Again, like I said previously, I seldom refer to the ECF's. But in this case, since the scriptures are not 100% clear, we must see what was taught in the early church.
The
Didache circa A.D. 50, in a section which deals with the affairs of the church, shows that the office of deacon is restricted to men. [1]
Appoint, therefore, for yourselves, bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord,
men meek, and not lovers of money, and truthful and proved; for they also render to you the service of prophets and teachers. Despise them not therefore, for they are your honoured ones, together with the prophets and teachers. [2]
The word
aner is used, which can refer only to the male sex. The placing of
deacon alongside of
bishop (and in other early Christian literature,
presbyter) indicates that very early in the church male deacons had authority. They, along with the bishop, are the "honored ones." There is no record of an official order of deaconesses in the church at the time the Didache was written.
[1] The earliest reference to the diaconate in the post-apostolic church is found in the writings of the apostolic father Hermas (c. A.D. 90-150). In his
Similitude 9-27, he says that deacons are "such as have been set over inferior ministries and have protected the poor and the widows" (cited in Samuel Miller,
An Essay on the Warrant, Nature and Duties of the Office of the Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church [New York, 1831], p. 221).
[2]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, revised and chronologically arranged with brief notes by A. Cleveland Coxe (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, [1886] 1994), 7:381.
Ignatius, who was said to be a disciple of the apostle John, wrote several epistles to the churches in Asia Minor while on his way to Rome to be martyred. This occurred under the persecution of the emperor Trajan. His description of the diaconate is inconsistent with the idea of deaconesses who function in the same office as male deacons.
First note that he assumes that deacons are men:
"...it will become you, as a Church of God, to elect a deacon to act as the ambassador of God [for you] to [the brethren there], that he may rejoice along with them when they are met together, and glorify the name [of God]."
Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1:85.
Second, Ignatius attributes an authority to the office of deacon that women are clearly not permitted to have.
"I exhort you to study to do all things with a divine harmony, while your bishop presides in the place of God, and your presbyters in the place of the assembly of the apostles, along with your deacons, who are most dear to me, and are entrusted with the ministry of Jesus Christ."
Ibid., 1:61.
Let the laity be subject to the deacons; the deacons to the presbyters; the presbyters to the bishop; the bishop to Christ, even as He is to the Father."
Ibid., 1:90.
"Fare ye well in the Lord Jesus Christ, while ye continue subject to the bishop, and in like manner to the presbyters and to the deacons."
Ibid., 1:72.
"My soul be for theirs that are submissive to the bishop, to the presbyters, and to the deacons, and may my portion be along with them in God!"
Ibid., 1:95.
The evidence is clear that among the early church, women did not hold the position of bishop (under-shepherd) of the congregation. And that although the arguement can be made of women deacons, their role was also very limited.
God Bless
Till all are one.
