Ruth And The Church

Videamus nunc et Ruth. Habet enim ista typum Ecclesiae. Primum, quod alienigena est ex populo gentili, quae, relicta patria, et omnibus quae illic erant, vadit in terram Isreal. Et, cum prohiberet eam socrus sua pergere secum, perseverabat, dicens: Quocunque perexeris, pergam; populus tuus, populus meus, et Deus tuus, Deus meus; quae te moriente terra susceperit, in ea moriar. Quae vox sine dubio typum in illa fuisse Ecclesiae manifestat. Sic enim Ecclesia ex gentibus ad Dominum convocata, relicta patria sua, quod est idololatria, et omissa universa conversatione terrena, profitetur Dominum Deum suum esse, in quem sancti crediderunt, et illuc se ituram, ubi caro Christi post passionem ascendit, et ob ejus nomen in hoc saeculo pati usque ad mortem, et cum sanctorum populo, patriarchis scilicet, et prophetis consociandam; de quorum societate, quod sanctis ex stirpe Abrahae venientibus consociaretur, Moyses in Cantico ostendit, dicens: Laetamini, gentes, cum plebe ejus, id est, qui ex gentibu istis credituri, cum illis qui primi electi sunt aeterna laetitia exulstate. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis,Mysticorum Expositiones Sacramentorum Seu Quaestiones In Vetus Testamentum, De Ruth Source:Migne PL 83.390c-391a

Let us now consider Ruth. She is a type of the Church. First, because she is foreign born from the Gentile people, she who, abandoning her homeland, and everything there, goes to the land of Israel, and when her mother in law prohibits her from journeying with her, she perseveres, saying, 'Wherever you shall go, I shall go, and your people shall be my people, and your God shall be my god, and the earth that shall receive you when you die, there I shall die.' 1 Which voice undoubtedly manifests a type of the Church. For so the Church, being gathered to the Lord from the Gentiles, abandoned its homeland, which was idolatry, and setting aside every way of worldly living, confessed the Lord her own God, in whom the holy had believed, and from there set out to where the flesh of Christ ascended after the passion, even to suffer death in this world because of His name, and to be joined with a holy people, that is, the patriarchs and the prophets, concerning which society, that it was to be an association with the holy ones from the seed of Abraham, Moses in his song shows, saying, 'Rejoice, nations, with His people,' 2 that is, that those who from the Gentiles were going to believe, should exult with eternal joy with those who were the first to be chosen Saint Isidore of Seville, Expositions of Sacred Mysteries or Questions on the Old Testament, On Ruth 1 Ruth 1.16-17 2 Deut 32.43

Ruth's Inclusion

Quomodo enim Ruth, cum esset alienigena, Judaeo nupsit? Et qua ratione in Christi generatione ejus putavit evangelista copulae commemorationem esse faciendam, quae Legis serie vetabatur. Non ergo ex legitima Salvator generatione manavit? Videtur esse deforme, nisi ad Apostolicam sententiam revertaris, quia lex non est justis posita, sed injustis. Haec enim cum sit alienigena et Moabitis praesertim cum lex Moysi prohiberet has nuptias, Moabitasque excluderet ab Ecclesia; sic enim scriptum est: Moabite non introibunt in Ecclesiam Domini usque ad tertiam et quartam generationem, et usque in saeculum, quomodo intravit in Ecclesiam, nisi quia sancta et immaculata moribus supra legem facta est, Si enim Lex impiis et peccatoribus postia est, utique Ruth, quae definitionem Legis excessit, et intravit in Ecclesiam, et facta est Israelitis, et meruit inter majores Dominici generis computari, propter cognationem mentis electa non corporis, magnum nobis exemplum est, quia in illa nostrum omnium qui collecti ex gentibus sumus, ingrediendi in Ecclesiam Domini figura praecessit. Hanc igitur aemulemur; ut quia haec moribus hanc praerogativam meruit adsciscendae societiatis suae, sicut historia docet: nos quoque propter morum electionem in Ecclesiam Domini, meritis suffragantibus, allegemur. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber III Source: Migne PL 15.1601b-1602a

