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Question 54 · The Church

Were there women deacons or women clergy?

What the sources show

Pliny the Younger (Roman governor) c. 112 · John Chrysostom c. 392 · Epiphanius of Salamis c. 377Deaconesses

There were women deacons from the start: Phoebe in Romans 16, Pliny's two "ministrae" (about 112), and an order of deaconesses in the fourth-century East. 147

Tertullian c. 207 · Epiphanius of Salamis c. 377 · Council of Laodicea c. 363

The great churches did not make women presbyters or bishops: Tertullian, Epiphanius and the Council of Laodicea say so. Some Montanist groups did. 2356

The answers given:
ApostolicBefore NicaeaNicaea and afterMiddle AgesReformation to today

Scroll through the centuries, or tap a dot. J K move between witnesses.

Apostolic Fathers

30–150
112c. AD
DeaconessesIndirect: does not say it outright

Pliny the Younger (Roman governor) c. 61–c. 113 ADLetter 10.96, to the emperor Trajan 10.96.8

So I thought it all the more necessary to find out the truth from two slave women, who were called ministers (ministrae), and by torture.

"Ministrae" is probably Pliny's Latin for the Greek "deacons" (diakonoi).

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Before Nicaea

150–325
207c. AD
No women priests

Tertullian c. 155–c. 220 ADOn the Veiling of Virgins 9.1

A woman is not permitted to speak in church, nor to teach, nor to baptize, nor to offer, nor to claim for herself the lot of any male office, still less the priestly.

Tertullian also mentions widows enrolled in the church's order (9.2).

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Nicaea to Chalcedon

325–451
363c. AD
No women priests

Council of LaodiceaCanons Canon 11

That the women called presbytides, or presiding women, are not to be appointed in the church.

Who these "presbytides" were is debated: senior women, heads of the female order, or deaconesses. The canon ends the office, whatever it was.

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377c. AD
Deaconesses

Epiphanius of Salamis c. 310/320–403 ADPanarion 79.3.6

That there is an order of deaconesses in the Church is clear, but not for priestly service or for undertaking anything of the kind, but for the sake of the modesty of women, at the time of baptism or of visiting the sick or suffering, when a woman's body is uncovered, so that she may be seen not by the men who perform the rite but by the deaconess.

Written against the Collyridians, women who offered cakes to Mary.

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377c. AD
Women clergy (sects)

Epiphanius of Salamis c. 310/320–403 ADPanarion 49.2.5

Among them women are bishops and women are presbyters and the rest. They say there is no difference, for "in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female" (Galatians 3:28).

The Quintillians, a branch of the Montanists in Phrygia, as Epiphanius reports them.

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377c. AD
No women priests

Epiphanius of Salamis c. 310/320–403 ADPanarion 79.3.6

... but not for priestly service or for undertaking anything of the kind.

Epiphanius argues that no woman, not even Mary, was made a priest.

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392c. AD
Deaconesses

John Chrysostom c. 349–407 ADHomilies on Romans 30, on Romans 16:1

"I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deacon of the church at Cenchreae." See how many ways he honors her: he mentions her before all the others and calls her sister. It is no small thing to be called Paul's sister. And he added her rank, calling her deacon.

Chrysostom's friend Olympias was a deaconess of Constantinople.

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Witnesses not in the library yet

These writers also matter for this question. Their texts will join the timeline above once they are translated.

  • 380
    Apostolic Constitutions, 8.19–20

    An ordination prayer for a deaconess, with the laying on of hands.

  • 451
    Council of Nicaea and Chalcedon, Nicaea canon 19; Chalcedon canon 15

    Deaconesses counted among the laity (Nicaea, for one sect); ordained only after 40 (Chalcedon).

  • 246
    Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Romans 10.17, on Phoebe

    "Women too are appointed in the ministry of the Church."

How this page was made

Every early quote was read in its Greek or Latin and translated for this page by Claude (Opus 5.5) on 13 October 2026. Each line names the printed edition it was read from. A quote marked indirect does not state the answer outright; read its note. A writer's silence is never counted as an answer.