In this 5th post about the issue of Orthodox women receiving communion during their monthly period we will turn to other Patristic sources which directly address the question. The fact that in both the third and fourth centuries in Alexandria there were those who were asking whether it was permissible for a woman to receive […]
In this fourth post considering the issue of Orthodox women receiving communion during their monthly period we will begin to draw on other Patristic material to widen the scope of this study. Consideration of the instructions of Dionysius and Timothy of Alexandria on this matter have shown us: There appears to be a cultural basis […]
This is the third in a series of posts dealing with the issue of Orthodox women receiving communion during the time of their monthly period. We have just read the two canons which are used to provide authority for the prohibition of such participation on the basis of some form of ritual impurity which is […]
This is the second part of a series of blog posts on this issue of women and the reception of communion during their monthly period. I have spoken about my conviction that discipleship demands that questions be asked, and that it is necessary for those with pastoral responsibility to answer these questions honestly, sensitively and […]
This first topic is one which is often the subject of the questions I receive from Orthodox women. Should Orthodox women be able to receive communion during their monthly period. It deserves much more than the hasty answers which are usually given, and which clearly do not satisfy many of those who ask. I have […]
I am a priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and have been a member of the Coptic Orthodox Church for 22 years. I am not accidentally Orthodox. I am Orthodox because of a determined choice first made in 1994, and which I have continued to make year by year, day by day. I am a […]
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Matt 18:1 Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? What sort of question is that for any followers of Jesus to ask? Of course I am sure that the disciples understood that our Lord […]
Almost the last words which our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God incarnate, spoke to his friends and Apostles, and his last commandment, was that they go into the world and make disciples, or more accurately, that they disciple the world. I think this is significant. He could have told them to go and […]
Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Luke 10:2 I would like us to consider a few verses from the Gospel we have just read together. It seems to me […]
When I was an evangelical it was customary for some who thought they were cool to respond to the question, What Church do you belong to? with the answer, I’m just a Christian! Sure, I knew what they meant. But the question mattered. I was asking which community or congregation they belonged to. I was […]