ANCIENT CHURCH MANUALS THAT MENTION WOMEN ELDERS
This is part 2 of a three-part series on ancient evidence for women elders in the early church. In part 1, I looked at at women elders in early heterodox groups and in church canons. There is also an introduction with a note on the significance of the evidence in this series.
Part 2 is the most technical of the three articles in this series. The evidence is somewhat vague and possibly limited to Syria, but I include the following information because women elders are mentioned.
The Apostolic Constitutions (AC)
The Apostolic Constitutions (AC) was compiled in the late 300s, probably in Syria. In book 2 of AC, there are instructions for seating arrangements during church meetings. These instructions effectively rank people according to sex, marital status, and age. The AC includes the line, “… let the virgins, and the widows, and the presbyteresses (presbytides), stand or sit before all the rest …” (AC 2:57). (You can read this in context here. Note that this translation renders presbytides as “elder women” in AC 2:57. The Greek text is here, p. 165.)
The AC has a section on the criteria for choosing enrolled widows here. I’ve included this link because it is referred to in the section on The Testament of our Lord below, namely that “the ‘presbyteress’ of AC 3.5 replaces ‘widow’ of the earlier Didascalia.” (The translation in this link has “aged women” rather than “presbyteresses.”)
Enrolled or official widows usually performed some kind of service to the church. The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (c. 200) states that widows are “appointed for prayer” (11:3) and that they, and enrolled virgins, should fast frequently and pray for the church” (25:2). (A PDF is here.)
We see the beginning of an order of enrolled widows in the New Testament.
No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. (1 Timothy 5:9–10 NIV).
Enrolled widows were typically cared for by female leaders (cf. 1 Tim. 5:16). Tabitha may have cared for enrolled widows (Acts 9:36ff).
The Didascalia Apostolorum (DA)
The Didascalia dates from the 3rd century, perhaps as early as 230, and was probably written in Syria. Chapter 12 has the same seating instructions as in AC 2:57. It seems to have been copied exactly from the Didascalia into the Apostolic Constitutions, including the mention of presbytides.
Chapter 15 of the Didascalia contains unflattering instructions about the conduct of widows. Much of it gives no indication that these widows ministered in some way, and it clearly dissuades them from baptising women and from teaching.
In one paragraph (DA 3.10) of chapter 15, presbytides are mentioned three times along with the adjective “fellow.” This paragraph addresses jealousy among some widows towards “fellow presbytides.” It is clear that the fellow presbytides are part of the group of widows, but they may be a subset of the widows, perhaps leading widows. The Didascalia can be read here. More information about the Didascalia is here.
The Testament of Our Lord (TD)
Female elders (presbyteresses), official widows, and other ecclesial roles for women are mentioned with approval in The Testament of Our Lord (Testamentum Domini). This work on church orders was written in the 4th-5th centuries. It’s not known where the document was originally written, but some suggest Syria.
Here are two quotations from Testament that mention female elders.
“For the presbyteresses let us beseech, that the Lord may hear their supplications and keep their hearts perfectly in the grace of the Spirit and help their work” (TD 1.35, p. 101).
“Let the presbyteresses stay with the bishop till dawn, praying and resting” (TD 2.19, p. 134).
These quotations show that prayer was one ministry of these female elders, but they don’t tell us more about the nature of their other work.
Cooper and MacLean, translators of Testament, have a note which they have entitled, “Presbyteresses and Widows who sit in Front [at church services]” and they ask the question, “Are presbyteresses and widows the same?” Their note also refers to the Apostolic Constitutions (AC) and the Didascalia (DA), and Canon 11 of the Council of Laodicea which I looked at in Part 1.
Before we get to their note, it is worth pointing out that in Testament 1.35, presbyteresses (female elders) are mentioned between, that is, ranked between, deacons (one of the three major orders in the Catholic Church) and subdeacons (a minor order in the Catholic Church).[1]
In Testament 1.41-43 there are several paragraphs about widows which come after sections 33-39 on deacons and section 40 on confessors, and before the short section 44 on subdeacons.
Furthermore, in Testament 1.23 it states that “the widows [are to stand] immediately behind the [male] presbyters on the left side, and the deacons also behind the presbyters on the right hand side.” The presbyters stand behind the bishop who stands in the middle.[2] This arrangement suggests that widows and male deacons held roughly parallel positions in the church which was the source of the Testament of Our Lord.
I acknowledge that the following note is not the easiest to understand.
Presbyteresses (1.35, 2.19) and Widows who sit in Front.
Are these the same? We may almost certainly assert the affirmative in Test[ament]. In 1.35, in the litany, presbyteresses are mentioned between deacons and subdeacons, as in these chapters (living confessors are apparently not mentioned by name as a class in the litany).[3] In 2.19 widows and presbyteresses are indeed mentioned separately, but probably there the “widows” mentioned first are ordinary widows, as they follow the married women; the presbyteresses mentioned afterwards would be the “widows who sit in front.”
