The angel's words towards the Myrrh-bearers which we hear at the matins's Gospel of the Resurrection (1) also defines the role of faithful women in society. The melodist made it a song that always sounds timely and describes in a wonderful manner the message which Orthodox women should at all times relate in their cultural context : Why do you ask for the living one among the dead? Why do you mourn the imperishable one as if he had perished? Go and declare this to His disciples'. (2)

Being sensitive to the mystery of life and death the women were able to be the first to hear from the angel the mortification of Hades and the triumph of life. In the meantime, she is trusted with the duty to bring this insuperable truth with the attitude she adopts and the roles she assumes, each time to the society to which she belongs. The message is clear. However, the success of its acceptance depends on how much each Orthodox woman lives by it, the education she has, the way she may find the appropriate ways to convey it and finally, on the degree she herself comprehends her timespatial background so that she uses the same code with her receivers.

Nowadays, the traditional Orthodox churches contain societies which are rapidly moving towards secularisation while the Orthodox diaspora in western Europe and the United States of America proceed inside a purely secular society. The secularisation of society has a long and complicated historical course. (3) It is known that the human creation occurs in time and in place. According to our Church's teaching both these conditions, which describe the human history, have a beginning and an end, just like persons. They belong to the created creation. (4)

Between these two positions, the Jews, (5) put more emphasis on time, on centuries, because inside time the revelation of God took place on Mt Sinai, and various other epiphanies. The ancient greek thought insisted on place, of the world, ie. the order of creation or even the background, where the human action manifested. [In the first Christian years, the sense of place, ie the world of the ancient greek philosophy because of jewish influence gained a timely loading and became century (?)] In Latin, the word "saeculum" had an inseparable timespatial content and meant both world and [time]. In the contemporary western societies, the term which renders the secular society derives from the latin 'saeculton", Meanwhile in Greek it has prevailed in the sense of world. It is noticeable that the English dictionary has been enriched lately, also by the addition of the term "worldliness" according to secular use.

The terms 'world' and 'time' have been used since the first Christian era, with a considerably negative meaning They manifest the natural situation which measured the alienation of humanity from communion with God and the sins of fallen human nature in the course of the centuries. `The biggest of all is the diverse form of paganism. Men were removed from the worship of true God and they worshipped the world, to whom they attributed magical qualities. The first form of secularisation with a positive meaning appears in the Old and the New Testament, (6) where the world gets rid of paganism. In Genesis, God created the world by means of the Word. (7). This is completely irrelevant to the various pagan cosmogonies. The distinction between the created and the uncreated is clear. In the New Testament Jesus bids clearly "give to Caesar what is proper for him, and to God what is proper for God", He emphasises that "my own reign is not of this world". In this way, the human spirit is free to act in place and in time with the aim of excessing both. Anyhow, here lies the whole mystery of the Incarnation of God's Son and Word, and, as well, the theology of the liturgical time and of the eighth day.

During the second half of the seventeenth century,(8) western philosophical thought attempted her own removal of the world of pagan belief. It was another attempt with many positive and also equal in number and perhaps more serious negative consequences. The obvious excellence of "those that are permanent against those that flow", in other words, priority of the unchangeable and the imperishable to the changeable and the convertible led to abuses and misunderstandings. However, it is through the changeable that humanity proceeds towards the unchangeable. However, even this changeable place and time, belong to the creation of God and through the Incarnation of the Son and Word they find their fullness and their purpose. The western Christian thought neglected the secular interpretation of the world that appears in the Scriptures, and tried to control the free quest of humanity, by subjecting them to austere power and authority.(9).

The organic logic is not restricted to the knowledge of the relationship among the [things], as did the theoretical logic of the ancient greek thought, but it pursues the use of these relations. Thus, the world loses its magic and is subjected to deductions, to which the experiment and the observation reach. 'The body is no longer the "temple of the Holy Spirit", but a total of tissues, bones, biological functions etc. Western civilisation gets rid of the control of the western Church, declares its freedom and proceeds to new places. The main characteristic is emancipation. Science, technology, knowledge, the arts, and state authority exist outside a pure Christian sphere.(10) Religion is one of the factors that create civilisation. However, it is not the main one nor is even the unique, as happened in the past.

