Women were unordained deaconesses. And women never at any time presided over the Mass. That is reserved to priests only.
Let me throw this in here as i recover from the flu (and before my headache comes back):
1. There was not separate sacerdotal class of believers in the NT church. All believers are called to sacrifice (
Rm. 12:1;
15:16;
Phil. 2:17;
4:18;
Heb. 13:15,
16; cf.
9:9) and all constitute the only priesthood (hieráteuma) in the NT church, that of all believers, (
1Pt. 2:5,
9;
Re 1:6;
5:10;
20:6).
2. Nowhere does the Holy Spirit use the distinctive Greek word for what we refer to in English as "priests." For the words “hiereus” and “archiereus" ("priest" and "high priest" as in
Heb. 4:15;
10:11) are the Greek words which the Holy Spirit distinctively uses for a separate sacerdotal (sacrificing) class in the New Testament (over 280 times total
*, mainly as archiereus”) that of Old Testament "priests" (Hebrew ko^he^n) as well as those of pagans and the general priesthood of all NT believers. But which words He never uses for New Testament pastors ("poime¯n"), which are called presbuteros (senior/elder) or episkopos (superintendent/overseer), which refers to those in one pastoral office. (
Titus 1:5,
7;
Acts 20:17,
28.
The English word "priest" is a etymological corruption of the Greek presbuteros, if with uncertainty, being referred to in Old English (around 700 to 1000 AD) as "preostas" or "preost," and finally resulting in the modern English "priest," which originally was used for presbuteros, but came to be used for both OT "ko^he^n" and NT “hiereus,” thereby losing the distinction the Holy Spirit provided by never using the distinctive term of hiereus for NT presbuteros, or describing as them as a distinctive sacerdotal class of believers. Catholicism attempts to justify using the same distinctive word for both OT "ko^he^n" and NT presbuteros via an imposed functional equivalence, supposing NT presbuteros engaged in a unique sacrificial ministry.
3. There was no Mass in the NT church, that of a priests officiating over the Lord's supper, changing the elements in to the "real" body and blood of Christ under the appearance of bread and wine (which actually no longer exist, being replaced by the "Real Presence" of Christ, until the non-existent bread or wine begins to decay) and which is offered by the priest as a sacrifice for sin, and which he then dispenses to the people in order for them to obtain spiritual and eternal life, which ritual is the supreme central activity of the Catholic church and the primary active function of her pastors.
No NT pastor is even described officiating at the Lord's supper, or charged with doing so in the record of the NT church (Acts onward, which writings show us how the NT church understood the gospels), nor is the Lord's supper even manifestly described in Acts (simply refers to breaking of bread) or the rest of the NT onward, except in one epistle, which does
not describe the distinctive Cath. Eucharist.
4. Instead of dispensing bread as part of their ordained function, and offering the Lord's supper as a sacrifice for sin, instead the primary work of NT pastors is that of prayer and preaching. (Act 6:3,4;
2 Tim.4:2)) by which they “feed the flock” (
Acts 20:28;
1Pt. 5:2) for the word is called spiritual "milk," (
1Co. 3:22;
1Pt. 1:22) and "meat," (
Heb. 5:12-14) what is said to "nourish" the souls of believers, and believing it is how the lost obtain life in themselves. (
1 Timothy 4:6; ;
Acts 15:7-9; cf. Psalms 19:7) In contrast, nowhere in the record of the NT church is the Lord's supper described as spiritual food, and the means of obtaining spiritual life in oneself.
That said, the NT pastorate is clearly restricted to males, who is the head of the women, and which reflects the order within the Trinity.
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman
is the man; and the head of Christ
is God. (1 Corinthians 11:3)
And which was the standard in Protestantism. More here by God's grace:
ARE WOMEN PASTORS BIBLICAL?
