Elisabeth Behr-Sigel
(1907-2005), a convert to Orthodoxy in her early twenties and a central figure
of Orthodox theology among Russian emigres in Paris, first began to reflect on
the question of women in the priesthood in 1976. Initially supporting the
general consensus that priesthood would be impossible for the Orthodox, she
came to retract this view, finding a basis for female ordination in women's
distinct spiritual charisms. Behr-Sigel later shifted the foundation of her
case to personhood, inspired by the work of fellow Orthodox theologian Vladimir
Lossky, and...

Elisabeth Behr-Sigel (1907-2005), a convert to Orthodoxy in her early twenties and a central figure of Orthodox theology among Russian emigres in Paris, first began to reflect on the question of women in the priesthood in 1976. Initially supporting the general consensus that priesthood would be impossible for the Orthodox, she came to retract this view, finding a basis for female ordination in women's distinct spiritual charisms. Behr-Sigel later shifted the foundation of her case to personhood, inspired by the work of fellow Orthodox theologian Vladimir Lossky, and arrived at the...