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Show . , Ifo21, Page 5 coincidence that women priests seem most likely to be accepted in the Anglican branch of the Catholic Church, the one .Thich has been so noticeably lacking .in a developed sense of the mysteries - the mysterium - the arcana - "1hich is so powerfully felt in the Eastern Orthodox cr..urches, and only a little less so in the Church of Rome (due possibly to the Roman insistence on perhaps over-precise definition). In particular, the Anglican Church since the Reformation has shown some reluctance to state unequivocally. rhat she means by the Holy Sucharist. If we are to be consistent with our claim to be a branch of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, it can only mean that when our priests celebrate the Holy Eucharist they do and mean what the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Church of Rome do and mean when they offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Hass and the Liturgia, the Liturgy. By so doing, we and they are symbolically re-enacting the Ilreatest drama ever staged - the drama of our Salvation and Redemption. And, as st Paul reminds us, when the holy people of God unite in this re-enactment we all "proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes." (I Cor. 11:26). We know of course that Our Lord Himself is both Priest and Victim, but it is also true that, in the Holy Sacrifice, he is symbolically s l ain by the officiating priest; in fact, in the Orthodox Churches, a spear .. s-h.e.pedknife is used to cut into the consecrated Bread. Now, the Anglican Church may of course reject this power-filled Symbol, but one feels that, at this point in time, she ought to state definitely her stand on this, so that we may know whether she intends to ordain women to the sacrificing priesthood, or to ·" set them apart" as ministers. I-Ihich brings me to my main reason for opposing ordination of women - the Holy Eucharist, until our church officially rejects this concept, is primarily an action - though symbolic, nonetheless an awesome action of slaying the- Sacrificial Lamb, and I can find no support for a.ny claim that such an action is a valid function of womanhood. I find considerable significance in the fact that most of the "pro" arguments have largely ignored .rhat a priest does, and concentrated more on 10ihat he is. Dr Helen Lu..1{e, in her Apple Farm Paper entitled THE itlAY OF vlOrvIEN - ANCIENI' AND :t:10IERH, notes that she can find no instance of a priestess of any ancient cult herself killing the sacrificial victim; this was always done by a man. 'tJhat is frequently found is the priestess in the role of Oracle, or Prophetess - that is, one 1o1ho is receptive to, and tra.nsmi ts, the Hords of the god. ~';e might also note t hat Hebrew mysticism assigns the feminine gender to Holy Wisdom - in Proverbs and the apochr~~hal books of The l,,,Tisdom of Soloman and Ecclesiasticus. Perhaps if the Church had trained and taught her people to live as the Hebrm'rs ~id (and me.ny still do) with prayer and ritual as an accepted essential fRctor in their daily lives, we might have seen more clearly that the Home is also a great l!ystery - a microcosm of the Temple of God, with husband and .rife :~1.·:! 0tionine in:',heir God-given roles a.s guardians of this Nystery. So, on8 carLY)ot help but f eel that , .. hat 1,o1e are dealing vith is not, as the rationalists would have us believe, the question of equal rights f or vromen in the Church, but somethinp.: vrhi ch they are trying to convince us does not exist. That is, to quote C. S. Lelvis, "we are dealing 1-nth male and female not merely as facts of nature but as the live and a1.rrul shadoHs of realities utterly beyond our control and la.rgely beyond our direct knovrledge." Or, as discinles of Dr Carl Jung mip;ht express it, with the mlminous pOHer of the primordial images and symbols in the collective unconscious. And it may be that they are among the '1hrones, Dominions, Principalities and POl·mrs of which St Paul (rather unnervinp.:ly , to be sure) speaks u T!e are being ureed to riel our rr..inds of t hese "superstitious" concepts or images. If 1·le do, I submit He cut ourselves off from a great spiritual powerhouse. For instance, what about the associations t hat the concept of " priests" arouses in us? For centuries it vas closely associated 1,oDth ro yalty : Solomon - Priest, King , 1,lagician and Lover - catches our imaginations, as do the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt - they too were priests as well as kings 0 And then ,·re hav e t,11e real block-buster in terms of emotional r~snonse _ the Q'reat, numinous fi p.;ure of the Priest-Kin!! }~elchizadek, to .. ,hom Abraham himsell made offeri n:-;s, 1·;hose name and fU Y1ct ion the m'i tel' of the letter to the Eebre",s |
