Sr. Vassa: There's no ontological impediment to priestesses
Is the male-only priesthood a discipline or essential to the nature of being a priest? Sr. Vassa (again unflinchingly taking up a contentious topic by climbing up the ladder to the highest platform and then jumping into the deep end head first) dives right in and says there is no reason beyond personal preference to not have female clergy. You know, when people ask me about women in priesthood, they say, 'Sister, why can't women be priests?' And I say, 'Women CAN be priests. We don't WANT them to be priests.' Because you see, God can do anything, and the Church, by divine authority, uh, can do anything, but, the Church doesn't want to - and that's a legitimate reason. What I don't like is when we TRY to pretend that there are other reasons for this, because it's legitimate not to want something, and there are reasons not to want this - right? - but, we shouldn't pretent that there's some... reason, that, for example, the maleness...
Thank you for posting this beautiful work. It is a particularly interesting painting in that it appears to show a historic church that is in the process of being restored to worship. I saw many churches like this when I travelled to Russia 10 years ago - the structure of the building has been restored (very likely by the government), and it has just recently been handed over to the Church. Thus the iconostasis is a temporary structure and there are a few moveable icons and furnishings, but no frescoes. I also notice that the service is taking place at the south side chapel, not the central altar. Perhaps this small corner of the building is all that has been made ready for worship so far, and restoration of the main altar awaits more funds or more worshippers. It is a poignant vignette showing a condition so typical of Orthodoxy in recent years. The painter has chosen to show the church flooded with light as a metaphor for the restoration of worship.
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