Reading: Ordained Deacons and Elders (Slides)

Ordained Elders and Deacons

Henry Reyenga

The Two Offices of the Church: Deacon (Minister) and Elder (Bishop)

Churches have Elders and Deacons 

Philippians 1:1   Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops (elders) and deacons (ministers) 

The Two Offices of the Church: Elder

Elder or Overseer, Bishop

• Elder is the historic cultural designation that is present in the OT and the NT. The role of elder is ordinarily an office held by men in the early church and throughout history. 
• Historically, the male elder understanding is grounded in the headship principle of the early family households.

Titus 1:6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. 

The Two Offices of the Church: Deacon

• The office of Deacon is the NT ordinated word for the Latinized word, minister. This included men (the Seven in Acts) and women such as Phoebe.
• The word for deacon is the word diakonos. 
• The office of the deacon included many roles. Deacons are “doers of ministry”.

Ordained Deacons Referred to Men and Women

The first is that the reference to Phoebe the diakonos at Romans 16:1 cautions us that whatever the function of a diakonos in a first-century Pauline church, in the early years any reference to diakonoi as a group must not be understood necessarily to refer only to men.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 287-289). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Pliny the Persecutor 

Soon he received an anonymous accusation containing the names of many Christians. In response, Pliny required the new defendants to pray to the gods and to make an offering of incense and wine to the image of the Emperor Trajan (98–117). He also required them to anathematize Christ. However, Pliny wished to find out more about the cult practices of the forbidden sodality. In his celebrated Letter to Trajan, Pliny provides the following account of how he did so. 

“I believed it was necessary to find out from two female slaves (ex duabus ancillis) who were called deacons (ministrae), what was true—and to find out by torture (per tormenta).”

Summary of Earliest Women Deacons

It is clear that the office of female deacon or deaconess was much more present in the East than in the West. We can probably assume that Phoebe and other unnamed women deacons like her in the first and perhaps second century belonged to an office or function that was not distinguished by sex. Phoebe’s first-century office, whatever it was, was nothing like that of later deaconesses.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 755-757). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

John Chrysostom Homily 11 (1)

On 1 Timothy 3:11 “Likewise women must be modest, not slanderers, sober, faithful in everything.” Some say that he is talking about women in general. But that cannot be. Why would he want to insert in the middle of what he is saying something about women? But rather, he is speaking of those women who hold the rank of deacon. “Deacons should be husbands of one wife.” This is also appropriate for women deacons (diakonoi), for it is necessary, good, and right, most especially in the church.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 620-624). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

John Chrysostom Homily 11 (1)

The point that John makes is still disputed in the interpretation of the text from Timothy (see discussion on the text itself above). Here the commentator is clear which option he favors. In John’s churches in Antioch and Constantinople, female deacons or deaconesses were well known. His application of the one-marriage rule to women deacons seems to suggest that in late-fourth-century Antioch, they were allowed to marry and so need not have been celibate.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 625-628). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Commentary on 1 Timothy 3:11 

“In the same way, women” that is, the deacons (diakonous), “are to be serious, not irresponsible talkers, sober, faithful in everything.” What he directed for the men, he did similarly for the women. Just as he told the male deacons to be serious, he said the same for the women. 

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 628-632). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Theodosius Served a Church

When she died, he was appointed steward of the church, which, it is clear in the narrative, was not the same office as superior of the ascetic community.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 355-356). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

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Certainly there is no suggestion that her ministry was a ministry especially to women, the kind of female ministry that will later develop in the Syrian churches. The male title is used here, not to be confused with the third-century institution of deaconess. Though incorrect, “deaconess” is often the translation given to diakonos in this passage, on the assumption that the proper title for a female deacon is always deaconess.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 484-487). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Cyprian and Justina