As much as western civilisation may put aside Christianity, it evidently carries its beneficial elements. (11) The principles of equality, justice, and human decency, which supported democracy denote their source. Nevertheless, it continues to carry as well, the negative marks of western scholarship. The secular society shakes off one master, that is the omnipotence of the clergy and clericalism, and acquired in its place new custodians. (12) Perhaps they are more devious: autonomous logic, uncontrollable technology, tyrannical state, faceless bureaucracy and voracious consumerism.

The declaration of the French Revolution, at the end of the eighteenth century (13).for human dignity and the transition from agricultural to industrial society, thanks to the machine which adjusted in a revolutionary way the deductions of the natural sciences, in the middle of the nineteenth century, shook amongst others, the traditional ideas about woman's roles in society. The first feminine movement fought passionately with the goal to convince a harsh and deeply-rooted male dominated society that there was also, a feminine population on earth, that was able to think, to act and make decisions within society to administer its own assets and raise children, whilst being on equal terms with man. (14)

It is an unquestionable fact, that the people of the Mediterranean, where Christianity first spread, as well as the various races that settled Western Europe over the first Christian centuries, were driven by the principles of an unfair and irrational male dominated. system. (15) It took many centuries for the charity, grace and mercy of Christianity, and equality before holiness and salvation from destruction and death to soothe primitive barbarism and harsh instincts. The teaching of St Paul about the equality between the male and female "in Jesus Christ" (16) and about the salvation of both in Jesus (17) is clear. Equally clear is the first rank of the man in relation to the woman; this is characterised by a love that reaches even sacrifice, in Christ's pattern who indeed sacrificed Himself for the sake of His illuminated Church.

Going back to the fourth century, the voice of St Gregory of Nazianze denouncing man's injustice against woman, sounds revelationary, controlling and revolutionary according to the social habits of those years. "Men were the legislators, for that against women was the legislation". (18) Nevertheless, deep-rooted conviction need a lot of time and intense social changes in order to retreat. "The industrial revolution caused a whole chain of unexpected social reactions that drew out the women from the 'ladies apartments' and the margins of social life". The modern woman in societies which are directly and indirectly influenced by westem civilisation have been called to assume many and various roles in society. The same goes for the Orthodox women as well.

So, the times welcome the Orthodox tradition as long as, of course, those who interpet the Laws and the Prophets know what is changeable and what is not, which is living and which is mortal for the unceasing course of Orthodox christians during the last twenty centuries. Besides, this is the spirit of the holy Fathers, and, may we add, of the holy mothers too, as lately thanks to the growing interest, we begin to learn more about their life and work.(19) A continuous dialogue with classical thought, that is, the human quest which reaches the door of the apocalyptical, and a continuous effort for this creation to find answers to its questions and way out of its dead ends.

According to Orthopraxy (right behaviour) an Orthodox woman goes to school, to university, elects the authorities and in time she herself is being elected; she advances in research, teaches in academic institutions, and even sometimes administers them, becomes counsellors and judges, drives various machines and erects buildings. And, as long as the cultural surroundings alter, her qualities inside the society multiply and change. To her basic role as wife and mother, which are defined from nature and have a fundamental importance to her salvation,(20) is added also, the role of the working woman in the society. This does not mean that until the industrial revolution the woman had not been working hard, but now her work is being acknowledged and directly rewarded.

These new responsible and decisive roles of woman inside the society, although they have been recognised by society since the beginning of the last century and put into action at an impressive rate, however, they do not seem, yet, to make a direct impact on the social aspect of the Church. Moreover, the following paradox takes place within the Orthodox churches: the same woman that was equally included in the theanthropic nature of Jesus, in order to be equal as the man, saved from sin and death, that same woman, equally respected beside men as martyr of faith, confessor and saint, is absent from the centres of decision about the life of her parish and metropolis. She is present with her eagerness, her enthusiasm, her imagination and her industriousness within the whole of the life of the Church. Meanwhile, she carries out the orders of others to which she was not asked to participate in the decisions. The challenge of the secular society nowadays makes the administrating organs of the Orthodox churches give more to the role of the people of God in the life of Church.(21) The laity, due to historical causes that have nothing to do with the teaching of the Orthodox church, is significantly degraded and most are the women.