But how did Ruth who was a foreigner, marry a man who was a Jew? And why in Christ's genealogy did the Evangelist think to make mention of a union which was prohibited by the commandments of the Law? Was the Saviour not drawn from legitimate lineage? It appears monstrous to us unless we attend to that passage of the Apostle: 'The Law is not given for the righteous but the unrighteous.' 1 For this woman was an foreigner, a Moabitess, from a nation with whom the Law of Moses forbade all marriage and completely shut them out of the Church. So it is written, 'A Moabite shall not enter into the Church of God, even to the third and fourth generation, and even forever.' 2 How then did she enter into the assembly unless that she was holy and unstained in her life above the Law? If the Law was given for the impious and sinners, so Ruth, who exceeded the scope of the Law, entered into the assembly and took her place among the Israelites and merited to be reckoned among the great ones of the lineage of the Lord, on account of the elevation of her mind, not her body, being to us a great example, because in her was prefigured the entrance into the Lord's Church of all of us who are gathered out of the Gentiles. This, then, emulate, that as by her conduct she merited the right to be approved for this society, as the history teaches, so we also on account of the elevation of our conduct, by right of merits, be voted into the assembly of the Lord. Saint Ambrose, Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 3 1 1 Tim 1.9 2 Deut 23.3

Female Ascendants

Ἐρωτησις Α' Τί δήποτε τὸ κατὰ τὴν Ῥοὺθ συνεργράφη διήγνημα; Ἀποκρισις. Πρῶτον μὲν διὰ τὸν Δεσπότην Χριστόν. Ἐξ αὐτῆς γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα βεβλάστηκε. Διὸ δὴ καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ματθαῖος τὴν γενεαλογίαν συγγράφων, τὰς μὲν ἐπ' ἀρετῇ πολυθρυλλήτους γυναῖκας κατέλιπε, τὴν Σάῥῥαν καὶ τὴν Ῥεβέκκαν, καὶ τὰς ἄλλας· τῆς δέ γε Θάμαρ ἐμνημόνευσε, καὶ  τῆς Ῥαὰβ, καὶ τῆς Ῥούθ· καὶ μέντοι καὶ τῆς τοῦ Οὐρίου, διδάακων ὡς πάντων ἀνθρώπων χάριν ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ μονογενὴς Υἰὸς ἐνηνθρώπησε, καὶ Ἰουδαίων, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐνθῶν, ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ δικαίων. Ἡ μὲν Ῥούθ Μωαβίτις, ἡ δέ γε Βερσαβεὲ παρανόμως συνήφθη τῷ βασιλεῖ. πόρνη δὲ καὶ ἡ Ῥαὰβ, ἀλλὰ διὰ πίστεως τῆς σωτηρίας τετύχηκε· καὶ Θάμαρ δὲ ταύτῃ λαμπρύνεται. Θεοδώρητος Ἐπίσκοπος Κύρρος, Εἰς Την Ρούθ Source: Migne PG 80.517-520

First Question: Why was the history of Ruth written? Answer: First on account of the Lord Christ. For from her He descended according to the flesh. And so when the blessed Matthew was writing His genealogy, he passed over women much celebrated for virtue, Sarah and Rebecca and others, and recalled Tamar and Raab and Ruth and the wife of Uriah, teaching that the only begotten Son of God was made man for all men, for Jews, for Gentiles, for sinners and for the righteous. Ruth was a Moabite and Bersheba was was unlawfully joined to the king. And Raab was a whore, but through faith came salvation, and in similar manner Tamar is remembered. Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Questions On Ruth

