BD I, BHC01

Unit III

4. Early Church Leaders

a. Origan, Tertullian, Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Alexandria, Polycarp, Augustine of Hippo,

John Chysostom, Ephraim, Jerome, Athanasius, Philoxenus of Mabbug, Severus of Antioch, Cyril
of Alexandria etc.

The following men are representative and will appear in all lists of important "fathers of the church," but
the list is certainly not complete. The Apostolic Fathers were Christian theologians who lived in the 1st
and 2nd centuries AD, who are believed to have personally known some of the Twelve Apostles, or to
have been significantly influenced by them. Their writings, though popular in Early Christianity, were
ultimately not included in the canon of the New Testament once it reached its final form. Many of the
writings derive from the same time period and geographical location as other works of early Christian
literature that did come to be part of the New Testament, and some of the writings found among the
Apostolic Fathers' seem to have been just as highly regarded as some of the writings that became the New
Testament. The first three, Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, are considered the chief ones.

Clement of Rome

Pope Clement I, also known as Saint Clement of Rome, is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as Bishop of
Rome, holding office from 88 to his death in 99. He is considered to be the first Apostolic Father of the
Church, one of the three chief ones together with Polycarp and Ignatius of Antioch.

Few details are known about Clement's life. Clement was said to have been consecrated by Peter, and he
is known to have been a leading member of the church in Rome in the late 1st century. Early church lists
place him as the second or third bishop of Rome after Peter. The Liber Pontificalis states that Clement
died in Greece in the third year of Emperor Trajan's reign, or 101 AD.

Clement's only genuine extant writing is his letter to the church at Corinth (1 Clement) in response to a
dispute in which certain presbyters of the Corinthian church had been deposed. He asserted the authority
of the presbyters as rulers of the church on the ground that the Apostles had appointed such. His letter,
which is one of the oldest extant Christian documents outside the New Testament, was read in church,
along with other epistles, some of which later became part of the Christian canon. These works were the
first to affirm the apostolic authority of the clergy. A second epistle, 2 Clement, was attributed to Clement,
although recent scholarship suggests it to be a homily by another author. In the legendary Clementine
Literature, Clement is the intermediary through whom the apostles teach the church.

According to tradition, Clement was imprisoned under the Emperor Trajan; during this time he is recorded
to have led a ministry among fellow prisoners. Thereafter he was executed by being tied to an anchor and
thrown into the sea. Clement is recognized as a saint in many Christian churches and is considered a patron
saint of mariners. He is commemorated on 23 November in the Catholic Church, the Anglican

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Communion, and the Lutheran Church. In Eastern Orthodox Christianity his feast is kept on 24 or 25
November.

Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch is also known as Ignatius Theophorus ("the God-bearing") or Ignatius Nurono (lit.
"The fire-bearer"), was an early Christian writer and bishop of Antioch. While en route to Rome, where
he met his martyrdom, Ignatius wrote a series of letters. This correspondence now forms a central part of
a later collection of works known to be authored by the Apostolic Fathers. He is considered to be one of
the three most important of these, together with Clement of Rome and Polycarp. His letters also serve as
an example of early Christian theology. Important topics they address include ecclesiology, the
sacraments, and the role of bishops.

Nothing is known of Ignatius' life apart from what may be inferred internally from his letters, except from
later (sometimes spurious) traditions. It is said Ignatius converted to Christianity at a young age. Tradition
identifies Ignatius, along with his friend Polycarp, as disciples of John the Apostle. Later in his life,
Ignatius was chosen to serve as Bishop of Antioch; the fourth-century Church historian Eusebius writes
that Ignatius succeeded Evodius. Theodoret of Cyrrhus claimed that St. Peter himself left directions that
Ignatius be appointed to the episcopal see of Antioch. Ignatius called himself Theophorus (God Bearer).
A tradition arose that he was one of the children whom Jesus Christ took in his arms and blessed, although
if he was born around 50 AD, as supposed, then Jesus had been crucified approximately 20 years prior.

Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69 – c. 155)

Polycarp of Smyrna was a Christian bishop of Smyrna (now İzmir in Turkey). It is recorded that he had
been a disciple of "John". The options/possibilities for this John are John, the son of Zebedee, traditionally
viewed as the author of the Gospel of John, or John the Presbyter. Traditional advocates follow Eusebius
of Caesarea in insisting that the apostolic connection of Polycarp was with John the Evangelist and that
he was the author of the Gospel of John, and thus the Apostle John.

Polycarp tried and failed to persuade Pope Anicetus to have the West celebrate Passover on the 14th of
Nisan, as in the Eastern calendar. Around A.D. 155, the Smyrnans of his town demanded Polycarp's
execution as a Christian, and he died a martyr. The story of his martyrdom describes how the fire built
around him would not burn him, and that when he was stabbed to death, so much blood issued from his
body that it quenched the flames around him. Polycarp is recognized as a saint in both the Roman Catholic
and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Justin Martyr (d. 156).

He was the greatest of the Greek apologists. These were men of the generation after the death of the
apostles, the first generation of "scholarly" men who addressed the emperor and others who were
persecuting Christians

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When he converted to Christianity, he kept his "philosopher's robe"

Wrote two Apologies

Wrote Dialogue with Trypho, a debate with a Jewish rabbi in which Justin tries to prove that Jesus is the
prophesied Messiah and also the Logos of God, and that there is a new covenant that supercedes the old

Irenaeus (d. c. 200)

Greatest writing was Against Heresies, which is one of our chief sources of information about the
Gnostics. His historical accuracy was verified when original Gnostic documents were discovered at Nag
Hammadi. Used the argument about the successions of bishops against the Gnostic claim to secret
knowledge.

Tertullian (c. 155-c. 220)

In Tertullian we have the first true Latin Father, that is, a writer whose native language was Latin and
whose thinking was colored by Roman thinking rather than Greek. In particular, he was trained in the law,
and his interpretations of Scripture and theology were colored by that background. He is considered the
founder of Western theology. Rigid in his morality, he joined the Montanists in mid-career Condemned
the attempt to use Greek philosophy to explain Christianity. "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"

Hippolytus (c. 170-235)

An extremely interesting story. Hippolytus was a leader (presbyter) of the church in Rome during the
bishopric of Zephyrinus, and he attacked Zephyrinus for being a modalist. When the next bishop was
chosen in 217, Callistus or Calixtus was chosen, with whom Hippolytus was also disgusted. He also
opposed them for extending penance or absolution (the earthly declaration of forgiveness for post-baptism
sin) to more classes of people, including former adulterers.

He seceded from the church with his followers, who ordained him bishop of Rome. For this reason he is
called an "antipope," a name used for persons in history who reign in opposition to the actual popes. Such
nomenclature is certainly anachronistic for this period, even though the Britannica article uses it (along
with other terms inappropriate for this period in history). Hippolytus reigned until 235, when he was sent
to the mines along with the current bishop of Rome, Pontian. While exiled with Pontian, he reconciled
with him and urged his supporters to do likewise. They both resigned so that a single successor could be
chosen, and they were martyred together.

Writings include Refutation of all Heresies and the Apostolic Tradition. The latter work is a source for
much of our knowledge of 2nd century church life, at least in Rome. I do not currently have a copy of it,
because it was not published yet at the time the Ante-Nicene Fathers were published. Nor is the text
available on the Internet.

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Clement of Alexandria (c. 200)
Clement was the first major scholar in Alexandria to work Christianity and Greek philosophy together in
a blend that remained orthodox, yet appealed to the philosophically educated Greek of his day. Clement
believed that philosophy paved the way for the acceptance of Christian values, and that philosophical tools
could be used to shape the presentation of Christian truth. He approached the educated world in an
appealing way, like the Gnostics, but within the framework of traditional Christianity. He or his
predecessors established a school in Alexandria to teach Christianity, like the philosophers before him had
done with their philosophies. His greatest pupil was Origen.

