OrthodoxLearner wrote:His Grace + Bishop Joseph just condemed it and said that it woud never happen, in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese.
Christ is Risen!
Truly He is Risen!
Dear Nektarios,
Here is the information I have on the subject...
Reader Timothy Tadros wrote:
Metropolitan Philip also has tonsured women readers but
no deaconeses yet since the office of the male deaconate
seem to be obsolete in his jurisdiction. As stated below their role
in the ancient times was to bring the gifts to women who were infirm
bedridden.
I've read this accusation before, but the only evidence I've ever seen
offered was a woman who it turned out didn't know that tonsure actually
meant hair cutting and not just a blessing to read the epistle on one day
that the bishop was there. I'd be interested in knowing who these alleged
female tonsured readers are.
Its not an "accusation" - it's a statement of fact. The Antiochians have,
indeed, tonsured at least one woman reader. But it was Bishop Antoun, not
Metropolitan Philip, who did so. It occurred at the cathedral in Brooklyn a
few years ago. I don't remember the woman's family name, but she is known
as "Reader Joy" ... she and her husband are converts to Orthodoxy, and he
was - if I remember correctly, a graduate of St. Vlad's.
Two Priests present told me about the tonsuring, and it as a tonsuring.
In fact, Bishop Antoun read the prayer which includes the words, "...first
degree of the priesthood..."
I have a family in my parish who know the Reader Joy and her husband
personally.
Fr. Anthony Nelson
All from Typikon list, back in March....
