Kobiety w misji ewangelizacyjnej pierwotnej wspólnoty chrześcijańskiej
Women in the Evangelising Mission of the Early Christian Community

Summary/Abstract: The position of women in the nascent early Church was shaped by the teaching of the Gospel and the cultural and social environment of the Middle East. When building the original community of faith, Jesus relied on the symbolic group of the twelve apostles, but the group of disciples was also accompanied by women who became the first her- alds of his resurrection. Early Christianity overcame the social and cultural divisions of the time. Baptism opened the way of salvation for everyone in the same way. For both slave and free man, Jew and pagan, woman and man, entry into the community of the Church was identical. In the early Church, women complemented the evange- lizing mission of men through the institution of widows, the ministry of deacons, and the administration of the domestic church. To some extent, the Church’s mission was facilitated by the changes taking place in Greco-Roman society. The emerging materi- al independence of women also allowed them to become more involved in the mission of the Church. A bridge to a new role for women in the early Church may have been the Essene community perhaps modeled on the Pythagorean movement. Most likely, the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus was shaped around a great love of studying sacred texts, which enabled women to learn more about the theological reflection of the time. The Church gave a new meaning to the idea of virginity, which opened to relationships with God and service in the community. Unfortunately, both Pharisaic Judaism and the increasing influence of Gnostic movements led to the limitation of the position of women in some circles of the early Church. Nevertheless, the early Church introduced women to many evangelistic missions, particularly in the fields of teaching, ministry of charity and prayer.

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