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On Recovering the Women Priests of Early
Christianity
by Mary Ann Rossi --
credits
Containing a translation from the Italian of "Notes on
the Female Priesthood in Antiquity," by Giorgio Otranto (1)
From: Journal of Feminist Studies 7 (1991) no 1,
pp. 73 - 94.
This text has been put on this website with permission of the author,
the translator and the editors of the Journal. A more concise form of the
contents can be found in George Otranto's
lecture.
Section I
Introduction to the Translation
The "vexed question" of the admission of women to the
priesthood has been brought sharply to public attention by the continuing
efforts in Great Britain and the United States to restore full participation in
Catholic and Anglican priesthood to women. Those in favor of the ordination of
women point to the disparagement and hatred of women throughout the history of
the church. The persistence of sexist bias among church officials from the
first through the fourth centuries C. E. has been treated by feminist scholars.
(2)
I wish to express my appreciation to the National Endowment for the
Humanties for three grants that made possible my study of women in religion and
society: "Pagan and Christian in Late Antiquity" with John G. Gager of
Princeton University; "Religion and Society in Ancient Greece ;1 with Michael
Jameson of Stanford University; and "Medieval Local History: Rome and its
Neighborhood, 12th-14th Centuries" at the American Academy in Rome with Robert
Brentano of the University of California-Berkeley. In Rome I worked at the
Vatican Library, where Otranto’s article in Vetera Christianorum
came to my attention. I am indebted to Professor Giuseppe Giangrande of the
University of London for his invaluable suggestions and comments on the
translation. My thanks are also due to Dr. Letizia Panizza of the University of
London for her assistance. (A list of abbreviations used in the footnotes
follows the text.) Those against the ordination of women rely on the pretext of
a lack of precedent.
In recent years several journals have offered articles addressing the
ongoing debate. (3) Among the most prestigious journals is Vetera
Christianorum , whose editor, Giorgio Otranto, is director of the Istituto
di studi classici e christiani (Institute of Classical and Christian Studies)
in the Universita degli studi-Bari. A notable scholar of classical and
Christian studies, Otranto has been concerned with the question of women's
priesthood for several years, and, according to a recent private communication
from him (March 21, 1990), he has continued to research this topic and has come
upon other documentation of notable historic interest. I offer here a full
translation from the Italian of a key work by Otranto. Elsewhere, recent
reviews of feminist religious thought have amplified the dialogue.(4) In the
other camp, those opposing the ordination of women deny any historical
precedent. The presence of women in the sacerdotal ministry of the early church
has been ignored or denied: "There has never been any mention of women filling
strictly sacerdotal offices.(5) "This is a plain fact . . . the argument from
Scripture and Tradition has an impressive solidity about it. "(6)
Otranto’s article calls for another look at this supposed monolithic
solidity.
In confirming the presence of women in sacerdotal roles,
Otranto refers to the influence of the Gnostic and Montanist sects in the
formative period of Christianity. It will be helpful to review briefly the
source of antagonism between orthodox and Gnostic Christians, especially during
the third and fourth centuries C.E.
The Gnostic movement arose at a time when pagan beliefs
were breaking up, a process that was accompanied by syncretism, or the
amalgamation of different religious beliefs.(7) As Ramsay McMullen comments:
"It was the general instinct, as it is generally everybody's instinct, to make
the least possible tear in the fabric of already held beliefs, when obliged to
admit some urgent novelty."(8) Samaria, with its mixed population, was a center
of Gnosticism. The discovery in 1947 of the Nag Hammadi texts in Egypt has
given rise to prolific research on the ancient religion of Gnosticism. From
these texts we have impressive evidence of Gnostic communities that stood on
the fringe and took a critical view of the orthodox church.
One divergence between Gnostic and orthodox Christians
was the difference in their sexual attitudes; Gnostic theologians describe God
in both masculine and feminine terms with a complementary description of human
nature. They teach the androgynous creation of humankind of Genesis I. "This
conception carries the principle of equality between men and women into the
practical social and political structures of Gnostic communities."(9) Irenaeus,
an orthodox bishop, is dismayed that women are attracted to such groups, in
which prayers are offered to the Mother as Silence, Grace, and Wisdom; women
priests serve the eucharist together with men; and women also speak as
prophets, uttering to the whole community what "the Spirit" reveals to them.
(10) The orthodox theologians, on the other hand, describe God in masculine
terms exclusively and point to Genesis 2 to describe how Eve was created from
Adam and for his fulfillment. This view also shapes the social order, and by
the late second century, orthodox Christians came to accept the domination of
men over women as the natural order for human society and for the Christian
churches. (11)
Orthodox bishops battled not only with the Christian
Gnostics but with the followers of the Montanist movement. The distinctive
features of Montanism are the enthusiasm of the prophets (Montanus and the two
prophetesses, Maximilla and Priscilla), the ministry of women, and the
expectation of the immediate Parousia (return of Jesus). Women held high office
in the church, and Maximilla and Priscilla seem to have made contributions to
Montanist teaching.(12) There is evidence that other women followed their
example or even outdid it, for we read of a prophetess in Cappadocia, Asia
Minor, in the third century, perhaps a Montanist, who baptized and celebrated
the Eucharist; of female bishops and priests, and of virgins who regularly
officiated in the congregation at Pepuza, the home of Montanus, where he
expected the return of the Lord.(13) Such pluralism in the second and third
centuries C.E. reflected the ongoing dispute about the role of women in the
life and teaching of the Christian communities.
One outstanding example of this dispute in the second
century is the attitude of the church father Tertullian, whom Frend calls "one
of the formative minds of European civilization. (14) Tertullian professed
Montanism, although late in his career, and yet at the same time he continued
to prohibit women from teaching and preaching in the church.(15) He demanded an
abasement of women and the covering of her shameful female nature because she
reflected the guilty nature of Eve: "You are the gateway of the devil."(16)
At the end of the fifth century, however, the dominant
struggle was between the pope and emperor. Pope Gelasius I, whose epistle is
the source of the evidence that there were indeed women priests being ordained
in the fifth century, was determined to restore power to Rome and the papacy.
The papacy came into collision with the empire during the reign of Zeno
(474-91) over the doctrinal matter of the nature of Christ. The controversy
produced correspondence between the pope and emperor which altered the balance
of power in Christendom by asserting the superiority of the papacy to the
empire.(17) Gelasius is held to be the key figure in this development. He was a
fierce opponent of heresy and schism wherever it appeared, and in his writings
he strikes out against variations in the faith. His letters are filled with
references to tradition, and he looks not for innovation, but for a return to
the status quo. Hence Gelasius's letters and decretals resound with a deep and
pervasive conservatism, and his letter discussed by Otranto reflects this
preoccupation. (18)
In the section dealing with the ordination of
deaconesses, Otranto refers to Martimort's Deaconesses: An Historical Study,
which came to his attention during the final revision of his article.(19)
Martimort cites two basic sources for the study of the role of deaconesses in
the early church: Roger Gryson's Le Ministère des Femmes dans
l’église ancienne, cited by Otranto in the Italian translation,
and Adolf Kalsbach, Die Altkirchliche Einrichtung der Diakonisse bis zu
ihrem Erloschen.(20) Both authors provide a complete bibliography of
earlier works on the subject of deaconesses in early Christianity.
