[That Women Ought Not to Teach, Because It is Unseemly; And What Women Followed Our Lord.]

VI. We do not permit our “women to teach in the Church,”  20  1 Cor. xiv. 34. but only to pray and hear those that teach; for our Master and Lord, Jesus Himself, when He sent us the twelve to make disciples of the people and of the nations, did nowhere send out women to preach, although He did not want such. For there were with us the mother of our Lord and His sisters; also Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Martha and Mary the sisters of Lazarus; Salome, and certain others. For, had it been necessary for women to teach, He Himself had first commanded these also to instruct the people with us. For “if the head of the wife be the man,”  21  1 Cor. xi. 3. it is not reasonable that the rest of the body should govern the head. Let the widow therefore own herself to be the “altar of God,” and let her sit in her house, and not enter into the houses of the faithful, under any pretence, to receive anything; for the altar of God never runs about, but is fixed in one place. Let, therefore, the virgin and the widow be such as do not run about, or gad to the houses of those who are alien from the faith. For such as these are gadders and impudent: they do not make their feet to rest in one place, because they are not widows, but purses ready to receive, triflers, evil-speakers, counsellors of strife, without shame, impudent, who being such, are not worthy of Him that called them. For they do not come to the common station of the congregation on the Lord’s day,  22  “On the Lord’s day” not in one V. ms. as those that are watchful; but either they slumber, or trifle, or allure men, or beg, or ensnare others, bringing them to the evil one; not suffering them to be watchful in the Lord, but taking care that they go out as vain as they came in, because they do not hear the word of the Lord either taught or read. For of such as these the prophet Isaiah says: “Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxen gross,  23  Isa. vi. 9, 10.  and they hear heavily with their ears .”  24  Inserted from one V. ms.

[6] Οὐκ ἐπιτρέπομεν οὖν γυναῖκας διδάσκειν ἐν Ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἀλλὰ μόνον προσεύχεσθαι καὶ τῶν διδασκάλων ἐπακούειν. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ διδάσκαλος ἡμῶν καὶ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς ὁ Χριστὸς ἡμᾶς τοὺς δώδεκα πέμψας μαθητεῦσαι τὸν λαὸν καὶ τὰ ἔθνη, γυναῖκας οὐδαμοῦ ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς τὸ κήρυγμα, καίτοι οὐκ ἀπορῶν: συνῆν γὰρ ἡμῖν ἥ τε μήτηρ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ αἱ ἀδελφαὶ αὐτοῦ, ἔτι δὲ Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνὴ καὶ Μαρία ἡ Ἰακώβου καὶ Μάρθα καὶ Μαρία αἱ ἀδελφαὶ Λαζάρου καὶ Σαλώμη καὶ ἕτεραί τινες. Εἰ γὰρ ἦν ἀναγκαῖον γυναιξὶν διδάσκειν, αὐτὸς ἂν ἐκέλευσε πρῶτος καὶ ταύταις σὺν ἡμῖν κατηχεῖν τὸν λαόν: εἰ γὰρ κεφαλὴ γυναικὸς ὁ ἀνήρ, οὐκ ἔστιν δίκαιον τὸ λοιπὸν σῶμα τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐξάρχειν. Γνωριζέτω οὖν ἡ χήρα, ὅτι θυσιαστήριόν ἐστι Θεοῦ, καὶ καθήσθω ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ αὐτῆς, μὴ μετά τινος προφάσεως ἐν ταῖς τῶν πιστῶν οἰκίαις ἐπὶ τῷ λαμβάνειν εἰσπορευομένη: οὐδὲ γάρ ποτε τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ περιτρέχει, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ ἵδρυται. Ὑπαρχέτω οὖν καὶ ἡ παρθένος καὶ ἡ χήρα μὴ περιτροχᾶς ἢ ῥεμβομένη κατὰ τὰς τῶν ἀλλοτρίων οἰκίας: ὅτι αἱ ῥεμβοὶ καὶ ἀναιδεῖς καὶ αἱ τοιαῦται οὐχ ἡσυχάζουσιν τοὺς πόδας ἐν ἑνὶ τόπῳ διὰ τὸ μὴ χήρας, ἀλλὰ πήρας αὐτὰς ὑπάρχειν, ἑτοίμους εἰς τὸ λαμβάνειν, φλυάρους, καταλάλους, μαχοσυμβούλους, ἀναιδεῖς, ἀναισχύντους: αἵτινες τοιαῦται ὑπάρχουσαι οὐκ ἄξιαι τοῦ καλέσαντος τυγχάνουσιν. Οὐ γὰρ ἐπὶ τὸ κοινὸν τῆς συναγωγῆς ἀνάπαυμα ἐν τῇ κυριακῇ καταντῶσιν ὡς οἱ ἐγρηγορότες, ἀλλ' ἢ νυστάζουσιν ἢ φλυαροῦσιν ἢ αἰτοῦσιν ἢ ἑτέρους αἰχμαλωτίζουσιν προσάγοντες τῷ πονηρῷ, οὐκ ἐῶντες νήφειν αὐτοὺς ἐν Κυρίῳ, ἀλλὰ παρασκευάζοντες αὐτοὺς τοιούτους ἐξιέναι, οἷοι καὶ εἰσίασιν, διάκενοι διὰ τὸ μὴ ἀκούειν τῶν διδασκόντων ἢ τῶν ἀναγινωσκόντων τὸν τοῦ Κυρίου λόγον: περὶ γὰρ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ Ἡσαΐας ὁ προφήτης λέγει: «Ἀκοῇ ἀκούσετε καὶ οὐ μὴ συνῆτε, καὶ βλέποντες βλέψετε καὶ οὐ μὴ ἴδητε: ἐπαχύνθη γὰρ ἡ καρδία τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου.»