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Saint King Tamar and the Mystery of the Side: God’s Design for Men and Women

4/26/2026

by Michelle Brown

In the rich history of the Orthodox Church, few figures shine as brightly as Saint Tamar, often called “King Tamar” of Georgia. Born in 1166, at the tender age of 12, Tamar was proclaimed co-ruler with her father, King George III. At the age of just 18, upon his death in 1184, she ascended as the sole sovereign of Georgia and ruled until 1213. Uniquely titled “mepe” (King) in Georgian, she exercised full royal authority during what became known as Georgia’s Golden Age. Her father had included bestowing this specific title on her in his last will and testament to insure her authority was not diminished because of her gender. Tamar’s reign was marked by both spiritual depth and worldly success.

Facing repeated Muslim invasions, she led her armies to decisive victories at Shamkori in 1195 and Basiani around 1204. Yet her greatest strength was not military might but profound piety. She prayed barefoot before icons of the Theotokos, lived ascetically with night vigils and fasting while her army fought in battle, founded monasteries such as the famous rock-hewn complex at Vardzia, and built numerous churches. Known for her mercy, she abolished the death penalty and torture. Humble and generous, despite her position as Georgia’s ruler, she personally cared for the poor and supported Orthodox institutions across the Christian world. Exhausted by her ascetic labors, she reposed peacefully in 1213 and is commemorated as a saint on May 1.

This extraordinary rule of a woman as “King” was celebrated in Georgian culture through the national epic The Knight in the Panther’s Skin by the poet Shota Rustaveli, a contemporary of Tamar. In it, Rustaveli famously wrote (in paraphrase): “It doesn’t matter if it’s the lion or the lioness — they are both lions.” The original Georgian line refers to lion cubs being equal whether male or female. The lion has long symbolized royalty, courage, and sovereignty in Georgia. By using this metaphor for Tamar, Rustaveli affirmed that a female ruler was not lesser or anomalous but fully possessed the same noble essence and right to rule as a male king. A lioness does not need to become a lion to be regal; she is already a lion in her own right. This cultural expression beautifully captures the medieval Georgian confidence that leadership, virtue, and royal dignity belong equally to both sexes without erasing the natural distinction between lion and lioness. It reflects a deep cultural respect for women of capability and strength, embodied supremely in Saint Tamar herself.

Saint Tamar’s extraordinary life beautifully illustrates the Orthodox Church’s vision of men and women. The Church teaches that both are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:27) and are equal in dignity and capacity for holiness, as Galatians 3:28 affirms.

Yet this equality exists within a framework of complementarity and mutual submission. This vision is rooted deeply in the creation account of Genesis 2. Many are familiar with the English translation that God took one of Adam’s “ribs” to form Eve. However, the Hebrew word used is tsela (צֵלָע). In nearly every other occurrence in Scripture, tsela means “side,” as in the side of the Tabernacle (Exodus 25:12, 26:26), a hill, or a building. Ancient Jewish commentators, including those in the Talmud (Berakhot 61a) and Rashi on Genesis 2:21, understand this as God taking a “side” of the first human being. In Georgian tradition, this “side” is better understand as “half” of humanity. Rather than forming Eve from dust like the animals, God built her from Adam’s own side.

This act underscores profound equality and unity: woman is not subordinate or secondary but formed from the same substance as man. Adam’s joyful declaration, “bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23), recognizes this shared nature. The imagery suggests that humanity was divided into two complementary halves, masculine and feminine, designed to stand side by side as partners. They are not fully complete without one another, coming together in the “one flesh” union of marriage (Genesis 2:24). Orthodox tradition echoes this reading. The Fathers, including Saint John Chrysostom, emphasize that Eve’s creation from the side shows equality, not hierarchy of worth.

This understanding of complementarity leads directly to the Church’s teaching on mutual submission between the genders. Ephesians 5:21 sets the foundation for all Christian relationships: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” What follows spells out how that mutuality looks in marriage. Wives are called to submit to husbands as the Church submits to Christ, while husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her. Christ demonstrates the ultimate example of self-giving love by voluntarily emptying Himself of exercising His rightful divine authority and choosing to lay down His life for the Church. This ordered relationship reflects the life of the Holy Trinity itself.

Saint Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:3 that “the head of Christ is God.” Christ possesses full divine authority and equality with the Father yet willingly submits to Him in love and in the economy of salvation. This submission does not diminish His divinity or worth. It reveals perfect, self-emptying love. Likewise, a wife’s submission to her husband is not inferiority or servitude but a free, Christ-like gift.

A husband’s headship is never domination. It is sacrificial, self-giving love that lays down his life for his wife. Both spouses submit to one another, wives in respectful obedience and husbands in self-sacrificial service, within an ordered complementarity that images the Trinity and the mystery of Christ and the Church. Saint King Tamar embodied this balance. She ruled with kingly wisdom and courage while living in total submission to God and the Church. In her we see the calling of both masculinity and feminity: equal in dignity, complementary in calling, and united in mutual, Christ-like submission for the glory of God.

