The Holy Spirit as feminine : Early Christian testimonies and their interpretation

An essential background to the occurrence of the Holy Spirit as Mother is, of course, the fact that the Hebrew word for Spirit, ruach, is in nearly all cases feminine. The first Christians, all of whom were Jews, took this over. Also in Aramaic the word for Spirit, rucha, is feminine. All this, however, does not fully account for the early Jewish Christian practice. A close reading of the relevant texts will reveal more.


Introduction
In two previous articles, I discussed the place and role of both the doctrine and the experience of the Holy Spirit in the Early Church (Van Oort 2011;2012).An important aspect remained, however: namely the fact that many early Christian authors -in particular those belonging to so-called Origen, who in all probability dictated these lines when he was in Palestinian Caesarea, refers to a 'Gospel according to the Hebrews'.Until today there is much discussion about the origin and contents of this Gospel (e.g.Frey 2012:593-606;Luomanen 2012:1-2, 235-243), but all specialists agree that it was of Jewish Christian provenance.Apart from several other things, we learn from this quote that, sometime in the beginning of the second century CE, the Jewish Christians of this Gospel spoke of the Holy Spirit as Mother (mētēr).
The same is evident in another quote from Origen: … but if one accepts (the following): 'My Mother (mētēr), the Holy Spirit, took me just now and carried me off to the great Mount Tabor,' one could see who is his Mother (mētēr).(Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah 15, 4 -Klostermann 1901:128) 1.The term 'Jewish Christianity' is used here to denote those ancient form(s) of Christianity which directly stemmed from Jews and retained typical features of their faith and ways of thinking.
The earliest Christians -all of whom were Jews -spoke of the Holy Spirit as a feminine figure.
The present article discusses the main proof texts, ranging from the 'Gospel according to the Hebrews' to a number of testimonies from the second century.The ancient tradition was, in particular, kept alive in East and West Syria, up to and including the fourth century Makarios and/or Symeon, who even influenced 'modern' Protestants such as John Wesley and the Moravian leader Count von Zinzendorf.It is concluded that, in the image of the Holy Spirit as woman and mother, one may attain a better appreciation of the fullness of the Divine.

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http://www.hts.org.zaOpen Access From both quotes we may also learn that Origen himself accepted the concept of the Holy Spirit as Mother.

Jerome and the 'Gospel according to the Hebrews'
The church father Jerome (c.342-420), who spent many years in Bethlehem, makes mention of several passages from the Gospel of the Hebrews, too.In his Commentary on Isaiah, Jerome states: And also this: (in the text) 'like the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress' [Ps.123:2], the maid is the soul and the mistress (dominam) is the Holy Spirit.For also in that Gospel written according to the Hebrews, which the Nazaraeans read, the Lord says: 'Just now, my Mother (mater), the Holy Spirit, took me.' Nobody should be offended by this, for among the Hebrews the Spirit is said to be of the feminine gender (genere feminino), although in our language it is called to be of masculine gender and in the Greek language neuter.(Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 11, 40, 9 -Adriaen 1963:459) While Jerome was well acquainted with the old Jewish Christian tradition of the femininity of the Holy Spirit, which in his time was still alive among the 'Nazaraeans', who read the 'Gospel according to the Hebrews', he considered it to be a question of language only.

