II. Deacone$tet im the early Chtrch^'—The Apostoli- cal Constitutions distinguish "deaconesses" from ** widows" and *' virgins," and prescribe their duties. A form of ordination for deaconesses is also given (bk. viii, c. 19, 20), in which the bbbop pra3rs as follows : ** Eternal Gk)d, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Crea- tor of man and of woman ; thou who didst flU with thy Spirit Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, and Huldah; thou who didst vouchsafe to a woman the birth of thy only-begotten Son ; thou who didst, in the tabernacle and in the Temple, place female keepers of thy holy gates — ^look down now also upon this thy handmaid, and bestow on her the Holy Ghost, that she may wor- thily perform the work committed to her, to thy hon- or, and the glory of Christ" (Chase, ConstituHom of the Apostles, p. 225 (N. Y. 1848).
In the Eastern Church the notices of deaconesses in the first three centuries are few and slight, although Origen (t 258) speaks of the ministry of women in £e Church as both existing and necessary.
In the Western Church the notices are fuller and more clear. Pliny the younger (about A.D. 104) ap- pears to refer to deaconesses in his letter to Trajan, in speaking of the question by torture of "two maids who were called ministers" (ex duabus ancillis qusB mimttra dicebantur). Tertullian (220) speaks of them often, and prescribes their qualifications (see be- low). In the fourth and fifth centuries all the lead- ing Eastern fathers refer to deaconesses ; e. g. Basil (t 379), Gregory of Nyssa (f 896), Chrysostom (f 407), Theodoret (f 457), Sozomen (cir. 489). Theodoret (EccLs, Hist. iU, 14, p. 652) caUs Publla, who Uved at
dk
the time of Julian, 17 Aionwoc-— men (iv, 14, 59) speaks of a certain ' been excluded Church fellowship broken her vows.
It was a rule that the deacoBBises mUbcd Tertullian (ad Uxormi^ i, 7; <fc Virym, sdmL says, *'The discipline of th» Church taA tft usage forbid that any widow be eleeCed unlw ibj married but one husband.'* Viryms, ft k tat sometimes admitted, bat this was tiie exn|«iK widows must have borne ddldrcn. TUi iwi fh>m the belief that no peraoD but a molfav caj sess those sympathising affactions whkh otgkn imate the deaconess in her duties. Hm «iif CH was very strict in enforcing the rule wkick |«l| the election of any to be d^aconeasss wktU twice married, though lawftiO j and moetmt two husbands, one after the other. TertiSiii ^ The apostle requires them to be (nanerw) be I of one man" (ad UsBorem^ It, 7). Otko^N give the words of the apostle another BMiiif . I suppose him to exclude tiioso widows wIm, hn^ vorced themselves fh>m their formo haM married again (see Soicer, Tkemmnu, i, 864, IC is disputed whether they ware ordaiiied bftb sition of hands, but the Apostolical CoDStitBti»{ 19) declare that such was the case, and tl»lMl of Chalcedon (sess. xv) forbids the oi6a6m deaconess under forty. Still they wen B0tc«i ted to any ministerial ftinction; so TstiBiil Prater^ 41, **Let no woman speak in tk Ol nor teach, nor baptise, nor offsr^' (that ii, add the Eucharist), "nor arrogate to hersdf «j I function, lest two should claim tlie kt ef tk pd office." Their duties were to take can of ^ and poor, and to minister to maityn and prison, to whom they could more easily ^ I than the deacons ; to instruct catechnnenS} ai^l sist at the baptism of women; to exerciK t|< oversight over the female members of dM this not only in public, but in private, nskof sional reports to the bishops mod presbyto. long this office continued is uncertahL h^^ however, discontinued everywhere at ones. I^* first abrogated in Fhmoe by the Council d (^ A.D. 441. It continued in the Roman Chock ftr * time after this, and gradually disappeand; tatio Greek Church it did not become extinet tin ltot«^ century.
III. In the modem CftacrdL— It most cvar biRP^ ed as a misfbrtune in the Reformation (kit tbi»«^ office was not restored. ''Is it notmMibbliv the office, which is so well adapted to tht vfi^ character of the female sex, should be whoOr cn^ firom our list of assistants in the Omr^r (P^ son's Calmel, p. 886.) Its restoration «aii^^ seriously thought 0^ and even attempted, is Ac » formed Church at an eariy period of the W»^ namely, when the Netheiland **chureliflin^^ Cross" were founded through the synod st W«el » Emden, 1568 and 1671. Its restoratioii ^^^ fbrraed Church was urged on the synod the wm* it already actually existed at the tfane asMag m^ hemian Brethren and the strict AMtix^H^ itj^ in the large congregatkms. The subject tfg»^ the synod fhwn the congregation at W«*^*"StB Classis of Wesel. That congregatioii had dKHPj restore it— had, in fisct, restored it fa ils biW^* now asked the {ndicatores fbr approvsL tWCa^ of Wesd, before which the matter flistcswtdy^ that the restoration of the office as ^'^''"f'^Z congregation at Wesel shall stand till the isd i^ sion is had, but deferred final action mrtfl «k* *J meeting. In 1680 the same classis deeidsdtM « this office, which had fkllen into disuw sad de^^ the Church of God, is again to be ndfi^^*^ shall be established in the same fora, sad «i(^ '