According to Martimort, the Didaskalia alone presented
the institution of deaconesses to us as a ministry with both a pastoral and
liturgical function, responding to a need that existed only in the Eastern
regions (Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Persia), and it rapidly became obsolete.
Everywhere else the blessing or ordination of deaconesses had a radically
different significance. From the end of the fourth century on, there is
evidence in the Greek-language churches of "deaconess" as an honorific title
for the wife of a deacon or priest, a widow of distinction, or the superior of
a convent.(21)
Martimort further states that "it is difficult to know
exactly how the institution actually came to be created. And contrary to what
has been asserted on this subject, the Apostolic Constitutions do not really
throw any light on the problem, for the institution of deaconesses that emerges
from that document simply does not correspond. to the evidence of what the
actual institution of deaconesses was like in both Antioch and Constantinople,
and the formulary proposed for the ordination of deaconesses in the Apostolic
Constitutions had no antecedents and was not retained in the liturgy." He
concludes, "The fact is that the Byzantine tradition . . . did not assign any
liturgical role to deaconesses at all."(22)
Otranto provides ample grounds for reconsidering the
role of women in the priesthood of early Christianity, and he challenges
scholars dealing with the problem to question the omission of such evidence,
and to search for the reasons for its omission. The two camps polarized today
over the question of admitting women to the priesthood have a long history.
Section II
NOTES ON THE FEMALE PRIESTHOOD IN ANTIQUITY
Giorgio Otranto
The problem of the admission of women to the priesthood
is certain to arouse renewed interest in such times as these, when we are
reconsidering and profoundly reevaluating the role and presence of women in the
family, work, and society. One of the most debated ecclesiastical issues of the
past fifteen years, this problem has provoked strong currents of opinion among
scholars of diverse backgrounds and persuasions, and a lively battle has been
engaged.
In 1976 a Congress of the Sacred Congregation for the
doctrine of the faith was held. In their declaration Inter insigniores
["among the more important matters"], the congress once again officially
reiterated the official position of the Catholic church against the admission
of women to the priesthood and to the episcopate.(23) After this declaration,
the research increased, and the battle became even more heated, but the
positions remain essentially unchanged. I would say rather that they have
crystallized and polarized.
In their search for solutions to doctrinal and
disciplinary problems, scholars, as usual, have turned to the ancient world
with various motives and with disparate results. Here too the Magisterium [the
official teaching of the church] has once more found reasons for its
traditional opposition to conferring Orders on women: Christ did not call any
woman to be one of the twelve. The entire tradition of the church has kept
faith in this fact and has interpreted it as the explicit will of the Savior to
confer upon man alone the sacerdotal power of governing, teaching, and
sanctifying. Only man, through his natural resemblance to Christ, can express
sacramentally the role of Christ himself in the Eucharist. On the other hand,
those of opposing views also point to ancient Christianity. They argue cogently
that the official position of the church is the consequence of a view of
society completely founded upon ancient culture and difficult for modern
scholars to accept. Such a cultural perception reflects the inferior status of
women obvious in the Greek and Roman world, especially in the area where
Christianity arose.
These basic views contain various arguments that need
not be mentioned here, since, far from entering into the merits of the "vexed
question," I offer only further clues for the reconstruction of a fragmented
historical picture. On the other hand, whenever either camp offers a clear-cut
solution to the question, it is natural for some themes to be emphasized and
others to be prejudicially neglected.
Among many scholarly works dealing with this subject,
outstanding are those of Van der Meer, Gryson, and Galot, which state lucidly
that women in the ancient church never exercised sacerdotal ministry, and the
only agreed function of women from the end of the third century in the context
of the community, was the diaconate in the Orient, except in Egypt.(24) The
duties assigned to such a function were the care of women invalids and
assistance in the baptism of women. The institution of the female diaconate did
not go beyond the confines of the Orient [i.e., the East, comprising Syria,
Palestine, frontier regions on either side of the Euphrates, Mesopotamia, Roman
Armenia, and Cilicia-Isauria], and the attempts made in the fourth and fifth
centuries to introduce it to the Occident had not practically succeeded. (25)
Although this conclusion is without doubt correct, it does not take serious
account of some incidents and phenomena that throw light on the question of the
admission of women to the priesthood, a problem that has remained quite a
lively one from the early Christian centuries.
Of particular value among this evidence is something
found in an epistle of Gelasius I (492-96), which has been inadequately
evaluated by scholars until now.(26) Van der Meer merely mentions it, while
Gryson and Galot, although elaborating a bit more broadly on the Gelasian
testimony, do not draw any conclusions, and they complain about the lack of
precise details in the epistle. (27) I am not in complete agreement with this
latter complaint, but let us see what it is about.
Gelasius in 494 sent a long and interesting epistle...
"to all episcopates established in Lucania [modern Basilicata], Bruttium
[modern Calabria]-- ankle and toe of Italy--and Sicilia [modern Sicily]."(28)
This epistle contained twenty-seven decrees, in which the Bishop of Rome
confronts these relevant questions:(29) the internal organization of the
community; the conditions required to be admitted to the dignity of the
clerical state; the relations among bishop, presbyter, and deacon; the
"ordinations" and "affairs" of the clerics; the dedication of new basilicas;
and the discipline of the clerics. Four of the decrees were concerned with the
presence of,,vomen in the context of the Christian communities: 12 concerns the
consecration of virgins; 13 and 21 concern the prohibition against the veiling
of widows; and 26, the most interesting one to us, explicitly confronts the
problem of the priesthood of women: Nihilominus impatienter audivimus,
tantum divinarum rerum subisse despectum, ut feminae sacris altaribus
ministrare firmentur, cunctaque non nisi virorum famulatui deputata sexum, cui
non competunt, exhibere.(30)
["Nevertheless we have heard to our annoyance that
divine affairs have come to such a low state that women are encouraged to
officiate at the sacred altars, and to take part in all matters imputed to the
offices of the male sex, to which they do not belong."]
