to undergo additional training to become High Priestess who often has the final say in matters and who may choose who can be her High Priest. Some, who have gone through enough experience, may leave to create their own coven.[260][261][262]
Yoruba
Yeye Siju Osunyemi being initiated as a priestess of the deity Oshun in the Osun Shrine in Osogbo, Nigeria
The Yoruba people of western Nigeria practice an indigenous religion with a religious hierarchy of priests and priestesses that dates to 800–1000 CE. IfáOracle priests and priestesses bear the titles Babalawo and Iyanifa respectively.[263] Priests and priestesses of the varied Orisha, when not already bearing the higher ranked oracular titles mentioned above, are referred to as babalorisa when male and iyalorisa when female.[264] Initiates are also given an Orisa or Ifá name that signifies under which deity they are initiated; for example a priestess of Oshun may be named Osunyemi and a priest of Ifá may be named Ifáyemi.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrian priests in India are required to be male.[265] However, women have been ordained in Iran and North America as mobedyars, meaning women mobeds (Zoroastrian priests).[266][267][268] In 2011 the Tehran Mobeds Anjuman (Anjoman-e-Mobedan) announced that for the first time in Iran and of the Zoroastrian communities worldwide, women had joined the group of mobeds (priests) in Iran as mobedyars (women priests); the women hold official certificates and can perform the lower-rung religious functions including initiating people into the religion.[266]
↑ One title for a sacerdos of the Bona Dea was damiatrix, presumably from Damia, one of the names of Demeter and associated also with the Bona Dea.
↑ The print editions of the Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook during Robert's presidency through 2021 included no name for president of the SESS ("President, ___.").
Related Research Articles
In certain Christian denominations, holy orders are the ordained ministries of bishop, priest (presbyter), and deacon, and the sacrament or rite by which candidates are ordained to those orders. Churches recognizing these orders include the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Assyrian, Old Catholic, Independent Catholic and some Lutheran churches. Except for Lutherans and some Anglicans, these churches regard ordination as a sacrament.
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the "priesthood", a term which also may apply to such persons collectively. A priest may have the duty to hear confessions periodically, give marriage counseling, provide prenuptial counseling, give spiritual direction, teach catechism, or visit those confined indoors, such as the sick in hospitals and nursing homes.
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the terms used for individual clergy are clergyman, clergywoman, clergyperson, churchman, cleric, ecclesiastic, and vicegerent while clerk in holy orders has a long history but is rarely used.
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions.
The Reverend is an honorific style given before the names of certain Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style, but is sometimes referred to as a title, form of address, or title of respect. The style is also sometimes used by leaders in other religions such as Judaism and Buddhism.
A pastor is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and Anglicanism, pastors are always ordained. In Methodism, pastors may be either licensed or ordained.
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination vary by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is undergoing the process of ordination is sometimes called an ordinand. The liturgy used at an ordination is commonly found in a book known as an Ordinal which provides the ordo for celebrations.
Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because these impulses are regarded as sinful. Vows of celibacy are generally required for monks and nuns in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and other religions, but often not for other clergy.
Graham Douglas Leonard was an English Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop. His principal ministry was as a bishop of the Church of England but, after his retirement as the Bishop of London, he became a Roman Catholic, becoming the most senior Anglican cleric to do so since the English Reformation. He was conditionally ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church and was later appointed a monsignor by Pope John Paul II.
The sacrament of holy orders in the Catholic Church includes three orders: bishops, priests, and deacons, in decreasing order of rank, collectively comprising the clergy. In the phrase "holy orders", the word "holy" means "set apart for a sacred purpose". The word "order" designates an established civil body or corporation with a hierarchy, and ordination means legal incorporation into an order. In context, therefore, a group with a hierarchical structure that is set apart for ministry in the Church.
The Anglican Diocese of The Murray is located in the south-eastern region of South Australia. Founded in 1970 as part of the Province of South Australia, it takes in the Fleurieu Peninsula, Riverland, Adelaide Hills, Murraylands and the southern suburbs of Adelaide. In 2011 the diocese had 22 parishes or pastoral districts. The cathedral church of the diocese is the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Murray Bridge. The most recent bishop is Keith Dalby, who has served from June 2019 but stepped aside in December 2023.
