Does The Orthodox Church ordain women?

Answer 1

Almost no. There is only one way for woman to be ordained as priests (crazy right but bear with me) The only way for woman to be ordained is if the Pope actually decrees that woman are able to receive ordination. Thing is there's alot in The Bible that goes against such an idea, so the likelyhood is slim to none.

Answer 2

No, Pope St. John Paul II ruled on this infallibly in 1994 when he issued his Apostolic Letter ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS, which repeated the unchanging, and unchangeable teaching of the Church that the Church was completely incapable of ordaining women. That Our Blessed Lord, Jesus Christ, had only given his Church the ability to ordain men to the sacred priesthood. The Apostolic Letter is at the link below.
ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_22051994_ordinatio-sacerdotalis_en.html

Answer 3

Roman Catholic AnswerNo, the Church has ruled de fide that only men are capable of being ordained to the priesthood. It is "of the faith" because it is something that has been handed down from Jesus, and is not subject to men's rulings.

Answer 4

Some denominations of the Christian Church already ordain women, and have done for many years - as examples The Anglican Church of which the Church of England is a member, and the Methodist Church. The decision in the Church of England to ordain women was arrived at after years of prayer, discussion, prayer, consultation, prayer - and more prayer. It was decided that this would be the way forward and would be God's will for the church in the future. The small number of church members who objected did so both on traditionalist views and on biblical views. Traditionally the Church had not allowed women to be ordained and the traditionalists wanted to keep the staus quo - for no reason other that they did not necessarily see the need for change. Biblically some thought that as Jesus only had men as disciples then only men should act as priests. Furthermore, Roman Catholic doctrine has a special place and meaning for the mass - and to have a woman presiding at the mass, especially the mass as it has become in the Roman Catholic Church, )would not be appropriate to the high-church Anglican (who would be sympathetic to Catholic doctrine). Another argument put forward was the masculine nature of God - he was 'Father' and 'Son' rather than 'Mother' and 'Daughter'. The Roman Catholic (RC) Church reveres the Virgin Mary as the femimine 'interest' but this is unbiblical especially in view of the very humble and modest attitude that Mary displays in the gospel accounts. yet the female nature of God shines through in the Holy Spirit - the Greek word for Spirit as found in the original New Testament is actually a feminine noun, but it seems that the RC church has conveniently forgotten this. Furthermore, in the heart of the RC church, in Rome, wall paintings in the catacombs (underground tunnels used as burial places - where the earliest Christians met in secret to worship for fear of persecution) clearly show early groups of Christians meeting for worship (in some cases the very Romans to which St Paul himself wrote in his New Testament letter) - and in some cases show them gathered round a communion table where the priest is presiding over Holy Communion. And in many cases the priest is clearly feminine. Therefore it seems that in the early church many women were clearly church leaders who performed one of the most epitomised roles of the priest - that of presiding at the Holy Communion (or 'mass' in the RC Church). In a male-dominated heirarchy in the RC church, this was soon quashed so that male dominance became the norm, and the female priest outlawed by the church rules. When one sifts through the arguments, it seems that there is no real biblical or otherwise reason why women should not be ordained. Similarly there are no reasons why priests should be celibate. The RC Church is at crisis point at the moment; there are severe problems relating to the priesthood. There are huge shortages of priests, so much so that in some areas there are campaigns to allow female ordination to make up the shortfalls; there are scandals in the US where many priests have been accused of child abuse, and there are now married priests that are serving in the RC Church. These latter priests were married priests who defected to Rome from the Church of England because of the ordination of women. Thus the sexuality, sexual orientation and sexual practices of priests have all had to be discussed and brought into the open. Therefore there are great upheavals in the RC Church regarding the priesthood, and especially regarding the nature of the priests' lives. Finally, the majority of Roman Catholics are now in favour of the ordination of women, and it seems that the problem (as it is seen as a problem by the RC heirarchy) simply won't go away and neither will it go away in the future. In conclusion, weighing the evidence - and after much prayer - most people now believe that the RC church should ordain women. The refusal to do so is unbiblical and does not reflect the early church as Christ instituted. One can hope and pray that God's will is done in this in the RC Church and that women will be ordained in the near future. But sadly, I wouldn't hold your breath. Some denominations of the Christian Church already ordain women, and have done for many years - as examples The Anglican Church of which the Church of England is a member, and the Methodist Church. The decision in the Church of England to ordain women was arrived at after years of prayer, discussion, prayer, consultation, prayer - and more prayer. It was decided that this would be the way forward and would be God's will for the church in the future. The small number of church members who objected did so both on traditionalist views and on biblical views. Traditionally the Church had not allowed women to be ordained and the traditionalists wanted to keep the staus quo - for no reason other that they did not necessarily see the need for change. Biblically some thought that as Jesus only had men as disciples then only men should act as priests. Furthermore, Roman Catholic doctrine has a special place and meaning for the mass - and to have a woman presiding at the mass, especially the mass as it has become in the Roman Catholic Church, )would not be appropriate to the high-church Anglican (who would be sympathetic to Catholic doctrine). Another argument put forward was the masculine nature of God - he was 'Father' and 'Son' rather than 'Mother' and 'Daughter'. The Roman Catholic (RC) Church reveres the Virgin Mary as the femimine 'interest' but this is unbiblical especially in view of the very humble and modest attitude that Mary displays in the gospel accounts. yet the female nature of God shines through in the Holy Spirit - the Greek word for Spirit as found in the original new testament is actually a feminine noun, but it seems that the RC church has conveniently forgotten this. Furthermore, in the heart of the RC church, in Rome, wall paintings in the catacombs (underground tunnels used as burial places - where the earliest Christians met in secret to worship for fear of persecution) clearly show early groups of Christians meeting for worship (in some cases the very Romans to which St Paul himself wrote in his New Testament letter) - and in some cases show them gathered round a communion table where the priest is presiding over Holy Communion. And in many cases the priest is clearly feminine. Therefore it seems that in the early church many women were clearly church leaders who performed one of the most epitomised roles of the priest - that of presiding at the Holy Communion (or 'mass' in the RC Church). In a male-dominated heirarchy in the RC church, this was soon quashed so that male dominance became the norm, and the female priest outlawed by the church rules. When one sifts through the arguments, it seems that there is no real biblical or otherwise reason why women should not be ordained. Similarly there are no reasons why priests should be celibate. The RC Church is at crisis point at the moment; there are severe problems relating to the priesthood. There are huge shortages of priests, so much so that in some areas there are campaigns to allow female ordination to make up the shortfalls; there are scandals in the US where many priests have been accused of child abuse, and there are now married priests that are serving in the RC Church. These latter priests were married priests who defected to Rome from the Church of England because of the ordination of women. Thus the sexuality, sexual orientation and sexual practices of priests have all had to be discussed and brought into the open. Therefore there are great upheavals in the RC Church regarding the priesthood, and especially regarding the nature of the priests' lives. Finally, the majority of Roman Catholics are now in favour of the ordination of women, and it seems that the problem (as it is seen as a problem by the RC heirarchy) simply won't go away and neither will it go away in the future. In conclusion, weighing the evidence - and after much prayer - most people now believe that the RC church should ordain women. The refusal to do so is unbiblical and does not reflect the early church as Christ instituted. One can hope and pray that God's will is done in this in the RC Church and that women will be ordained in the near future. But sadly, I wouldn't hold your breath.