Epiphanius and Hippolytus on the prophet Elxai
For the Jewish Christians themselves, however, it was not merely a question of language.Apart from the Gospel according to the Hebrews, this is testified by a number of testimonies regarding the prophet Elxai.This Jewish Christian prophet-in the various sources also named as Elchasai, Alchasaios, Elkesai and Elxaios-is said to have received the revelation written about in the Book of Elchasai in Mesopotamia in the year 116-117.
The church father , for many years bishop of Salamis and the metropolitan of Cyprus, transmits this revelation as follows: Next he describes Christ as a kind of power and also gives His dimensions (…)And the Holy Spirit is (said to be) like Christ, too, but She is a female being (thēleian) (…).(Epiphanius, Panarion 19, 4, 1-2 -Holl I, 1915:219) Later on in his book, Epiphanius reports essentially the same: And he [i.e., Elxai] supposed also that the Holy Spirit stands over against Him (i.e., Christ) in the shape of a female being (en eidei thēleian) (…).(Epiphanius, Panarion 30, 17, 6 -Holl I, 1915:375) Earlier the learned ), a Christian presbyter at Rome, had transmitted the same tradition on Elchasai: There should also be a female (thēleian) with Him (i.e., with Christ as an angel) (…) The male is the Son of God and the female (thēleian) is called the Holy Spirit.(Hippolytus, Refutatio 9, 13, 3 -Wendland 1916:251) The Pseudo-Clementines Wisdom is equated with the Holy Spirit and both are considered to be feminine. 2Hence one understands how in early Christian tradition Christ is so often considered to be the child of mother Sophia or the Holy Spirit. 3In essence, both traditions express the same concept.The oldest patristic testimonies to this concept are the texts from Origen and Jerome quoted above.
In interpreting all these testimonies, one should bear in mind that ancient Jewish Christianity did not express itself in Greek discursive terminology, but in Semitic metaphorical language.Or, stated otherwise: the Jewish Christians expressed themselves in images, not in logical concepts.Accordingly, one may also understand that the Christian concept of Trinity is not merely due to Greek philosophical thinking, 2.For this and related Jewish texts, see e.g.Bousset and Gressmann (1966:346, 397).
http://www.hts.org.zaOpen Access but has genuine and extremely old sources in Jewish Christian writings. 4One may reread the statements of Hippolytus and Epiphanius on Elxai's vision of God with his Son and the female Spirit as quoted above.

Theophilus and Irenaeus
The influence of the archaic Jewish Christian tradition on Spirit and Sophia is even found in Greek Christian authors such as Theophilus of Antioch (fl.later 2nd c.) and Irenaeus of ).In his writing Against Autolycus, the Greek bishop and apologist Theophilus wrote for instance:

The Pastor of Hermas
The Shepherd of Hermas is a rather enigmatic and, in all probability, composed document which originated in Rome between the end of the first and the middle of the second century.Its final form consists of five 'Visions', twelve 'Mandates' and ten 'Similitudes'.In the second and third centuries, it was accepted as Scripture by several ecclesiastical authors and even Didymus the Blind, a contemporary of Athanasius in the fourth century, included it in his canon of Scripture.It is also found in the highly important biblical manuscript Codex Sinaiticus, dating from the same time. 5In many of its utterances, the Shepherd reveals its Jewish Christian provenance.
One of these Jewish Christian features is the concept of the Holy Spirit as feminine.Although the Shepherd of Hermas (now generally classified as one of the 'Apostolic Fathers') uses the word 'spirit' in a variety of ways, in several cases 'spirit' appears to mean 'Holy Spirit'.One of these cases is Similitude IX (Körtner & Leutzsch 1998:300 ff.), where the Holy Spirit is presented in the image of twelve virgins (parthenoi).The plural should not lead us astray here. 6 Elsewhere in the Shepherd the Holy Spirit-in her equivalent the Church-is described as being pre-existent and also as 4. Kretschmar (1956:99) considers the scheme of Elxai's vision to be 'die älteste Form der "Trinitätslehre"' ('the oldest form of the "doctrine of the Trinity"').
5.Unfortunately the end of Codex ‫א‬ did not survive.

Sources from East and West Syria
As we have just seen with Theophilus, Irenaeus, the Pastor Hermae and (perhaps) Melito, the concept of the Spirit as feminine is sometimes found as an archaic reminiscence of Jewish Christianity in later Greek writers.However, in several Christian writings stemming from Syria, which mainly had Syriac (a branch of Aramaic) as their original language, this speaking of the Holy Spirit as feminine really abounds.

The Gospel of Thomas
Apart from some Greek scraps, the Gospel of Thomas has been mainly transmitted in a Coptic translation found in the second codex of the 'gnostic' library which, in December 1945, was discovered near Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt. 8Many researchers maintain that the Gospel of Thomas-in any case in its original form(s)-was not 'gnostic' at all, nor even tincted with typical 'gnostic' ideas, but a fine example of primitive Jewish and Syrian Christianity.One of its logia reads as follows: (Jesus said:) Whoever does not hate his father and his mother in My way will not be able to be a (disciple) to me.And whoever does (not) love (his father) and his mother in My way will not be able to be a (disciple Here, the true Mother is the Holy Spirit. 7.More on the Shepherd's pneumatology in concise form in e.g., Osiek (1999:31-34).
8.See e.g.Robinson (2014).Here and elsewhere I speak of 'gnostic' (between parentheses) to indicate that, in modern research, the term has become problematic.

