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In Christianity, the ordination of women has been taking place in an increasing number of Protestant and Old Catholic churches, starting in the 20th century. Since ancient times, certain churches of the Orthodox tradition, such as the Coptic Orthodox Church, have raised women to the office of deaconess. [1]
The oldest reference to women as deaconesses (or female deacons, there is no distinction of role in Latin or Greek) occurs in Paul's letters (c. AD 55–58).Their ministry is mentioned by early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria [7] and Origen. [8]
Their duties were often different from that of male deacons; women deacons prepared adult women for baptism and they had a general apostolate to female Christians and catechumens (typically for the sake of modesty). [46] Women appear to have been ordained as deacons to serve the larger community until about the 6th century in the West. [47]
References are made within the earliest Christian communities to the role of women in positions of church leadership. Paul's letter to the Romans, written in the first century, commends Phoebe who is described as "deaconess of the church at Cenchreae" that she be received "in the Lord as befits the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a helper of many and ...
The global Catholic Church is split on whether to allow women to serve as deacons, a Vatican document showed on Tuesday, just weeks after Pope Francis ruled out any opening on the issue. Giving ...
Christian women of the early church Name, also known as, location, year Image Description and legacy Two slave women deacons. ministers, deaconesses, maid-servants Bithynia. Pliny's letter c112 The governor, Pliny the Younger, wrote a letter to Emperor Trajan; one of the earliest documents showing persecution of the church by Roman authorities ...
Advocates for greater roles for women in the Church had hoped the synod might call for women to serve as deacons. The gathering, which included cardinals, bishops and lay people from more than 110 ...
The document will be written by the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith as its contribution to Pope Francis’ big church reform process, now entering its second main phase with a meeting of ...