Gelasius, that is, declares that he has learned with
distress that the contempt for religion in the church had arrived at such a
point that women were being admitted to officiating at sacred altars [sacris
altaribus ministrare] an expression that indicates indubitably the
involvement of a liturgical service at the altars. In such a sense the term
"officiate" [ministrare] corresponds to the Greek leitourgein,
which was adopted from the beginnings of Christian literature, as we see
from its attestation in Acts (13.2) and in the Epistle to the Hebrews
(10.11).(31)
In Julianus Pomerius, an author contemporary with
Gelasius, the same expression, "to officiate at altars," recurs to designate
involvement in a cultic, sacerdotal service.(32) The same term, or the
substantive minister-ministra, became adopted also to refer to the
liturgical procedures of deacons and deaconesses. We might well recall here the
famous letter of Pliny the Younger to Trajan, in which the two deaconesses are
mentioned (two servants, two ministers, they were called).(33) In canon 2 of
the Council of Tours of 461, there was a prohibition against priests and
deacons ministering to people in specific circumstances. (34)
To establish whether the expression ut feminae sacris
altaribiis ministrare firmentur refers to the liturgical service of
deaconesses or female presbyters is probably of secondary importance, since
Gelasius immediately adds that he has also known that women were performing all
the functions that had been assigned to the ministry of men only, and not to
the female sex: cunctaque . . . exhibere. Galot considers famulatui
a general term to designate the service of the cult, and on this basis,
like Gryson, he is uncertain whether it is a matter of diaconal or sacerdotal
service.(35)
As I see it, the entire expression has its precise
meaning only in the light of certain considerations. Above all, it is clear
that Gelasius--in another passage of the same epistle--adopts "ecclesiastical
service" as a synonym of "clerical ministry." (36) In this view virorum
famulatui indicates not the clerical ministry of the diaconate, but the
more comprehensive one of the presbyter, as is clear from cuncta, which
comprises all the attributes of the male services: liturgical, juridical, and
magisterial. The functions exercised by women at the altars, therefore, can
refer only to the administration of the sacraments, to the liturgical service,
and to the public and official announcement of the evangelical message, all of
which comprise the duties of ministerial priesthood.
Hence I hold that Gelasius in his definition intended to
stigmatize and condemn not the exercise of a feminine liturgical service, but
an abuse that appeared to him a great deal more serious: that of true and
proper presbyters who were performing all the duties traditionally reserved for
men alone.
This reading clarifies not only the tantum divinarum
rerum despectum ["such disrespect for divine affairs"], but also the harsh,
insistent wording of the decree, in which Gelasius condemns the action of those
bishops who either commit such abuses, or appear to be favoring them by not
denouncing them publicly.
The pope goes on to deride those bishops who debase
their ministry by disrespect for the rules of the church. What are we to think
of these men who, for whatever reasons, have committed a great aberration,
which seems to threaten not only their own downfall, but also the tragic
downfall of the whole church, if they do not come to their senses. These
bishops and others who have failed to denounce the situation have risked losing
their proper episcopal dignity, according to Gelasius. There can be no excuse,
the Pope concludes, either for those who have wittingly ignored the canons, or
for those who have unwittingly failed to learn the proper conduct.(37)
Gelasius refers to the question of the priesthood of
women only in the initial part of the decree. He limits himself thereafter to
denouncing harshly the gravity of the error and the destructive consequences
that can redound to the church from that abuse. He does all of this without
ever entering into the merit of the question, that is, without specifying the
scriptural or theological foundations for rejecting the admission of women to
the priesthood. He refers only to the regula cristiana, to the
regulae ecclesiasticae, and to the canones that some bishops had
either violated or ignored. Evidently the pope regarded the insistent call back
to tradition to be sufficient to reveal the gravity of the condemned abuse.
The insistent reference to the grave responsibilities of
the bishops qui ista committunt ["who commit these errors"] and
qui haec ausi sunt exercere ["who dared to carry out these acts"]
probably has a precise meaning which indicates the extent and consistency of
the phenomenon in question. The verbs committere and exercere
presuppose an active and factual participation of some bishops in the
perpetration of the abuse; and this participation cannot be confined to a
simple consent or indifference to the phenomenon; it must necessarily involve
the bishops directly in the exercising of their power. It is my conviction that
with these expressions Gelasius intended to refer to a mandate specifically
conferred by some bishops on women for the exercise of sacerdotal ministry;
since bishops are referred to, Gelasius's reference can only concern the
sacerdotal ordination, which enabled some women to exercise the sacrament of
full priesthood. It would not concern simple abuses perpetrated by some women,
but more substantial initiatives, which involved bishops personally. One
confirmation of such a hypothesis can be seen in the words stating that these
bishops have brought great destruction upon the church multimodis
impulsionibus ["with various motives"]; the gravest of these is the
conferring of the sacrament of priesthood on women. Gelasius holds the bishops
responsible, as we see in his harsh condemnation of their actions. For others
his accusation is more general and is limited to the complicity of tacit and
culpable assent by bishops to behavior that contravenes the canons.
The canons to which Gelasius was probably referring were
19 of the Council of Nicaea,(38); 11 and 44 of the Council of Laodicea (second
half of the fourth century),(39); 2 of the Council of Nimes (394 or 396),(40);
and 25 of the First Council of Orange (441),(41) which prohibit women from
participating in the liturgical service in any way, or from being a member of
the clergy. It is unnecessary to examine such canons here, since they have
already been treated by Van de Meer, Gryson, and Galot.(42)
How widespread was this phenomenon of admitting women to
the priesthood? We should recall that Pope Gelasius includes this matter in a
letter dealing with numerous organizational, doctrinal, and disciplinary
questions, and that the letter was sent to all the bishops of Lucania,
Bruttium, and Sicily. Moreover, Gelasius probably intended to address problems
that were not exclusive to the regions mentioned. In the beginning of the
epistle, Gelasius mentions a report that John, Bishop of Ravenna (477-494), had
sent him to request the restoration of order in churches in various regions of
Italy, where there was upheaval caused by famine and by the war between Odoacre
and Teodericus.(43) Francesco Lanzoni has conjectured that the initiative of
Bishop John must have been in accord with the court of Ravenna:(44) that is,
Teodericus, faced with the difficult task of political reconstruction and the
mutual animosities of Catholics and Arians living together, tried to obviate
the confrontations inherent in such a society.
Even if the phenomenon of the female priesthood were not widespread in
all three regions as well as other parts of Italy, it is probable that the
incidents condemned by the pope were not isolated phenomena. On the one hand,
the peremptory intervention of Gelasius, involving several bishops, proves
rather that the situation had developed so far as to worry Rome seriously. On
the other hand, if it had been an isolated case, it would not have been prudent
for the pope to treat it in an epistle that was to be sent not only into
Lucania, Bruttium, and Sicily, but into other regions interested in the
questions treated in the document. Such epistles were bound to circulate in all
the communities and constituted for the hierarchy a kind of handbook for
dealing with internal problems of disciplinary, doctrinal, or organizational
matters. We must also remember that Gelasius had sent the same epistle to other
churches concerned with the same problems.(45)
In sum, we may infer from an analysis of Gelasius's
epistle that at the end of the fifth century, some women, having been ordained
by bishops, were exercising a true and proper ministerial priesthood in a vast
area of southern Italy, as well as perhaps in other unnamed regions of Italy.
It is difficult at this stage of research, to pinpoint
the genesis of such a phenomenon. As I have emphasized, the area in which women
priests are attested,(46) southern Italy, was culturally connected with Greek
and Byzantine areas where, from the third century women exercised the
diaconate; at the end of the fourth century, women were equated with male
clerics, since, like the male clerics, women received ordination by the laying
on of hands, according to a precise ritual, with precise obligations and
juridical conditions.(47) Moreover, we must recall that in the Orient, in Asia
Minor, in Gnostic and Montanist settings in particular, records of women with
the functions of presbyters or of bishops, which the church had condemned, have
been found up to the second century.
