Our Venerable Father Cyriacus the Anchorite (c. 448-556)
Ephesians 5:20-26; Luke 3:23-4:1
Read Ephesians 5:20-26
Most brides-to-be, upon reading the epistle reading from the Order of Crowning, the first part of which is the appointed epistle for today, are immediately resistant and defensive. Hearing the line “wives be submissive to your husbands” makes their minds wander into images of a dystopian, handmaid’s tale society where women are second class citizens who are subservient to their husbands.
This understanding misses the hermeneutic key of today’s reading which we find in verse 21: “Submit to one another in the fear of God.” The submission that St. Paul speaks of is 1) mutual, not exclusive and 2) is done out of love, not oppression. Both husband and wife are called to submit to one another in loving care and mutual service for the other’s needs.
Submission is a love that is willing to inconvenience itself for the other. Submission is being concerned not with one’s own joy or happiness but with the joy and happiness of the other. Submission is living for and loving the other before yourself. Submission is confirming oneself to Christ who gave Himself for the life of the world.