Abstract

José-Juan Fresnillo Ahijón:
Deaconess: from the Didascalia of the Apostles to the Apostolic Constitutions
(FKTh 2025-1, p. 33–53)

Among the various testimonies about deaconesses in Christian antiquity, the church orders stand out. They are mentioned in the Didascalia of the Apostles, which can be regarded as their birth certificate, and in the Apostolic Constitutions, which show their consolidation. The fact that deaconesses appear in these two documents of the Syrian Church and not in others says much about their scope and the reasons for their existence, which are based primarily on decency. With regard to the knowledge and understanding of deaconesses, it is very instructive to see the development and change that takes place between the two documents. Thus, the comparison of what one and the other says about deaconesses shows us that the Apostolic Constitutions presuppose a consolidation that manifests itself in a rite for deaconesses, as is also the case with other ecclesial groups. However, this consolidation in turn implies a greater narrowing and delimitation of what the deaconess is and of her functions, not a generalisation of her existence and her action or presence, nor a greater identification with the deacon, but a greater distinction from him.