At Laodicea they clearly are the same [see part 1]. But it does not follow that this nomenclature was universal. The very words “that are called” at Laodicea and in Test. 1.19 would imply perhaps the contrary. In Syria it would seem that there were other professed widows than the presbyteresses. In A.C. 2.57 (Lagarde, 86.20), the virgins, widows, and presbyteresses (πρεσβύτιδες) are to sit in front, in the congregation, however.
The Bishop of Salisbury points out (Ministry of Grace, 271, note 18) that the “presbyteress” of A.C. 3.5 (Lagarde, 100.20) replaces “widow” of the earlier Didascalia. The “widows” of A.C. 2.57 would be professed widows, but the “presbyteresses” a higher class of professed widows. Epiphanius, Haer. 79, 4 (quoted in Ministry of Grace, 275), distinguishes between πρεσβύτις and πρεσβυτερίς or ἵερισσα [female priests], allowing the former as an elder widow, but not tolerating the latter names or functions.
The Testament of Our Lord: Translated into English from the Syriac with Introduction and Notes, James Cooper and Arthur John Maclean (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1902), 199. (Online Source: Internet Archive)
A.C. = Apostolic Constitutions
This comment suggests that the word “presbyteresses” was synonymous with “widows” in Testament, but that in the Apostolic Constitutions, presbyteresses (female elders) were a higher level of widow.
A word of caution: All three of these ancient texts may have originated from Syria and so reflect church customs from that area. Churches in different parts of the ancient world had different customs concerning church orders, especially orders of women.
The three church manuals also mention female church offices such as female deacons.[4] It’s important to bear in mind, however, that the ministries of elders and diakonoi (deacons) in New Testament churches do not readily correspond with the ministries of elders and deacons in churches in later centuries. After the first century, there were typically distinctions in role and status between male elders and female elders, and also between male deacons and female deacons.
You can support my work for as little as $3 USD a month at Patreon.
Become a Patron!
Footnotes
[1] In Testament 1.35, presbyteresses are mentioned after the bishop, male presbyters/ elders and male deacons, the three major orders, and before the subdeacons, lectores (readers) and deaconesses, minor orders. This list is given in the context of community prayers.
Several ancient texts rank church offices in a hierarchical order. We see the first clear evidence of this in the letters of Ignatius of Antioch (circa AD 110) who ranked the bishop first, followed by a council of male elders, followed by male deacons. Ignatius does not identify any women with an ecclesial title, but he does acknowledge an order of widows, called “virgins,” in the church at Smyrna (IgnSm 13:1; cf. IgnPol 4:1). He also mentions two prominent women in Smyrna by name. I’ve written about these women and the virgin-widows in Smyrna here.
[2] Excerpt from Testament 1:23, p.70.
… when [the bishop] offereth [three loaves of bread as symbols of the Trinity or four loaves as symbols of the Gospels] let the veil in front of the door be closed, and within it let him offer with the presbyters and deacons and the canonical widows, and subdeacons and deaconesses and readers [and] those who have [charismatic or healing] gifts.
But let the bishop stand first in the middle, and the presbyters immediately behind him on either side, and the widows immediately behind the presbyters on the left side, and the deacons also behind the presbyters on the right hand side; the readers behind them, and the subdeacons behind the readers, and the deaconesses behind the subdeacons.
[3] “Confessors” can refer to a variety of roles. Originally, confessors were Christians who had been persecuted, who had not denied their faith under torture or imprisonment, and had survived. The term later came to be used for priests who heard confessions and became spiritual fathers. It was a minor order in the Roman Catholic Church. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confessor and here: https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04215a.htm
[4] Female deacons was a recognised church order and some ancient sources indicate some kind of ordination ritual. Canon 19 of the Council of Nicea (325 CE) states, “We have mentioned the deaconesses, who are enrolled in this position, but since they have not received any imposition of hands at all, they are surely to be numbered among the laity.” This canon, however, is given specifically in the context of deaconesses who belonged to a sect of Paul of Samosata (c. 260s), so it may be only these Paulianist deaconesses who were not ordained with the laying on of hands. (The canons of Nicea can be read here.)
© Margaret Mowczko 2022
All Rights Reserved
You can support my work for as little as $3 USD a month at Patreon.
Become a Patron!
Women Elders in Ancient Christian Texts
Part 1: Women Elders in Heterodox Churches and Ancient Church Canons
Part 3: Women Elders in Inscriptions and Atto of Vercelli
Explore more
Tabitha: An Exemplary Disciple
The Church at Smyrna and Her Women
Were there women elders in New Testament churches?
The First Century Church and the Ministry of Women
A Female Teacher and Deacon in Antioch (AD 360s)
Cerula and Bitalia in Catacomb Art
More articles about women in the early church are here.
Image Credit
Domnina of Syria, an ascetic woman who lived in the 400s (cropped). From the Menologion of Basil II (Wikimedia)
.jpeg){kind=link}