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| St. Rufina |
In the years of militant atheism in the USSR State communities of the few Orthodox parishes consisted mainly of lay women. As they say, the faith in the twentieth century in Russia was saved from grandmas church that, despite the atheistic propaganda, continued to attend church services, sure to put icons and Bibles in chests, baptized secretly grandchildren ... Patriarch Kirill never misses an opportunity to emphasize the heroism of these women in their faithfulness to God and to the Church.
This snippet from an article from La Stampa should catch the attention of our Catholic women.
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/inchieste-ed-interviste/dettaglio-articolo/articolo/chiesa-church-iglesia-orthodoxia-ortodossia-orthodox-28045/
While many people are pushing for unorthodox positions of women in the Church such as women's ordination and women deacons, a question settled in Church teaching already, the Orthodox Church has a different emphasis according to Vatican Insider.
I want to take the issue further by stating that Catholic women who are orthodox with a small o and who are wondering what their role is to consider the role of women in the early Church.
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| St. Macrina |
We have hundreds of female saints from the first centuries of Church history, and these women are the ones we should be looking to for guidance, both in understanding their history and in prayer.
Let me give just a few names to share the great heritage, that "cloud of witnesses" of women, part of the Church Triumphant.
I suggest meditating on the lives of these early sisters in the Lord. We need their strength and courage in the days to come. Also, home schooling mums may want to do a series on women saints with their girls.
(Thanks to Wiki for the two paintings.)