.Ordination is an ecclesial act so it shouldn't be too hard to determine if women were ordained in the ancient church. So, Macy dips into the six-fold breakdown of Jean Morin, a famous liturgist who compiled what he could in 1655! Here are his six points:
1. The ritual must be called ordination.
2. Celebrated at the altar by the bishop.
3. Hands must be laid on ordinand.
4. Stole place on the ordinand.
5. Ordinand receives communion as bread and wine.
6. The ordination be to priest, deacon, or subdeacon.
Macy's task is to reveal that this set of criteria only fits the evidence after the 13th Century. It was from the 11th Century on that priest, deacon and subdeacon are raised to a new level, and along with that elevation came the connection -- and this is the secret -- of eucharist dispensing with priesthood and ordination.
Most importantly, the word "ordain" was connected to "bless" and to "consecrate" and to "veil" -- and "ordain" was used as well for kings and doorkeepers. So, "ordain" was not the narrow word it was after the 13th Century.
And women (like Brigid of Ireland) were "ordained" prior to this -- and it referred to being called by a local church into a function. Macy trots out a number of liturgical rites for ordaining, blessing, consecrating women in lists where the same terms are used for men. It would therefore not be inappropriate to say that prior to the 11th-13th Centuries "ordain" meant a calling into a function (not an office or a power) and that after those dates it came to mean being granted power to consecrate the bread and wine at the eucharist.
Hence, the "church that emerged from Lateran IV (1215) was, despite the intentions of its creators, something new -- a more clerical, more hierarchical, more centralized church than that which preceded it" (47). The folks -- men and women -- prior to this "belonged to a different church and a different time" (47).
This has something to say to RCC today; but it also has implications for Protestants because the Reformers, who were trying to get behind the 11th-12th Centuries seem to have retained this newer understanding of ordain. (The Anabaptists, by the way, seem to have done better on this one.) For it came to mean for Protestants an ordination to sacrament and Word.
Our next post will look at chp 3 and the "roles" of ordained women, something I develop in The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
.
2. Celebrated at the altar by the bishop.
3. Hands must be laid on ordinand.
4. Stole place on the ordinand.
5. Ordinand receives communion as bread and wine.
6. The ordination be to priest, deacon, or subdeacon.
Macy's task is to reveal that this set of criteria only fits the evidence after the 13th Century. It was from the 11th Century on that priest, deacon and subdeacon are raised to a new level, and along with that elevation came the connection -- and this is the secret -- of eucharist dispensing with priesthood and ordination.
Most importantly, the word "ordain" was connected to "bless" and to "consecrate" and to "veil" -- and "ordain" was used as well for kings and doorkeepers. So, "ordain" was not the narrow word it was after the 13th Century.
And women (like Brigid of Ireland) were "ordained" prior to this -- and it referred to being called by a local church into a function. Macy trots out a number of liturgical rites for ordaining, blessing, consecrating women in lists where the same terms are used for men. It would therefore not be inappropriate to say that prior to the 11th-13th Centuries "ordain" meant a calling into a function (not an office or a power) and that after those dates it came to mean being granted power to consecrate the bread and wine at the eucharist.Hence, the "church that emerged from Lateran IV (1215) was, despite the intentions of its creators, something new -- a more clerical, more hierarchical, more centralized church than that which preceded it" (47). The folks -- men and women -- prior to this "belonged to a different church and a different time" (47).
This has something to say to RCC today; but it also has implications for Protestants because the Reformers, who were trying to get behind the 11th-12th Centuries seem to have retained this newer understanding of ordain. (The Anabaptists, by the way, seem to have done better on this one.) For it came to mean for Protestants an ordination to sacrament and Word.
Our next post will look at chp 3 and the "roles" of ordained women, something I develop in The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible
. 
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I found the chapter online, put up originaly by Ignatius Press as a taster. It'll give you an insight into how the Catholic Church understands the process of development.
http://www.sacredarchitecture.org/articles/reservation_of_the_blessed_sacrament/
Brad,
Macy does mention the Eastern church but that's not his major concern. The fascinating feature for me in this chp was the shift in meaning of "ordain" that mirrored the increasing centralization of the Eucharist by duly appointed priests ... leaving women more out of the picture.
I thought some might comment on how Protestants define "ministry" because it seems to me that ordination came to mean "sacrament and Word" and that is a hangover from the 11th-13th Century shift in the meaning of "ordain." Prior to that there was an ordination of all the callings/gifts in the Church.
This refers to the comment above abaout ordaining to word and sacrament: when i look at teh ministry gifts of the Spirit there does not seem to be a heirarchy. In Ephesians 4, some read hierarchy but it could just as well be a community of gifted people or gifted leaders who lead according the gifting of the Spirit.
Many Spirit gifted leaders could be ordained to build up one body.
Ordaining is kind of an institutional way of granting privelege to some and power and authority to some. I think the bible is a lot flatter than that. It seems that if one looks closely... leaders emerge as those who are mature in the faith and gifted by the Spirit and able to teach. All believers are sent to preach the gospel. Some are called to equip and are recognized by the body to do so. I think that is more what ordianation really is. It is not a bestowal of some mystical power apart from what that person already is in Christ.
It's not about power or authority but about service and function to build the kingdom of God so that all the world might know Christ and the power ofhis resurrection.
I very much like the distinction between "function" and "office". Maybe we should periodically ordain people into the ministry of hospitality, or encouragement, or healing, or whatever else is being neglected in our contexts.
Scot -- I mentioned the Eastern siblings because priestly ordination was very much associated with the celebration of the "holy mysteries" in the Orthodox tradition -- way before the 13th century -- but not exclusively. They had a gazillion minor orders (with only two or three surviving today). Even into recent memory they've had ordained deaconesses in some places.
In the West the Reformers don't just continue on with the received view of ordination but they add to it with their emphasis on WORD and Sacrament. There is a shift and it begins to emphasize the teaching aspects of the office. Luther also innovates with an emphasis on baptism as the primary form of ordination. We're all ordained to ministry through our baptism.
Another important church to bring to the table if we're having discussion of ancient understandings of ordination are the Celts. They seem to be a lot more flexible. I remember reading of some 6th century Western bishops writing to the Celtic churches, expressing their concern that they were letting women preside over the Lord's table. (Don't ask me for a reference.) I don't think that there was uniformity of practice on this issue.
I guess I'm just going to have to pick up Macy's book.
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