Brave Priestesses of Philippi: The Cultic Role of Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:2)

Abstract

When Paul, in Phil 4:2, “pleads” with Euodia and Syntyche to “agree with one another in the Lord”, he is both commending them for their priestly role as gospel workers among his group of converts and at the same time calling them back to a single-minded focus on gospel mission. Throughout the letter, the apostle has forged a link between gospel mission and cultic imagery, depicting himself and his gospel co-workers as priestly agents accomplishing sacrificial service. Thus, when he comes to this climactic exhortation at the letter’s close, he deploys this imagery as a way both to commend and correct these female leaders within the Philippian community of Christ-believers.

1. Introduction

If one were to try uncovering female leaders within the early Christian movement, Philippi would be a great place to begin the search.1 Women were uncommonly prominent in leadership roles within this Roman colony during the Imperial era. As Valerie Abrahamsen’s extensive work on this subject has shown, the epigraphic evidence stemming from this site shows females in many prominent roles, particularly among the religious groups of the colony. Inscriptions present women as leaders in the Diana cult, as priestesses of the prominent Imperial cult to the divinized Empress Livia, and then as leaders (together with other men) in the emerging cult of Isis (Abrahamsen 1995).2 The evidence prompts Abrahamsen to conjecture that “the overall socio-political atmosphere of the city had to have been somewhat egalitarian and supportive of women, girls, goddesses and divinized females” (Abrahamsen 1995, p. 81).3 To be sure, there is “evidence of Greek women with Roman citizenship who held high civic office and were priestesses in the imperial cult [throughout] Asia” (Witherington 1994, p. 108).4 Still, the “predominance of females among the inscriptions in Philippi” makes this particular locale a hotbed for female leadership amid the Greek East (Keown 2017, p. 39). Serving in priestly roles, in Philippi, we see that women “were active participants in liturgies, composed hymns and rites, administered temple and cult finances, organized feast day celebrations, played music and made leadership decisions that affected large numbers of people” (Abrahamsen 1995, p. 194).

Hence, for Abrahamsen, as well as for others, it is not surprising that “women figure in Christian lore at Philippi from the very beginning” (Abrahamsen 1995, p. 82). On the contrary, the influence of the many leadership roles held by female cult officials in the colony would have created an expectation, an “assumption that women were to be among the leaders of any religious organization”, and this expectation, Abrahamsen argues, would have been “felt by the Christian community” (Abrahamsen 1995, p. 91 [italics original]). As Marchal states, rather than being viewed as anomalous for the early Christian community in Philippi, “women’s leadership and participation in cultic life…would have been expected” there (Marchal 2006, p. 90 [italics original]; cf. Ascough 2003, pp. 134–36). And so, when we find Acts depicting Paul’s first encounter when crossing over into Macedonia as being with a group of women leading a prayer gathering beside the river (Acts 16:13), from among whom Lydia steps forward into the role of hostess for the wandering preacher, the picture coheres well with the egalitarian and female-supportive portrait of the colony that Abrahamsen uncovers in the archeological data. Similarly, when Paul mentions two women, Euodia and Syntyche, in his letter to this fledgling assembly at Philippi, women who seemingly hold a prominent leadership role among the community (Osiek 2000),5 we find again a picture of female leadership within Philippian religious life. In contrast to Malinowski’s study, which relegates Euodia and Syntyche to the status of courageous but lay-level workers among the Philippian community,6 Winter’s insightful work on the new Roman woman shows that “Christian women were not relegated to the private rooms in first-century households. That was an ancient Greek custom, …but not the convention that operated in either of the Roman colonies of Corinth and Philippi or Rome itself” (Winter 2003, p. 194). Instead, women could and did undertake roles of leadership within their spheres of influence in the Roman world into which Paul stepped as itinerant preacher upon entering the Roman colony of Philippi.

It is these two women, Euodia and Syntyche, that form the basis of the following study, which argues that the apostle, in what looks like a biting reprimand, instead commends this female pair for their priestly role among his group of converts, while at the same time calling them back to a single-minded focus on the gospel mission that formed the basis of their leadership role from the very beginning. In order to show how Paul’s language can be viewed as a commendation for cultic ministry,7 I first undertake an analysis of the letter as a whole that shows how the apostle appropriates cultic language into the service of gospel mission.8 Next, I show how the context of Paul’s address to the women (4:2–4) commends them for just such gospel service. Finally, I show how Paul’s repeated imperative that these two women “think the same thing in the Lord” (4:2) indicates a return to the gospel mission that constitutes the basis for their cultic role as priestesses among the Philippian congregation.

