FREE ESSAY ON WOMEN, THE FIRST PRIESTS?

WOMEN, THE FIRST PRIESTS?

Women, the first priests?
To say that society dictates what we do is an understatement, because society dictates so
much more than that. We allow society to dictate our beliefs, our morals, and even the
things we hold to be true. Society tells us that men should be the leaders, and we
believe that and make assumptions based on this. Most Catholics would say that Women
cannot be priests, and will tell you that they know it because it is in the bible. The
truth is that there is nowhere in the bible in which Jesus states women cannot be
priests. In fact, Jesus' teachings as well as history would tell us that the opposite is
true. They would lead us to believe that not only is the role of the celebrant a
gender-neutral role, but that the original celebrants were indeed women.
In the catacombs under the streets of Rome, a new section has been discovered with a
number of frescos painted on the walls. This, in itself, is not unusual, but the stories
they tell and the history they convey are quite different from what many believe. These
frescos depict people with outstretched hands signifying a priest, a group at a table
breaking bread as if having a mass, and another figure is laying hands on the head of
someone like a bishop ordaining a priest. What is striking is that these figures appear
to be women. While many argue that the figures are men, a close look at the frescos
reveals many feminine characteristics. Some of these characteristics are much more
prevalent in some than in others. The paintings of women with outstretched hands and the
bishop ordaining a priest are the easiest to distinguish. These figures have a woman's
long hair and physique. There are no masculine characteristics about them. The figures
around the table are not as easily distinguishable. Out of the seven at the table, one is
clearly a female. The other, however, would be difficult to distinguish if not for a
common trait that is found in all of the frescos. The garments being worn go all the way
to the ankles. Only women wore these garments, while men's garments only came down to
their calves.
If these frescos are, in fact, women, we should not be surprised. Much of history also
points to women being priests in the early church. Before the Edict of Constantine in 313
AD, Christians were forced to worship in the privacy of their homes. Women were the ones
that ran things in the home. They organized the dinner and entertained the guests, and it
would only have been natural for them to celebrate mass as well. It wasn't until after
Constantine made it possible for Christians to practice in public, that Christians had
the privilege of worshipping in basilicas. Once Christianity was the official religion
under Constantine, Christians had to adapt to the culture around them and make the role
of the celebrant a male role. Soon after, four councils in one hundred years banned the
ordination of women. This is significant because if women were not being ordained priests
already, the councils would not have to ban it so many times. This is not the only proof,
however. In a church in Rome, a mosaic behind the alter depicts four women. One of these
women has a rectangular halo that sets her apart from the rest and has the words Theodora
Episcopa written next to her. Theodora would be her name and Episcopa translates into
bishop. Not far from there a tomb was found with the title Letapresbiteressa on it. Leta
is a feminine name, and if she were a priest, as the title would suggest, she would have
been the first woman priest. While the debate will undoubtedly go on for a long time to
come, the most obvious explanation for these findings is that women really were priests.
While we can always find complex and extravagant explanations for any argument, the
simplest explanation is almost always true.