Origen (c. 185- c. 254)

A great scholar and theologian. Origen shaped the development of theology, but not always in ways that
proved to have lasting value.

A great believer in allegorical interpretation of Scripture. He was influenced heavily by the neoplatonists
and Philo, a Jewish neoplatonist of the first century.

The first textual critic. He created the Hexapla, with Hebrew, a Greek transliteration, and four Greek
translations.

The first in the Christian church to write biblical commentaries

Cyprian (c. 200-258)

Bishop of Carthage during the difficult time of persecution under the emperor Decius. After escaping
persecution by going into hiding, he had a conflict with the "confessors" of the church at Carthage, who
were readmitting the "lapsed" into the church on easy terms, and were claiming they had powers to do
this, even above the wishes of bishops.

After regaining his office, he reasserted the power of the bishops at a council in 251. This council, among
the many controversies of the day over penance, established the pattern for the future. It diminished the
authority of the confessors, and set the tone for the Catholic view in the future.

Cyprian himself was somewhat of a moderate in these matters. He was not so extreme as Novatian, the
schismatic of 251 who denied all readmittance to the lapsed, nor was he as loose as the confessors in
Carthage who wanted them all readmitted. He also would accept that the church would have unworthy
members, but he condemned the idea of allowing bishops who had lapsed to continue in their offices. He
said that sacraments performed by such bishops were no sacraments.

Most important writing was On The Unity of the Catholic Church, which emphasized the authority of
Peter and by extension, Rome's bishops. Yet within a few years he was opposing the bishop of Rome.

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Anthony (c. 251-356)

The first major Christian monk, father of Christian monasticism.

First went to the deserts in Egypt around 271. Subjected himself to the ascetic life.
Went through many temptations by Satan which are immortalized in Athanasius' biography of him.
Became an inspiration to a thousand years of monks, as well as a favorite subject of art.

John Chrysostom (c. 347 – c. 407)

Archbishop of Constantinople, is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking; his
denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, recorded sermons and
writings making him the most prolific of the eastern fathers, and his ascetic sensibilities. After his death
(or according to some sources, during his life) he was given the Greek epithet chrysostomos, meaning
"golden mouthed", rendered in English as Chrysostom.

Chrysostom is known within Christianity chiefly as a preacher and theologian, particularly in the Eastern
Orthodox Church; he is the patron saint of orators in the Roman Catholic Church. Chrysostom is also
noted for eight of his sermons that played a considerable part in the history of Christian antisemitism,
diatribes against Judaizers composed while a presbyter in Antioch, which were extensively exploited and
misused by the Nazis in their ideological campaign against the Jews. Patristic scholars such as Robert L
Wilken point out that applying modern understandings of antisemitism back to Chrysostom is
anachronistic due to his use of the Psogos. The Psogos, along with the encomium, were both rhetorical
techniques used in the ancient world in a polemical context. With the encomium "one passes over a man's
faults in order to praise him, and in a psogos, one passed over his virtues to defame him. Such principles
are explicit in the handbooks of the rhetors, but an interesting passage from the church historian Socrates,
writing in the mid-fifth century, shows that the rules for invective were simply taken for granted by men
and women of the late Roman world".

Chrysostom's sermons along with Basil the Great's have greatly influenced the Christian Church's
understanding of economic and distributive justice for the poor, being cited extensively by the Catechism
of the Catholic Church as well as Pope Francis in his own sermons critiquing modern-day forms of
capitalism.

Ephrem the Syrian

Ephrem the Syrian (ca. 306 – 373) was a Syriac deacon and a prolific Syriac-language hymnographer and
theologian of the 4th century from the region of Syria. His works are hailed by Christians throughout the
world, and many denominations venerate him as a saint. He has been declared a Doctor of the Church in
Roman Catholicism. He is especially beloved in the Syriac Orthodox Church.

Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns, poems, and sermons in verse, as well as prose biblical exegesis.
These were works of practical theology for the edification of the church in troubled times. So popular
were his works that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of pseudepigraphal
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works in his name. He has been called the most significant of all of the fathers of the Syriac-speaking
church tradition.

Jerome of Stridonium, Jerome (c. 347 – 420) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and
Hebrew into Latin. He also was a Christian apologist. Jerome's edition of the Bible, the Vulgate, is still an
important text of Catholicism. He is recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as a Doctor of the Church.

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine (354–430), Bishop of Hippo, was a philosopher and theologian. Augustine, a Latin Father and
Doctor of the Church, is one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity. In
his early life, Augustine read widely in Greco-Roman rhetoric and philosophy, including the works of
Platonists such as Plotinus. He framed the concepts of original sin and just war as they are understood in
the West. When Rome fell and the faith of many Christians was shaken, Augustine wrote The City of
God, in which he defended Christianity from pagan critics and developed the concept of the Church as a
spiritual City of God, distinct from the material City of Man.[8] Augustine's work defined the start of the
medieval worldview, an outlook that would later be firmly established by Pope Gregory the Great.

Augustine was born in present-day Algeria to a Christian mother, Monica of Hippo. He was educated in
North Africa and resisted his mother's pleas to become Christian. He took a concubine and became a
Manichean. He later converted to Christianity, became a bishop, and opposed heresies, such as
Pelagianism. His many works—including The Confessions, which is often called the first Western
autobiography—have been read continuously since his lifetime. The Roman Catholic religious order, the
Order of Saint Augustine, adopted his name and way of life. Augustine is also the patron saint of many
institutions and a number have been named after him.

B. ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE EARLY CHURCH

Having seen Christianity in India itself for more than two thousand years, there is always a role women
had in the growth of the Church. There was even more so in the Ancient West Asia (AWA) when
Christianity was at its infancy, the time we call today as the Early Church. Women had a significant
contribution to the Early Church community, but they were airbrushed out of history due to the patriarchal
structure of the society. Today with enough hermeneutical (Interpretation) tools and understanding we
have slowly started to uncover the truth about the care that Early Church Community got for its mothers.
Let us look closer, at the Women in Early Church Community.

1. Women in Judaism and in the Roman Society

a. Women in Judaism
The position of women in Judaism is predominantly structured and guided by the Hebrew Bible. But when
we look closer the Oral Law, Rabbinic literature, Customs and other non-religious cultural factors too
have a determining factor towards women.

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Women are held with respect in their own accord from the biblical point of view out of the fifty five
prophets, seven are women and many other women in Judaism have acted as a turning point for the history
of Judaism such as Miriam, Deborah and Esther. Still then Women are positioned as the keeper of the
household. According to Judaism, Jewishness is passed over to the child through women and not men. In
regard to that if a child born to a non-Jewish mother is not a child born as Jew. As in the case of divorce
women needs to take consent from the husband to get a divorce, which is not the case for the husband.

The Synagogue is an important part of a Jewish community and it is not just a place for worship and
prayer, but also a place of governing themselves. During the prayer obligations such as Minyan (the 10
people necessary to recite certain prayers) the participation of women are not counted and women’s prayer
on behalf of the group is also not counted thus women cannot lead the services/worship. In this light of
the situation we can understand that the Jewish understanding of Women is that they are less privileged
group.

According to John Bowker (theologian), traditionally, Jewish "men and women pray separately. This goes
back to ancient times when women could go only as far as the second court of the Temple." In most
Synagogues women are given separate building or offered balcony. Other than praying, one of the main
jobs of women is to beautify the building and arrangements in the building.

b. Women in the Roman Society

The legacy (contribution) of the Roman Civilization is the foundation of the Western Civilization even to
this date. The ancient Rome changed monarchy to republic; as a result an empire and this also resulted in
the gradual change in the status of women.

