The ministry of women surrounding Christ and the apostles

Abstract

The article examines the ministry of women surrounding the Savior and the apostles, who did not change their general status, which developed in the Greco-Roman world, although the Gospel opened the way of salvation to humanity in its entirety, equaling women and men. Near Christ women go beyond the prescribed social roles or find new opportunities for their activities. Christ excluded them from the number of the apostles, although they were faithful listeners of His words and took part in the Gospel events. According to the evangelists, when women had devoted their life to «the ministry», they arranged the eve-ryday life of the Savior and the apostles or provided them with material support if they had sufficient means. However, for Christ, this activity was less significant than the state of the soul, therefore, the example of the spiritual and external arrangement of the life of the sis-ters Martha and Mary will form the «main» direction of the development of women’s activity in the Early Church. From the very beginning of this process, the key factor will be the formation of households of God as a model of the original Church structure, which took place with the active participation of women. Some women, such as Junia, could preach in private homes and perform individual catechesis of women and even men, but there was no question of publicity and further institutionalization of such empowerments. For St. Paul, the ministry of women was significant to the extent that it contributed to the spread of the Gospel. Perhaps many of the named women in the New Testament made their life choices at an advanced age. And in such a context, the concept of «servant/deaconess» applies not only to Phoebe, but also to all other women who, from the apostle’s point of view, performed the same service: after the myrrh-bearing women, they were new recipients of the testimony of the resurrection expressed in the «works» and defining the Church as both Holy and Apostolic.