Women in the Armenian Church: Part II (2008)

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Women in the Armenian Church: Part II (2008)

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February 26, 2008 at 10:26pm

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For everyone who has been following these blogs, I'd like to take you back to my very first post about Women in the Armenian Church.
http://www.mychurch.org/blog/106578/Women-in-the-Armenian-Church

I found that Fr. Vazken just posted a comment to that blog and it's pretty sad that what he discovers is no surprise to me.  I guess one of their best punches (which again at no surprise also comes from a woman) concerning a woman's ordination into the church is to tie sexual orientation into the picture.  The article never mentions the word homosexual, but the Internet is now a very powerful medium to shift anyone's viewpoint....enough said about a Google search.

So now, I must ask - what does a woman's relationship with God have anything to do with homosexuality? Are they insinuating that only a lesbian would consider being a deacon or a priest? Is it not possible that a woman could serve on the alter and have sexual preferences towards men? This is the type of thing that I've seen so often. You're immediately labelled a lesbian or an angry feminist should you dare to push the limits that make absolutely no sense. I know a lot of people would argue this, but let's be real.....we're so used to seeing men in these roles that our minds can't deal with anything else. So we read these arguments from people who just remain stuck - people who justifiably and scholastically are stuck of course....btw - for many that would make it OK.

A woman's ordained role in the church is not about modernism, it's about justice and LOVE. Something that church leadership may want to look up in their bibles again.

Happy reading.

As you can follow in the link, here is the comment that he posted:

Fr_Vazken

February 26, 2008 at 5:28am

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I think its time for an index or search button on these blogs. At least for your blogs Linda, you've amassed quite a collection. I had to go through a few pages of <previous> buttons just to find this one - but it gave me a chance to see all the issues we've been discussing for the last couple of months. This really gives us a chance to have a dynamic community.

But to the point at hand - why I'm leaving the comment on this particular blog - I was doing some research for a counseling session. I did a Google search on the words "Armenian Church Homosexuality" and got almost 48,000 hits. The first one (#1 spot) was an article called, "Can the Armenian Church Allow for the Ordination of Women to the Sacred Priesthood?" http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/1089/womenordination.html

Opened the article, did a find for the words "homosexuality" and then "homosexual" and then "homosex" and came out empty. So then why does this article get the number 1 spot in the Google find?

Quickly thought about this blog - really, this is the blog that started things on MyChurch, and for us to have this chance to really feel the dynamics of a discussing community.

So I throw this out - I think the answer is obvious in many ways, but its interesting that Google, which is basically a computer program going through an assortment of variables would tie homosexuality with a discussion of women's ordination into the priesthood.

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2 Comments to "Women in the Armenian Church: Part II (2008)"

Suzie

February 26, 2008 at 11:10pm

In defense of Google, I will say this. The reason that article comes up and it doesn't even include the word "homosexuality" in it is because Google not only searches for terms that appear on that page, but it will also search terms that appear on other pages that point to that page. So the info pro in me did a little bit of hunting around and discovered why that search comes up. Check out this book. It's called Ancient Taboos and Gender Prejudice: Challenges for Orthodox Women and the Church

This book is full of the terms "Armenian Church" and the term "homosexuality" AND if you search inside the book, you will find that on p.81, the author cites to the article "Can the Armenian Church Allow for the Ordination of Women to the Sacred Priesthood?" Google's just very thorough in doing its job, which may mean it's not always relevant.

By the way, the Ancient Taboos book is timely for us. It reveals the "difficulties confronting Orthodox women wishing to participate more fully in the leadership and ministry of their church."

I'm glad Google's given us a reason to revisit these discussions :)

LindaZ

February 27, 2008 at 6:00am

Thank you for the info Suzie - you are a true pro.

I just don't understand why this is such a topic of discussion that stirs up so much controversy. The mystery of a woman should not be reason to bind her. If she has a calling and God is leading her, and she listens to the call - I dare anyone to stand in the way of that union.

Let all the councils of the world come together to stop her from being lead where He wants her to be.

2:17 'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

Acts 2:17 RSV

3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 3:28 RSV

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