Further Evidence of Women Christian Priests
Irenaeus states that the Valentinian Gnostic Marcus
surrounded himself with women whom he allowed in his presence to consecrate
chalices containing wine.(48)
Firmilian of Cesarea, [in Asia Minor] in an epistle to
Cyprian around 235, harshly condemns the activity of a woman who was attracting
a large number of believers and who was baptizing and celebrating the Eucharist
according to the ritual of the church.(49)
Epiphanius of Salamis similarly condemns seven other
Montanists of Phrygia who permitted women access to the priesthood and to the
episcopate.(50)
From such testimonies we can hypothesize a Greek and
Byzantine influence that would have been conducive to the rise of the status of
women presbyters in southern Italy.
Naturally it is not surprising to find in such regions
as Bruttium and Sicily, within their Christian ambiance, cultural elements that
reflect the Byzantine world before the Greco-Gothic War (535-53). It is
enough to recall that in 447 Leo the Great exhorted the bishops of Sicily not
to administer baptism, in the Greek custom, on the day of Epiphany, but only on
Easter and Pentecost.(51) Gelasius, moreover, probably intends to confirm this
prohibition in decree 10 of the epistle, when he invites the bishops of
Lucania, Bruttium, and Sicily to administer baptism only on Easter and
Pentecost and not passim quocumque tempore ["here and there at any time
whatsoever"]. (52)
The phenomenon of the priesthood for women in southern
Italy, then, must be seen in its Byzantine context. Here, and especially in
Sicily and Bruttium between the seventh and eighth centuries, there developed
in the church a process of Hellenization which becomes more and more evident
with the passage of time.(53) But even granting a Greek and Byzantine matrix to
the phenomenon of women in the priesthood, the bishops of Lucania, Bruttium,
and Sicily, went well beyond their Greek and Byzantine model in conferring
Sacred Orders on women and permitting them to participate at the altars "in
everything up to now imputed to the service of men."
Presbytera as Priest, Not Wife
The presence of women presbyters in Bruttium at the end of the fifth
century recalls an inscription that takes on renewed interest and significance
as an historic documentation of women in the priesthood: B(onae) m(emoriae)
s(acrum). Leta presbitera/vixit annos XL, menses VIII, dies VIIII/ quei (scil.
cui) bene fecit maritus/ Precessit in pace pridie/idus Maias ("Sacred to
her good memory Leta the Presbyter lived 40 years, 8 months, 9 days, for whom
her husband set up this tomb. She preceded him in peace on the day before the
Ides of May"). (see image below) (54) The epitaph refers to a presbyter Leta,
having died at just over forty, for whom her husband had set up a tomb; this
inscription comes from the catacomb of Tropea, a small town that has offered
the most consistent epigraphical and monumental documentation of Paleochristian
Bruttium.(55)
Up to now all scholars, from De Rossi, to Crispo, to Ferrua, on the
basis of Catholic historiographic tradition that has never made any concession
to the female priesthood, have always construed the term presytera as
the wife of the presbyter.(56) In light of what has appeared in the Gelasian
epistle, I think it is reasonable to hypothesize that the Leta of the epigraph
of Tropea was a true and proper presbytera: that is, a woman who was
practicing the sacerdotal ministry in the Christian community of Tropea. Even
the dating of the epitaph, which Ferrua gives as the mid-fifth century, gives
weight to this hypothesis.(57) These two testimonies, then, the Gelasian
reference and the Tropean epitaph, attest to the existence of a female
priesthood in Bruttium between the middle and end of the fifth century.
Beyond the significant parallel of Leta's epitaph with
the Gelasian epistle, another reason prompts me to see in Leta a true and
proper presbyter. If Leta had been the wife of a presbyter, we would have to
infer that the husband, who had built the tomb, had declined to designate
himself as a presbyter in order to confer this designation upon his wife. There
is no valid reason for such an action, to my knowledge, and certainly no
epigraphical parallel. According to the evidence that I have collected, every
time a presbyter prepares a tomb for his wife, he always refers to her by the
term coniux ("wife"), and sometimes amantissima ("most
loving").(58) Moreover, also on the literary level there recurs the coupling of
words presbyter- presbytera to identify presbytera as the
wife of the presbyter(59) but there is no attestation, to my knowledge,
of the coupling maritus (or coniux or vir)-presbytera.
Another presbytera is recorded in an inscription
on a sarcophagus from Salona in Dalmatia; this stone coffin bears the consular
date of 425:(60) D(ominis) n(ostris) Thaeodosio co(n)s(ule) XI et
Valentiniano/viro nobelissimo (sic) Caes(are). Ego Thaeodo(sius) emi a Fl(avia)
Vitalia pr(es)b(ytera) sanc(ta) matro/na auri sol(idis) III. Sub d(ie) . .
. (61) The inscription records the allocation and sale of plots in the
Christian communal cemeteries. Such transactions at Rome, a city we know more
about, were first carried on by the diggers, and later by overseers and
presbyters.(62)The inscription reads that Theodosius had acquired for three
golden solids a plot in the cemetery of Salona from the presbytera
Flavia Vitalia.(63) Here indeed, then, a presbytera has been
invested with an official duty, which from a certain period on was appropriate
to a presbyter.(64) AIthough we are dealing here not with evidence for the
sacerdotal ministry of women, nevertheless this type of documentation, to my
thinking, testifies to a woman’s official role or function in the
Christian community, since contracts of this kind were made directly with such
an official: the fossor ("digger"), the "overseer," or the "presbyter"
(in this case the presbytera), and not with the uxor presbyteri
("wife of the presbyter").
Yet another attestation comes from Salona [The
ecclesiastical center of Dalmatia, now a ruined city north of Split, ancient
Spalato, where Diocletian had a palace in the early fourth century-Trans. ], on
the fragment of a sarcophagus cover, probably from the fifth-sixth century,
which bears the inscription (sace)rdotae.(65) Such an appellation may
well refer to a woman invested, like her countrywoman Flavia Vitalia, with
sacerdotal functions.
After Gelasius
At the beginning of the sixth century, not long after
the Gelasian epistle, we hear again of women who were actively participating in
the liturgy. The case is mentioned in 511 by three bishops of Gaul: Licinius of
Tours, Melanius of Rennes, and Eustochius of Angers. These bishops sent an
epistle to the Breton priests Lovocatus and Catihernus to criticize them for
allowing women during eucharistic services to take the chalice in their hands
and to distribute the blood of Christ to the people. Severely condemning the
actions of these priests, the bishops order them to remember tradition; they
further threaten them with banishment from the ecclesiastical community if they
continue to be assisted by those women [conhospitae],(66) with
whom they were living as well. (67)
From this epistle we infer that these conhospitae
were participating in a liturgical service proper not to a presbyter, but
rather to a deacon, to whom it was permitted to administer communion. In any
event the attributions went beyond the traditional duties reserved in the
Orient for deaconesses.
From Poitiers, near the area where the three priests
officiated, there is a graffito of unknown date,(68) which attests to the
participation of a woman in liturgical service: Martia presbyteria/ferit
obblata Olebri/o par(iter) et Nepote. Contrary to Mommsen69 and to Diehl70
who connect presbyteria to obblata (taking the words to mean
oblationes presbyterales), I hold that presbyteria stands for
presbytera exactly as in canon 20 of the Council of Tours of 567 (71)
and in canon 21 of the Council of Auxerre in the second half of the sixth
century. 72 It is difficult to determine the nature of the service performed by
Martia. Is she the uxor presbyteri who carries the bread and wine for
the celebration of the eucharist like a simple member of the faith, or is she a
presbytera with more specific duties in the eucharistic liturgy?