In Defence of Women

Scio me, Principia,in Christo filia, a plerisque reprehendi, quod interdum scribam ad mulieres, et fragiliorem sexum maribus praeferam. Et idcirco debeo primum obtrectatoribus meis respondere, et sic venire ad disputatiunculam, quam rogasti. Si viri de Scripturis quaererent, mulieribus non loquerer. Si Barae ire ad praelium voluisset, Debbora de victis nostibus non triumphasset. Jeremias carcere clauditur, et qui periturus Israel virum non receperat prophetantem, Olda eis mulier suscitatur. Sacerdotes et Pharisaei crucifigunt Filium Dei et Maria Magdalene plorat ad crucem, unguenta parat, quaerit in tumulo, hortulanum interrogat, Dominum recognoscit, pergit ad Apostolos, repertum nuntiat. Illi dubitant, ista confidit. Vere πυργίτης, vere turris candoris et Libani, quae prospicit faciem Damasci, sanguinem videlicit Salvatoris ad sacci poenitentiam provocantem. Defecerant Sarae muliebria, et ideo Abraham ei subjicitur, et dicitur ad eum: Omnia quae dicit tibi Sara, audi vocem ejus. Illi defecerant muliebria, tu numquam habuisti muliebria. Sexus devoratur a virgine, Christum portat in corpore. Jam possidet quod futura est. Rebecca pergit ad interrogandum Deum: et sua responsione condigna audit oracula: 'Duae gentes in utero tuo, et duo populi de vente tuo dividentur.' Illa duos generat dissidentes: tu unum quotidie concipis, paturis, generas, unione fecundum, majestate multiplicem, trinitate concordem. Maria soror Moysi, victorias Domini canit, et Rachel Bethleem nostram atque Ephratham stirpe nominis sui signat in posteros  Filiae Salphaad haereditatem inter fratres merentur accipere. Ruth et Esther et Judith tantae gloriae sunt, ut sacris voluminibus nomina indiderint. Anna prophetissa generat filium Levitam, Prophetam, Judicem, sacro crine venerabilem, et offert cum in tabernaculo Dei. Thecuites mulier, regem David interrogatione concludit, aenigmate docet, exemplo Dei mitigat. Legimus et aliam sapientem feminam, quae cum obsideretur civitas, et propter unum perduellem, dux exercitus Joab muros ariete quateret, locuta est ad populum in sapientia sua, et tantae multitudinis periculum, muliebri auctoritate sedavit. Quid loquar de regina Saba quae venit a finibus terrae audire sapientiam Salomonis, et testimonio Domini condemnatura est omnes viros Jerusalem? Elisabeth utero propheta et voce. Anna filia Phanuelis in templo, templum efficitur Dei, et quotidiano jejunio, coelestem invenit panem. Sequuntur mulieres Salvatorem, et ministrant ei de substania sua. Ille qui de quinque panibus, quinque millia hominum, exceptis mulieribus et parvulis, aluit, escas sanctarum mulierum non recusat accipere. Cum Samaritana loquitur ad puteum, et saturatus conversione credentis, cibos qui coempti fuerunt negligit. Apollo virum Apostilicum et in lege doctissimum, Aquila et Priscilla erudiunt, et instruunt eum de via Domini. Si doceri a femina non fuit turpe Apostolo, mihi quare turpe sit post viros docere et feminas? Sanctus Hieronymus, Epistula LXV, Ad Principiam Virginem

I know I am, Principia, daughter in Christ, reproved by many because I sometimes write to women and choose the weaker sex to husbands. I therefore should first respond to my detractors and then come to the matter about which you asked. If men had studied the Scriptures I would not talk to their wives. If Barac had wished to go to battle, Deborah would not have triumphed over the conquered. Jeremiah was shut up in prison and no man would receive the prophecy of Israel's coming destruction, but the woman Hulda took it to them. The Priests and Pharisees crucified the Son of God and Mary Magdalene wept at the cross, she prepared ointment, she sought the tomb, she questioned the gardener, she recognised the Lord, she went to the Apostles, she announced the discovery. They doubted, she was confident. Truly she was a tower of brightness and of Lebanon which looks down on the face of Damascus, the blood of the Saviour provoking penance in sackcloth. To the womanhood of Sarah they fell, and so Abraham was subject to her and it was said to him, 'Everything which Sarah says to you, listen to her voice.' They failed by womanhood, you never had it. Sex devoured by virginity you carry Christ in your body. Already it possesses what will be. Rebecca went to question God and by way of response she heard a worthy oracle: 'Two nations from your womb, and two peoples from your belly.' She bore two dissentiant, you conceive one every day, you carry, you give birth, fruitful in union,  increase in majesty, in harmony with the Trinity. Mariam sister of Moses sang the victory of God and Rachel our Bethlehem and Ephrata by naming of child signified to posterity. The daughter of Salphaad were worthy to receive the inheritance among brothers. Ruth and Esther and Judith had such glory that sacred volumes were named after them. Hannah the prophetess gave birth to a son, a priest, prophet, and venerable judge with sacred hair and offered when in the tabernacle of God. The woman from Thecua caught king David with a question and taught a mystery and softened him with an example of God. We read of another wise woman who when a city was besieged and on account of one enemy, Joab the leader of the army shook with a ram, she spoke to the people in their wisdom and such a multitude a danger calmed with womanly authority. Why should I speak of the Queen of Sheba who came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and by the testimony of the Lord condemned all the men of Jerusalem. Elizabeth had a prophetic voice in her womb. Anna the daughter of Phanuel dwelling in the temple, going about God's work, fasting daily, discovered the bread of heaven. Women followed the Saviour and ministered to him from their own substance. He who five thousand loaves, five thousand men, excepting woman and children,  fed, the food of the holy woman did not refuse. When he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well she saturated with his words believed, food which they bought neglected. Apollo was an apostolic man and most learned in the law, Aquila and Priscilla educated and instructed him in the way of the Lord. If to be taught by a woman was not disgraceful for an Apostle, why should it disgrace me that after men I teach women? St Jerome, from Letter 65, To Principia