Folia Canonica 5. (2002)

STUDIES - Szabolcs Anzelm Szuromi: The Development of the Clerical Orders prior to the Discipline of Statuta Ecclesiae Antique (5th Century)

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SZABOLCS ANZELM SZUROMI

not mislead us. They were not the same as “Holy Service”, which could be practised only by persons who had received some degree of Holy Orders. The state of deaconesses in the early Church is a similar problematic question for research. T earns of widows and virgins were important in the apostolic age (cf. Rom. 16,1 ; ITim. 5,9-16),18 and played various roles in the Church. They were especially welcomed by Ignatius of Antioch (jT 10) in his letter to the Smirnians.'9 Female deaconesses were known in the Eastern Church in the 3rd Century. They received their function at the hands of the bishop. This usage can be found in the second canonical letter of St. Basil the Great and in c. 15 of the Council of Chalcedon (451).20 The deaconesses were responsible for lesser pastoral activities, for example, the visiting the sick. In the monophysite church where there were no priests or deacons, the deaconess gave Holy Eucharist to the faithful, but they did not have permission to baptize. This differed from Western European usage, where we do not find the function of deaconesses, although women were permitted to administer baptism. According to the discipline of the Council of Chalcedon (451) the minimal age for the deaconess is 40 years, but then it is 60 years in the Codex Theodosianus. In fact, the deaconesses received their function in a similar form to the priests and deacons, but this similarity does not mean essential identity. Their status remained secular and they did not become clerics, as is clear from some conciliar texts, (such as the Council of Nîmes [396]), which prohibit women from Holy Orders. Such types of ordinations are invalid.21 22

The bishops who resided in the main cities of each country (the metropolis), obtained jurisdiction over the all the other bishops of the country as metropolitans22 The pastoral activity in the smaller towns was difficult, because the associ18Cf. i. e. R. Gryson, Le ministère des femmes dans l’Église ancienne, Gembloux 1972.

19 C. 13. P. Th. Camelot (ed.), Ignace d’Antioche, 142—144.

20 Concilium Chalcedonense (451) c. 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.

21 C. 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.” J. Gaudemet (ed.), Conciles gaulois du VT siècle (Sources chrétiennes 241), Paris 1977. 126-128.

22 „Le groupement des diocèses en provinces ecclésiastiques sous l’autorité de l’un des évêques qualifié de métropolitain est relativement tardif, plus tardif que la prééminence prise par certains «grand siège» dont il vient d’être question. Les termes d’ «éparchie» (province ecclésiastique) et de «métropolitain» ne sont pas attestés avant les canons de Nicée, en 325. Si l’on cite quelques réunions entre évêques d’une même province avant cette date, on ne peut les tenir pour la preuve d’une «organisation» provinciale.” J. Gaudemet, Église et cité. Histoire du droit canonique, Paris 1994. 126.