Good for you to have reminded these bigots of what the image on the Epitaphion depicts!
This notion that females are unworthy of touching a sacred object is widespread throughout the misogynistic societies of the Orthodox commonwealth and emigres import it to American parishes. We might have Protestant, Anglo-American converts who are misogynistic but I don’t know of specific examples. Misogyny is nearly universal in this fallen world and all its cultures express fear and hatred of women in various ways. The Church ought not emulate the fallenness Of human culture but rather be the place where the healing of it begins.
When leaders are weak, fearing scandal at the least appearance of controversy surrounding sex and gender in church, and not teaching the spiritual equality of all persons, the fearful and spiteful will set the tone.
And what is the issue with women and girls handling, when necessary, certain sacred liturgical objects? Where is it written that they are forbidden? I do know there are canons forbidding menstruating women from entering the temple because of the threat of imbruement, because up until very recently there was no sure way to prevent accidental leakage (and I am told there is no perfect solution), which occasion would necessitate the virtual reconsecration of the building. This notion of ritual defilement itself ‘leaks’ into ideas about women and girls. A sense of taboo and ritual uncleanness surrounds females from menarche to menopause, to greater or lesser degrees. That the sight of women presents a ‘distraction from spiritual and otherworldly compntemplation’ heard frequently among Orthodox men (on the internet) says everything I need to know about their own dirty consciences, and nothing about women themselves.
Good post (and the relevant canon regarding meat is Q.99), though one point about menstruation. While there is an element of ritual purity involved (eg, canon Dionysios.2), specifically regarding blood (and in that, it is "genderless" in application), the prohibition during menstruation extends not just to the altar/Liturgy/etc but to *all public, communal, liturgical prayer*. This is because being cut off from liturgical communion, as discussed in another thread, is not necessarily an "evil", but is first public iconography. In this case, the menstruation normally begins around the time the Birthgiver Mary became pregnant (her early teens) and ends about the time Jesus Christ was crucified (her mid 40s to early 50s, giving the usual Patristic spread of about 33–40 years old for Jesus). And blood signifies life, obviously.
So menstruation itself is iconic, not just of St Mary but also of Jesus Christ's Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection (and Ascension—menopause ends menstruation). And it forms a holy basis for partaking (not just of the flesh, but in *one's own flesh*) in a different way (not "liturgical" Eucharist) of Jesus Christ and His holy mother. Given this partaking, there is a double problem (on top of any concern about blood) of participating in a liturgy: one has already clearly partaken (liturgy would be a *2nd* communion in the same day!), and the liturgy is itself just one anamnesis, not the goal of life (putting liturgy before biology would not only break tons of other canons, but over-elevate the place of liturgy in the life of the Kingdom). Thus, in the words of St Dionysios (from his canon), this does not lay on some Jewish ritual impurity where the woman has to hide out in some form of isolation, she is rather free (as one who has partaken) to go out into the world, glorifying the Lord, and praying "at any time and in any state whatever, and petitioning to receive help". I hope that "ties things together" more clearly: the ban on menstruating woman entering the temple (even with modern hygiene products) remains fully in force, but the teaching of the Church reminds us that this (like other canon law matters) is not primarily a sin or a sickness or a problem with women but rather another unique way (helping counterbalance males being clergy) in which women serve Christ.