It is clear that the Greek women were kept in seclusion; the Jewish women were not as restricted in the
public as the Greek women but did not have the freedom of the first century Roman Women. Macedonian
women had greater independence and importance in public affair. This coincides with the greater
prominence that women held in the Macedonian Churches (women associated with the Philippian
Churches – Acts 16:14-15, Phil. 4:2-3). Roman history supplies us the portrayal of gradual increase in the
position and liberty to a higher status and finally greater power and influence.
Romans offered prayers and sacrifices to the many deities for every conceivable opportunity. Priests and
priestesses officiated at these rituals. Some of the goddesses especially worshiped by girls and women
were Fortuna Virginalis or Virgo, Venus, Vesta, Juno, Cybele, Isis, and Minerva. Virgo was the patroness
of young girls as they came of age. These adolescent girls would dedicate their girlhood Togas 1 to this
goddess, and then don a Stola2, the dress of a woman.

1
The Toga, a distinctive garment of Ancient Rome, it is made of wool, and the tunic under it often was made of linen.
It was a garment worn exclusively by men, and only Roman citizens were allowed to wear the toga. Women were expected to
wear the Stola; to distinguish prostitutes from respectable women, prostitutes were required to wear the toga.
2
The Stola was the traditional garment of Roman women, corresponding to the toga, or the pallium, that was worn
by men. The stola was made of linen.

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Women were found in wide variety of offices. In addition to the role as such as wives, mothers,
commercial sex workers, midwives and also as physicians, musicians, artists, winners of athletic events
and all sorts of activities.

2. Prominent Roles of Women in Early Church

Early Christianity is the period of Christianity from the time of Ascension till the First Council of Nicaea
in 325 C.E. In the recent times, the history of women in the Early Christianity is revised, as feminist
historians try to uncover the presence of women in neglected texts and stumbled upon new findings. If
fact the stories that we thought we know about some know women are changing dramatically.

Women have been airbrushed out of early Christianity despite having been crucial to its spread. Professor
Kate Cooper of the University of Manchester has identified dozens of forgotten Christian women who
were influential in the first and second centuries, during a period when Christianity was - in some respects
- more progressive towards women than today. She believes that women played a central role in spreading
the new Christian faith through informal friendship and family networks. Their authority within Christian
communities was earned through their role as parents, community organisers, and small business owners.

One, Lydia the Purple-seller of Philippi, remembered in the Bible’s Book of Acts, was the first person to
sponsor St Paul. Another woman, Perpetua, who lived in Carthage at the end of the second century, was
famous at the time for refusing to denounce her faith, choosing martyrdom against her father’s wishes.
Her diary, written while she awaited execution in prison, was a radical document which would be seen in
today’s world as extreme and very unlike the official Christian views of what the Christian woman should
be.

One of the most important is Thecla of Iconium, believed by second century Christians to have been one
of St Paul’s disciples. Referring to the ‘Acts of Paul and Thecla’, an anonymous second century text shows
how Thekla rebelled against her family to refuse marriage - an unthinkable act at the time. Though there
is no certain evidence that Thecla existed, her story was hugely influential in the first few hundred years
of early Christianity. The influence of her story was far-reaching, in that it became the root of the Catholic
theology of chastity and virginity. Women, says Professor Cooper, regularly preached the gospel in the
first two centuries of Christianity and in some communities women carried out baptisms. It wasn’t until
the Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity, in around 313 AD, the religion became
institutionalized: male bishops were now Government officials and women came to be seen as players in
the background rather than public figures.

