The First Swallow in Springtime: Elisabeth Behr-Sigel’s Lasting Impact on the Question of Women’s Ordination

The work of Orthodox theologian Elisabeth Behr-Sigel was key to the Eastern theological tradition beginning to take seriously the question of the ordination of women. This paper explores her legacy in this area, particularly concerning her call in The Ministry of Women in the Church (St Vladimir’s Seminary, 1991: 174) for deeper theological reflection on the priesthood. By exploring recent discussions of women’s ordination, such as those offered by contributors to the volume Women and Ordination in the Orthodox Church (Gabrielle Thomas and Elena Narinskaya, editors; Cascade Books, 2020), this paper uses Behr-Sigel’s observations to consider how developments in the area of the ordination of women to the diaconate are linked to the presbyteral ordination of women. For Behr-Sigel the women’s diaconate is not an alternative to the ordination of women to the priesthood but both should be part of broader theological deliberations on the practices of the Orthodox Church.