Christianity, after the resurrection of Jesus went through a lot of phases before it was transmitted from Ancient Israel to Europe as the main religion. This period is generally viewed as the era of “early Christianity”. In this period, Christianity was viewed by most Romans as a sect of Judaism as such, it was criminalized with severe sanctions like torture and death for practitioners. Due to this, Christianity was practiced secretly in the underground and many women were involved in it. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the role of women in early Christianity.
During the lifetime of Jesus, there were many women who were involved in his ministry and activities. There is Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene who was a disciple and the first witness of the resurrection as well as Mary and Martha who were sisters and personal friends of Jesus Christ. Thus, the role of women was fundamental and essential from the earliest period.
As Christianity spread throughout Israel and the rest of the world. This includes some less popular figures like Joana and Susana (Luke 8: 1- 3) who were linked to top leaders and rulers of their lifetime. This is emphasized by Paul in his letters where he acknowledged the centrality of the role of women in Christianity in the first Century (Romans 16: 3, 7, 15). Many Apostles were women. Although the Bible focuses more on the male Apostles, women were playing central roles in spreading Christianity in different ways and forms.
Paul converted many people which is documented without much detail. However, it is apparent that most of the people who were baptized and brought into Christianity by Paul were women. It is logical to infer that those who were converted lived in communities where more women were converted and were playing different roles in promoting Christianity.
There is a famous woman, Thecla who was converted by Paul in the first Century, she was a virgin woman who played a leading role in the promotion and expansion of the Church. She cut her hair and dressed like a man to take up tasks as a Christian man. Thecla is reported to have taken a serious interest in the teachings of Paul and was sentenced to punishment for the decision to remain faithful to the teachings of Jesus. Hence, she was sentenced to death with Paul but was saved by miracles. Thecla is said to have followed Paul to Antioch to undertake Christian activities. However, the emperor took interest in her but she chose chastity and did not accept the advances. She was again arrested and sentenced to be eaten by a wild beast and was saved through a series of miracles. The actions of Thecla formed the basis for promoting chastity amongst Christian women and this helped in instituting chastity amongst Roman sisters when the Catholic Church was founded.
Other evidence shows that widows took up roles as leaders of ministries and they played leading roles in spiritual activities. This is because there were various forms of activities that these women undertook. This was a time where the Roman Empire had officially declared Christianity an illegal activity. Christianity in its first two centuries was more like a sect of Jewish religion than a separate religion as we might view it today. And since Judaism and the religion of Ancient Israel encouraged the disobedience of Romans and the return to Israel to establish a Temple to practice Judaism, it was generally viewed as a tool for disorder in the Roman Empire. Hence, the Romans took steps to limit the expansion and growth of Christianity.
The attacks and criminalization of Christianity became institutionalized after the death of Paul, in the second century of Christianity. This is mainly due to the large number of people who had converted to Christianity and were practicing Christianity in various ways and forms around the Roman Empire. Thus, the Church had to be very secretive and private. Many of the leading figures in Christianity at that time were women. There were deacons and priests who were ordained secretly and many of them were women. They were killed in large numbers in crackdowns.
One of the victims of Christianity in the second Century was Perpetua, who was a wealthy matron from a wealthy family. Perpetua lived in Carthage, a Roman city in North Africa. She adopted Christianity which was something her father did not approve of. However, she did not do anything to change her beliefs.
The Roman Emperor, Spetimius Severus issued a decree to Carthage forbidding the conversion to Christianity and Judaism. In line with this, Perpetua who was known to have converted to Christianity was arrested and put in prison. In prison, her father offered to pay for her to be given a dignified treatment but she refused. At that time, she was nursing a baby and could have been moved to a more comfortable aspect of the prison. However, she turned it down. In prison, Perpetua had a vision of her impending death and she shared it and did not attempt to change her faith.
Eventually, Perpetua was killed for her faith and she was considered a martyr. By her side in the same prison was Felicity. Unlike Perpetua, Felicity was a slave woman. She was pregnant at the time of her arrest for conversion to Christianity. She refused to recant her faith and was killed for it. The life of Perpetua and Felicity describe the life of women in the early years of Christianity. In the most difficult time, the Romans rounded up and killed many Christian women without making any distinction.
The deaths were usually designed to be a form of torture or entertainment and deterrence. This is because most of the Christian women were asked to recant. And if they refused, they were made to die in a slow and painful manner as punishment and also to discourage other secret Christians. This was often done in packed stadiums before thousands of people.
However, at the end of the second Century of Christianity, a new generation of women arose who laid the foundation for the establishment and consolidation of Christianity. This include the likes of Helena and Saint Monica. Saint Monica was a woman who secretly converted to Christianity. She had a son, Augustine of Hippo who became very religious and laid the foundations for the formulation of early Christian philosophy which institutionalized it in the 4th Century. This shows that women were the people who preserved the teachings of Christianity and taught it secretly to their children.
The woman who changed the cause of Christianity in the Early Church was Helena. She converted to Christianity secretly and learnt its values and principles. Helena taught the principles of Christianity to her son, Constantine. Constantine grew up and later became the Emperor of the Roman Empire. Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire when he became emperor. This is how Christianity moved from being a secret religion to a state religion. The philosophy of Augustine of Hippo and others became the main religion of the empire.
In conclusion, Christianity in the first three centuries was an outlawed religion. Women played a major role in promoting and observing its principles in secret. The Romans passed laws against secret observances of Christianity. And this led to the execution of many Christians. Since many women were involved in Christianity, some like Perpetua and Felicity were executed. However, the secret practice of Christianity amongst women continued. It is the generation of women of the late 2nd Century that trained their children who institutionalized Christianity when they became influential adults of the Roman Empire.
Works Cited
Falhbusch, Erwin. The Encyclopedia of Christianity. New York: WMB Eerdmans Publishing, 2013. Print.
King, Karen. Women In Ancient Christianity: The New Discoveries. 2014. Web. 10 February 2016.
Seim, Turid Karlsen. The Double Message. New York: A & C Publising, 2014. Print.