Now that woman assume as well parallel social roles, those who decided on the order of the Orthodox Church still regard her through the eyes of a male dominated civilisation. This regard is served much by the survival of Old Testament ideas about clean and unclean and the over-evaluation of woman as source of sin. At this point it is worth recalling the words of the Lord about the moral responsiblity each man has and about the way he faces the others and the women as well. (22) From the point of view of salvation the Orthodox church has offered equally the most to the woman was to the man, yet adminstrating organs stubbornly deprive the woman of the least as to the social expression of the Church. For the sake of the human inability and human inaudacity from both sides.

After WWII the feminist movement changed its orientation.(23) The fair requests of the 'revolutionary' women of the previous century about their fair treatment in the society and the recognition of their creative role, transformed into declarations which disclose denial of the particularity of woman's nature. At first, it was asked that opportunities should be given so that the feminine personality develops in the society to the maximum. During the post-war period, slogans such as "the woman decides for herself", "the woman has power over her own body" and the like, led to suffocation within her of the maternal gift to bear Christ, the source of life in people's souls.(24)

The organic logic, which supported the secularisation, 'broke the spell" of the world where the arbitrary interpretations of nature and men were concerned; on the other hand, it despised everything that exceeds this Logic. However, man cannot live without some answer's to its metaphysical anxieties and even more the woman, who is destined by her nature to live more fully the mystery of life and death. In that way, we see in modem western societies many dynamic women, liberated from the social prejudices of the past and of admirable social action, addicted to the "magic" offered by the perfume bottle or the miraculous "cold cream" jar. Indeed some women of modem age respond easily to the invitation of getting answers to their problems from the stars and astrological signs by calling an answering machine placed in some exotic country. And finally, consumerism promises prosperity, as long as one (especially the woman) is given to a delirious pursuit of goods, that besides their specific qualities are veiled with a little more magic. The quantity of magic, is usually connected to 'inspiring' advertising and the money invested in it.

Inside such a European and universal society, the Orthodox woman marches, and she is called to comprehend it, to make choices which correspond to the truth revealed in the face of Jesus Christ and to make through her various roles an orthodox testimony. This is an exceptionally difficult role. The difficulty originates from our inability to comprehend the mystery of God's love and of Holy Economy (25) The angels excel whilst 'men' need a lot of enlightenment and a lot of spiritual cultivation in order to somehow approach it. Differently, there is the risk, every imperfection of their nature and every past cultural remaining to be presented as Orthodox faith.

St Paul while describing the fruits of the Holy Spirit, gives explicity the measure of Orthopraxy: Love, joy, peace, goodness, honesty, faith, meekness, temperance, are things that the strained, contradicted and disappointed western society lacks. Orthodoxy has something to utter in the modern quest, as long as the testimony of the Orthodox man and woman is overflowed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Nowadays more than ever, the message of the Resurrection seems to sound timely in a vast desolate society which is tormented by egoism, solitude and alienation, and it is willingly led to slow or sudden death with drugs, alcohol, 'dizzy' speed and very often suicide.

With the exception of a significant number of Orthodox women.who are embodied in the Orthodox Christian tradition and of mature age in the Diaspora, most Orthodox were raised in societies that bare strong marks of Orthodoxy in their country. This fact makes the formation of Orthodox practices easier, but it also involves many risks for the ossification of faith. if something like this happens, then instead of having a conscious continuous co-operation to the call of the Incarnate God in the mystery of Eucharistic society, we easily fall into a faith of folklore character and with sufficient fear, fanaticism and attachment to past habits which now and then enable hypocritical attitudes towards others. On the other hand, there are many baptised Orthodox women of mainly young age who are not disrespectful towards their faith, which they were taught in school and see in one or other form inside their family and realise this faith has indelibly marked their cultural identity,. However, these women do not go further, and few taste the grandeur of the life in Christ.