2. Gospel Mission as the New Cult of the Spirit in Philippians

Paul employs cultic language in Philippians in a way that some have referred to as “spiritualized”. We need to be careful, however, because it is not true that Paul is setting up a contrast with the Jerusalem cult (Schüssler Fiorenza 1976);9 rather, the apostle follows a trajectory of inwardly appropriating cultic realities, a trajectory which had prior roots in Judaism. Tassin traces the historical development of cultic elements from biblical Israel into the intertestamental period, where he finds the Qumran community being forced, through their experience of temple-less exile, into “spiritual creativity” to maintain their sense of sacred identity (Tassin 1994, p. 99).10 Particularly, Tassin uncovers at Qumran “the ‘spiritualization’ of the cult”, in which this community enlarged upon the expression of the “interior cult”, that is, taking the law into the heart, focusing intently upon ethical engagement with the law (Tassin 1994, p. 100).11 Gupta posits the following plausible reason for Paul’s appropriation of cultic language for his own communities and ministry: “Though persecution and social ostracization would have been devastating to the identity of the community, Paul’s use of cultic language offered them a chance to see their experiences from God’s perspective” (Gupta 2010, p. 139).

Thus, when Paul draws on purity language that would have been fitting for cultic sacrificial practice, terms like εἰλικρινής (pure), ἀπρόσκοπος (blameless), ἄμεμπτος (faultless), ἀκέραιος (innocent), and ἄμωμος (without blemish),12 these descriptors are now applied to communal conduct and behavior.13 Rather than a cult that consists of traditional priests offering animal sacrifices, the apostle displays himself in his gospel work presenting his converts as holy offerings to God (Phil 2:17; cf. Rom 15:17).14 Therefore, purity within this spiritual cult is determined by one’s relation to the gospel. It is those who live “worthy” of the gospel (1:27) that attain to this status of purity and, hence, acceptability as an offering within this new cult of the Spirit.15 As Newton describes, the apostle “utilizes terms, taken from the cultic language of purity, which embrace the whole realm of the believer’s life in Christ…they must be, like the sacrificial offerings of the Jerusalem Temple, free from blemish” (Newton 2005, p. 86). Vahrenhorst discusses the way in which Paul uses “cultic vocabulary” in 2:15 in order to mark the goal of his ministerial labors, which he introduced earlier in his central imperative (“live worthily of the gospel”) from 1:27. Vahrenhorst summarizes that the apostle’s paraenesis throughout the section of 1:27-2:18 explicates how a gospel-worthy way of life looks and that its goal is explicitly a “cultically-connotated blamelessness” (Vahrenhorst 2008, p. 245).16

Paul engages in active gospel mission, both through his ministry when present in Philippi and now while absent through his letter writing, with the explicit purpose of bringing about such cultic purity. Paul prays for this purity within his converts (Phil 1:9–11), and he strives and labors toward this end. When faced with powerful opposition to his ministry and even tempted to give up, Paul reaffirms his priestly vocation to remain with the Philippians so that his presence with them might entail “fruitful labor” (1:22) and might further their “progress and joy in the faith” (1:25), a progress that then culminates in their becoming “blameless” when Paul presents them to God as an offering on the day of Christ (2:15–16).17

Paul’s own priestly role of consecrating pure offerings to God is conjoined with the priestly activity of the community of Christ-believers at Philippi as well. In 2:17, Paul envisions a possible outcome for his upcoming trial verdict, over which he sees reason to rejoice, in which he is “poured out on the sacrifice and offering” of the Philippian believers’ faith. It is clear from this that Paul views his apostolic role as involving priestly service. In the words of Daly, “Paul sees his apostolic life and mission as a ‘priestly—i.e., sacrificial—service,’ as a liturgy of life” (Daly 2009, p. 58). Similarly, Denis argues that the context of cultic imagery in Phil 2:15-16 (that is, Paul calls his converts irreproachable and pure children of God) substantiates a cultic understanding of 2:17, where Paul shows that “the faith, that is, the life of the Christians is a liturgy comparable to that of the temple, and it is joined to the idea of a libation, accomplished, or rather suffered, by the apostle” (Denis 1958, p. 630).18 Hence, the Philippian believers enact a “liturgy of the temple”, which Paul then furthers through his additional libation (σπένδομαι) over-above their liturgical sacrifice (τῇ θυσίᾳ καὶ λειτουργίᾳ τῆς πίστεως) (Denis 1958, p. 629). In this case, both Paul and his converts participate in sacrificial activity within the new cult of the Spirit.19 He puts himself forward in kenotic, sacrificial gospel labor to the extent that he becomes a thing sacrificed (much like Christ does in the hymn at 2:8), whereas the believers enter into the role of liturgists of their faith, offering their own pure lifestyles in accord with the faith of the gospel as a sacrifice (θυσία) to God. As Strathmann summarizes about the Philippian believers’ participation in cultic activity: “In virtue of their faith they are both a sacrifice to God and priests who offer God sacrifices” (Strathmann 1967, p. 227).

