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Deaconess

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Deaconess
Dictionaries
American Church Dictionary
• Deaconess
American Tract Society
• Deaconess
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
• Deacon, Deaconess
Charles Buck Dictionary
• Deaconess
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Deaconess
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Deacon, Deaconess
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Deaconess
People's Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Webster Dictionary
• Deaconess
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Deaconess
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Deacon; Deaconess
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Deaconess
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Deaconess
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Deaconesses

Deaconess. Mention is made, Romans 16:1, of a "servant" (Greek diakona) of the church of Cenchrea; and notices are scattered through several of Paul's epistles of women who were engaged in Christian ministrations. Romans 16:3; Romans 16:12; Philippians 4:2-3; 1 Timothy 3:11; 1 Timothy 5:9-10; Titus 2:3-4. If these texts do not refer to a distinct class, they seem to indicate the beginnings of such a class. And it is certain that, a few years later, deaconesses were a recognized body. Pliny, in his famous letter to Trajan, lib. 10, ep. 97, speaks of two whom he put to the torture, in order to extract information from them respecting the Christians; and ecclesiastical writers from a very early date frequently refer to them.