The Role of Women in Christianity
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From the beginning of the early Christian church, starting with Jesus, women were important members of the movement. The gospels of the New Testament often mention Jesus speaking to women publicly and openly against the social norms of the time. He reached out to the marginalized in his society and thus, his appeal was great. He had female followers who were his sponsors and Mary Magdalene is recorded to be the first person to have the privilege of seeing Jesus after resurrection. As time went on and the disciples continued to spread Jesus' message by word of mouth, groups of Christians organized within the homes of believers. Those who could offer their home for meetings were considered important within the movement and assumed leadership roles.
Outside of written religious sources there is also objective evidence to support women's prominent status and roles within the early Christian church. A second century letter of a Roman governor, Pliny the Younger, to Roman emperor Trajan, demonstrates that female servants were leaders in a church in Bythnia. Pliny wrote the letter, dated 112 C.E., asking for advice on how he should handle a situation where Christians were said to have been stirring up trouble. He said he captured and tortured two female maidservants called deaconesses. These women must have been considered important church leaders since the term was similarly applied to Phoebe in the Pauline letters.
http://www.theopedia.com/christian-views-attitudes-and-beliefs-about-women
Outside of written religious sources there is also objective evidence to support women's prominent status and roles within the early Christian church. A second century letter of a Roman governor, Pliny the Younger, to Roman emperor Trajan, demonstrates that female servants were leaders in a church in Bythnia. Pliny wrote the letter, dated 112 C.E., asking for advice on how he should handle a situation where Christians were said to have been stirring up trouble. He said he captured and tortured two female maidservants called deaconesses. These women must have been considered important church leaders since the term was similarly applied to Phoebe in the Pauline letters.
http://www.theopedia.com/christian-views-attitudes-and-beliefs-about-women
Women in Christian Art
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Art has also been an important objective source showing women in leadership roles. The first or early second century fresco called Fractio Panis depicts a Eucharist ceremony. All the participants, including the main person who is performing the ceremony, are women. A mosaic found in a Roman basilica portrays Mary, two saints and a veiled woman. An inscription states that the veiled woman is Theodora Epicopa which means Bishop Theodora, Epicopa being the Latin feminine term for bishop. On a Greek island called Thera, a commemorative inscription has been discovered on a burial site. It named Epiktas, a female name, as a priest.
http://www.theopedia.com/christian-views-attitudes-and-beliefs-about-women
http://www.theopedia.com/christian-views-attitudes-and-beliefs-about-women
The Virgin Mary
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.Mary has been venerated since Early Christianity, and is considered by millions to be the most meritorious saint of the religion. The Eastern and, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran Churches believe that Mary, as Mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God and the Theotokos, literally "Giver of birth to God". There is significant diversity in the Marian beliefs and devotional practices of major Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church holds her status as the mother of God; her immaculate conceptionI; her perpetual virginity ; and her Assumption into heaven. Many Protestants minimize Mary's role within Christianity, based on the argued brevity of biblical references. Maryalso has a revered position in Islam, where a whole chapter of the Qur'an is devoted to her, also describing the birth of Jesus.
In modern and past times there has been sacred sites where the mother of God have been seen as well. Sightings of the Virgin Mary can happen in the unlikeliest places. Some people encounter her high in the mountains of the French Alps, while others find her in a school playground. Sometimes, Mary comes awash in a bright light. Other times, she's in tears. Mary is believed to have appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec convert to Christianity, in 1531. According to the story, she asked that a shrine be built to her at the site of the apparition and left her image on the inside of a cloak. That image is now venerated at the Basilica of Guadalupe. Also in more modern times, the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to several high school children in Kibeho, Rwanda, in the 1980s. Some believe she warned them of a "river of blood" that would flow across the country, which was thought to be a foretelling of the mass killings that would later sweep through Kibeho during the Rwandan genocide.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sightings-of-the-virgin-mary_55ef1a63e4b002d5c076d0af
In modern and past times there has been sacred sites where the mother of God have been seen as well. Sightings of the Virgin Mary can happen in the unlikeliest places. Some people encounter her high in the mountains of the French Alps, while others find her in a school playground. Sometimes, Mary comes awash in a bright light. Other times, she's in tears. Mary is believed to have appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec convert to Christianity, in 1531. According to the story, she asked that a shrine be built to her at the site of the apparition and left her image on the inside of a cloak. That image is now venerated at the Basilica of Guadalupe. Also in more modern times, the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared to several high school children in Kibeho, Rwanda, in the 1980s. Some believe she warned them of a "river of blood" that would flow across the country, which was thought to be a foretelling of the mass killings that would later sweep through Kibeho during the Rwandan genocide.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15464b.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sightings-of-the-virgin-mary_55ef1a63e4b002d5c076d0af