The believers again are connected with cultic offerings when Paul turns to discuss the issue of their financial gift to Paul at the end of the letter.20 Here again, at 4:18, the Philippian believers are depicted as having presented a “sacrifice” (θυσία) to God by means of their renewed financial support to the imprisoned apostle.21 Paul richly commends them for this liturgical effort, indicating that, just as the sacrificial offerings of ancient Israel’s cult, the Philippians’ sacrifice is “acceptable” (δεκτός), something that is “well-pleasing (εὐάρεστον) to God”.22 In order to capitalize on the nature of the Philippians’ sacrificial generosity as pleasing to God, Paul labels the offering a “fragrant aroma” (ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας),23 which recalls a rich olfactory tradition associated with Israel’s cult (e.g., Lev 1:9; 2:2; 3:5; 8:28; 23:13).24 Hence, just as Paul has developed in the letter a new form of cult that takes place in the Spirit and centers around the gospel,25 so too does this new cult of the Spirit have its own version of sacrificial offerings.26 In Phil 1:10 and 2:15, the offerings that Paul—as priest par excellence in this new cult—presents to God on the final Assize are the transformed lives of the Philippian believers themselves. In Phil 2:17, Paul spends himself sacrificially, while the Philippians offer their own faith(fulness) as their portion of sacrifice. Then again at the end of the letter, the Philippian assembly’s financial contribution to Paul’s gospel ministry becomes the sweet-smelling fragrance of this new cult.

Not only does the liturgy of the new cult have its own spiritualized, internally and morally pure sacrificial offerings, it also has its own system of liturgical worship. The gospel around which this cult centers proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord (Phil 1:2). He has acquired this lordly status through undergoing his own sacrificial self-emptying (note the thematic connection between Jesus’s kenotic self-giving in 2:6 with Paul’s self-emptying sacrifice in 2:17), and the exaltation Jesus received from God on the basis of (διό, 2:9) this obedient self-offering becomes the foundation of a new cult of worshippers committed to confessing (ἐξομολογῶμαι) “that Jesus Christ is Lord” (2:11). Among those who are, thus, cultically committed to Christ, Paul, of course, counts himself, along with his Philippian audience, with whom he later joins himself in a communal self-description that “we are the circumcision”, that is, “those who worship (λατρεύοντες) by the Spirit of God and who cultically celebrate (καυχώμενοι ἐν) Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:3).27 Just as this new cult centers around the person of and message about Christ, so its liturgy is empowered by the Spirit of God. Members of this cult, having become sharers of Christ, have also become sharers in his Spirit (cf. 2:2), which now provides a new mode of worship, enabling liturgical activity that appropriately expresses their identity as God’s own covenant people (the “circumcision”, cf. 3:3). This is a radical assertion from the Jewish Paul, who presents this Gentile assembly as a true conduit of God’s chosen people, accomplishing the key cultic markers and practices, namely circumcision and worship, in this new Spirit-empowered mode which Christ’s Lordship has ushered in.28

Not only is the mode of worship in this new cult shifted so that it is now accomplished “by the Spirit” (reading the ἐν as indicating the means of action), but also the sphere of worshipful joy becomes reoriented around the person of the newly proclaimed Lord. Paul describes his own party as constituting those who “boast in Christ Jesus” (3:3). This activity of worship, which represents “cultic adoration devoted to God”,29 is what separates the Jewish circumcision-of-flesh party from the Christ-believers, who are circumcised of heart and, therefore, are God’s true people.30 The activity of boasting has rich cultic resonances within Israel’s worship, and Paul shows how such cultic joy and pride now occur “in” (ἐν) the Messiah.

Thus, we have seen how Paul has gone out of his way to incorporate numerous elements from Israel’s cultic system into the gospel movement of Christ for which he energetically labors, thereby crafting a new liturgy of the Spirit.31 He presents the offerings of this new cult in morally transformed lives and in sacrificial giving, and he depicts the form of the new worship as Christologically-focused and Spirit-empowered. In what follows, however, we still need to address the question of who makes up the cultic personnel devoted to serving in this new cult. While we have already discussed the ways in which Paul presents himself as a priest in the letter (i.e., he is the one offering to God the sacrifice of the transformed lives of his converts),32 we next turn to the other liturgists that arise within the letter, among whom stand the two women Euodia and Syntyche.

