All three of us had some of the same feelings. We were in the place that Fr. John Meyendorff and others had brought to life for us in class-- the center of the Orthodox world. Yet it was, in painfully obvious ways, not "ours" -- the circular Muslim symbols, banged together from boards and thin wood, stand out more than the wonderfully intricate mosaics on the walls of Hagia Sophia, and few besides us were wont to call the city "Constantinople" instead of "Istanbul." I gagged a bit at seeing the silk pajamas Paris-made for Abdul Hamid and now displayed at Topkapi Palace. So this mass murderer of Christians could sleep at night, apparently.

SVS alumnae Deborah Malacky Belonick, Christina Shaheen Reimann, and Valerie Goekjian Zahirsky were among 50 Orthodox women from 20 countries who met during May 1997 in Istanbul to consider the topic Discerning the Signs of the Times: Women in the Life of the Orthodox Church as the second segment of a meeting sponsored by the World Council of Churches.

His All-Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew hosted the May meeting, and received the group at the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

His concern about women in the Church set the tone of the conference, a gathering of talented and dedicated people involved in varied ministries all of which are exacting and much-needed. Their unanimous concern was for women to be offered theological education on all levels, and this concern was woven like a thread through every formal or informal discussion, through every paper presented, and through all the recommendations to the Churches put forth by the conference.

These recommendations will include, in addition to the need for theological education, encouragement of the ministries of women in educating Church members and nurturing their spiritual growth, supporting women's participation in decision-making, and encouraging study of the role of deacons and deaconesses in the Church. Some women would also like to see a conference organized in which Orthodox women and men can study the issue of ordination, not as advocates of priestly ordination for women but from a desire to be informed and convincing spokespersons for the Church in the many areas where this issue is raised.

We were grateful to the WCC for bringing us together, and this gift of togetherness is not a small one. Women working for the Church can feel isolated and lonely. The knowledge of sisterly support across the world is energizing, and therefore precious. Such meetings as Istanbul enable us to share our hopes and problems, to learn what is going on in the Church in other lands, and to pray specifically for people and situations we have come to learn and care about. If to this we can add some of the writing and study we hope to do as a result of our work in Istanbul, the meeting will have been what we wanted it to be, and what we hope is pleasing to God.