The ancient sources mention the women, but over time less and less attention was given to their role.
Women were the last disciples at the cross and the first at the empty tomb; they remained integral to the
work of the church in its early centuries. One of the best-kept secrets in Christianity is the enormous role
that women played in the early church. There was a number of upper-class women in the Church who
were privileged to study Bible under Jerome and they showed such scholarship that in the early 400C.E.
Augustine wrote, “any old Christian woman was better educated in spiritual matters than many a
philosopher”.

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a. Women as Witness of Jesus
The Earlier Christian apostles usually spoke about “Bearing Witness” to Jesus Christ. From the very
beginning, women had a role in the Birth, Ministry, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The major
witnesses of the Crucifixion of the Christ and the Resurrection were the women. The traditional four
Gospels indicate of a group of Galilean women, who followed Jesus and were also present during His
Crucifixion when the “Chosen” apostles were absent. Then the burial events that followed and John alone
writes about the Garden Interview between Risen Christ and Mary Magdalene. Jesus’ resurrection in the
Gospel is given witness to even till this day to us by the women and they can be rightfully called as
“Apostle to the apostles”. Luke’s Gospel clearly portrays that it is heavily based on the testimony of
women, which is also in the case of Acts.

Narrated by both Biblical and non-biblical sources, state that there were numerous women leaders such as
Priscilla, Chloe, Lydia, Apphia, Nympha, the mother of John Mark, and possibly the “elect lady” of John’s
second epistle who made the home churches to flourish up in the Roman Empire. In the 2nd century,
Clement of Alexandria wrote that the apostles were accompanied on their missionary journeys by women,
who were not marriage partners, but colleagues,

“that they might be their fellow ministers in dealing with housewives. It was through them that the Lord’s
teaching penetrated also the women’s quarters without any scandal being aroused. We also know the
directions about women deacons which are given by the noble Paul in his letter to Timothy."

Junia was mentioned by Paul in Romans 16 as “of note among the apostles.” Some have debated the
meaning of this verse, but early tradition holds that Junia was a woman and was considered an apostle.
Until the Middle Ages, the identity of Junia as a female apostle was unquestioned. Later translators
attempted to change the gender by changing the name to the masculine Junias. But such a name is
unknown in antiquity; and there is absolutely no literary, epigraphical3 or papyrological4 evidence for it.

Paul also mentions Phoebe in Romans 16, “a deacon of the church at Cenchreae.” He calls her a prostatis
or overseer5. This term in its masculine form, prostates, was used later by the Apostolic Fathers to
designate the one presiding over the Eucharist. The four daughters of Philip appear in Acts 21:9 as
prophetesses. Eusebius viewed these daughters as “belonging to the first stage of apostolic succession.”

b. The Other Christian Women

Other women appear in later literature as well. One of the most famous woman apostles was Thecla, a
virgin-martyr converted by Paul. She cut her hair, donned men's clothing, and took up the duties of a
missionary apostle. Threatened with rape, prostitution, and twice put in the ring as a martyr, she persevered
in her faith and her chastity. Her lively and somewhat fabulous story is recorded in the second century
Acts of Thecla. From very early, an order of women who were widows served formal roles of ministry in
some churches (Timothy 5:9-10). The most numerous clear cases of women's leadership, however, are
offered by prophets: Mary Magdalene, the Corinthian women, Philip's daughters, Ammia of Philadelphia,

3
A quotation at the beginning of a book, chapter, or section of a book, usually related to its theme.
4
The study of ancient papyrus manuscripts.
5
Somebody who supervises work done by somebody else.

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Philumene, the visionary martyr Perpetua, Maximilla, Priscilla (Prisca), and Quintilla. There were many
others whose names are lost to us.