3. Priestly Personnel in the New Cult of the Spirit

First, though, we find Epaphroditus, the Philippian assembly’s representative whom they sent to transport their financial gift to Paul and to aid him in prison, depicted as occupying a liturgical role. We saw earlier in our brief look at Phil 2:17 that the Philippian believers en masse are enacting a “liturgy” (λειτουργία) of their faith, most likely in connection both with their commitment to moral purity and their dedication to financially supporting the imprisoned apostle (cf. 4:18). This widespread participation in the new cult of the Spirit by the whole assembly then becomes focused through the efforts of their apostle, Epaphroditus. Having been sent out by the assembly, Epaphroditus is a “liturgist” to Paul’s needs (2:25).33 While the cultic undertones might get overlooked here,34 becoming subsumed under the broader idea of help and service, the cultic associations resurface with a repeated use of the λειτουργ- root at the end of the passage. Whereas in the imperial Roman context of first-century Philippi, leiturgia “entailed public works projects that Roman and provincial elites often took on at their own expense, as a means of enhancing their status in the eyes of the people”, Paul transforms the use of the term so that it “takes on [the] sense of ‘sacrificial service’ to God and on behalf of the gospel community” (Agosto 2000, pp. 427–28). Here, the imprisoned Paul commends Epaphroditus because, like Christ and like Paul himself, this beloved brother has been engaged in sacrificially expending his own life for the work of the gospel (2:30). In so doing, Epaphroditus is filling out whatever was lacking in his assembly’s λειτουργία to Paul (2:30). As Paul presents it, the Philippian believers’ participation in the new cult of the Spirit entails that they owe a liturgy to God and Christ but also to Paul as the servant of Christ.35 They are, thus, simultaneously engaged in fulfilling this liturgy both to God (2:17) and to Paul (2:30; 4:18) through Epaphroditus. Thus, in his role as conveyor of this sacred financial offering, Epaphroditus possesses an important mediating, even priestly, role within the new cult of the Spirit.36 His status as a “co-laborer” (συνεργόν, 2:25) alongside Paul combined with his energetic, sacrificial efforts on behalf of the “work of Christ” (2:30) earn him a glowing commendation from Paul such that he is then included within the list of godly models (Paul, Christ, Timothy, etc.) held forth in the letter.

When, in the letter, Paul turns at 4:2 to the two women, Euodia and Syntyche (and it is a noticeable turn in light of the direct address through using their proper names),37 the apostle’s attitude is not so glowing, yet his overall treatment of the women still issues in commendation, particularly on account of their energetic efforts for the gospel ministry of establishing the new cult of the Spirit.38 Paul’s positive description of how these women have behaved in the past shows their prominence as leaders within the new cult of the Spirit that is dedicated to gospel ministry, and it does so by recalling key language from earlier in the letter.39 Paul recollects how Euodia and Syntyche have “striven together” (συνήθλησάν) with him “in the gospel” (4:3).40 This repeats language that Paul used earlier in his central admonition to the entire assembly, urging them in 1:27 to “strive together” (συναθλοῦντες) in the faith “of the gospel”.41 Hence, the apostle can commend the two women for modeling precisely that type of behavior to which he exhorts the entire group, namely a perseverance in and participation with Paul’s own sacrificial, cultically described labors of proclaiming the gospel so as to produce a fruitful offering of holy lives for God.42 Striving for the gospel leads directly to bringing about a “sacrifice and service of faith” (in 2:17),43 and it is likely that the same cultic outcome holds true for Euodia and Syntyche’s gospel-striving as does for the assembly as a whole.

Secondly, Paul refers to these two women as numbering among a larger group whom he labels “my fellow-workers” (συνεργῶν, 4:3).44 This is the same term used to commend Epaphroditus earlier in the letter, where this title of “fellow-worker” is linked explicitly with that individual’s important cultic function as the community’s liturgist. In light of this connection between Paul’s commendation of Euodia and Syntyche with two earlier key references to cultic activity on the part of the Philippian Christ-believing assembly, it is possible that these two women are being held forth as occupying important, leading cultic roles within this budding Christian community,45 hence my reference to them in the title of this study as “priestesses”.46 Such a cultic role would, of course, reside within the redefined cult of the Spirit that, as has been shown above, Paul is developing throughout the letter.47 These women’s laudatory commitment to gospel work is what the apostle acknowledges, holding them forth to the wider community as praise-worthy for their past contributions to the central focus of the cultic community, which is the progress of the gospel.48 Such a role, as praise-worthy priestesses in the past, however, would not exempt them from receiving admonishment in the present to a renewed focus on their priestly task. So now, in the final section of this study, I address the apostle’s admonition that these two women “think the same thing in the Lord” (4:2).

