Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 19:1 (Winter 2005)
Article: Cloistered Redemption: Exploring the Effects of Asceticism on Women in the Fourth Century
Author: Michal Beth Dinkler

PP 19:1 (Winter 2005) p. 8

Cloistered Redemption: Exploring the Effects of Asceticism on Women in the Fourth Century

Michal Beth Dinkler

Michal Beth Dinkler is Adjunct Professor of English at Salem State College. Her Master’s Degree is in English from Stanford University. She is pursuing a Master of Divinity degree at Gordon-Conwell Seminary and is Editorial Associate for Priscilla Papers.

When Constantine became Emperor at the start of the fourth century, the entire course of Christian history changed. Under the leadership of prior Emperors Decius and Diocletian in the third century, Christians endured great persecution and thousands were martyred for their faith. However, following Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in ad 312, the Church and State became completely enmeshed. Because persecution ended, the ardent faith manifested by the martyrs waned, and, accordingly, the number of nominal Christians drastically increased. One ramification was that, in the fourth century, monasticism and its associated asceticism flourished, as Christian believers attempted to distinguish themselves in devoted service to Christ.

During this time, the bishop became the undisputed leader of a rigid organizational hierarchy. Hence, Cyprian argues that “the bishop is in the Church and the Church in the bishop, and that if any one be not with the bishop he is not with the Church.”1 By the fourth century, restrictions on women were being proposed by some male leaders.2

As the Church’s new political status gave rise to monasticism, so the monastic movement influenced Christian doctrine in several key areas, one of which is the Church’s view of women.3 According to the Church Fathers, the monastic life for women was positive because it ensured their virginity and protected men from temptation. In truth, we find that, for women, the greater benefits of monasticism were that such a setting afforded them freedom, education, and leadership that they otherwise would have been denied.

According to the Church Fathers: Redemption through Virginity

Many of the Church Fathers viewed a life of virginity as the highest form of spiritual purity; chastity came to be seen as inextricably linked with a life of holiness. As early as the second century, Athenagoras commended those men and women who had “grown to old age unmarried” and concluded that “to remain virgins and eunuchs brings us closer to God.”4 Even women who were already married were enjoined to remain celibate.5