Folia Theologica et Canonica 7. 29/21 (2018)

Ius canonicum

IDONEITY FOR PRIESTHOOD IN THE EARLY CANONICAL DISCIPLINE... 307

known in the Eastern Church in the 3rd Century. They received their function from the hands of the bishop. This custom can be found in the 2nd canonical letter of St. Basil the Great and in canon 15 of the Council of Chalcedon (451 ).34 The deaconesses managed auxiliary pastoral activities in cases of necessity for the care of souls; for example, visiting sick faithful. Some places in the monophysite Syrian Church, where were no presbyters or deacons, the deaconess carried the Holy Eucharist to the faithful who were far away from the Church, but even these deaconesses did not received permission for baptism. This differed fundamentally from the custom of Western Christianity. In this tradition there was no function of deaconesses, but women were permitted to administer the baptism in certain cases. The minimal age for the deaconess state in the Eastern Church was 40 years based on the discipline of the Council of Chalcedon (451). Nonetheless, the Codex Theodosianus contains 60 years age limit for this state. In fact, the deaconesses received their function in a similar form like presbyters and deacons, but this similarity certainly did not mean essential character, because their state remained lay and they did not become clerics, as signed well within the structure of the Statuta Ecclesiae Antqua (nr. 5: extraordinary administers for those sick old elderly faithful who are impeded to visit the Church) and indicated expressively by some conciliar texts (i.e. Council of Arles I [314] can. 14 [13], Council of Ntmes [396] can. 2), which prohibit women to be let for Holy Orders. Such type of ordinations was not only invalid but the ordination act within the canonical order did not exist.35 Therefore, the canonical sources show well that the service of deaconesses in the East (and pious women faithful in the West) was not some form of “women deacons'" but basically an occasional associate service in necessity (or grave necessity) and they did their special assistance in the absence of the ordained ministers, not at the altar, but promoting the goal of the Church under the direction of the competent bishop.

The bishops who resided in the centers of the counties (metropolis) obtained jurisdiction over the all other bishops of the county as metropolitans. For the 3rd century36 the pastoral service at the villages had become difficult, because

34 Concilium Chalcedonense (451) Can. 15: Diaconissam non ordinandam ante annum quadragesiumum et hanc cum summo libramine. Si uero suscipiens manus inpositionem et aliquantum temporis in ministerio permanens semetipsam tradatad nuptias, gratiae Dei contumiliam faciens, anathematizetur huiusmodi cum eo, qui illi coniugitur. COD 94.

35 Can. 2: Illud aetiam a quibusdam suggestum est ut, contra apostolicam disciplinam, incognito usque in hoc tempus, in ministerium faeminae, nescio quo loco, leuiticum uideantur adsumptae; quod quidem, quia indicens est, non admitti ecclesiastica disciplina, et contra rationem facta talis ordinatio distruatur: prouidendum ne quis sibi hoc ultra praesumat. Gaudemet, J. (ed.), Condies gaulois du VIe siecle (Sources chrétiennes 241), Paris 1977. 126-128.

36 “Le groupement des diocéses en provinces ecclésiastiques sous l’autorité de Tun des évéques qualifié de métropolitain est relativement tardif, plus tardif que la prééminence prise par certains «grand siege» dönt il vient d’etre question. Les termes d’ «éparchie» (province ecclésiastique) et de «métropolitain» ne sont pás attestés avant les canons de Nicée, en 325. Si Ton eite quelques