Welcome to the Orthodox Christian
Home Page for Men and Women
Fully United in
Christ
This Page is dedicated to the Most Holy Theotokos, the Ever-Virgin Mary
Truly, the Mother of God. the Theotokos ("bearer of God"), is the
most remarkable person in all of creation, because she chose to say
"Yes!!!", with selflessness and unquestioning faith and love
to God's Will; thereby she gave her full acceptance to God Who made
her the instrument through whom He would fulfill His most daring and awesome
act of Love, to wit:
God, the Son, took human form, enduring human suffering and temptations
and became the Blood Sacrifice (conquering both physical (crucifixion) and
spiritual (Hell Fire) death): so that He could save us all from the eternal
punishment of Hades (Hell) and Eternal Judgment that we actually deserve
for our sinfulness in this life.
We pray for God's Blessing and the prayerful intercession of our Holy
Mother of God, (the beloved Theotokos) for the fulfillment of the mission
of this home page -- full and equal Christian Orthodox unity in mutual Christian
love and respect..
Did you
know?
-
that when Jesus traveled about during His three-year ministry,
he did not limit his group of disciples exclusively to the 12 male disciples
-- that there were sometimes women disciples traveling with Him, too (Luke
8:13)?
-
that the term "Deaconess" was not used to refer to female ordained
deacons until the fourth century (at the Council of Nicea in 325
A.D.)?
-
that the same term "diakonos" in the original Greek was used for
all deacons, including Phoebe (Romans 10:1) and others named in the New
Testament?
-
that God specifically chose a woman, Mary Magdalene (along with her companions)
to be the first person to proclaim (witness to) the Resurrection in a society
that did not admit the testimony of women in courts of law, deeming it inherently
unreliable, serves as a scathing and undeniable condemnation of the exclusion
of women from full and equal participation in proclamation of the Holy Gospel
as the most blatantly reprehensible of the "traditions of men."
-
that the longest recorded conversation of Jesus Christ in the Bible
is His conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, in which He revealed
to her (She was the first person to know) that He is the Messiah (John
4:1-42)?
-
that Jesus Christ directly violated several major "taboos" of that
time in having that conversation with the Samaritan woman?
-
1. Jews were not to associate with
Samaritans.
-
2. Men, especially rabbis (At that point, Jesus was
known as a Jewish Rabbi. He is addressed as "Rabbi" in various Scriptural
passages.), were not to speak to women in public. This is why the disciples
were astonished that He was speaking to her when they returned. Jesus
Christ's reply to their surprise is notable.
-
3. He taught theology to a woman. (This was
forbidden.)
Further notable is that in returning to her people, converting
them to belief in Him as the Messiah and bringing them to Him, she became
and was therefore the first missionary, albeit
pre-Reserrection.
If any of these verifiable items surprise you, it is because over the many
centuries that have passed since Christ's ministry on earth and even the
days of the beginning church, a multitude of things have been hidden, destroyed,
distorted, ignored and minimized so as to create a large void of knowledge
and resultant practices that over time have resulted in grave inequities,
divisions and polarization that are not justified in Christ's ministry and
message nor, nearly to the modern degree, in the earliest days of the Church.
Not a single one of the twelve apostles stood by Jesus when He was
arrested.
All of the women disciples did.
Not only that, Peter denied Him three times.
Not only that, none of the women disciples ever denied Him.
Not only that, Thomas said, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails,
and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side,
I will not believe."
Jesus said, "Mary!"
Mary turned and said, "Rabboni!"
To begin to understand the effects of this evolution, read an
autobiographical ode written by a Greek-American young woman whom we shall
call "Maria", to protect her identity. It honestly and glaringly speaks
to the contrast between her own experience and that of the multitude of women
whose personal encounters with Jesus Christ are recorded in the Holy Scriptures.
Please reflect prayerfully as you read "Maria's" ode, whose message
challenges the Christ-condemned "traditions of men" that continue today to
undermine the love-based commandments of God that Jesus Christ consistently
and flawlessly brought to us in both His actions and His words. Like
so many others since then, our "Maria" has been put in grave danger of being
lost to the Christ whom she might have come to know.
Thank you for visiting!