Olybrius and Nepos are almost certainly two presbyters who were officiating in
the community to which Martia also belonged; and it is probable that this woman
collaborated with them during the eucharistic celebration. The fact that there
had been a desire to record an action performed by Martia during a liturgical
celebration would seem to signify not the usual service of the faithful at the
moment of the offertory, but rather an act habitually performed by a deacon or
by another member of the clergy. It might actually signify a liturgical service
analogous to that of the conhospitae who were collaborating with the
presbyteri Lovocatus and Catihernus.
Such a convergence of literary and epigraphical
documentation attesting, in the same or in neighboring areas of Gaul, to a
specific and unusual function of women in the eucharistic celebration strikes
me as remarkable. Of course, this convergence may be accidental, but we must
remember that we have found the same convergence in Bruttium as well.
The data gathered on the priesthood of women in
antiquity are few and meager. Some need further elucidation on the basis of
iconographical documentation, and such research may call for a more intensive
investigation of the problem, just as the epigraphical sources have done.
Monolithic Church Tradition?
Although specific attestations of women priests are few,
the frequent and always polemical treatment of the question of the admission of
women to the priesthood, both in Christian authors and in the Acta of
the councils, leads us to conclude that the cases of women participating in
liturgical service must have been more numerous than those attested in the
literary and epigraphical testimonies. The writings of Van der Meer, Gryson,
and Galot attest to the continuity with which the church hierarchy, the church
fathers, and the church councils have confronted the problem of the admission
of women to the sacrament of the priesthood.
All this, despite the lamentable paucity of evidence, and
notwithstanding the habitual tirades uttered by those opposed to women priests,
points to the following conclusion. Clearly we cannot imagine as monolithic,
clearly defined, and universally accepted the tradition assumed by the ancient
church--I mean the whole church, including all the faithful, and not merely the
church authorities. On the contrary, the position as defined above was one of
continuous development, as a question urgently brought to attention,(73)
disputed, and diversely resolved. The tradition became monolithic the moment
they condemned all the solutions that in the past were contrary to the ones
officially accepted and defended by the Catholic church. Perhaps one possible
influence on the attitude of the church could be the fact that from the second
century some groups, condemned as heretics, admitted women to the priesthood
and the episcopate. But the presence of a presbytera does not
necessarily connote her heterodoxy or that of the church in which she lived and
performed her ministry.
The Writings of Atto
Specific attestation of the reality of women priests is
further provided by Atto, bishop of Vercelli, who lived between the ninth and
tenth centuries, and who was notable for his reforming activities and for his
vow against the corruption of the clergy. Among his writings are a canonical
tract and a collection of conciliar dispositions pertaining to ecclesiastical
organization, sacramental life, and liturgical expression.
A priest named Ambrose came to Atto to ask how the terms
presbytera and diacona of the ancient canon ought to be
understood. His response leaves no room for doubt. He begins by underlining
that since in the ancient church "Many were the crops and few the laborers"
(Mt. 9,37; Lk 10,2), women too received the Sacred Orders for the helping of
men, as is attested in Rom. 16:1: Commendo vobis Phaebem sororem meam, quae
est in ministerio Ecclesiae, quae est Cenchris[" I commend to you my sister
Phoebe, who is in the ministry of the Church which is in Cenchrae"]. For Atto,
it was the Council of Laodicea (second half of the fourth century),that
prohibited the presbyteral ordination of women: Quod Laodicense postmodum
prohibet concilium cap. 11, cum dicitur: quod non oportet eas quae dicuntur
presbyterae vel praesidentes in Ecclesiis ordinari .(74) Much has been
written on canon 11 of the Council of Laodicea: "It is not allowed for those
called presbytidas to be appointed to preside in the church. "(75) Much
has been written as well on the significance of the term presbytidas,
which has been diversely explained, and it has been systematically argued
that it cannot mean true and proper presbyterae. But this argument
reflects a viewpoint that has strongly conditioned many scholars. Suffice it to
consult Galot on this point: "Canon XI of the Council of Laodicea embarrasses
the commentators. . . . The uncertainties concern the significance of the terms
presbitidi and presidenti as well as of the verb stabilire
or ordinare. If one should trust the title of the Canon, It is
not allowed to appoint women-priests in the' church, one could understand
the presbitidi in the sense of 'priestesses.' But such a definition
seems unthinkable in the Catholic Church, and there has been an attempt to
identify these presbitidi either as higher deaconesses, or as
deaconesses, or as elderly women responsible for the overseeing of the women of
the church."(76) In the light of what I have noted above, why can we not accept
the most obvious interpretation of canon 11 of Laodicea? Why not recognize, as
Atto does, that this canon prohibits the presbyteral ordination of women? Galot
himself admits that it deals with the prohibition of female priesthood, even
though he limits its significance by relating it to the anti-Montanist
polemic.(77)
But let us return to Bishop Atto of Vercelli. After
having expanded on the status of the deaconess, he stresses that in the ancient
Christian church not only men, but also women were ordained (ordinabantur)
and were the leaders of communities (praeerant ecclesiis); they were
called presbyterae and they assumed the duty of preaching, directing,
and teaching (Hae quae presbyterae dicebantur, praedicandi, iubendi, vel
edocendi . . . officium sumpserant);(78) these three duties define
the role of the sacrament of priesthood.
Steeped in the knowledge of the canons and of
ecclesiastical institutions, Bishop Atto of Vercelli explains further that the
term presbytera could also mean in the ancient world the wife of the
presbyter. Of the two meanings, Atto declares that he prefers the first,
or "priest. (79) But this affirmation must be seen in the context of the
polemic that Atto and other medieval authors conducted against the so-called
Nicolaitic heresy and in favor of sacerdotal celibacy. (80)
Atto's statement is a striking and significant
testimony of female priesthood in antiquity. Strangely, not one of the authors
concerned with the question has mentioned it, from Van der Meer, who, to be
sure, gathers a rich collection of ancient and medieval sources, to Gryson, to
Galot. Only Martimort, in his recent essay, has considered it and expresses
surprise at Atto’s explanation of the term presbytera.(81) In other
cases the same testimony has been purposely ignored, (82) evidently because it
was not in line with what seemed the unanimous tradition; such testimony might
at least have provoked some doubt. It seems to me that through the centuries,
by accident or out of prudence or conformity, there has been a predetermined
interpretation of the paucity of testimonies regarding the exercise of
sacerdotal ministry of women. In light of the testimony of Atto, we must
attempt to recover other testimonies that at first sight appear only as
splinters or fragments of history, so that we may be able to reconstruct the
most integrated picture possible. Perhaps when scholars have become more
dispassionate, this picture will provide fuller documentary support for the
question of the admission of women to the priesthood.