The reasons for both these cases are ignorance, the wrong spiritual guidance, indifference, many times the inability of lingual comprehension of the liturgical texts, the absence of substantial pastoral work, the semasiological confusion of the term Church, and finally, everything that is related to the human weakness to comprehend the grand mystery of piety and adopt it every time in the needs of the era. Nevertheless, there are also, modem Orthodox women, wives, nuns, mothers, variously working in the society. who seek refuge to the mercy and philanthropy of God, in order to guide their steps, so that they may cultivate His orders in the modem secular society with many admirable achievements of the human mind, but also with many outrages of human arrogance. They pray, in order to know every time to which of the multiple roles they are asked to play should be given priority, and they ask for enlightenment so as to understand in an excitement of love, their husband, their children, their neighbour and others.

The Lord always gives abundantly as long as we ask for it, and He enlightens our steps, as long as we appropriately co-operate. For the formation of the modem Orthodox woman and the fulfilment of her role the proper culture is demanded. Women develop a variety of means for their development, and the positive aspects of secularisation have seen to that. As for their 'holy formation', the spiritual environment in which they grow up, in order to comprehend the mystery of faith and put it into action in their lives, a big part of the responsibility belongs to those who ever wanted to bear on their forehead the sacred sign of the spiritual teacher and guide, and they ask for their 'children's' obedience. Their own resurrectional morale and their own spiritual freedom, along with the corresponding theological learning and the classical education, contribute to the grace of God and the women, who are distinguished by the prudence, enthusiasm, ability, stability , philanthropy, self-denial and outspokeness say to their fellowmen, using each time the code that they understand :'Why do you ask for the living one among the dead, the imperishable one as if he had perished'?

This is the most beloved message that the image of the unspeakable glory of God expects to hear through the centuries, and why the Lord bid the women bearing perfumes and the Apostles of each era to evangelize it. In the modern desert big cities, the scary solitude, the bell of the existential void, the darkness of the absence of neighbour and of the omnipotence of ego, only the light of the Resurrection gives a meaning both to the extreme and the present. It lies upon the act of Orthodox women and men to actually live this truth themselves and through their life to confess it to the modern secular society. The fruits of this saving grace are a work of the Grace of God.

References

1 Mark 16:6-8
2 Easter verses
3 Oliver Clement, 'The Testimony of the Church in secular society', in Your Will be Done, Conference of Mission and Evangelism of the Orthodox and Eastern (except Chalcedonian) Churches, Thessalonoki, 1989, p. 128.
4.N. Matsoukas, History of Byzantine Philosophy, p.220.
5.Harvey Cox, The Secular City, New York, 1966, pp. 16-18.
6.Olivier Clement, TheTestimony pp. 128-129.
7.N Matsoukos, History of ........ pp.202-209.
8. 0. Clement, p. 128.
9. N Matsoukas, pp.324-325.
10. 0 Clement, p. 126.
11. A Gionnoulatou, Towards a Universal Society, p.9.
12. N Matsoukas, pp.324-325.
13. Cf. 'The rebellion begins at the old times Pages from the first steps of the femininist movement, Women's team, Athens, 1981.
14. D Koukoura, 'Liberation and enslaving of woman in the modern world', Synaxis 36, p.75.
15. D Koukoura, Woman in the modern age and her mission in Education, Your Will Be Done 1989, p.235.
16.Galatians 3:28
17(a) Ephesians 5-32; (b) N Matsoukas, Eve of Theology and the Woman of History, Synaxis 36.
18. St Gregory of Nazianze, Sermons 37, 6PG 36, 298B.
19. Cf. D Tsamis, Miterikon
20. I Timothy 2:15.
21. K Chiotelli, The woman's place in the Orthodox Church, Synaxis 36, p.35.
22 M. Matthew 5:28 "everyone that looks at a woman with a desire, he already has committed adultery in his heart'
23. D Koukoura, The Liberation p.75.
24. P. Evdokimov, The wornan and the salvation of the world, translated by N Matsoukas, Thessaloniki, p.328-329.
25. N Berdiajef, Christianity and social reality, translated by V Gioultsis, Thessaloniki, p.226.