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms priest refers only to presbyters and pastors. The church's doctrine also sometimes refers to all baptised (lay) members as the "common priesthood", which can be confused with the ministerial priesthood of the consecrated clergy.
The ordination of women in the Anglican Communion has been increasingly common in certain provinces since the 1970s. Several provinces, however, and certain dioceses within otherwise ordaining provinces, continue to ordain only men. Disputes over the ordination of women have contributed to the establishment and growth of progressive tendencies, such as the Anglican realignment and Continuing Anglican movements.
In the liturgical traditions of the Catholic Church, the term ordination refers to the means by which a person is included in one of the holy orders of bishops, priests or deacons. The teaching of the Catholic Church on ordination, as expressed in the 1983 Code of Canon Law, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, is that only a Catholic male validly receives ordination, and "that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." In other words, the male priesthood is not considered by the church a matter of policy but an unalterable requirement of God. As with priests and bishops, the church ordains only men as deacons.
The Ecumenical Catholic Communion (ECC) is an Independent Catholic church based within the United States. Its members understand themselves as following the Catholic tradition without being in communion with the Bishop of Rome. The ECC is a confederation of independent communities based in the United States and Europe. The membership of the ECC is about 10,000, including seven bishops, and more than 50 communities across 20 states. In 2009, the Ecumenical Anglican Church (EAC), an independent church, joined the ECC. The ECC is a member of the National Council of Churches (NCC).
The Philadelphia Eleven are eleven women who were the first women ordained as priests in the Episcopal Church on July 29, 1974, two years before General Convention affirmed and explicitly authorized the ordination of women to the priesthood.
This is a timeline of women in religion. See also: Timeline of women in religion in the United States, and Timeline of women's ordination.
This is a timeline of notable moments in the history of women's ordination in the world's religious traditions. It is not an exhaustive list of all historic or contemporary ordinations of women. See also: Timeline of women in religion
1 2 3 Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn, eds. (2005). Ordained Women in the Early Church: a Documentary History (pbked.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p.186. ISBN9780801879326.
1 2 Ware, Kallistos (1999) [1982]. "Man, Woman and the Priesthood of Christ". In Hopko, Thomas (ed.). Women and the Priesthood (Newed.). Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. p.16. ISBN9780881411461. as quoted in Wijngaards, John (2006). Women deacons in the early church: historical texts and contemporary debates. New York: Herder & Herder. ISBN0-8245-2393-8.
↑ Gillam, Robyn A. (1995). "Priestesses of Hathor: Their Function, Decline, and Disappearance". Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt. 32. ARCE: 211–237. doi:10.2307/40000840. ISSN0065-9991. JSTOR40000840.
↑ Spaeth, The Roman Goddess Ceres, pp. 4–5, 9, 20 (historical overview and Aventine priesthoods), 84–89 (functions of plebeian aediles), 104–106 (women as priestesses): citing among others Cicero, In Verres, 2.4.108; Valerius Maximus, 1.1.1; Plutarch, De Mulierum Virtutibus, 26.
↑ CIL II. 2416: Isidi Aug(ustae) sacrum/ Lucretia Fida sacerd(os) perp(etua)/ Rom(ae) et Aug(usti)/ conventu{u}s Bracar(a)aug(ustani) d(edit) ("Lucretia Fida, the priest-for-life of Roma and Augustus, from Conventus Bracarensis, Braga, has given a sacrum to Isis Augusta"), from the D. Diogo de Sousa Museum, Braga, Portugal.
↑ Jean MacIntosh Turfa, "Etruscan Religion at the Watershed: Before and After the Fourth Century BCE", in Religion in Republican Italy (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 48.
↑ "A New Possibility". Congress-on-buddhist-women.org. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
↑ Austin, Shoshan Victoria (2012). "The True Human Body". In Carney, Eido Frances (ed.). Receiving the Marrow. Temple Ground Press. p.148. ISBN978-0985565107.
↑ DAMCHÖ DIANA FINNEGAN and CAROLA ROLOFF (BHIKṢUṆĪ JAMPA TSEDROEN). "Women Receive Full Ordination in Bhutan For First Time in Modern History", Lion's Roar, JUNE 27, 2022.
↑ "Who is Junia?". OCA Department of Christian Education. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
↑ Macy, Gary (2008). The hidden history of women's ordination: female clergy in the medieval West. New York: Oxford University Press. p.14. ISBN9780195189704.
