For one of my classes I recently read one of Pliny the Younger's letters to the emperor Trajan about the Christians in his province. At one point he said that he had to have two women interrogated through torture to get some information, and he says that the two women were called deaconesses.

What are the ministrae he's talking about?

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Davidius
Husband of Emily
Member of All Saints Anglican Church - Chapel Hill (AMiA / Anglican Church of North America)
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German and Classics

wives of deacons, of course!

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-JD

Deaconesses were quite common in the early church, perhaps through the twelfth century in the West. We find canons and decrees about them in places such as the Council of Nicaea in 325 (canon IX) and the fourth council of Carthage in 398, where the following was stated:

"Widows and dedicated women (sanctimoniales) who are chosen to assist at the baptism of women, should be so well instructed in their office as to be able to teach aptly and properly unskilled and rustic women how to answer at the time of their baptism to the questions put to them, and also how to live godly after they have been baptized." (Schaff).

They were women whose duties revolved entirely around woman, appointed to office for those roles which they thought it appropriate only for women to do (i.e., certain things pertaining to baptism, especially when practiced by immersion), and for various other tasks.

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Paul Korte
OPC
Flint, MI

They who perceive in themselves discoveries of the divine goodness, so full and absolutely perfect, and who make them the subject of earnest meditation, will never embrace new doctrines, by which the very grace they feel so powerfully in themselves is thrown into the shade. --John Calvin

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What did these women do at baptisms?

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Pergamum


"If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?"
-- David Livingstone

I'm not sure what exactly they did for baptism. My encounters with the concept of the ancient deaconnesses are limited to when they appear in canon law and in the canons of church councils--I know of them legally, not practically.

But, patching together these sources, it appears that they were frequently employed (with reference) in the catechizing of other women, in preparing them to answer questions at baptism, and in assisting the women who were immersed where it would be "inappropriate" for men to be involved. Mostly, however, they were employed in the catechizing and teaching of women, and in attending to their needs.

Sorry I can't be of more help; you will find frequent mention of them in the church fathers, and in the decrees of many councils. According to the historian Schaff, for information regarding the history and role of the ancient deaconness, the best place to start is in Thomassinus, Ancienne et
Nouvelle Discipline de l’ Eglise, I Partie, Livre III, but I have never read this. (Hopefully you can read French...) Again, sorry I couldn't help more.

It's unlikely that this is the case. Whereas Pliny says they were known among Christians as ministrae, he himself refers to them as ancillae, slave women. This is apparently because he saw them referenced as "servants" and assumed that they were slaves. Our word "minister" is the same in form as it was in Latin, and was sometimes used in pre-Christian literature to refer to slaves, meaning "attendant" or "servant." Ministra is the feminine form.

Lets take into consideration that in languages such as greek and latin, there exist the feminine and the masculine form of a word. So the words ministry, deacon(english for servant) pertains to either male or female. A good example of this in english is the words waiter/waitress. Therefore, it is no surprised that the early church (greek/latin) used deaconess for female servants. For this reason, it does not mean that although for the church it is o.k. to have female servants or deaconess to help within the church, it does not mean that they are to preach/teach, be ordained, and to have authoirty over men.

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Gil Garcia
Rehoboth Reformed Church (RCUS)
La Habra, CA

"Ignorance of this distinction between Law and Gospel is one of the principal sources of the abuses which corrupted and still corrupt Christianity." - Calvin's successor


"By the words of the law man is admonished and taught, not what he can do, but what he ought to do. How is it that you theologians are twice as stupid as schoolboys, in that as soon as you get hold of a single imperative verb you infer an indicative meaning...?"
-Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will

Your post is a little hard to understand, but from what I get of it, your contention has more to do with the nature of diaconal responsibilities than whether there is an office of "deaconess." Are you saying that there is a such thing as a deaconess, but that is an unordained office with no teaching capability?

Brian Schwertley has done research on the topic of women deacons, "A Historical and Biblical Examination of Women Deacons" and mentions Pliny the Younger and the comments you quote:

A Historical and Biblical Examination of Women Deacons

Basically, the clear trajectory of church history has been that women did not serve as (I Timothy 3) Deacons. They were assistants to the (I Timothy 3) Deacons and certainly engaged in diaconal (mercy) work.

From the historical record (going back to the Apostles), the closest women got to being in an office to do diaconal work was the I Timothy 5 "servant widow"- an unordained office, supported by the church for 60 year old destitute widows. The office appears to have been under the authority of the (I Timothy 3) Deacons, historically speaking. I Timothy 5 explicitly lays out biblical qualifications for this office.

Because the terms for (the office of) "Deacon" and for "servant" are basically the same in the original languages, it can be confusing as we try to interpret history. But keep in mind that the historical record strongly suggests that women were never understood to have the office of Deacon until the modernism (liberalism) of the past 100 years or so. They were assistants to them and were servants of many kinds in the church.

Women have long served in the church, and in many times of church history did mercy ministry, but not in capacity as I Timothy 3 Deacons and under authority of the offices of bishop, elder and deacon- offices given to men only, in accordance with Scripture.

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Scott
PCA
North Carolina


"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised)"
Hebrews 10:23