Vestal Virgins And Religious Orders

[Darky]

Some evangelist friends upon discovering my interest in a religious life raised this opposition against the idea. [i]Vestal Virgins[/i]. They referred to the quote from this website:

"While the Pontifex Maximus continues to the present day as an office of the higher order in the Catholic Church, the order of the vestals was disbanded in 394 AD, when non-Christian cults were banned by Theodosius. The Church, wisely trying to keep the general population with a sense of familiarity, readily adopted the use of convents and position of nuns that held many of the same rules and customs as the Vestals."

[url="http://www.unrv.com/culture/vestal-virgins.php"]http://www.unrv.com/culture/vestal-virgins.php[/url]

Anyone have any idea how Vestal Virgins are related to the Religious life and what I can say in response to this quote? Thanks

Darky

[Thy Geekdom Come]

1. The Hebrew tradition before Christianity already had consecrated virgins (the Essenes, for instance, a group to which many scholars believe St. John the Baptist may have belonged, were a group of celibate males similar to Christian monks).

2. St. Paul says that virginity is a holy sacrifice and that he wishes all would be celibate like him (1 Cor 7:8).

3. The first women religious in the Church were the widows of the New Testament. There are many references to them, but it's clear from 1 Tim 5 that they did not marry again and were living in community. It's also clear from 1 Tim 5:9 that they were somehow officially "enrolled," i.e. that there was some way they were an official group of women religious.

4. Matthew 19:12 tells us that some are eunuchs (we don't take this so much literally as we do in the sense of celibacy) for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Jesus seems to give His approval to religious life.

That having been said, a real understanding of the development of religious orders is helpful. First, almost all world religions have a special place for virgins set aside for some purpose. That having been said, the Christian purpose is much more dignified than the pagan purpose (which included everything from seers to sacrifices). Christian virgins are called to enter in this life into the spiritual marriage to Christ which we will all enjoy in heaven. Christian consecrated life has a long history of people running from society, indeed running from paganism, to be with Christ. While we should not consider religious life an absolute refuge from temptation (so as not to give the impression that those living in community do not sin), we need to acknowledge that this is precisely the opposite of the intention involved with Vestal Virgins and the like (in fact, it is recorded in mythology that some vestal virgins became objects of affection for the gods; their virginity seems to have been in some way to add a sense of temptation and titillation to pagan devotion).

Anyway, the Scriptures show us that Christianity had consecrated virgins and widows long before the fall of paganism and the intention behind it is entirely different. Intention isn't everything, but sometimes it makes all the difference in the world.

God bless,

Micah