The Reading Biblical-Theological of 1 Timothy 2,12 and Acts 18,26 in The Patristic Tradition: The woman's Role in the Church and in The Family with Particular Reference to The Theology Protological

Cinzia Randazzo

• Publisher: Youcanprint
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9788827800270
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

In this contribution the author examines the interpretation of 1 Timothy 2: 12 and of the Acts 18, 26 in the patristic tradition.
From an analytical reading of the patristic texts, where the aforementioned scriptural passages recur, the author deduces the essential traits, through which the role of the woman in the church and in the family is expressed.

1. The woman in the church

1.1. Attitudes

Tertullian, starting from the presupposition that the Christians are born from the water and it is thanks to the water that they are safe, affirms that contrarily a woman, spokesman of the sect of the Cainitis, "who normally didn't even have the right to teach, it has found the best way to do to die these small fishes: to go them out of the water”.¹¹

In the alexandrinian field Origen, referring to 1Cor 14,34-36, affirms that the women must have a silent attitude in the assemblies, differently from Massimilla and Priscilla who, according to Origen, were considered the maximum authorities in the movement montanist and who had had many disciples, instructing them.¹²

Origen continues to affirm that in the Old Testament there have been a lot of figures of women prophetesses, as Mary, the daughters of Phillip, Olda and so on, but all these ones never spoke to the public as Jeremiah and Isaiah, but only to few women:

if the daughters of Phillip also prophesied, nevertheless they didn't speak to the assemblies: let's not find it in fact in the Acts of the Apostles. But so not even in the Old Testament: it is attested that Deborah was prophetess and Mary, the sister of Aaron, taken the tambourine led the women. However you could not find that Deborah publicly went and spoke to the people as Jeremiah and Isaiah; and you could not even find that Olda, also being prophetess, has talked to the people, but to whom was directed to her. And also in the Gospel it is written: Ann the prophetess, daughter of Fanuele, of the tribe of Aser, nevertheless she didn't speak to the assembly.¹³

With this Origen wants to demonstrate that the prophecies of these women don't have function ecclesial, in the sense that their words are not directed to the public, as it happens instead in the ministry priestly:

If therefore also to a woman it can be given to be prophetess on basis of a prophetic sign, however it is not allowed her to speak to the assembly.¹⁴

Consequently Origen draws the conclusion that the woman "cannot be guide of the man through the word".¹⁵

Origen proves this also referring to the scriptural passage of Tt 2,3-4, explaining that the women are able to give good teachings, not because the men listen to the women being sat, as if there were no men able to announce the Word of God.¹⁶

You deduces that, according to Origen, the didactic function of the woman is not directed to the man,

since it is inconvenient for a woman to speak to the assembly, what that are the words that she says, are also admirable, are also holy, but only come from a female mouth" It is clear that the fact that there is a woman in assembly is condemned as inconvenient to reproach of the whole assembly.¹⁷

It's important to emphasize that Origen, to demonstrate the inferiority of the sex female with respect to her activity of teaching, focuses only on the activity to utter word in front of the public, keeping silent on all the functions gestural and salvific of which the woman is bearer and that they are to the base of an excellent didactic activity. It is not true that the woman doesn't speak in front of the people, because Judith, thanks to her great faith and humility, goes and speaks to the people to reassure him of the liberation from the enemy (Gdt 10) and, always thanks to her great faith, she defeats the enemy cutting the head to Holofernes. The word that Judith turns to the people is not turned to itself, as in the case of Jeremiah and Isaiah - why the wretched faculty to utter word to the public doesn't receive the desired aim, being a word that flies in the nothing doing only noise - but it is a word that realizes the desired aim and that is to say the salvation of the people. The humility of Judith, united to her great faith, gives to her word, that directs to the people, the strength to make concrete and alive in her people her activity salvific. Her activity salvific becomes torch living and punctual of the immanent plan of God, because she restores the original condition of the man when he was in good harmony with Eve, defeating the dominion and the prevarication of the foreign kings. Judith restores with her word, made concrete in the liberation of her people from the slavery of Holofernes, the greatest teaching of the patriarchs and that is to say their faith and humility, that earned her the crown of glory. Just to think to Moses who when lifted the arms the people won and when this lowered it this lost (Es 17,11), who, thanks to his great faith and humility, made his weak word event of salvation, conducting the people of Israel out of the slavery of Egypt. Differently from Aaron his brother, who had instead qualities considerable of eloquence, of which Aaron used only for uttering in front of the people what God had said through Moses. This faculty of the uttering words in front of the people, just of the priestly caste, of which Aaron is the founder of it, is devoid of sense because it does not bear fruit, being a sonorous word and not performing. Origen doesn't know or it pretends not to know that the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah continue the role of the priestly caste, directed to embellish more the words that the actions, giving a preponderant strength to the word, understood as simple expression of the sound of the mouth, to the detriment of the lack of the actions, tangible signs instead of the humility and of the faith.¹⁸

In turn Cyprian of Carthage, referring to the scriptural passages of 1Cor 14,34 and of 1Tm 2,11-14, demonstrates that the women in the church not only have the assignment to keep silent and to be subdued to the men, because so says the Law ((1Cor 14,34), but also to learn from those ones

in complete subjugation. I don't allow that the woman teaches neither that predominates on the man. Because before was formed Adam and then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but who made oneself guilty of transgression was the woman, who was seduced (1Tm 2,11-14) .¹⁹

Besides to the daughters of Phillip another figure of intelligent woman who knew the things of God is Gorgonia. Gregory Nazianzen exalts the abilities of this extraordinary woman who stays devoted in silence to God, becoming a model of intelligent and devoted woman:

her intelligence and her piety there is no speech that could reach her, neither could find many examples of it, except his and that of her parents according to the flesh and second the spirit. She turned only her look to them and was not at all inferior to them by virtue. In an only thing she let oneself win, and also gladly: she knew and was ready to admit that her qualities come from them and that they were the root of her illumination. What was more acute than the intelligence of this woman...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Indice
• Frontespizio
• Copyright
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1. The woman in the church
• 2. The woman in the family
• Bibliography essential