Section III
Translator's Conclusion
Otranto has demonstrated the clash of views between the
opponents and the supporters of women's ordination in the Roman Catholic
Church. The former see an "impressive solidity" of church tradition in support
of their view; the latter see in the history of Christianity a continuous
debate, an ongoing search and questioning of the roles and functions of men and
women. The polarity and antipathy generated by this clash of views often result
in a misreading of the testimony of earlier times, or, more often, in passing
over evidence that is dissonant, or not in accord with expectations.
Otranto's breakthrough in this article is his
recognition of the testimony to women priests in literary and epigraphical
sources. Only with the removal of patriarchal blinders can we hope to recover
and reweave the sacerdotal participation of women in early Christianity into
the historical fabric of our Christian past.
Clifford Geertz, who provides keen insights into the
importance of religion, states: "Religion is sociologically interesting not
because it describes the social order, but because, like environment, political
power, wealth, jural obligation, personal affection, and a sense of beauty, it
shapes it. " (83)
A recovery of women's full participation in early
Christianity may be one means of confronting the persistent perception of women
as subordinate in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches today, "Images of
the past that we carry within us do help to shape both our present and our
future. A new set of images may have a liberating effect not only on scholars,
with their specialized concerns, but also on the culture of which they are a
part."(84)
Footnotes:
1. I have provided a full translation from the Italian
of Giorgio Otranto's "Note sul sacerdozio femminile nell'antichita in margine a
una testimonianza di Gelasio I, Vetera Christianorum 19 (1982):
341-60.
2. See, for example, Rosemary Ruether, ed., Religion
and Sexism: Images of Women in the Jewish and Christian Traditions (New
York, 1974), esp. R. Ruether, "Misogynism and Virginal Feminism in the
Fathers of the Church," 150-83, in which Ruether documents the roots of
woman-hating in the writings of the fathers of the church. The patristic
writings are collected in Patrologia Graeca (Lutetia Parisiorum, apud J.
P. Migne, 1857-86) and Patrologia Latina (Lutetia Parisiorum,
apud J. P. Migne, 1844-64).
3. For example, Women Priests: A Catholic Commentary
on the Vatican Declaration, ed. Leonard Swidler and Arlene Swidler (New
York, 1977); and Patricia Chambers and H. Paul Chalfant, "A Changing Role or
the Same Old Handmaidens: Women's Roles in Today's Church," Review of
Religious Research 19 (Winter 1978): 192-97. Also noted are biographies of
women centering on their ordination experience: e.g., Carter Heyward, A
Priest Forever (New York, 1976); and Alla Bozarth-Campbell, Womanpriest:
A Personal Odyssey (New York, 1978).
4. June O'Connor, review of In Memory of Her: A
Feminist Theological Reconstruction Of Christian Origins, by Elisabeth
Schussler Fiorenza, Religious Studies Review 12, no. 314 (1986); Mary
Catherine Hilkert, "Women Preaching the Gospel," Theology Digest 33:4
(Winter 1986); "Women and Priestly Ministry: The New Testament Evidence. A
Report by the Task Force on the Role of Women in Early Christianity,"
Catholic Biblical Quarterly 4 (October 1979), 610.
5. Fr. jean Danielou, S.J., The Ministry of Women in
the Early Church, trans. Rt. Revd Glyn Simon, D.D., from Les Origines du
Christianisme Latin: Histoire des Doctrines Chretiennes avant Nicee, vol. 3
(Paris, 1978), 16, 24ff.
6. Ibid., 25. This monolithic view is mirrored in Kurt
Aland, A History of Christianity, vol. 1, From the Beginnings to the
Threshold of the Reformation, trans. J. L. Schaaf (Philadelphia, 1985). The
book was reviewed briefly by W.H.C. Frend in Journal of Ecclesiastical
History 37, no. 2, (1986): 349-50, and rightly criticized for the
statement 11 that equating women with men in the ministerial office became a
characteristic of those movements outside the church and opposed to it." The
reviewer calls this statement incomplete and misleading; women had an
acknowledged role as prophetesses in the Old and New Testaments, and it was
this role that Montanism continued to the embarrassment of the bishops of the
day who saw their own claims to charismatic authority threatened. Frend adds
that the church opposed women in Gnostic sects for the same reason. Pluralistic
Christian sects were vying equally for acceptance in late antiquity.
7. The following works reflect the renewal of scholarly
interest in Gnosticism: B. Aland, ed., Gnosis: Festschrift fur Hans Jonas
(Gottingen, 1978); J. Ries, ed., Gnosticisme et monde
hellenistique, Institut Orientaliste, Universite Catholique de Louvain
(Louvain, 1982); Charles Hedrick and Robert Hodgson, eds., Nag
Hammadi, Gnosticism, and Early Christianity (Peabody, Mass., 1986);
Hans Jonas, The Gnostic Religion (Boston, 1970); Karen King,
ed., Images of the Feminine in Gnosticism (Philadelphia, 1988);
Klaus Koschorke, Die Polemik der Gnostiker gegen das Kirchliche
Christentum (Leiden, 1978); Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels
(New York, 1979); Pheme Perkins, The Gnostic Dialogue: The Early
Church and Crisis of Gnosticism (New York, 1980); James M. Robinson,
et al., The Nag Hammadi Library in English (San Francisco, 1977);
Kurt Rudolph, Gnosis: The Nature and History of an Ancient
Religion (New York, 1987), trans. R. Wilson from Die Gnosis:
Wesen und Geschichte einer spatantiken Religion (Leipzig: 1977);
Arnold Toynbee, ed., The Crucible of Christianity: Judaism, Hellenism,
and the Historical Background to the Christian Faith (New York/London,
1969); T. Klausner, et al., eds., Reallexikon fur Antike und
Christentum, 10 + vols. (Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1950- ) s.v. "Gnosis
I," "Gnosis 11;" and David Scholer, "Bibliographia Gnostica: Supplementum
17" in Novum Testamentum 30:4 (1988), 339-72.
8 . Ramsay MacMullen, Christianizing the Roman
Empire (A.D. 100-400) (New Haven, 1984), 21-22.
9. Pagels, "What Became of God the Mother?,"301.
10. Adversos Haereses, 1. 13.7, cited by Pagels,
300.
11. Pagels, 302.
12. Hippolytus, Phil. 8. 19, in Hastings
Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, s.v. "Montanism."
13. Ibid.
14. W.H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution
(Oxford, 1956), 366.
15. Tertullian, De Virginibus Velandis ("On the
Veiling of Virgins"), 9.
16. Tertullian, De Cultu Feminarum ("On the
Adornment of Women"), 1, 1.
17. Jeffrey Richards, The Popes and the Papacy in the
Early Middle Ages 476-752 (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1979), 19.
18. Ibid., 20-21. Cf. also F. Gregorovius, History of
the City of Rome in the Middle Ages, trans. Mrs. G.W. Hamilton (1906;
reprint, New York, 1967); and J. J. Taylor, "The Early Papacy at Work: Gelasius
I" Journal of Religious History 8 (1974-75): 317-32.
19. Aimé Georges Martimort, Les Diaconesses.
Essai Historique (Rome, 1982), now in English, Deaconesses: An
Historical Study, trans. K. D. Whitehead (San Francisco, 1985).
