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 commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that is 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 commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that is in Cenchrea --
Salute Priscilla and Aquilas, my fellow-workmen in Christ Jesus --
salute Tryphaena, and Tryphosa, who are labouring in the Lord; salute Persis, the beloved, who did labour much in the Lord.
Euodia I exhort, and Syntyche I exhort, to be of the same mind in the Lord; and I ask also thee, genuine yoke-fellow, be assisting those women who in the good news did strive along with me, with Clement also, and the others, my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life.
aged women, in like manner, in deportment as doth become sacred persons, not false accusers, to much wine not enslaved, of good things teachers, that they may make the young women sober-minded, to be lovers of their husbands, lovers of their 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 healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary who is called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone forth,
and certain women, who were healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary who is called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone forth, and Joanna wife of Chuza, steward of Herod, and Susanna, and many others, who were ministering to him from their substance.
and Joanna wife of Chuza, steward of Herod, and Susanna, and many others, who were ministering to him from their substance.
And I commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that is in Cenchrea --
And I commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that is in Cenchrea --
Women -- in like manner grave, not false accusers, vigilant, faithful in all things.
Women -- in like manner grave, not false accusers, vigilant, faithful in all things. Ministrants -- let them be of one wife husbands; the children leading well, and their own houses,
Ministrants -- let them be of one wife husbands; the children leading well, and their own houses,
A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband,
A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband, in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after;
in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after; and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry,
and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the 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 commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that is in Cenchrea -- that ye may receive her in the Lord, as doth become saints, and may assist her in whatever matter she may have need of you -- for she also became a leader of many, and of myself.
And I entreat you, brethren, ye have known the household of Stephanas, that it is the first-fruit of Achaia, and to the ministration to the saints they did set themselves --
Women -- in like manner grave, not false accusers, vigilant, 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 commend you to Phebe our sister -- being a ministrant of the assembly that is in Cenchrea --
salute Tryphaena, and Tryphosa, who are labouring in the Lord; salute Persis, the beloved, who did labour much in the Lord.
Women -- in like manner grave, not false accusers, vigilant, faithful in all things.
honour widows who are really widows; and if any widow have children or grandchildren, let them learn first to their own house to show piety, and to give back a recompense to the parents, for this is right and acceptable before God. read more. And she who is really a widow and desolate, hath hoped upon God, and doth remain in the supplications and in the prayers night and day, and she who is given to luxury, living -- hath died; and these things charge, that they may be blameless; and if any one for his own -- and especially for those of the household -- doth not provide, the faith he hath denied, and than an unbeliever he is worse. A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband, in good works being testified to: if she brought up children, if she entertained strangers, if saints' feet she washed, if those in tribulation she relieved, if every good work she followed after;
aged women, in like manner, in deportment as doth become sacred persons, not false accusers, to much wine not enslaved, of good things teachers,