The Apostle Junia

This is devoted to the memory of Junia, the only named female apostle in the New Testament.. Though traditionally the name at the end of Romans 16.7 has often been translated as "Junias", the grammer at that point in the Greek doesn't leave an indication of the gender- the last letter is not included, due to the construction of the sentence. Millenia of male translators have assumed it to be a man. But in exhaustive searches of tombstones and other Roman archeology, the name "Junias" does not appear once. The name, "Junia", however (meaning "youthful" and taken from Hera/June, the wife of the head of the Greco-Roman Pantheon, Jupiter/Zeus), appears numerous times in Roman writings.

To read more, please visit:

• A history of how Junia became masculinized, despite the beliefs of the early Christians.
• Dealing with the Apostleship of Junia
• An example of Roman references to the name "Junia", a ancient song dedicated to another Junia upon her marriage.
• An imaginary letter from Junia
  

Above: Early Church female leaders including Theoda, the Bishop of the Church of St. Prassede in Rome in 820 A.D.; with her predecessor St. Prassede, founder of the church; St. Prudentiana, and Mary, the mother of God. The square halo shows a living person at the time the picture was made. Ancient graffiti is clearly marked, changing the name "Theoda" to "Theodo" to make it appear that the bishop was a man.

Left: "St. Andronicus, St. Athanasius of Constantinople, and St. Junia"



Books exclusively on Junia:

• Junia: The First Woman Apostle in 2005
• The Lost Apostle: Searching for the Truth About Junia in 2006. This is a definitive highly scholarly work, proving without doubt that Junia is female, by looking at every single Greek reference to her, and all the English translations.

Other books on women in leadership:

• Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels is a recent work discussing Junia and other great women of the first centuries.
• This book changed my life. In What Paul Really Said About Women, Bristow looks at the culture, and the original Greek.

Where can you run into Junia in 3-D life? There is a Mission of St. Junia the Apostle in Costa Mesa, California, part of one of the groups that has split off the Roman Catholic Church. Also St. Martin the Merciful Orthodox Church in Corvallis, Oregon has a six-foot fresco of St. Junia.

Right: A mosaic in a cathedral floor covering the tomb of Julia Runa, a presbyterissa/priest.

You can also now buy postcards and "pre-icons" of St. Junia for $2.50 plus postage from the bookstore of the General Theological Semnary of NY. Their number is 212-727-3907.

Celebrate an amazing woman, on the Orthodox commemoration and Feast of St. Junia (and Adronicus) on May 17th.

Following in Junia's footsteps, three centuries later Nina lead the entire country of Georgia to Christ, making her perhaps the greatest female evangelist of all time.

Care passionately about women's leadership in the church? Join Christians for Biblical Equality!