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The
Didascalia of the Apostles written c. 230 CE discusses the women’s
diaconate at length. The bishop appointed a woman for the ministry of women
because there were homes to which he could not send a male deacon, and in many
other matters the service of a female deacon was needed.
The
bishop looked on the male deacons as signs of Christ and the female deacons as
signs of the Holy Spirit and gave them a prominent place in the church hierarchy. Women deacons were also mentioned both at the
Council of Nicea in 325 CE and the Council of Chalcedon of 451 CE which decreed
that women should not be ordained until they were 40 years of age.
In
the 6th century Emperor Justinian I appointed male and female deacons
throughout his territories in the East and the West including the Hagia Sophia
where one hundred men and forty women served as deacons. This practice continued at least into the
tenth century.
A
manual of ceremonies written during that time designated a special area for
deaconesses at Hagia Sophia. Those elevated to the office of deaconess
typically were wealthy women who were supporters of the church. In many cases
they founded religious communities of chaste unmarried women, widows and virgins.