Answer 5

Sure, if they're qualified. Depending on what duties they seek to performed as ordained, qualification can have little to do with it. I don't see why not!! If any one thinks of a good reason why not please write it here!

Answer 6

This is a great question cause it's a very debated topic among a few people and a few people don't want to be catholic because of it. The answer is no and this is the reasoning.

(bear with me i want the answer to be as satisfactory to the catholic reasoning as possible)

Jesus did things in the bible not as God but as a priest (the apostles would refer to him as rabbi). As such, do note that the people who he gave holy orders to (only and all priests have) were the apostles excluding Judas (Jesus foresaw him betraying Him without asking for forgiveness and killing himself with a noose afterward so He didn't see him virtuous enough). if your wondering when He did this to the apostles, it's during the last supper where he washed their feet (thus in Catholicism when a priest is ordained a priest, their feet are washed by a bishop though i forget if it's the first, second, or third level of bishop are arch/diocesian bishop, then cardinal then pope.) since all the apostles were men to begin with it's just men that get ordained, and the reason why Jesus choose only men is because He knew He was calling them to follow Him as "possible" priests except for Judas (He knew Judas had to be an apostle in order for Judas to betray him thus allowing the crucification to occur). Since all 11 of the ordained apostles were men, they ordained other men after them who ordained other men who ordained other men.

Answer 7

.

Catholic AnswerPope John Paul II, of happy memory, has infallibly explained that the Catholic Church cannot ordain women. Not will not, but can not, as in we are not capable of ordaining women as Our Blessed Lord did not give us the power to do so. This is part of the revealed doctrine of the Church and not something that can be changed or discussed. On the discussion page, there is a bit of discussion about what "other denominations do", this is an error as the Catholic Church is not a denomination, it is the Mystical Body of Christ which has been here for 2,000 years and can only do what Our Blessed Lord has assigned to it.

Answer 8

There were no women Apostles. There were also no women priests in the Old Testament even though most major religions of the time had priestesses. The Church has concluded that this means that God did not want women priests.

Answer 9

The Orthodox Church only ordains men to the priesthood, as this has been the practice of the Christian Church for over 2,000 years, since Apostolic times.

However, the question of ordaining women to the diaconate is more widely discussed, and at least one Orthodox Church (Greece) has re-established the order of deaconesses.