Patristic Evidence

Several church fathers attest to deaconesses in the time of the apostles, including Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, 3.6.53, 3–4 [late second century]) and Origen (Commentary on Romans 10.17 to Rom 16:1–2 [early third century]), though they made no mention of this office in their own day; see also Chrysostom (Homily 11), Theodore of Mopsuestia (Commentary on 1 Timothy), and Theodoret (Commentary on Paul’s epistles) on 1 Tim 3:11. By the fourth century and later, several fathers could speak of contemporary deaconesses (Basil of Caesarea, Letters 105; 199 on canon 44; Chrysostom, Letters to Olympias; Theodoret, Church History 3.10).