4. Auto-Phronos as Unified Purpose of the New Cult

Just as Paul’s language of commendation for the women recalled key language from earlier in the letter, so too does Paul’s injunction to them that they “think the same thing in the Lord”. Shortly after the epistle’s central imperative that the community “strive together for/in the faith of the gospel” (1:27), Paul gives a second, corollary imperative that they would complete his joy by “thinking the same thing” (τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε, 2:2).49 It would seem that gospel labor, which forms the central driving focus of the new cult of the Spirit, is intricately linked with unified thinking. Shared work requires a shared mind, and so this letter that aims at celebrating and fostering gospel partnership is riddled with references to one’s pattern of thought. The version of auto-phronos, of unified thinking, envisioned throughout the letter encompasses commitment to sacrificial self-giving, which reflects the new version of sacrificial offerings within the newly established cult of the Spirit. Hence, Paul speaks of this community embracing “the same” (τὸ αὐτόν) struggle and sacrifice that he is undergoing (1:30). This unity in the face of struggle and opposition is balanced by a similarly unified experience of cultic celebration and joy, since after both he and they enact their cultic sacrifices in 2:17, Paul rejoices and “in the same way” (τὸ…αὐτό) the Philippians are invited to rejoice (2:18). Sharing a communal stake is an important element of the new cult of the Spirit, and thinking with—or rather patterning one’s life around—this unified purpose is the goal of Paul and of all his fellow-workers.

Ultimately, thinking “the same thing” involves thinking “this thing” (τοῦτο φρονεῖτε), namely becoming unified around the pattern of Christ’s thinking (2:5). Quite likely this is what Paul implies when he pleads with Euodia and Syntyche to think the same thing “in the Lord”. He is calling them back into the kind of cultic priestly leadership that embraces Christ for a model,50 willingly expending oneself in kenotic self-sacrifice rather than jealously pursuing “one’s own things” (τὰ ἑαυτῶν, 2:4). This other, selfishly motivated form of leadership, with a pattern of thought and behavior that diverges from Christ, appears in 3:15 as a form of hetero-phronos (thinking otherwise) and stands opposed to the auto-phronos (thinking the same) or touto-phronos (thinking like Christ) into which Paul invites his audience throughout the whole of the letter.51 Rather than each individual pursuing her or his own goal, the new cult of the Spirit established by Christ’s exaltation and proclaimed by the apostle calls its adherents to gather around one unified goal, namely the advance of the gospel about this exalted and eagerly awaited Savior. Within this new cult of the Spirit, Christ models appropriate priesthood, which involves surrendering the penchant for “considering one’s own things” so as instead to “think the one thing”, the advance of the gospel which alone will bear the kind of fruit which serves as “a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God” (4:18). These two women, Euodia and Syntyche, have committed themselves as priestesses to just such a gospel ministry in the past, and it is to this that Paul is inviting them to return once again in the present here at the close of his letter. Hence, when understanding Euodia and Syntyche, rather than primarily envisioning a pair of quarrelsome and catty women with some petty—or even significant—interpersonal strife, we should call to mind a team of committed and faithful female ministers of the gospels. They might need a reminder about the main focus of that ministry, but their overall characterization by Paul, when seen in light of the letter’s larger flow, is glowingly positive.

5. Conclusions

What this study has argued is that Paul’s appeal at the close of his letter to the Philippians, given to two named female individuals, must be understood within the context of the redefinition of cult depicted throughout the letter as a whole. Paul has envisioned a new cult of the Spirit, which is empowered by the Spirit’s presence in the community and which focuses on the exalted Lord Jesus, and it is as liturgists within this new cult that Paul and his co-workers enact their labors. Euodia and Syntyche are members of this union of co-laborers, fellow liturgists alongside Epaphroditus, Clement, and even Paul himself, all of whom expend themselves for the sake of the community’s progress in the gospel. Having begun this good work, the apostle finds it necessary to call them back to this foundational focus of their ministry, namely to re-pattern their mindset in leadership around Christ. Ultimately, we discover at the end of this warm letter from Paul to his friends at Philippi a picture of shared leadership within the community of faith that is committed to serving others through the power of and after the manner of Christ Jesus.