Justina is a diakonos. Though this account has no historical value, it is an early legend that again witnesses to the prevalence of women deacons. Though all versions of the legend say that she converted him, in this case he assumes the role of ecclesiastical superior who ordains and appoints her. At the moment of their martyrdom by the sword, he asks that she be killed first, since he is “mistrusting of feminine weakness” (PG 115.880), that is, he fears she might relent if he is not there to strengthen her. After she is killed, he too receives the sword.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 1018-1023). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

About 397 AD

Then it happened in those days that the old lady came to her rest and went to the Lord. Then calling the girl, he sent for the deacon Manaris, whose name means in Greek Photeinē [light]. He gave Salaphtha over to her, giving her the dress of a kanonikē, and commending them to God, dismissed them in peace.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Location 1077). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

The Hospital Movement

Tomb of Eneon, daughter of Neoiketes, deaconess in this hospital

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 1937-1938). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Ministry to the Poor

In memory of Eugenia deacon we, the poor people of Geragathis, restored the sarcophagus that we decorated.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 1975-1976). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Tomb Inscriptions

Here lies Maria the deacon of pious and blessed memory who, according to the saying of the Apostle, raised children, exercised hospitality, washed the feet of the saints, and distributed her bread to the needy. Remember her, Lord, when she enters into your kingdom.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 2016-2018). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Younger Woman Than Widows

A stone inscription from Mahaiy, Moab, in present-day central Jordan, area near Kerak. Here lies Maria daughter of Valens, deacon, who lived thirty-eight years and died in the year 538

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 2030-2031). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Sophia, the Second Phoebe

Cré (1904) records that the stone was found by workers below the Tomb of the Prophets on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on December 8, 1903, in five pieces, with the bottom missing. It is now in the museum of St. Anne’s Church, Jerusalem. It probably dates from the fourth century. The first six lines are well preserved.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 2142-2145). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Sophia Inscription

Here lies the slave and bride of Christ Sophia, deacon, the second Phoebe, who slept in peace the twenty-first of the month of March in the eleventh Indiction … the Lord God …

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 2145-2146). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Jerusalem Church Deacon

Calling oneself slave or servant of Christ or God was common early Christian language (see, for example, Rom 1:1; 1 Cor 4:5; Phil 1:1; Gal 1:10), and the use of bridal imagery, previously applied only to the church, for consecrated virgins was also beginning at this period. Sophia was a diakonos of a Jerusalem church.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 2147-2149). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Second Phoebe

The most surprising part of the description is her appellation as “second Phoebe,” a reference to Rom 16:1–2, where Phoebe, bearer of Paul’s letter to Rome, is recommended to the recipients as diakonos—the earliest use of that term, with Phil 1:1, for an officer of a particular church—and prostatis, patron or benefactor (see Phoebe). The comparison to Phoebe is probably not only to her diaconate, which was common to many women of the period, but to her position as patron and benefactor.

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 2149-2153). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Conclusion

Female deacons in the East has shown that they appear in all kinds of contexts: funerary, dedicatory, as recipients of letters and subjects of letters, guardians of shrines, heroines of ecclesiastical conflicts, monastic superiors and followers, choir leaders, those who take care of others’ concerns and those who cause concern to others—and more. They came from the nobility and the common population. Some were very much under ecclesiastical authority, others more independent,

Madigan, Kevin; Osiek, Carolyn (2011-01-04). Ordained Women in the Early Church (Kindle Locations 2251-2254). Johns Hopkins University Press. Kindle Edition. 

Christian Leaders Churches

Elders – Apostolic Council with Brian DeCook lead Elder, local elders are encouraged to be men who have the gift of Biblical wisdom, holding the qualification of the office and who walk with God. Recommend they take Ministry training. (Deleted repeated word “the”)

Christian Leaders Churches

Deacons – Men and women who are called to ministry. These ordained ministers represent the Christian Leaders Churches in various roles: 

• Minister or Deacon Church Starter
• Minister or Deacon Officiant Pastor
• Minister or Deacon Pastor
• Minister or Deacon Apostle