The Acts of Thomas
The Acts of Thomas recount the missionary activities of the apostle Judas Thomas.It is generally agreed that the composite work, which has survived in several Syriac and Greek manuscripts, was written in Syriac sometime before the middle of the third century.It contains many archaic elements pointing to early Jewish Christian tradition in Syria.
One of these archaic Jewish Christian elements is the concept of the Holy Spirit as feminine.It is clearly found in the following texts transmitted in Greek:

Gospels in Old Syriac, the Odes of Solomon, the Didascalia and the Apostolic Constitutions
A number of other writings from the Syrian world may be briefly dealt with under one heading.The first is the Old Syriac Version of the Gospels, which reaches back to the second century and transmits Jn 14:26 as follows: … but that (Syr.: hi = she) Spirit, the Paraclete that my

Aphrahat and Ephrem
Clear resonances of this kind of representation are present in Aphrahat.As a rule he is said to be the first of the (orthodox) Syriac church fathers and also 'the Persian sage'.We mainly know him from his so-called 'Demonstrations', a work dating from about 340.In the eighteenth Demonstration it runs with reference to Genesis 2:24: Who is it that leaves father and mother to take a wife?The meaning is this.As long as a man has not taken a wife he loves and reveres God his Father and the Holy Spirit his Mother, and he has no other love.(Aphrahat, Dem. 18 -Parisot 1980:840;tr. Murray 1975:143) One may add to this quote a passage from Demonstration VI, where Aphrahat speaks of the role of the Spirit in baptism: From baptism we receive the Spirit of Christ, and in the same hour that the priests invoke the Spirit, She opens the heavens and descends, and hovers over the waters [cf.Gen. 1:2], and those who are baptized put Her on.(Aphrahat, Dem. 6 -Parisot 1980:292-293;tr. Murray 1975:143) Although Ephrem , who wrote most of his extant works in Edessa, conjugates the Syriac word rucha as feminine, one finds only one or two passages 9 in his oeuvre which highlight her femininity.In one of these it runs: It is not said of Eve that she was Adam's sister or his daughter, but that she came from him; likewise it is not to be said that the Spirit is a daughter or sister, but that (She) is from God and consubstantial with Him.

Makarios/Symeon
Finally, an extremely rich and influential source is constituted by the homilies of Symeon of Mesopotamia.For centuries, these homilies were transmitted under the name of Makarios (Macarius), an Egyptian monk who lived c. 300-390 and was a staunch supporter of Athanasius.Modern research, however, established that their real author is no other than a certain contemporary Symeon, who lived in Mesopotamia, in the vicinity of the upper Euphrates.The homilies of 9.Cf.Murray (1975:318-319, 144 n. 2): '… two passages in the Diatessaron commentary suggest that he was familiar with the tradition'.With reference to Murray (1975:313-319), Chorbishop Seely Joseph Beggiani (2014:81), reduces this to one.
this Symeon mainly survive in Greek in four collections.
The second collection, consisting of fifty 'spiritual' homilies, became the most popular, but the other three are important as well. 10  Here I quote only some of the most conspicuous examples, derived from a number of editions of the various collections.
In the most influential Fifty Homilies, we read:

Conclusions
Here I may conclude.It is not my aim to further look for influences of early Christian testimonies in this respect, nor did I even intend to be complete in my overview of early Christian texts. 13I only tried to make clear a certain current, which had its initials in early Jewish Christianity 10.Further particulars on the diverse (and overlapping) collections conveniently in, for instance Drobner (2007:370-372).
and also exerted its influence on other ('orthodox') Christian writers.It seems to have been the same Jewish and/or Jewish Christian influences which, moreover, can be found in many 'gnostic' texts, but I deliberately excluded these texts from my exposition. 14Here I just note that sometimes genuine Christian traditions and concepts, which became forgotten in mainstream Christendom, were kept alive in 'heretical' Christian circles.
It would be completely wrong to state that the image of the Holy Spirit as a woman and mother is simply caused by the fact that the Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac words for 'spirit' are (nearly) always feminine.Of course this was an important factor, but there were other significant factors as well, such as the link between the figures of the Holy Spirit and Wisdom or between Holy Spirit and the Jewish feminine concept of the Divine Presence or Shekinah. 15Moreover, it should be remarked that, still, we are dealing with metaphorical language.Religious language is inherently metaphorical, that is, bound to images and similes.By its very nature it cannot define God's essence.All ancients were aware of the fact that this essence of the Divine remains a holy mystery and is by nature ineffable.
Nevertheless, the very first Christians, all of whom were Jews by birth, used to speak of the Holy Spirit as feminine.These Jewish Christians (or, perhaps better: Christian Jews) adhered to Genesis 1:27 where it is said that God created male and female after his image.If this text is really taken for true, then something female is inherent to God.Apart from the image of a Mother, Syrian and other Jewish Christians stressed the 'hovering' (rahhef) of the Spirit as stated, for instance, in Genesis 1:2 and Deuteronomy 32:11. 16Besides, they attributed to the Spirit the motherly features which Jewish prophetic writings like Isaiah (49:15-15; 66:13) find in God.One may also bring to mind that, according to Matthew, Jesus compared himself to a mother bird (Mt.23:37).Moreover, when believers are born anew from the Spirit (e.g.Jn 3), they are 'children of the Spirit', who is their 'Mother'. 17 An expression such as 'children of the Spirit' is typical to Makarios. 18It explicitly refers to the motherly function of the Holy Spirit.There appears to be a tender aspect in God (see e.g.Is 66:13) which can only be expressed in the simile of the Mother.This does not mean that in this way we have 'defined' God; it just means that in this way we attain a better appreciation of the fullness of the Divine.15.I do not enter the difficult question of whether or not Shekinah may be considered as (nearly) identical with God's Spirit.See e.g.Schäfer (2002Schäfer ( [paperback 2004]]).
It is interesting to read on e.g.pp.86-91 his argument that the Shekinah (which in his view is not identical to the Spirit) is the female aspect of God.
14.I only mention here Nag Hammadi writings such as the Apocryphon of John (e.g. 10, 17-18: '… the Holy Spirit, who is called the Mother of the living') and the Gospel of Philip (e.g.55 and 59), and testimonies such as Irenaeus, Adv.Haer.I, 30, 1-2 (the Sethians called the Spirit the First Woman: Primam Feminam) and Epiphanius, Panarion 21, 2, 3 (Simon Magus called Helena the Holy Spirit).
In his Commentary on Micah, he says: … and he should believe in the Gospel, which has been edited according to the Hebrews, which we have translated recently, in which it is said of the person of the Saviour: 'My Mother (mater), the Holy Spirit, took me just now by one of my hairs ….'(Jerome, Commentary on Micah 2, 7, 6 -Adriaen 1969:513)The essence of the same quote from the Gospel of the Hebrews is found in Jerome's Commentary on Ezekiel: … and this relates to the Holy Spirit, who is mentioned with a female name (nomine feminino) among the Hebrews.For also in the Gospel which is of the Hebrews and is read by the Nazaraeans, the Saviour is introduced saying: 'Just now, my Mother (mater), the Holy Spirit, took me up …'(Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel 4, 16,  13 -Glorie 1964:178).