↑ David, Ariel. "Byzantine Basilica With Graves of Female Ministers and Baffling Mass Burials Found in Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 2021-11-23. While there are similar burials and memorial inscriptions in many Byzantine churches, the amount of texts and the high number of deaconesses and other female ministers mentioned is unique, says Prof. Joseph Patrich, an archaeologist and Byzantine expert from the Hebrew University who did not take part in the dig. These women probably had a high status and had the means and power to be memorialized in such fashion, Di Segni adds. For example, the "Holy Mother Sophronia" was likely the mother superior of a nearby convent, she suggests. As for the deaconesses, who make up most of the women mentioned in the inscriptions, these could have been nuns or secular women of an older age and high class, Di Segni says. In the Byzantine Church, deaconesses had an important role in the baptism of women and other rites, as well as in ministering to female converts, the sick and poor, explains Dr. Balbina Bäbler, a historian from the University of Göttingen who is part of the project.
1 2 Giles, Kevin (1986). "The ordination of women: On whose side is the Bible?". In Franklin, Margaret Ann (ed.). The force of the feminine. Allen and Unwin. ISBN0868619140.
1 2 Williams, Terran (2022). How God sees women: The end of patriarchy. Cape Town, South Africa: The Spiritual Bakery Publications. ISBN9798401047878.
↑ The Everything Mary Magdalene Book the Life And Legacy of Jesus' Most Misunderstood Disciple. F+W Media. 2010. p.145. ISBN9781440523861.
↑ Lester, Meera (2005). Mary Magdalene: the modern guide to the Bible's most mysterious and misunderstood woman. Avon, Mass.: Adams Media. p.51. ISBN9781593373986.
↑ Lee, Dorothy A (2021). The ministry of women in the New Testament. Baker Academic. ISBN9781540963086.
↑ Giles, Kevin (2018). What the Bible actually teaches on women. Cascade Books, Wipf and Stock. ISBN9781532633683.
↑ Codex Iruis Canonici canon 1024, c.f. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1577
↑ "The Catholic Church has never felt that priestly or episcopal ordination can be validly conferred on women", Inter Insigniores, October 15, 1976, section 1
↑ Cf. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, "Response to a Dubium concerning the teaching contained in the Apostolic Letter 'Ordinatio Sacerdotalis'": AAS 87 (1995), 1114. In EnglishArchived 2015-05-29 at the Wayback Machine and In LatinArchived 2011-05-08 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Fundamentalist Pillar". Time. July 8, 1946. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-25. Fundamentalist ecstasy and hallelujah-shouting were a vital part of masterful, deep-voiced Alma White's faith. On it she built a sect called Pillar of Fire—with 4,000 followers, 61 churches, seven schools, ten periodicals and two broadcasting stations. Last week, as it must even to 'the only woman bishop in the world', Death came to the Pillar of Fire's 84-year-old founder.
↑ "Bishop v. Drink". Time. December 18, 1939. Archived from the original on 23 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-21. Her church became known as the Pillar of Fire. Widowed, Mrs. White started a pious, shouting, camp-meeting community in New Jersey, named it Zarephath after the place where the 'widow woman' sustained Elijah. Alma White was soon acting like a bishop toward her flock [and] Pillar of Fire consecrated her as such in 1918. [She] built 49 churches, three colleges. She edits six magazines, travels continually between Zarephath and the West.[...] She has two radio stations, WAWZ at Zarephath, KPOF in Denver, where her Alma Temple is also a thriving concern.
↑ Margaret Hope Bacon (1986). Mothers of Feminism: The Story of Quaker Women in America. Harper&Row. ISBN0-06-250043-0.
1 2 3 Rebecca Larson (1999). Daughters of Light: Quaker Women Preaching and Prophesying in the Colonies and Abroad, 1700–1775. THe University of North Carolina Press. pp.3–5.
↑ Benjamin Woodford (2013). Perceptions of a Monarchy Without a King: Reactions to Oliver Cromwell's Power. McGill-Queen's Press.
