Reference: Deaconess
American
Such women were called deaconesses as served the church in those offices in which the deacons could not with propriety engage; such as keeping the doors of that part of the church where the women sat, privately instructing those of their own sex, and visiting others imprisoned for the faith. In Ro 16:1, Phebe is said to be a "servant" of the church at Cenchrea; but in the original Greek she is called deaconess.
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And I place with you Phebe our sister, being servant of the church in Cenchrea:
Easton
Ro 16:1,3,12; Php 4:2-3; 1Ti 3:11; 5:9-10; Tit 2:3-4). In these passages it is evident that females were then engaged in various Christian ministrations. Pliny makes mention of them also in his letter to Trajan (A.D. 110).
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And I place with you Phebe our sister, being servant of the church in Cenchrea:
Embrace Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus:
Embrace Tryphen a and Tryphosa, wearied in the Lord. Embrace Persis the beloved, who was much wearied in the Lord.
I beseech Euodias, and I beseech Syntyche, to think the same in the Lord. And I also ask thee, worthy yoke-fellow, aid those women who fought in company with me in the good news, and with Clement, and the rest of my co-workers, whose names in the book of life.
The aged women likewise, becoming holy in a serene state of mind, not accusers, not slaves to much wine, teachers of good; That they render the young women discreet, to be lovers of the husband, lovers of the children,
Fausets
Ro 16:1; "Phoebe, servant" (Greek text: "deaconess") of the church at Cenchrea." 1Ti 3:11; "even so (marking a transition to another class from deacons) must the women (i.e. the deaconesses) be grave," etc. Domestic duties are omitted, though specified in the case of the deacons (1Ti 3:12). The same qualifications are required in deaconesses as in deacons, with such modifications as the difference of sex suggested. Pliny in his letter to Trajan calls them "female ministers."
The earliest instance of such female ministers (though of course not then formally appointed) is in Lu 8:2-3; "Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Susanna, and many others which ministered unto Him of their substance." The social seclusion of women from men in many parts of the East would render necessary the services of women in teaching those of their own sex. See WIDOWS; an ecclesiastical order of widowhood, a female presbytery, existed from those of at least 60 years old, standing in the same relation to the deaconesses of younger age (1Ti 5:9-11) that the male presbyters did to the deacons.
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And certain women, who were cured from evil spirits and weaknesses, Mary called Magdalene, from whom went forth seven demons,
And certain women, who were cured from evil spirits and weaknesses, Mary called Magdalene, from whom went forth seven demons, And Joanna wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who served him from possessions to them.
And Joanna wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, who served him from possessions to them.
And I place with you Phebe our sister, being servant of the church in Cenchrea:
And I place with you Phebe our sister, being servant of the church in Cenchrea:
Wives also grave, not accusers, sober, faithful in all things.
Wives also grave, not accusers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be husbands of one wife, presiding well over the children and their own houses.
Let the deacons be husbands of one wife, presiding well over the children and their own houses.
Let not a widow be chosen less than sixty years, having been wife of one man,
Let not a widow be chosen less than sixty years, having been wife of one man, Testified of in good works; if she have brought up children, if she lodged strangers, if she washed the feet of the holy, if she relieved the pressed, if she followed every good work.
Testified of in good works; if she have brought up children, if she lodged strangers, if she washed the feet of the holy, if she relieved the pressed, if she followed every good work. And the younger widows reject: for when they conduct themselves arrogantly against Christ, they wish to marry:
And the younger widows reject: for when they conduct themselves arrogantly against Christ, they wish to marry:
Hastings
The word does not occur in English Version except as a Revised Version margin reading in Ro 16:1. In this verse Ph
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And I place with you Phebe our sister, being servant of the church in Cenchrea: That ye receive her in the Lord, worthy of the holy ones, and encourage her in whatever thing she have need of you: for she also has been the rule of many, and of myself.
And I beseech you brethren, (ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and they arranged themselves for service to the holy ones,)
Wives also grave, not accusers, sober, faithful in all things.
Smith
Deaconess.
The word diakonos is found in
(Authorized Version "servant") associated with a female name, and this has led to the conclusion that there existed in the apostolic age, as there undoubtedly did a little later, an order of women bearing that title, and exercising in relation to their own sex functions which were analogous to those of the deacons. On this hypothesis it has been inferred that the women mentioned in
belonged to such an order. The rules given as to the conduct of women in
have in like manner been referred to them, and they have been identified even with the "widows" of
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And I place with you Phebe our sister, being servant of the church in Cenchrea:
Embrace Tryphen a and Tryphosa, wearied in the Lord. Embrace Persis the beloved, who was much wearied in the Lord.
Wives also grave, not accusers, sober, faithful in all things.
Honour widows, truly widows. And if any widow have children or descendants, let them learn first to be pious to their own house, and to return recompenses to their progenitors: for this is good and acceptable before God. read more. And she truly a widow, and forsaken, has hoped in God, and remains in supplications and prayers night and day. And she living luxuriously is dead, living. And these things proclaim, that they might be irreprehensible. And if any for his own, and chiefly for his own household provide not, he has denied the faith, and is worse than the unbelieving. Let not a widow be chosen less than sixty years, having been wife of one man, Testified of in good works; if she have brought up children, if she lodged strangers, if she washed the feet of the holy, if she relieved the pressed, if she followed every good work.
The aged women likewise, becoming holy in a serene state of mind, not accusers, not slaves to much wine, teachers of good;