Bonnie Michal

Bonnie Michal

Bonnie grew up in a small parish in rural Washington State that did not have a priest until she was in high school. Every Sunday the members of the parish had a reader's service, singing the Carpatho-Russian melodies that her grandmother had brought from the old country. Bonnie's grandmother had a profound influence on her life, especially in imparting her love for the Church. Bonnie stood by her side at the chanter's stand and learned to lead the congregation in singing. Later, she moved to Seattle and became a member of an OCA parish. She participated in the services as a reader in Church Slavonic and English and as a member of the choir.

One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house, and took his place at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was at table in the Pharisee's house, bought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

This unique collection of essays provides the rare opportunity to read about recent work being done on women in various religious traditions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. While the collection taken as a whole points up many of the similarities of the roles that women play in Eastern and Western religions, the primary focus of the majority of articles in the collection is on the historical role of women in Eastern Christian traditions.

The World Council of Churches celebrated its jubilee anniversary at the eighth assembly, held this past December in Harare, Zimbabwe. The theme of the assembly was “Turn to God—Rejoice in Hope.” Members of the WOMEN’s network and the St. Nina Quarterly board were invited to participate in the padare—a forum for dialogue that ran concurrently with the assembly.

At the Last Judgment I will not be asked whether I satisfactorily practiced asceticism, nor how many bows I have made before the divine altar. I will be asked whether I fed the hungry, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and the prisoner in his jail. That is all I will be asked.¹

Mother Maria Skobtsova did not live what one usually thinks of as the ideal monastic life of constant prayer in quiet solitude. Even after she was tonsured a nun she lived and was active “in the world.”