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...
Where is this particular Greek colony located?
ReplyDeletePhoenix AZ. Amusingly Elder Ephraim consented to move to America only after being asked for 10 years and when he saw how wayward the Greeks had become in America, but while he admittedly came for the Greeks, its American converts who have filled his monasteries.
DeleteThanks for your reply Sojourner, but my question was tongue in cheek.
DeleteWithout denying Elder Eprhaim's personal holiness, the good of establishing monestaries, and fill_in_the_blank, the fact that this service was so mono-culture Greek "in" Arizona (but only in an alien way), well it begs questions...
Yes it is a constant frustration to be American and feel like an outsider in your own country when it comes to church.
DeleteTo be fair tho, for this particular situation, even if everything was normally in English, I would understand the use of Greek here since Elder Ephraim only spoke Greek, its what he grew up with and understood, so it was appropriate.
I was sad to not be able to understand any of the sermons given, tho I hope translations will be made at some point.
Im hopeful that within a generation, after the founding members from Greece have reposed or handed over leadership that the monasteries will transition to English, but we'll see.
There are many Greeks in the Elder's monasteries as well as American converts. I don't know the exact breakdown of Greek vs convert, but there are a lot of Greeks in his monasteries.
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