Some Christian traditions, particularly within certain strands of fundamentalism, have misunderstood this ordered relationship. They have interpreted headship as a demand that men “rule” their wives in every way, often leading husbands and wives to feel forced to betray their God-given gifts and abilities. Wives with leadership talents or professional callings may suppress them to fit a rigid paradigm of constant subordination. Husbands may feel pressured to dominate rather than serve sacrificially. This distortion turns complementarity into oppression and equality into hierarchy of worth. It ignores the mutual submission commanded in Ephesians 5:21 and the self-emptying example of Christ.

Orthodoxy paves the Royal Path, the balanced middle way, between modern feminism and such fundamentalism. Modern feminism often seeks to erase all distinctions between men and women, treating complementarity as outdated and roles as interchangeable. It can deny the beauty of distinct vocations and the ordered relationships rooted in Scripture and Tradition.

Fundamentalism, on the other hand, can exaggerate hierarchy into domination and suppress the full flourishing of both genders. Orthodoxy honors both men and women equally in dignity while affirming that they have different roles. Men and women are equal but not identical. For example, women cannot offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist because the priesthood is a male vocation that images Christ the Bridegroom. Men cannot offer the sacrifice of bringing life into the world and the Church through the unique gift of motherhood. These distinct roles are of equal importance in bringing Life in to the Church and are not limitations but sacred callings that allow each to reflect different aspects of the divine image.

In this Royal Path, both genders flourish fully when they embrace their equality in Christ and their complementary vocations in mutual submission.

Saint King Tamar shows us that a woman can exercise profound authority and leadership while living in humble obedience to God. Men and women together, side by side as in the original creation, build up the Church and the kingdom. In a world that swings between erasing differences and enforcing rigid dominance, the Orthodox vision offers true freedom. It calls us back to Genesis, to the side of Adam and the side of Christ, and to lives of mutual, loving submission that mirror the life of the Trinity.

May Saint King Tamar intercede for us as we seek to live this beautiful mystery in our homes, our parishes, and our world.

For more about Saint King Tamar, you may find THIS article a helpful start.

For more about gender in Orthodoxy, I can't recommend Zac Porcu's podcast series on Feminism and Femininty enough! You can find all of the series recordings on his Substack HERE. He is a catechist at Father Josiah Trenham's parish, St. Andrew in Riverside, CA.

On Head Covering at St. Andrew’s

4/21/2026

by Hannah Harney

Christ Is Risen! Some questions about head covering for women recently came up and we’d like to briefly address it here. It is a big and very interesting topic, however, and if you’d like to know more, I will link a few articles at the bottom.

The first question about head covering specifically at St. Andrew’s was “Is it required for women to cover their heads?” and the answer is No. Head covering is a pious custom which is given to us not in an oppressive dominating way but as a gift. As with all pious customs and practices, it reveals to us a deeper spiritual reality that aids us on our journey towards Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven. So while we don’t see it as a requirement it is encouraged to practice it symbolically with that spiritual reality in mind.

Which begs the second question – Why? What is that spiritual reality that is revealed through the act of covering our head? We have these answers in St. Paul’s epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 11. Although, it is by no means an easy answer I will try to give you the bullet points and encourage you to look deeper into this and read what some have written very eloquently about.

+ The distinction of Men and Women. While it was revolutionary for women in the 1st century to participate in worship in an equal capacity with men, both praying and prophesying, St. Paul in this chapter is directly refuting the prevailing centuries old teaching of Plato that since men and women share the same nature, there is no real distinction between them and no reason why they should not perform the same functions. St. Paul in a tongue and cheek way teaches us that there is equal glory in Manliness and Womanliness but that their glory is in their distinctiveness and the roles cannot simply be exchanged. To give up one’s glory does not grant him or her the glory of the other, it just relinquishes the glory that is inherent to them. St. Paul also uses the reality of the distinction between men and women which he states is found in nature to reveal the distinction of the two persons of the Trinity, Father and Son. Though they share one Divine essence and nature, they are two distinct persons. The Son is equal in divinity with the Father and is begotten of (comes from) the Father is willingly subject to the Father.

+ “A woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head for the sake of the Angels.” This one is a little more complicated. The word for authority used here is “exousia” and is the same word St. John used in his Gospel when he said, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (exousia) to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” So, this head covering is a vestment prescribed for all women as a symbol of her right to be called a child of God! And the Angels? They are present in the service and we mystically represent them. The defining characteristic of the Angels is their obedience and reverence before God. The cherubic hymn for Holy Saturday says, “The many eyed cherubim and six-winged seraphim cover their faces while they sing the thrice holy hymn.” St. John Chrysostom relates women to the angelic powers when they cover their heads. He says it induces them to look down in humility and be ashamed. Not ashamed of being women, but ashamed before the Awesome Holiness of God! This particular symbol is paradoxically both a sign of right and authority and of submission and humility.

