Opening Ceremony Remarks by His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France

Distinguished Participants,

Honorable Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure and honor to join my voice to Professor Karam’s and Rev. Niwano’s, and to welcome you all to this crucial conference, the fruit of a wonderful partnership between Religions for Peace and Ring for Peace. I wish to commend the organizers, panelists and participants for their hard work and commitment to a cause that goes beyond our religious affiliations, that of articulating faith and leadership in relation to the role of women in the world.

As you know, the Orthodox Church is too often considered conservative when it comes to women’s leadership. This outlook comes from a misinterpretation of what the Church is by essence: a living tradition inspired by the work and action of the Holy Spirit. Because the tradition is alive and because our communities are not museums celebrating an imaginary past, paralyzed by the fear of change and engagement with the world, the Orthodox Church wish to contribute to this important conversation, especially by acknowledging and creating in collaboration with other faith-based organizations a space for women’s voice and global leadership. A very characteristic example of the importance of women in religion, is that in Christianity, Virgin Mary played a key role in the divine plan of incarnation for the salvation of the human kind.

The role of women is biblically safeguarded and, as evidenced by the history of the Church, women, in different ways in each society, offer a testimony of “hope within us” (1 Peter 3:15). Women’s personal talents sustain the life of our communities through their deep faith, their liturgical prayer and sacrificial spirit. Wherever or whenever there is a need, they are present, active, effective, serving selflessly, contributing to family cohesion, cultivating faith values, involved in many activities and leadership positions within faith-based organizations, and, more broadly, in the world of diplomacy.

Women are key to reforming leadership and promoting new models, such as the model of servant stewardship, that our world needs so desperately. I believe there can be no leadership without service or stewardship. You cannot lead effectively if your own house is not in order. Scriptural tradition teaches us that Ὁ οἰκονόμος refers to the state of “son-ship” and “servant-hood,” and more than the simple act of ownership or control. This meaning is particularly significant in St. Peter’s First Letter when he writes: “As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards (ὡς καλοὶ οἰκονόμοι) of God’s varied grace.” (1 Peter 4:10)

Leadership is a gift to men and women alike, a learning process, and the desire to learn more is a prerequisite of successful leadership. Learning and leading are both meant to build bridges, to connect people, to create relationships as we move forward with our projects and missions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,

To nourish our reflection, I also encourage all of us to examine a very timely document that was just published with the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, entitled For the Life of the World: Towards a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church. In this document, we read:

“All the paths of adulthood are open equally to every individual, and in each the Orthodox Church affirms the full equality and dignity of each human person created in the image and likeness of God. While the Church acknowledges that men and women have different life experiences, and incarnate human nature in distinct fashions, it must reject any suggestion that one surpasses the other in spiritual dignity. As St. Basil noted of men and women: ‘The natures are alike of equal honor, the virtues are equal, the struggle equal, the judgment alike’.” (par.29)

Thank you for your kind attention!