Giving Voice to Female Souls: Women and Congregational Song from Plato to Maximus Confessor
Conatus June 30, 2026 DOI: 10.12681/cjp.44907 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Origen's feminine conception of the soul, rooted in Plato's Laws and its female choirs, shaped Maximus Confessor's Mystagogia, and contends that the role of female singing and its connection to the myrrh bearers in both authors' works has yet to be examined in scholarship. |
Abstract
The article expands on my recent research on the Platonic milieu of Origen’s perception of the soul as feminine in his Comments on the Song of Songs by tracing the influence of this concept on Maximus Confessor and his Mystagogia. Origen reads the Song as an allegory about the experiences of the soul as it embraces a new state of consciousness through its union with Christ. Drawing on Plato’s Laws, which insists on the importance of female choirs in the public worship of Magnesia, Origen presents the Maidens in the Song as a Chorus, eager to praise the love of the Soul or the Church for Christ. Centuries later, Maximus, a close reader of Origen, further inspired by the Neoplatonic musings of Proclus and Dionysius Areopagite, writes his Mystagogia to instruct lay Christians in the significance of the liturgy as a symbolic, cosmic journey that unites humanity with God. While the role of gender in the anthropology and eschatology of both authors has been fiercely debated in scholarship, the importance of female singing and its connection to the role of the myrrh bearers in their works is yet to be discussed.