Main news for 31 July 2025

Returning to the theme of relationships among the inhabitants of the Kingdom, Paul turns to a question that, at first glance, has no fundamental significance: why a woman in the church assembly should cover her head. It would seem that this concerns only a very specific cultural norm of a very specific era, one that in fact had meaning only there and then, where and when that norm was relevant. In the Greco-Roman world of Gospel times, only women of loose conduct went about with uncovered heads, and for a mother of a household to appear in public in such a state was a disgrace.

Of course, it was not this way everywhere and always. But Paul in his letter does not appeal only to a cultural norm. He begins by stating the fact that in Christian marriage there exists a very real hierarchy, at the head of which stands God Himself, followed by the Savior, the husband as head of the family, and finally the wife (v. 3). And for the apostle, the wife's covered head turns out to be nothing other than a sign of recognition of this hierarchy (v. 10). It becomes relevant above all in church life, when the matter concerns prayer and prophecy, which is not surprising: here a Christian manifests himself to the greatest degree precisely as an inhabitant of the Kingdom (vv. 4-6).

It would seem that when the matter concerns prayer or prophecy, where the personal relationship of a particular person with God comes to the foreground, any hierarchy should lose its relevance. But Paul, on the contrary, speaks of its fundamental importance for the Kingdom, including its importance in the context of that ministry which, at first glance, does not presuppose any hierarchy, remaining deeply and exclusively personal (vv. 7-9). This is not surprising if we remember that for the apostle, the Church is above all a community of people living in the Kingdom, and he views the family as a small church. In a community, all the relationships connecting people with one another are significant. Their significance remains even when a person is alone with God.

And if these relationships are hierarchical, then their hierarchy also turns out to be significant for God and important for the Kingdom. Such a hierarchy is no longer something imposed from outside; it becomes an organic part of the community of the Kingdom, forming its structure. Of course, every such structure turns out, to use philosophical language, to be functional rather than ontological, and Paul immediately warns of this (vv. 11-12). It is not connected with some of those who belong to it being worse or better than others by nature or in their spiritual qualities. The issue is only that the family, as a small church, should fulfill its ministry and bear witness to the Kingdom in the best way. Just as the divinity of the Savior is in no way lower than the divinity of the Father, which nevertheless does not abolish a certain hierarchy connected with the ministry of the Messiah entrusted to Him by God, so the wife is not lower than the husband either by nature or by spirit. But the ministry of the family as a small church requires from both of them a definite place in the family hierarchy, a hierarchy without which the members of a Christian family will not be able to become true witnesses of the Kingdom.

Apostle Paul takes the genuine responsibility of a Christian, the call, that is given in reality to everyone, although in various forms: be the presence of the Christ in this world, be a witness. Each of us is called to witness Christ by his life, in a way that when looking at us, people see not only the Christ and can believe, but that they also know, how to act.

It is a terrible responsibility, but everything is possible to God. No one can be witness for ever. But every believer in Christ sometimes succeeds in becoming witness, in showing the Christ to somebody else, even if it isn’t always consciously. Sometimes our almost inadvertently said word, our gesture, smile save the man, and he sees in them God.

But who is a witness? The one who saw himself. It does not mean that we necessarily have to see the Christ, Apostle Paul did not see Jesus, he became blind, having met Him on the road leading to Damascus. But you should not be necessarily so filled by a vision. A Meeting is necessary. We cannot witness someone we don’t know, with whom we did not meet personally.

If we want to execute our vocation to be witnesses, to imitate the Christ, then we have to ask all the time for the Meeting. But we must be ready for what God wants; maybe He wants to open us through another person. The inhabitants of Corinth met Him for example through Apostle Paul, they oriented on him, looked at him. It was not idolization; they simply saw the image of God in Apostle Paul. If we shall be attentive to people who surround us, then we shall maybe meet Jesus Christ faster than if we will be waiting for signs and visions from God.