ABSTRACT
At the end of the twentieth century and the EDCSW, Musimbi Kanyoro and Nyambura Njoroge gathered together a series of biblical reflections from churchwomen around the world to provide background material for women at the Decade Festival at the WCC Assembly in Harare. They introduced their study by noting the 50 years of the World Council of Churches and the fact that ‘since the early days women made sure their presence, power of influence and voices will not be marginalized as in most church synods and councils and though numbers were small their spirit of forbearance and vision kept them focused and well grounded in their faith’.1 While there were Orthodox contributions to their publication, the question to be explored is whether the Orthodox churches and women responded to the aims and recommendations of the EDCSW so optimistically proposed to all the churches in 1988. Whether Orthodox women themselves maintained a spirit of forbearance and vision to both challenge and take the opportunity to grow in solidarity with each other in the Church or remain as isolated and static groups within the narrow parameters of their ethnic, cultural and traditional Orthodox churches also needs addressing.
