The stories of the martyrdom of St. Agnes highlight her youth (she died at 13), her virginity and the most important of all, her total surrender to Jesus. St. Agnes would marry nobody but Jesus. Superficially the values enshrined in the celebration of the Feast Day of St. Agnes stand in stark contrast with the values of modern feminism. Are they?
As a man, I cannot speak convincingly for feminism. Therefore, I must forewarn my readers that mine may be a misrepresentation of the values espoused by feminists. Generally speaking, feminism is saying no to patriarchism. Oh! No! So many ism's! Well, patriarchism describes the traditional situation where everything was decided by the patriarch, the most powerful male of the group, the head of the family. Women were assigned roles such as wives and mothers. This was one of the many ways to deal with a reality of life. The author of Hebrews mentions this in his discussion of the superiority of the priesthood of Jesus over the Levites. This will be dealt with below.
The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office (Hebrews 7:23).
So, patriarchism has been one of the many ways to deal with death. Man is mortal. He needs a woman to help him extend his life, continue his unfinished projects and inherit his hard earned asset.
So the ideal destiny assigned to a woman was to get married and gave birth to male-offsprings for her man. Therefore, a barren wife was a curse. Concubines were remedies. Adultery was to be prevented at all costs etc. Daughters would turn into wives and mothers in the future. They were commodities to be traded off. Therefore, rape was a criminal damage done to a piece of goods ... Sorry for the language. I've got carried away too far.
No doubt, women have been oppressed and exploited for far too long. The Bible tells us that both man and woman were created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). It further tells us that woman is a man version 2 (ver. tWO MAN). While man was created from dust (Genesis 2:7), woman was created out of man, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh, an improved version (Genesis 2:23). Therefore, patriarchism is evil even from the Biblical point of view.
St. Agnes wanted to claim autonomy over her own body. She did not want to be a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder. She rejected the traditional role of a wife, the spouse of any mortal man and wanted to serve only Jesus, the Lord of the Universe. It was a noble ambition all Christians should aspire. Eventually, she was handed the crown of martyrdom. Indeed, throughout the ages, religious nuns have been leading feminists fighting against the encroaching patriarchism. St. Agnes, pray for us.
Melchizedek, the king of Salem was a mythical figure. In the words of the author of Hebrews,
He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace.
He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever (Hebrews 7:2b-3).
His name and title suggest that he is the king of righteousness and the king of peace, an appropriate figure for Christ the King. Melchizedek blessed Abraham. From the logic of the author,
It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior (Hebrews 7:7).
Therefore, Melchizedek was superior over Abraham and his descendents. His priesthood is superior over that of the Levites, descendents of Abraham. Now, the author proceeds to show the inadequacy of the Levitical priesthood.
Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? (Hebrews 7:11)
This certainly is a lethal blow on the Temple cult of Judaism. Not only have Christians displaced the Israelites in God's rest, Christian priesthood has also replaced Levitical priesthood at the altar of God. Levitical priesthood and its Torah was incapable of helping the Israelites attain perfection. Christian law of charity triumphs over the formalism of the Torah. This was a Christian defence against the frontal attack from the Jews in the first century. We are now living in the twenty first century. Christians, how far have we attained this perfection?
Dear Jesus, You are the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace. Allow us to continue building up Your Kingdom on earth with charity. Amen.
Appendix:
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, `Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchizedek
ὤμοσεν κύριος καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται· σὺ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισέδεκ. (Hebrews 5:6b, 7:17c, 21b)
ὤμοσεν κύριος καὶ οὐ μεταμεληθήσεται Σὺ εἶ ἱερεὺς εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα κατὰ τὴν τάξιν Μελχισεδεκ. (Psalm 109:4 LXX, 110:4 MT).
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