Women were also prominent as martyrs and suffered violently from torture and painful execution by wild
animals and paid gladiators. In fact, the earliest writing definitely by a woman is the prison diary of
Perpetua, a relatively wealthy matron6 and nursing mother who was put to death in Carthage at the
beginning of the third century on the charge of being a Christian. In it, she records her testimony before
the local Roman ruler and her defiance of her father's pleas that she recants 7. She tells of the support and
fellowship among the confessors in prison, including other women. But above all, she records her
prophetic visions. Through them, she was not merely reconciled passively8 to her fate, but claimed the
power to define the meaning of her own death. In a situation where Romans sought to use their violence
against her body as a witness to their power and justice, and where the Christian editor of her story sought
to turn her death into a witness to the truth of Christianity, her own writing lets us see the human being
caught up in these political struggles. She actively relinquishes9 her female roles as mother, daughter, and
sister in favor of defining her identity solely in spiritual terms. However horrifying or heroic her behaviour
may seem, her brief diary offers an intimate look at one early Christian woman's spiritual journey.

c. Undermining Women's Prominence

Women's prominence did not, however, go unchallenged. Every variety of ancient Christianity that
advocated the legitimacy of women's leadership was eventually declared heretical, and evidence of
women's early leadership roles was erased or suppressed. This erasure has taken many forms. Collections
of prophetic oracles were destroyed. Texts were changed. For example, at least one woman's place in
history was obscured by turning her into a man!

In Romans 16:7, the apostle Paul sends greetings to a woman named Junia. He says of her and her male
partner Andronicus that they are "my kin and my fellow prisoners, prominent among the apostles and they
were in Christ before me." Concluding that women could not be apostles, textual editors and translators
transformed Junia into Junias, a man.

Or women's stories could be rewritten and alternative traditions could be invented. In the case of Mary
Magdalene, starting in the fourth century, Christian theologians in the Latin West associated Mary
Magdalene with the unnamed sinner who anointed Jesus' feet in Luke 7:36-50. The confusion began by
conflating the account in John 12:1-8, in which Mary (of Bethany) anoints Jesus, with the anointing by
the unnamed woman sinner in the accounts of Luke. Once this initial, erroneous identification was secured,
Mary Magdalene could be associated with every unnamed sinful woman in the gospels, including the
adulteress in John 8:1-11.

The Gospel of Mary, for example, argued that leadership should be based on spiritual maturity, regardless
of whether one is male or female. This Gospel lets us hear an alternative voice to the one dominant in

6
A woman who is head of the nursing staff in a hospital, nursing home.
7
To deny believing in something or withdraw something previously said.
8
Tending to submit or obey without arguing or resisting
9
To renounce.

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canonized works like I Timothy, which tried to silence women and insist that their salvation lies in bearing
children.

3. Women in Ministry
Apart from the outstanding ministry by individual women, there are notable women in specialized orders.
Notably ecclesial widows, virgins, presbytresses and deaconesses sometimes these women are ordained
and sat among the clergy in front of the congregation. Mary McKenna suggests that the disadvantaged
women who accompanied Jesus in his Galilean ministry. Tertullian complained of a virgin who was
admitted to the order of widows at the age of nineteen! These widows were supported by the gifts of the
congregation, and in turn were expected to pray for their benefactors as well as for all other members of
the church. Their duties and qualifications were developed from the instructions in 1 Timothy 5.

The walls of the Roman catacombs bear pictures showing women in authoritative stances, with their hands
raised in the posture of a bishop. The Ecclesiastical Canons of the Apostles specifically forbade women
to stand in prayer, but here we see them standing in prayer, exercising a ministry of intercession and
benediction, and dominating the scene.

Conclusion
Women had various important functions in the early church. Some taught, some prophesied, some
provided financial support, and many worked in the gospel and some witnessed. It is quite sad that a
religion which began with a mother and her Baby should still have so much difficulty honour the
contribution of its women. It needs to be emphasized that the formal elimination of women from official
roles of institutional leadership did not eliminate women's actual presence and importance to the Christian
tradition, although it certainly seriously damaged their capacity to contribute fully. What is remarkable is
how much evidence has survived systematic attempts to erase women from history, and with them the
warrants and models for women's leadership. The evidence presented here is but the tip of an iceberg.

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