+ For the sake of Angels and Genesis 6. Tertullian of Carthage connects St. Paul’s teaching to Genesis 6 in which the Sons of God (angels) were tempted by the daughters of men and fell. So this gesture of modesty further acknowledges the presence of angels in our worship and our desire not to disrupt them by co-mingling reverent worship and impropriety.

+ Finally: Because of Tradition. It has been the Tradition of the Church since her foundation that women cover their heads and in almost every culture at every time it has served as a form of modesty. It was even the custom in the western world that women wore some sort of hat or covering at all times until as recently as the 20th century. But the 1900s brought a new age of enlightenment and notions of modesty, reverence for holy places, and eventually gender distinctions were gradually cast aside. But the Orthodox church does not have a practice of changing her profound symbolism or traditions to suit the ideologies of the times. St. Paul said in this chapter and St. John Chrysostom paraphrased that “To oppose this teaching is contentiousness, which is irrational. The Corinthians might object, but if they do so, they are going against the practice of the Universal Church.” To him, women not keeping this practice because of cultural norms or modern sensibilities would be as wrong as Priests not wearing their prescribed vestments for the same reasons. Our Clergy have not forsaken the deeply symbolic vestments, each holding their own meaning from the cuffs to the omophorion, for more comfortable or fashionable alternatives.

I hope this brief explanation inspires you to consider this practice, whether you wear a veil or scarf or not. Or if you’re a man wondering why someone told you to remove your hat when you come into the Church! But most importantly, I hope that this inspires you to ask questions about other seemingly foreign or obscure practices. You might just find a treasury of spiritual reality hidden just under the surface.

https://www.saintjohnchurch.org/head-coverings-ultimate-guide/

http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/headcoverings.aspx#:~:text=Fr.,%E2%80%9CI%20am%E2%80%9D%20reflected%20outwardly.
https://orthochristian.com/148078.html

The True Nature of Fasting ebook

2/10/2025

Click on the image below to open the ebook

PROSPHORA MAKING INSTRUCTIONs

12/23/2024

Today, we were blessed to have our sister-in-Christ, Georgia, teach us how she was taught by Bishop James (of Holy Virgin Cathedral in San Francisco) to make Holy Prosphora. She estimates she has now been making it for near 20 years! Thank you Georgia for your love and wisdom!

Georgia has carefully reviewed these instructions for accuracy and Fr. George has blessed sharing them here so that everyone has the same recipe and instructions.

These instructions are intended to be used by people with some bread baking experience or who attended the workshop with Georgia, so if you're unsure, please feel free to ask one of the lady's in the parish who attended the workshop for help!

This recipe makes about 6 loaves of prosphera that fit a 6” seal

Dough Ingredients:

18 c flour (King Arthur's All-Purpose Flour should be at least half of the total flour, but could be used for all of it)
1/2 tsp active yeast (NOT instant yeast)
3 1/2 c boiling water
1 1/2 c cold water
1/2 tsp salt

Proof yeast with 1/2 tsp sugar and 2 T flour and 1 1/4 c hot water

Put 3 1/2 c boiling water (makes the dough less crumby) plus 7 c flour plus all the salt in the mixer and mix until it looks like this:

Then, gradually add the rest of the flour and an additional 1 1/2 c cold water and let it cool before adding the yeast. Mix again once proofed yeast is added and transfer to a silicone mat or countertop. Knead the dough briefly into uniform ball.

Cover and put in warm oven for 1 hour for first rise.

Remove about 1/3 of the dough and add about 1/2 c of flour per 1/3 of dough and knead dough until the flour is well incorporated and dough is smooth and uniform.

Separate dough in to 6 sections. Separate each section in to halves for a top and a bottom.

Add more flour to the tops than the bottoms to give the tops a stiffer consistency. Knead again into balls then roll out the halves to about 3/4” thickness.

Seal should be applied to the tops like this:

Using the bottom of a large coffee can (with the bottom cut out) to trim the rounds like this:

Smooth the edges and shrink the top like this:

Place the bottom on the parchment lined baking sheet and paint warm water on to the bottom in the name of the Trinity and stack the top on it. Gently press down on the top to insure there are no bubbles between the layers. Pierce with large needle dipped in water like this:

Cover and let assembled discs rise again for about an hour in a warm oven.

Bake at 250 degrees for about 90 minutes or until the dough is amber in color.

Out of the oven, turn them upside down on a white towel to cool.

Once they are COMPLETELY cooled, store in freezer ziplock bags, removing as much air as possible, and freeze.

Saint King Tamar and the Mystery of the Side: God’s Design for Men and Women

On Head Covering at St. Andrew’s

The True Nature of Fasting ebook

Click on the image below to open the ebook

PROSPHORA MAKING INSTRUCTIONs

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Archives

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Saint King Tamar and the Mystery of the Side: God’s Design for Men and Women

​On Head Covering at St. Andrew’s

The True Nature of Fasting ebook

Click on the image below to open the ebook

PROSPHORA MAKING INSTRUCTIONs

Author

Archives

Categories

On Head Covering at St. Andrew’s