with a form of prayer, which is there recited. And thus it was, both in the Greek and Latin Church, so long as the order itself continued to be in use. The council of Trullo, Anno 692, speaks of their ordination in two canons,' under the name of Xuporovía: and Sozomen 2 uses the same word in speaking of the ordination of Olympias. And though there be not so many examples of this practice to be met with in the Latin Church, because the order was there much sooner laid aside, yet Cotelerius has furnished us with some out of Fortunatus, and the council of Worms, both which expressly say, the ordination of deaconesses was performed by imposition of hands. In the council of Worms, the 15th canon of the council of Chalcedon is repeated. And Fortunatus's words are, "Manu superposita consecravit diaconam," speaking of one whom Medardus, the bishop, consecrated a deaconess by laying his hands upon her. All which shows, that it was the constant practice of the Church to ordain deaconesses by imposition of hands; and that makes it very probable, that the Nicene canon is to be understood in that sense, which is most agreeable to the Church's practice. 5 But the learned Justellus still raises another scruple about their ordination. He thinks this imposition of hands was not properly an ordination, but only a benediction; for he distinguishes betwixt those two things, and says, "Every solemn imposition of hands is not an ordination :" which is very true; for then the imposition of hands upon the catechumens, or upon the baptized in confirmation, or upon the penitents, in order to reconcile them, or upon the sick, in order to their cure, or upon any persons whatsoever, to give them a common benediction, would be an ordination. But then that learned person seems not to have considered, that the imposition of hands upon the deaconesses was something more than all these; for it was a consecration of them to a certain office in the Church, which sort of imposition of Con. Trull. c. 14 et 40. 8 Coteler. 2 Sozom. lib. viii. c. 9. Not. in Const. Apost. lib. viii. c. 19. Fortun. Vit. * Justel. Bibl. Jur. Canon. tom. i. p. 75. hands, joined with a prayer of benediction, for grace to discharge that office aright, is what the Church has always meant, and called particularly by the name of ordination. SECT. 7.-Not consecrated to any Office of the Priesthood. 1 Yet we are not to imagine, that this consecration gave them any power to execute any part of the sacerdotal office, or do the duties of the sacred function. Women were always forbidden to perform any such offices as those. Therefore the author of the Constitutions calls it a heathenish practice to ordain women priests, “ ἱερείας χειροτονεῖν;” for the Christian law allowed no such custom. Some heretics, indeed, as Tertullian observes, allowed women to teach, and exercise, and administer baptism; but all this, he says, was against the rule of the Apostle. Epiphanius brings the charge particularly against the Pepuzians, which were a branch of the Montanists, "that they made women bishops, and women presbyters, abusing that passage of the Apostle, In Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female,' to put some colour upon their practice." He charges it also upon the Collyridians, "that they did Iɛpspytiv dià yvvaιkiv, use women to sacrifice to the Virgin Mary;" where, it is observed, that the charge is double: 1st, that they gave divine worship to the holy Virgin; and 2dly, that they used women-priests in their service. Against these he has a particular dissertation, wherein he shows at large that no woman, from the foundation of the world, was ever ordained to offer sacrifice, or perform any solemn service' of the Church; which, if it had been allowed to any, would certainly have been granted to the Virgin Mary herself, who was so highly favoured of God. But neither she nor any other woman had ever the priest's office committed to 'Constit. Apost. lib. iii. c. 9. 2 Tertul. de Præscript. c. 41. Ipsæ mulieres hæreticæ quàm procaces, quæ audeant docere, contendere, exorcismos agere, curationes repromittere, forsitan et tingere. de Baptismo. 4 Epiph. Hær. 49. αυτοῖς γυναῖκες, και πρεσβύτεροι γυναῖκες, marianit. n. 23. ld. Hær. 79. 9 Id. c. 17. Pepuzian. n. 2. 'Еminkowo #α Id. Hær. 78. AntidicoCollyrid. n. 3. 'Eciɛparęve yv ναῖκες Θεῷ προσετάσσοντο, ἢ κανονικὸν τὸ ἐργάζεςθαι ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, ἔδει μᾶλλον αυτὴν τὴν Μαρίαν ἱερατείαν ἐπιτελέσαι, δε 1 them. "There is, indeed," says he, " an order of deaconesses in the Church, but their business is not to sacrifice, or perform any part of the sacerdotal office, or any of the sacred mysteries, but to be a decent help to the female sex in the time of their baptism, sickness, affliction, or the like:" and therefore he denies, that the Church made them either presbyteresses or priestesses, " "Η πρεσβυτερίδας, ἢ ἱερίσσας;” where the reader is to observe, that Epiphanius puts a distinction betwixt the names Πρεσβύτιδας and Πρεσβυτερίδας, because the former only denotes elderly women, such as the deaconesses commonly were; but the latter he uses to signify persons ordained to the office of presbyters or priests, which he absolutely denies any women in the Christian Church to be. SECT. 8.-Their Offices. 