Blastares

Greek canonist in the first half of the 14th century

Syntagma Alphabeticum, G cap. 11. “Today we are almost totally ignorant about the ministry which women deacons exercised at that time as part of the clergy. There are those who say that their ministry concerned the baptism of women . . . . There are others who maintain that they had access to the sacred altar and that they performed the proper task of deacons. However, the Fathers later forbade them to enter the sanctuary or perform those duties because of the involuntary flow of menstruation.”

The latin text reads: “Quale autem ministerium diaconissae tunc temporibus in clero implebant, omnibus fere hodie ignotum est. Sunt qui dicunt, quod mulieribus baptizandis ministrabant.... Dicunt autem alii, quod ad sanctum altare ingredi iis permissum erat, et diaconorum officia prope illos exsequi. Verum prohibuerunt postea Patres eas illuc ascendere, et illo ministerio defungi, propter involuntarium catameniorum fluxum. ” Patres Graeci vol. 144, col. 1174.

Do you wish to translate this page via google translator? You (i) first need to copy the URL of this page (from top bar of your browser), (ii) click on this link, (iii) paste the URL into the google converter. Then choose your language and click "translate".

Please, support our campaign for women priests UK Pounds Euros US dollars OZ dollars CAN dollars 10 15 25 40 60 100 200		Join our Women Priests' Mailing List for occasional newsletters: Email: Name: Surname: City: Country:   An email will be immediately sent to you requesting your confirmation.

Please, credit this document
as published by www.womenpriests.org!