NOTES for Co1 11:1-16

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.

The apostle Paul takes upon himself the true responsibility of a Christian, a calling actually given to everyone, though in different forms: to be Christ's presence in this world, to be a witness. Each of us is called to witness to Christ by our life in such a way that, looking at us, people not only see Christ and can come to believe, but also know how to act. This is a fearful responsibility, but all things are possible with God. None of us can be a witness always. But every believer in Christ is sometimes given the chance to become a witness, to reveal Christ to someone, not always even consciously. Sometimes our almost accidental word, gesture, or smile saves a person, and in them he meets God.

But who is a witness? One who has seen for himself. This does not mean that we necessarily must see Christ; the apostle Paul did not see Jesus, but went blind when he met Him on the road to Damascus. Yet one does not even have to be blinded by a vision. What is necessary is an Encounter. We cannot witness to One whom we do not know, whom we have not met ourselves, personally. If we want to fulfill our calling to be witnesses, to imitate Christ, we must ask all the time for the Encounter. But we must be ready for the fact that God wants, perhaps, to reveal Himself to us through some person. The inhabitants of Corinth, for example, met Him in the apostle Paul; they took their bearings from him, they watched him. This was not idolatry; they simply saw the image of God in the apostle Paul. If we are attentive to the people around us, we may meet Christ more quickly than if we wait for signs and visions from God.

Reading these words of Paul, one involuntarily comes to the conclusion that cultural and everyday norms were relative even in antiquity. For a Roman, long hair and a beard were indeed either buffoonery or a sign of barbarism.

For a Greek, however, everything was the other way around, and for a Jew as well, which Paul himself was: in those times it was practically impossible to imagine a Jew without a beard, unless, of course, he was striving to assimilate completely and even look outwardly like a Roman. And long hair, from the point of view of a Greek or a Jew, could often adorn a man: the traditional short Roman haircut was not popular with either group. And to hear from a Jew that it is shameful for a man to pray with his head covered is paradoxical irony altogether.

Obviously, Paul here appeals chiefly to Roman manners and customs, although prayer with uncovered head is a Greek custom: Romans, like Jews, covered their heads with a special covering during prayer. One can only wonder why, in the church of Corinth, which was by no means Italian, Roman cultural norms had become so widespread that Paul considers it possible to refer chiefly to them. But there is also in the apostle's reasoning something that goes beyond cultural and everyday conventions. Thus, his words that the head of a man is Christ, the head of a woman is man, and the head of Christ is God obviously go beyond a specific cultural tradition or everyday order. Paul builds a kind of hierarchy of relationships among people, of people with Christ, and of Christ with God.

At the same time he refers to the Torah, to the account of the creation of the human being, where it is said of the woman that she was "taken from man." Yet the Torah, speaking of the creation of the human being, by no means presupposes relations of command and subordination between man and woman in the sense these relations acquired in the fallen world. In a world not yet corrupted by evil, such relations resembled those proper to the Kingdom: there the chief one is the one who is ready first of all to take service upon himself and responsibility for it.

And in a community consisting of men and women, Paul, as we can see, lays the primary responsibility for relationships with Christ precisely on the men, who answer before Him both for themselves and for their sisters. Of course, such responsibility in no way excludes the possibility of full communion with God and fellowship with Christ for a woman; by definition there can be no question of any "mediation" of relations with God in Christianity. But when the matter concerns common life and the corresponding decisions, responsibility for them falls first of all precisely on men, as the apostle calls us to remember.