God made everything through His Logos and Sophia, for 'by His Logos the heavens were made firm and by His Spirit all their power.'[Ps.32:6](…)Similarly the three days prior to the luminaries [cf.Gn. 1] are types of the Triad (triados), of God and His Word and His Wisdom (Theophilus, Ad Autol. 1, 7; 2, 15 -Grant 1970:10; 52).In Greek speaking bishop Irenaeus' work Against Heresies, which is mainly transmitted in Latin, it runs inter alia:… the Son and the Holy Spirit (Spiritus), the Word and the Wisdom (Sapientia) (…)For with Him were always present the Word and the Wisdom (Sapientia), the Son and the Spirit (Spiritus) Irenaeus, Adv.Haer.4, 7, 4; 20, 1. (Rousseau 1965:464; 626) an old women (gunē presbutis) (Vis.I, 2, 2; cf.e.g.II, 4, 1 ff.: presbutera inKörtner & Leutzsch 1998:158). 7ecades later, and in another part of the Roman Empire, Melito of Sardis( † c. 190) composed his homily On the Passover.It became famous after its discovery and publication by Campbell Bonner in 1940.In its newest editions one finds some fragments added, the seventeenth of which reads as follows:Hymn the Father, you holy ones; sing to your Mother (tēi mētri), virgins.We hymn, we exalt (them) exceedingly, we holy ones.You have been exalted to be brides and bridegrooms, for you have found your bridegroom, Christ.Drink for wine, brides and bridegrooms …(Melito, Frg. 17 -Hall  1979:84-85)It does not seem to be beyond doubt that the fragment, which follows On the Passover in a Bodmer Papyrus Codex, really stems from Melito.In any case it is a liturgical dialogue, if not part from Melito's sermon, then perhaps of a baptismal liturgy.In its main theme and imagery, On the Passover is close to Jewish Christian thinking in general and Jewish Paschal tradition in particular.In the just quoted fragment, the Mother is without a doubt the Holy Spirit.
, his promovenda Selma Hirsch wrote in her dissertation(1926:41), 'Der Geist wird hier pluralisch, als eine Mehrheit von Geistern gedacht, "was aber ebensowenig wie ‫אלהים‬ oder ‫קדזשים‬ usw.auf eine Vielheit von Wesen zu deuten, sondern nur auf die Mannigfaltigkeit der in einem Wesen zusammengefaßten Kräfte hinweist".' Father will send to you in my name, She (Syr.hi)shallteachyou everything, She (hi) shall remind you of all what I say.(Evangeliumda-Mepharrese-tr.Burkitt 1904:510-511)In all probability, the Odes of Solomon are a (Jewish) Christian work which is almost certainly written in Syria or Palestine in the course of the same second century.In Ode 36, 3 it runs: by you as God (…).But the deacon stands in the place of Christ, and do you love him.And the deaconess shall be honoured by you in the place of the Holy Spirit (…).(Didascalia  apostolorum 9 -tr.Connolly 1929:86-88) The Didascalia Apostolorum ('Teaching of the Apostles') is an ancient 'Church Order' which seems to have been composed in Syria in the earlier half of the third century.In the Syriac text of chapter 11 it runs: This (i.e., the bishop) is your chief and your leader, and he is your mighty king.He rules in the place of the Almighty: but let him be honoured Van de Bank 1977)s, the writings of Makarios and/or Symeon have exerted an enormous influence, both in the East and in the West, not only in Syriac Christianity and other Eastern Orthodox circles, but also among Protestants.It is interesting to note that, among many others (see e.g.Benz 1963;Van de Bank 1977), both the very influential John Wesley 11 and the also very influential Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf were deeply influenced by Makarios.Although in the case of the first one I was not able to find any stress on the femininity of the Holy Spirit, in Zinzendorf there is indeed.In his first address in Pennsylvania, for instance, he said that 'the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is our true Father, and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is our true Mother'.12 ]: 9 where Outler also mentions his particular interest in Ephrem Syrus).Cf. e.g. a quote from Wesley himself ('A plain account of genuine Christianity') on p. 195.More on Wesley's study of Makarios and the translation of his works inBenz (1963:118-127, n. 14).12.Beyreuther & Meyer (1963:38): '… da der Vater unsers Herrn Jesu Christi unser wahrhaftiger Vater/ und der Geist Jesu Christi unsere wahrhaftige Mutter ist (…)'.A little further on it runs (38): '… daß es nicht anders sein kann, als daß sein (= Christ's) Vater auch unser Vater und seine Mutter auch unsere Mutter sein muß' and near the end (45): '… so spricht man von seinem und unserm Vater/ von dem Geist, der seine und unser aller wahrhafftige Mutter ist …'