20. Roger Gryson, Le Ministère des Femmes dans
1'église ancienne in Recherches et synthèses, Section
d'histoire, IV (Gembloux, 1972); now in English, The Ministry of Women
in the Early Church, trans.Jean Laporte and Mary Louise Hall (Collegeville,
Minn., 1976). Adolf Kalsbach, Die Altkirchliche Einrichtung der Diakonisse
bis zu ihrem Erlöschen in Romische Quartelschrift 22,
Supplementheft (Freiburg, 1926). In 1957 the author wrote a summary of his book
for the Reallexikon fur Antike und Christentum, under the entry
"Diakonisse."
21. Martimort, 242; cf. chap. 6, 3A.
22. Ibid., 243.
23. The Declaration, signed by Paul VI on October 15,
1976, was made public January 27, 1977, in the Osservatore Romano, AAS [Acta
Apostolicae Sedis, Citta del Vaticano] 69, 1977, n.2 (98-116).
24. H. Van der Meer, Sacerdozio delle donne? Saggio di Storia della
teologia (Brescia, 1971). This is an Italian translation of the original
German edition (Basel, 1969); R. Gryson, Il ministero della donna
nella chiesa antica (Rome, 1974). [This is an Italian translation of the
original French edition, see n. 20 above.-Trans.]; J. Galot, La Donna
e I ministeri nella Chiesa (Assisi, 1973). On the question see the
contributions of P. H. Lafontaine, "Le sexe masculin, condition de I'accession
aux ordres aux IVe et Ve siecles, "Revue de Universite d'Ottawa 31
(1961): 137-82; Les conditions positives de l’accession aux ordres dans
la premiere legislation ecclesiastique (300-492) (Ottawa, 1963).
25. While Van der Meer treats only fleetingly the
problem of deaconesses (119-122), Gryson (passim and 201-202) and Galot (passim
and 24-46) analyze this subject at greater length. [See n.39 below and
translator's introduction-Trans.]
26. Ep. 14, in A. Thiel, Epistulae Romanorum
pontificum genuinae (New York: 1974, first ed., 1867), 360-79.
27. Van der Meer, 128; Gryson, 194-95; Galot, 86-87.
28. The epistle was dated the 11th of March (Ep. 14, 28 [Thiel,
379]).
29. Francesco Lanzoni defines it the
"encyclical-epistle" because of the significance and substance of the questions
discussed in Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII
(Faenza, 1927), vol.I, p. 329.
30. Ep. 14, 26 (Thiel 376-77).
31. Cf A. M. P. Ellebracht, Remarks on the vocabulary
of the ancient orations in the Missale Romanum (Nijmegen-Utrecht, 1963),
104; A. Blaise, Le vocabulaire latin des principaux themes liturgiques
(Turnhout, 1966), 502-3.
32. Vita cont. 2,7,3 (PL 59, 452). 33 Ep. 10,96,8.
34. In Concilia Galliae A. 314--A.506 (C.Munier) (CCL 148,144).
35. Gryson, 195; Galot, 86, n. 56.
36. Ep. 14, 14 (Thiel, 370).
37. Ep. 14, 26 (Thiel 377-78) [Latin text is omitted here-Trans.]
38. See text and discussion in Gryson, 98-100.
39. See discussion below.
40. In CCL 148, 150. For the dating of this council,
which oscillates between 394 and 396, see CCL 148, 149.
41. In CCL 148, 84.
42. Van der Meer, 126-28; Gryson devotes a chapter to
the Greek canonical sources from the fourth-fifth centuries (90-147), and
another to the Latin sources of the same period (187-99); Galot, 80-83, for
canons 11 and 44 of Laodicea.
43. Ep. 14, 1 (Thiel 362) [Latin text is omitted here-Trans.]
44. Le diocesi .... . 2: 754.
45. Cf. for the observations of G. Minasi, Le Chiese di Calabria dal
quinto al duodecimo secolo (Naples, 1896), 79-80. The Gelasian decree on
the prohibition of female priesthood is recalled in a document of 829 (cf. PL
97. 821-822; Van der Meer, Sacerdozio, 131).
46. Gryson, 195; Galot, 87.
47. The bibliography on the argument is vast. Besides
the studies of Gryson (passim) and Galot (passim, esp. 24-46), compare those of
Vagaggini, "L'ordinazione delle diaconesse nella tradizione greca e bizantina,"
Orientalia Christiana Periodica 4 (1974): 145-89, and G. Ferrari, "Le
diaconesse nella tradizione orientale," Oriente cristiano 14 (1974):
28-50. Only in the final stage of revision of the present article was I able to
see a recent documented essay by A. G. Martimort, Les Diaconesses. Essai
historique (Rome, 1982), which undertakes to redefine the presence and role
of deaconesses in the ancient church. [See n. 19. Martimort also cites P.
Delhaye, "Retrospective et prospective des ministeres feminins dans I'Eglise,"
in Revue theologique de Louvain 3 (1972): 55-75; also cf. Martimort,
chap. 3, n.66-Trans.]
48. Adv. haer. 1, 13, 2 (A. Rousseau-L.
Doutreleau) (SC 263, 190-92); cf. Gryson, 44, and Galot, 67-69.
49. The epistle is handed down, translated into Latin,
in the Corpus ciprianeo (Ep. 75. 10 [CSEL 3/11, 816-18]); cf. Galot,
77-80.
50. Panarion 49, 2, 2-6 (K. Holl.) (GCS 31. 242).
For a fuller treatment of the ancient documentation on attributions of
priesthood to women in Montanist settings, see Van der Meer, 66-70; Gryson,
152-156; Galot, 72-80. [See also my introduction to the translation-Trans.
]
51. Ep. 16. 1-6 (PL 54: 695-702). The oriental
custom, in any event, was being spread also into other regions of the West. Cf.
M. Righetti, Storia liturgica IV(Milan, 1959), 91-93. 52 Ep. 14,
10 (Thiel, 368). Baptism could naturally be administered at any time when a
life was in danger.
53. Cf G. Gay, L'Italia meridionale e l'impero
bizantino dall'avento di Basilio I alla resa di Bari ai Normanni (867-1071)
(Florence, 1917), 5-16; F. Burgarella, La Chiesa greca di
Calabria in eta bizantina (V-VII secolo), in (Various Authors),
Testimonianze cristiane antiche ed altomedievali nella Sybaritide (Bari,
1980), 89-120; Q. Cataudella, La Cultura bizantina in Sicilia, vol. 4
(Palermo, 1980), 1-56.
54. CIL 10. 8079; G. B. De Rossi in
Bollettino di Archeologia cristiana (1877): 88, tav. 7, 4; E.
Diehl, Inscriptiones Latinae Christianae Veteres 1192 (Dublin-Zurich,
1970).
55. Cf. A. Crispo. "Antichita cristiane della Calabria
prebyzantina," Archivo storico per la Calabria e la Lucania 23 (1955): 9-29.
On Paleochristian Bruzio [Bruttium], the contributions of F. Russo are
fundamental (cf. bibliography in F. Russo, "Introduzione del cristianesimo
nella Sibaritide," in (Various Authors), 5-21). Recent excavations
carried out by the Superintendent of Antiquities of Reggio Calabria have
brought new discoveries to light for this study.