1. To assist at the Baptism of Women. And, from hence it is plain, the offices of the deaconesses were only to perform some inferior services of the Church, and those chiefly relating to the women, for whose sake they were ordained. One part of their office was to assist the minister at the baptizing of women, where, for decency's sake, they were employed to divest them, (the custom, then, being to baptize all adult persons by immersion) and so to order the matter, that the whole ceremony might be performed with all the decency becoming so sacred an action. This is evident from Epiphanius, both in the forecited passage, and other places, and it is taken notice of also by Justinian and the author of the Constitutions, who adds, "that the deaconesses were used to anoint the women in baptism with the holy oil;" as the custom of the Greek Church then was, not only for the bishops, presbyters, and deacons, but also for the deaconesses to use this ceremony of unction before baptism; of which Cotelerius in his Notes gives several instances out of the ancient writers, but these belong to another place. 2 3 bid. Διακονισσῶν τάγμα ἔτιν εἰς τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, αλλ' εχὶ εἰς τὸ ἱερατεύειν, ἐδὲ τὶ επιχειρεῖν επιτρέπειν. Justin. Novel. vi. c.6. 2 Epiph. Expos. Fid. n. 21. * Const. Apost. lib. iii, c. 15. SECT. 9.-2. To be a Sort of Private Catechists to the Women-Catechumens. Another part of their office was to be a sort of private catechists to the women-catechumens, who were preparing for baptism. For though they were not allowed to teach publicly in the Church, yet they might privately instruct and teach those, how to make the proper answers that were required of all persons at their baptism. The author of the short Notes on the Epistles,' under the name of St. Jerom, calls this, "private ministry of the word," which the deaconesses performed in the eastern Churches in his time. And it was so usual and ordinary a part of their office in the African Churches, that the fathers of the fourth council of Carthage require it as a necessary qualification in deaconesses, when they are ordained, "that they shall be persons of such good understanding, as to be able to instruct the ignorant and rustic women how to make responses to the interrogatories which the minister puts to them in baptism, and how they were to order their conversation afterward.” SECT. 10.-3. To visit and attend Women that were Sick and in Distress. Another part of their employment was to visit and attend women that were sick, which is noted by Epiphanius and the author of the Constitutions, who says, "they were employed likewise in delivering the bishop's messages and directions to women that were in health, whom the deacons could not visit because of unbelievers;" that is, because of the scandal and reproach which the heathens were ready to cast upon them. SECT. 11.-4. To Minister to the Martyrs and Confessors in Prison. em Hieron. Com. in Rom. xvi. 1. Sicut etiam nunc in Orientalibus Diaconissæ mulieres, in suo sexu ministrare videntur in Baptismo, sive in ministerio Verbi, quia privatim docuisse fœminas invenimus, &c. 2 Con. iv. c. 12. Viduæ vel Sanctimoniales, quæ ad ministerium baptizandarum mulierum eliguntur, tam instructæ sint ad officium, ut possint apto et sano sermone docere imperitas et rusticas mulieres, tempore quo baptizandæ sunt, qualiter Baptizatori interrogatæ respondeant, et qualiter, accepto Baptismate vivant. 8 Epiph. Hær. 79. n. 3. Expos. Fid. n. 21. *Constit. Apost. lib. iii. c. 15 et 19. Hieron. Ep. ii, ad Nepot. Multas anus alit Ecclesia, quæ officium ægrotanti præstant, &c. ployed in ministering to the martyrs in prison; because they could more easily gain access to them, and go with less suspicion, and less danger and hazard of their lives from the Heathen, than the deacons or any other ministers of the Church could do. Cotelerius1 and Gothofred collect this from some passages in Lucian and Libanius, which seem plainly to refer to this part of the deaconesses' ministry. For Lucian, in one of his Dialogues, speaking of Peregrine, the philosopher, how he was caressed by the Christians, whilst he was in prison for the profession of their religion, says, "In the morning one might observe old women, the widows, waiting at the prison gate with some of the orphan children;" where by the widows he doubtless means the deaconesses of the Christians. And there is little question but Libanius3 means the same, when he says, "that the mother or mistress of the old women, when she finds any one bound in prison, runs about, and begs and makes a collection for him." This plainly refers to the great charity and liberality of the Christians toward their martyrs, which was collected and sent to them by the hands of these deaconesses. SECT. 12.-5. To attend the Women's Gate in the Church. In the Greek Churches the deaconesses had also the charge of the doors of the Church, which part of their office is mentioned by the author of the Constitutions, and the author under the name of Ignatius," who styles them "Ppspsc twv áɣíwv πvdwvwv, the keepers of the holy gates." But probably this was only in such Churches as made a distinction betwixt the men's gate and the women's gate; for bishop Usher observes," that no ancient writers besides these two make any mention of this, as part of the office of deaconesses;" and in another place of the Constitutions? this distinction is plainly expressed; "let the door keepers 1 Coteler. Not. in Const. lib. iii. c. 15. Gothofred. Com. in Cod. Theodos. lib. xvi. tit. 2. leg. 27. 2 Lucian. Peregrin. IIapà ry deoμwτnpiy 3 Liban. Orat. 16. in Testa* Constit. Apost. περιμενοντα γραΐδια, χήρας τινὰς, &c. 6 Usser. Dissert. 17. in Ignat. p. 224. VOL. I. Pseudo-Ignat. Ep. ad Antioch. n. 12. 21 |