[St.
Nina Quarterly, Volume 2, No. 1.]
Within the context of the ChurchÕs leitourgia
we find the functioning of all ministries that exist to build up the body of
Christ so that it may properly offer service to the world.
The past issues of the St. Nina
Quarterly
have exhibited much creative reflection regarding the need for an authentic
restoration of the role of women within the Orthodox Church. Much of this
reflection has stemmed from a reexamination of historical and hagiographical
data that can forge a path to a more comprehensive understanding and
realization of the place of women in ecclesial life. The articles by Valerie
Karras have made accessible the insights and discoveries of scholars and
theologians who have been working, over the past decades, to uncover and
restore the ministry of the female diaconate. Her own insights, supported as
they are by her academic rigor and presented in a sober and forthright manner,
certainly deserve the thanks and appreciation of all of us who desire to dialog
about the ministry of woman in the Orthodox Church. Such a dialogue can lead to
a more ÒcatholicÓ vision of ecclesial life and its manifold ministries.
Yet dialoging requires more than an
academic or scholarly forum. On the one hand, no one can dispute the need to
delve into the ChurchÕs past. It is by examining and cross-examining the data
of the past that one can discover continuity as well as discontinuity with what
we Orthodox refer to as Òliving Tradition.Ó However, on the other hand the
restoration and development of ecclesial ministries cannot depend solely on the
skill of the historian; the citing of texts and practices needs more than the
past as a point of reference. When the past is the only point of reference,
living Tradition is relegated to archaeology. And we all know that the
archaeologist, as well as the paleontologist, examines not only what is past
but also what is dead. The work of the historian, particularly the Church
historian, needs to transcend the context of antiquity. But to accomplish this—to
bring the past into a living context—requires immersion into the liturgical
life of the Church. Without this living context which raises the findings of
the past into the ChurchÕs lex orandi (rule of prayer) all discussion and dialogue
will inevitably recede into the past, leaving little if any creative or
edifying impact on the present.
If a more catholic vision of ecclesial
life is to be restored, there needs to be a restoration of liturgical life in
our parishes. If there is ever to be a restoration of the female diaconate or
any other ministry, then there must be a re-orientation to the ChurchÕs
worship. For it is in this living context that all ministries are revealed and
defined. The words of Fr. Alexander Schmemann can serve as a reminder and guide
for an organic restoration of ecclesial ministries:
Liturgical tradition is not an ÒauthorityÓ
or a locus theologicus; it is the ontological condition of theology, of the
proper understanding of kerygma [preaching], of the Word of God, because it is
in the Church, of which the leitourgia [the corporate and official worship of
the Church] is the expression and the life, that the sources of theology are
functioning precisely as sources.1
We can extend this fundamental insight
of Fr. Alexander to include the restoration of ecclesial ministries. Thus,
within the context of the ChurchÕs leitourgia we find the
functioning of all ministries that exist to build up the body of Christ so that
it may properly offer service to the world. The ChurchÕs diakonia—its service carried
out through its ministries—exists so that the ministry of Christ may
continue here and now.
Within the context of worship, the
ministries of the Church can be perceived as coming from Christ and ultimately
belonging to Him. Yet it is at this juncture that we encounter one of the
greatest impediments to recovering a catholic vision of ministry. That
impediment is the poor and feeble status of the liturgical life as it exists in
many of our parishes. Unless there is a revival of liturgical worship, and thus
of the ChurchÕs whole spiritual life, there can be no recovery and development
of the ministries that arise organically from ecclesial life. Such a revival of
ministries, including women deacons, depends on our knowing and participating
in the necessary and irreplaceable liturgical legacy of the Church—a
legacy rooted in the experience of GodÕs Kingdom.
Unless the Church ceases to be a
Sunday-only institution we cannot hope for an authentic recovery and
uncontrived implementation of ChristÕs ministries. Only with the recovery of
the ChurchÕs leitourgia will the divisions caused by the devil be exposed and
ultimately expelled. Here I need only refer to those divisions relative to
race, gender, and social status that have kept the Church from fulfilling its
service to the world. Without the recognition that the ChurchÕs worship
provides the context that sustains and fulfills all ministries, all dialoguing
on the subject will remain theoretical and academic. Consequently, no matter
how informed and passionate our talk of a catholic vision of ministry might be,
it will have little if any role in building up the body of Christ.
The recovery of ministry, which is
vital for the life and mission of the Church in America, calls for a return to
the place where theology and ministry form an inseparable bond. It is this
place—particularly in the celebration of GodÕs inaugurated Kingdom—that
beckons the attention of the St. Nina Quarterly.
Note.
1. Alexander SchmemannÕs ÒTheology and
Liturgical TraditionÓ in Massey H. Shepherd, ed., Worship in Scripture and
Tradition
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1963), 165-78. Quoted by Aidan Kavanagh in The
Shape of Baptism: The Rite of Christian Initiation (New York, 1978), xii.