56. De Rossi, Bollettino di Archeologia cristiana
(1877): 88, tav. 7, 4; Crispo, Antichita cristiane ., 134;
Ferrua, Note su Tropea, 11. For Ferrua, Leta was probably the wife
of the Presbyter Monses, recorded in another Epitaph coming also from Tropea
(Diehl 1150).
57. Note su Tropea, 25.
58. Coniux: Diehl 393.1130, 1139Aa, 1154;
amantissima: Diehl 1163ab. 59 Cf c. 20 of the Council of Tours of 567.
60. For the dating see A. Degrassi, I fasti consolari
dell'impero romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo (Rome, 1952),
89.
61. F. Bulic, "Iscrizione inedita," Bollettino di
Archeologia e Storia Dalmata 37 (1914): 107-11.
62. Cf P Testini, Le catacombe e gli antichi cimiteri
cristiani in Roma (Bologna, 1966), 221-26; J. Guyon, "La vente des tombes a
travers 1'epigraphie de la Rome chretienne (III-VII siecles); les roles
des fossores, mansionarii, praepositi, et pretres," MEFRA, [Me1anges. Ecole
Francaise de Rome. Antiquite 86 (1974): 549-96.
63. Probably Theodosius had also acquired the
sarcophagus from Flavia Vitalia. Bulic, 110, refers only to the acquisition of
a sarcophagus; this naturally precludes the problem of the functions of the
presbytera in question.
64. For the evolution of the phenomenon of the sale of
plots in Christian communal cemeteries, see Guyon.
65. In Bollettino di Archeologia e Storia Dalmata
21 (1898): 147, n. 2428 (F. Bulic); CIL 3, 14, 900. A presbyteress
(presbiterissa) is attested in an inscription from Ippona (Cf.,
L'Annee epigraphique (1953): 196-97, n.107.
66. The term conhospita indicated a woman who was
living with a man under the bonds of continence (Gryson, 195; Galot, 90).
67. In P. DeLabriolle, Les sources de l’Histoire
du montanisme (Fribourg-Paris, 1913), 226-230. For separate treatments of
the dioceses of the three bishops, cf. R. Gryson, Il ministero ...,195;
J. Galot, La donna . . . , 88.
68. Quicherat dates it in the fifth or fourth century (CIL 13. 1183,n);
to Mommsen (ibid.), it seems much more recent.
69. CIL 13. 1183.
70. Diehl, 1191.
71. In CIL 148A. 268 (v. in the apparatus at the passage).
72. Ibid.
73. A completely different point of view is that of Van
der Meer, for whom "the problem of the priesthood of women up to a short time
ago has not been intensely felt" (Sacerdozio, 141).
74. Ep. 8 (PL 134. 114). [Latin text is translated here: "Hence since
your wisdom has determined that we ought to decide whether to understand
'priestess' or 'deaconness' in the canons, it seems to me that since in the
primitive Church, according to the holy word, many are the crops and few the
laborers,' for the helping of men even religious women were ordained caretakers
in the holy Church. This is something that blessed Paul points out in his
epistle to the Romans when he says, 'I commend to you my sister Phoebe, who is
in the ministry of the church that is in Cenchrae.' One understands this
because then not only men, but also women were in charge of the Churches, to be
sure for the sake of great efficiency. For women, long accustomed to the rites
of pagans, instructed as well in philosophical doctrines, were converted more
readily for these reasons, and were more easily instructed thoroughly in the
worship of religion. This practice c. 11 of the Laodicean Council later
prohibits when it says that it is not allowed for those women who are called
‘priests' or 'those presiding' to be ordained in the Churches"-Trans.]
75. In C. J. Hefele and H. Leclerque, Histoire des
conciles d'apres les documents originaux, Vol. 1, pt. 2 (Paris, 1907),
1003. [Also cf. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon, s.v. prokathemai
("preside"): C. Laod. Can. 11-Trans.]
76. Galot, 80; cf, Gryson, 105-8;Martimort, 102-3.
77. Galot, 82-83.
78. Ep. 8 (PL 134. 114 . [Latin text is translated here: "We
believe that deacons were truly ministers of such duties. For we call a
minister a deacon, from which we perceive the term deaconess is derived.
Finally we read in c. 15 of the Chalcedonian council, that a deaconess must not
be ordained before her fortieth year, and this with the greatest deliberation.
We also believe the following: that the office of baptizing was enjoined upon
women so that the bodies of other women might be treated by them without any
deeply felt sense of shame. For just as these women who were called priests
(presbyterae) had assumed the duty of preaching, ordering, and
instructing, in the same way clearly the deaconesses had assumed the duty of
ministering and baptizing, a practice which today is not at all in
use"-Trans.]
79. Ep, 8 (PL 134. 115). [Latin text is translated here:
"We can also consider as priests and deaconesses those women who were joined in
marriage to priests and deacons before their ordination. But more willingly do
I accept the terms that have been explicated according to the higher sense,
most esteemed teacher, until I deserve to be more clearly informed by
you"-Trans.] In the ancient church the term presbytera could also mean a
widow or an old woman.
80. For this polemic, see G. Fornasari, Celibato
sacerdotale e 'autocoscienza' ecclesiale. Per la storia della 'Nicolaitica
haeresis' nell'Occidente medievale (Trieste, 1981).
81. Martimort, 209-10.
82. Such is the case in the Lexicon imperfectum, s.v.
presbytera, which, referring to the epistle of Atto, strangely records only
the second definition known by the Bishop of Vercelli (F. Arnaldi and M.
Turriani, Latinitatis Italicae Medii Aevi inde ab a. CDLXXVI usque ad a.
MXXII Lexicon imperfectum [Brussels, 1951-53], 573). Of the other lexica
that I have consulted, only the Glossarium of Du Cange records the
definition preferred by Atto.
83. Clifford Geertz, "Religion as a Cultural System," in
The Interpretation of Culture: Selected Essays (New York, 1973),
119.
84. John Gager, The Origins of Anti-Semitism:
Attitudes toward Judaism in Pagan and Christian Antiquity (Oxford, 1983),
10.
ABBREVIATIONS
CCL=CORPUS CHRISTIANORUM. SERIES LATINA
CIL=CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM LATINARUM
CSEL=CORPUS SCRIPTORUM ECCLESIASTICORUM LATINORUM
EP.=EPISTLE
GCS=DIE GRIECHISCHE CHRISTLICHE SCHRIFTSTELLER DER ERSTEN
DREI JAHRHUNDERTE
SC=SOURCES CHRETIENNES, PARIS
Professor Giorgio Otranto
Via delle Forze Armate, 7
70122 BARI, ITALY
Tel. 080-338446
Email:
g.otranto@rettorato.uniba.it or g.otranto@dscc.uniba.it.
ISTITUTO DE STUDI CLASSICI E CHRISTIANI
Strada San
Giacomo, 7 70126 BARI, ITALY
Tel. 080-317908; Fax 080-317918.
Dr. Mary Ann Rossi, email: Letapriest@aol.com.
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