↑ Rosemary Skinner Keller, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Marie Cantlon, Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America, Volume 1, Indiana University Press, USA, 2006, p. 294
↑ Erich Geldbach, Baptists Worldwide: Origins, Expansions, Emerging Realities, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2022, p. 110
1 2 Erich Geldbach, Baptists Worldwide: Origins, Expansions, Emerging Realities, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2022, p. 111
↑ Larry G. Murphy, J. Gordon Melton, Gary L. Ward, Encyclopedia of African American Religions, Routledge, Abingdon-on-Thames, 2013, p. LXXIV
1 2 Erich Geldbach, Baptists Worldwide: Origins, Expansions, Emerging Realities, Wipf and Stock Publishers, USA, 2022, p. 112
1 2 "GC Session Actions". Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research. General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Archived from the original on 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
↑ Chudleigh, Gerry (June 2012). "Union Committee Calls Special Constituency Session to Amend Union Bylaws". Pacific Union Recorder. pp.4–5.
↑ Peabody, Michael (September 2012). "Delegates to the Special Constituency Session Vote to Approve Ordinations Without Regard to Gender". Pacific Union Recorder. pp.3–5.
↑ "Women—May They Be "Ministers"?", The Watchtower, March 15, 1981, page 19, "Several courts in the United States have recognized female Jehovah's Witnesses, in carrying on the door-to-door evangelistic work, as ministers. For example, the Supreme Court of Vermont, in Vermont v. Greaves (1941), stated that Elva Greaves 'is an ordained minister of a sect or class known and designated as "Jehovah's Witnesses"'."
↑ "Applying the General Priesthood Principle", The Watchtower, February 1, 1964, page 86, "Among the witnesses of Jehovah any adult, dedicated and baptized male Christian who is qualified may serve in such ministerial capacities as giving public Bible discourses and funeral talks, performing marriages and presiding at the Lord's evening meal or supper. There is no clergy class."
↑ "Head Coverings—When and Why?", Keep Yourselves in God's Love, 2008, page 210–211. "Occasionally, though, circumstances may require that a Christian woman be called on to handle a duty normally performed by a qualified baptized male. For instance, she may need to conduct a meeting for field service because a qualified baptized male is not available or present.[...] she would wear a head covering to acknowledge that she is handling the duty normally assigned to a male. On the other hand, many aspects of worship do not call for a sister to wear a head covering. For example, she does not need to do so when commenting at Christian meetings, engaging in the door-to-door ministry with her husband or another baptized male, or studying or praying with her unbaptized children."
↑ "Questions From Readers", The Watchtower, July 15, 2002, page 27, "There may be other occasions when no baptized males are present at a congregation meeting. If a sister has to handle duties usually performed by a brother at a congregationally arranged meeting or meeting for field service, she should wear a head covering."
↑ "Woman's Regard for Headship—How Demonstrated?", The Watchtower, July 15, 1972, page 447, "At times no baptized male Witnesses may be present at a congregational meeting (usually in small congregations or groups). This would make it necessary for a baptized female Witness to pray or preside at the meeting. Recognizing that she is doing something that would usually be handled by a man, she would wear a head covering."
↑ "Archived copy"(PDF). www.kirchen.ch:80. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 March 2003. Retrieved 22 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ also referred to as Asenath Barazani Mizrahi, see Women Leaders in Judaism, in Sharon Henderson Callahan (ed.) Religious Leadership. p. 323. SAGE.
↑ Bengio, O. (2016). Game changers: Kurdish women in peace and war. The Middle East Journal, 70(1), 30–46.
↑ Women Leaders in Judaism, in Sharon Henderson Callahan (ed.) Religious Leadership. p. 323. SAGE.
↑ Rabinowitz, D. (2001). Rayna Batya and Other Learned Women: A Reevaluation of Rabbi Barukh Halevi Epstein's Sources. Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, 35(1), 55–69.
Grudem, Wayne. Evangelical Feminism and Biblical Truth: An Analysis of Over 100 Disputed Questions, Multnomah Press, 2004. 1-57673-840-X.
Gryson, Roger. The Ministry of Women in the Early Church, Liturgical Press, 1976. ISBN0-8146-0899-X. Translation of: Le ministère des femmes dans l'Église ancienne, J. Duculot, 1972.
Winter, Miriam. Out of the Depths: The Story of Ludmila Javorova, Ordained Roman Catholic Priest, Crossroad General Interest, 2001. ISBN978-0-8245-1889-9.
Zagano, Phyllis. Holy Saturday: An Argument for the Restoration of the Female Diaconate in the Catholic Church, Herder & Herder, 2000. ISBN978-0-8245-1832-5.
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