Women reading in Church?

[Theodora Elizabeth]

Before becoming Orthodox, I was an Episcopalian for five years (raised under Rome). As my voice can project well and be loud, I was always a lector (reader), these qualities especially prized in parishes with no sound systems (I had a nearly-deaf granny in back who told me she could always hear me). I began reading and chanting (mostly background noise since my singing is enough to make a cat laugh!) at Matins several months after I began attending my parish, at the request of our priest, due to us all assuming the "Matins crew" was going to be shorthanded, since two men were supposed to move out of town (one didn't as he's now getting married to a girl here, and the other guy's wife's health is bad, so they're also staying in town).

Fr. has indicated to me he thinks I would make a good Epistle reader, but has never gotten around to "auditioning" me (working out my little quirks). I've filled in once, as well as reading the Epistle (I actually chanted it, very nervously) on Christmas to "celebrate" my Chrismation several days before.

My views are getting more traditional, and I am now beginning to see that it's not a good idea for women to read in the Epistle in Church. But what about Psalms and prayers at Matins? I'm asking, because I don't really know what the Church's traditional position is on this. I also get very, very nervous getting up in front of everyone, and don't see any reason to put myself through the ordeal (reading during Matins from the choir corner is something totally different).

Theodora Elizabeth

[尼古拉前执事]

I remember once hearing of a man who was visiting Greece and he unfortunately knew no Greek. He walked into a Church during Vespers, I believe, and was shocked to see a woman reading. He looked around after buying some candles and noticed there were no men in the church. But as soon as the woman saw that a man had entered the nave, she, reading, took the book to him to do the reading, as if there were a man to do it, he should be reading. Unfortunately, as I mentioned earlier, he knew no Greek, so she continued and he left feeling bad.

If there are no men available to read, someone has to read, so in that case I doubt many people would have an issue with this. Of course I have also seen priests do the reading himself instead of having a woman do it, when I was in ROCOR.

[Theodora Elizabeth]

Well, as it stands now for Matins, besides the two guys that are staying in town, and myself, there is the one guy's fiancee.

Of course, maybe just doing Matins would be a decent compromise. If I stopped reading/chanting, I would still be attending, and there'd be all sorts of questions I don't know how I would answer.

Theodora Elizabeth

[尼古拉前执事]

If I stopped reading/chanting, I would still be attending, and there'd be all sorts of questions I don't know how I would answer.

You could always just tell the truth.

[Theodora Elizabeth]

If I stopped reading/chanting, I would still be attending [Matins], and there'd be all sorts of questions I don't know how I would answer.

You could always just tell the truth.

Yes, I could. The Good Lord knows, I am becoming known as an "eccentric"!

Theodora Elizabeth

[ania]

Dear TheodoraElizabeth,
Have no worries about reading in church. It's not as unusual as some people tend to think. In our parish, as well as several other ROCOR parishes, it's simple fact that for the most part, the women read better than the men. I remember our choir director once gave a man who claimed to know how to read Slavonic the First Hour to read at the end of vigil. It became very apparent very quickly that if he let the man finish, we would be there for another hour. The director gave the reading to my sister, who finished it without stumbling or making a mistake. The women of our choir often read everything but the Epistal, but that's because we have a man with a very deep bass who does it. When he's not arround, it's usually a woman who reads it. I have seen it done in my parish, as well as several others.

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

In the Orthodox Church, tonsured Readers read. And when they are not around, by economy any man who can reasonably accomplish the task, and if no such person as this, then a woman may.

It is not as though woman cannot do certain things, consider what the woman do in their monasteries. But the significance in the Orthodox Church is that the men preside when they are present: they preside over the services, they receive the Mysteries first, they exit first, they are the head of the household, ect. This is another reason why the men sit on the South side of the Church and the woman on the North, so that when it is time to partake of some blessing, they are grouped and in position to go first.

Like it or not, Russian choirs with woman in Church are a Westernization from the 1600's.

This is the way it has always been. Now I hope no woman here are offended, having been surrounded in recent years by societies gender "equality" worship. The Will of God is a serious matter that deserves unquestioning consideration.

(now ducking for cover from the slavophiles, which I am myself, and the womans rights advocates )