Reviewing possibility for female deaconesses (non-ordained)

Reviewing possibility for female deaconesses (non-ordained)

Women Deacons (Pro/Con) the Bible 05-06-2014

My opinion deacons can be women and we already have many women deacons even if we refuse to recognize them as such (as example - many of, if not most of our wives for instance). 

1^st question is are we limited to ONLY doing what the Bible say or ONLY restricting what the Bible says NOT to do. This may impact the question at hand.

Pro – Romans 16:1 Phoebe is recommended to the Church of Rome as a deaconess already.

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant (or deaconess) of the church at Cenchreae, 2 that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well. 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house.

                  Con – S thinks a slippery slope and will lead to liberalism and is against it & I think the implication in 1 Timothy 3 is its men (although not explicitly)

Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. 9 They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. 11 (“Their” isn’t in the original Greek) Wives (or Women) likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons each be the husband of one wife (non-polygamous), managing their children and their own households well. 13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

**When reviewed more in detail later it seems Paul is giving the category of Male & Female deacons otherwise it makes no sense why there is expectation of Deacon wives & not Elder wives. There is an interesting lack of the He, He, His language in the Overseer section** 

The Early church

Aside from Paul’s writings other Early Church references can be found for the role of deaconesses. The deaconess ministry is mentioned by early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origen.  Secular evidence from the early 2nd century confirms it. In a letter Pliny of Bithynia attests to the role of the deaconesses. Pliny refers to "two maid-servants" as deaconesses whom he tortures to find out more about the Christians. This establishes the existence of the office of the deaconesses in parts of the eastern Roman Empire from the earliest times. Fourth-century Fathers of the Church, such as Epiphanius, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom and Gregory of Nyssa accept the ministry of female deacons as a fact. And both the Council of Nicea in 325  (Cannon 19) Likewise in the case of their deaconesses, and generally in the case of those who have been enrolled among their clergy, let the same form be observed. And we mean by deaconesses such as have assumed the habit, but who, since they have no imposition of hands, are to be numbered only among the laity & Council of Chalcedon of 451 (A woman shall not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age, and then only after searching examination) both reference women deaconesses.

Early Church on 1 Tim 3 -In the late second century, Clement of Alexandria (155–220) indicated that this text presented evidence for the existence of diakonon gunaik n (“women deacons”). John Chrysostom and Theodoret, writing in the fourth and fifth centuries respectively, also understood these women to be female deacons.

On Romans passage - Early church writers give their own interpretation of this passage. Origen (185–254) interprets Paul’s statement to teach, “that there were women ordained in the church’s ministry.”² About Phoebe and the other women of Romans 16, John Chrysostom (c. 347–407) wrote: “You see that these were noble women, hindered in no way by their sex in the course of virtue; and this is as might be expected for in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female.”³ Theodoret (393–460) noted Phoebe as “a woman deacon, prominent and noble. She was so rich in good works performed as to have merited the praise of Paul.”⁴

Somewhere between A.D. 111 and 113, Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, wrote to the Emperor Trajan asking how he should deal with Christians. In the letter, he tells of questioning two women, who were called ministrae, the Latin equivalent of diakonos.⁷ Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.
The Didascalia Apostolorum [Teaching of the Apostles], undoubtedly from the eastern part of the empire and composed in the third century, gives specific instructions about the role of men and women church workers: “Therefore, O bishop, appoint yourself workers of righteousness, helpers who cooperate with you unto life. Those that please you out of all the people you shall choose and appoint as deacons: on the one hand, a man for the administration of the many things that are required, on the other hand a woman for the ministry of women.”⁹

Tomb inscriptions also provide evidence that female deacons served the church. Among others, an inscription found in the vicinity of the Mount of Olives tells of “Sophia the Deacon.” Dated to the second half of the fourth century, the tombstone reads: “Here lies the slave and bride of Christ, Sophia, the deacon (h diakonos), the second Phoebe.”¹⁰ As a “bride of Christ,” Sophia would have been celibate.

A compelling example is the stone pictured above, found by workers at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on December 8, 1903. Probably dating from the fourth century, the Greek translates as “Here lies the slave and bride of Christ, Sophia, the deacon, the second Phoebe, who fell asleep in peace on March 21^st during the 11^th indiction…” The inscription’s subsequent lines are broken or missing, which is especially unfortunate because line 8 likely names a presbyter (pres-) that may have helped us to date and situate the artifact.

At the Council of Chalcedon (451), the ordination of deaconesses is expressly called ordination by the imposition (laying on) of hands. Members of the Council agreed that “a woman shall not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age, and then only after searching examination.”

@@@

While not all together 100% clear (& personally I'd like more NT proof texts), the evidence seems pretty large for at least the possibility if not the certainty of a role for "deaconess" in the local church.