Early Church Women-Subjects Relevant to an Informed Opinion about Women in Ministry

Baptist Women in Ministry http://www. bwim.info/index.php/welcome" - see Resources
Carolyn Goodman Plampin http://home.netcom.com/~cplampin

Series-Subjects Relevant to an Informed Opinion about Women in Ministry

There are women we should know about in church history who are extremely relevant to an informed opinion about women in ministry in the early church. These have been chosen because they were women pastors (elders) called widows, deaconesses, and virgins who consecrated their entire lives to the service of God.

01. THECLA, MONASTIC VIRGIN, ICONIUM, FIRST CENTURY

Catherine Kroeger in "The Neglected History of Women in the Early Church," in the periodical CHRISTIAN HISTORY tells us about Thecla.

The legend of St. Thecla has endeared itself to modern women as well as to their earlier counterparts. It is the best known of the numerous apocryphal stories of early Christian heroines. According to the 3rd-century text of THE ACTS OF PAUL, Thecla, a noblewoman, was converted while listening to the preaching of the apostle. Forsaking her old life, she followed Paul and endured persecution, tribulation and great peril. The story resembles the ancient pagan romances in the repetition of hair's-breath escapes, the fortitude and nobility displayed by both hero and heroine, and the happy ending. It is, however, a Christianized romance, as are several others of the apocryphal ACTS and THE RECOGNITIONS OF PETER.
Thecla appears as a truly heroic character who endures all manner of suffering for the sake of Christ. After her itineration through Asia Minor with the Apostle Paul, she settles near Seleucia, where she teaches, preaches, heals and baptizes. Tertullian, incensed that Montanist women used her as a model, declared that a deacon had confessed that he fabricated the story "for love of Paul." William M. Ramsay maintained that THE ACTS OF PAUL contained an authentic lst-century account, which had been outrageously embellished by the 3rd-century deacon. Dennis McDonald has pointed out that, though the story is almost surely fictitious, this does not obviate the existence of an actual female leader of that name.
Both Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil of Caesarea spoke of Thecla as a historical figure. Writing in the 300s, they described her teaching center and hospital near Seleucia. The pilgrim Egeria visited this facility in 399 A.D., and also described its monasteries, convents and assembly buildings, along with the teaching and healing ministries that went on there. The German team that excavated the center in 1908 found the apse still standing above the ground, with the main basilica's outlines covering a space equal to that of a football field. The excavators also found numerous cisterns, apparently for washing the sick, two other churches, and many fine mosaics. The center apparently was in active use for at least 1,000 years, indicating the presence in Asia Minor of an extremely strong female leader.
(Kroeger, Catherine, "The Neglected History of Women in the Early Church," CHRISTIAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, pp. 8-9.)

Bibliography for Thecla

See Clark, pp. 78-88; Deen, pp. 293-294.

Kroeger, Catherine. "The Neglected History of Women in the Early Church," CHRISTIAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, Issue on Women in the Early Church, pp. 8-9.

Kroeger, Catherine Clark. CASSETTE TAPE "Thekla - Myth and Reality." Order from Christians for Biblical Equality, 122 West Franklin Ave., Suite 218, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2451, telephone: (612) 872-6898, e-mail: cbe@minn.net, or order on-line from: Christians for Biblical Equality, http://www.cbeinternational.org

MacDonald, Dennis Ronald. THE LEGEND AND THE APOSTLE, THE BATTLE FOR PAUL IN STORY AND CANON. (Thecla) Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1983.

02. WOMEN BREAKING BREAD AND PRAYING, ROME, EARLY 200s

In CHRISTIAN HISTORY there are three photographs of frescos in Rome dated to the third century, one showing women breaking bread and two showing women with hands raised in prayer.

A woman breaks bread at an early Christian eucharist. The clothing and hairstyles suggest that most of the participants here are women. The fresco, from the Priscilla catacomb in Rome (Capella Greca), has been commonly dated to the early 200s. But the fashions depicted have led some recent scholars to date it to the late 1st century.
The woman in the center, with her hands raised in prayer, is one of the many "orant" (praying) women depicted in the catacombs. Dr. Catherine Kroeger points out that this is an amazingly authoritative stance, like that of a bishop. Yet one of the early church orders specifically forbids women to pray like this (?). The shepherds on either side may represent pastors, in which case the woman may be in the role of bishop, blessing pastors in her charge. The fresco, from the Coemeterium Majus arco-solium in Rome, dates to the late 3rd century.
A veiled woman (Donna Velata) prays with hands upraised. The fresco, from the mid-3rd century, appears in the Priscilla Catacomb, cubiculum of Velatia. Kroeger notes that the catacombs depict far more orant women than orant men. One explanation is that the women represent the "mother church"; others say women actually held positions in which they would lead the church in prayer.CHRISTIAN HISTORY.

Bibliograhy for Women Breaking Bread and Praying

CHRISTIAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, Issue on Women in the Early Church, p 2.

Morris, Joan. THE LADY WAS A BISHOP, THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF WOMEN WITH CLERICAL ORDINATION AND THE JURISDICTION OF BISHOPS. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1973, p. 2.

03. WRITINGS ATTRIBUTED TO WIDOWS

Stevan L. Davies in THE REVOLT OF THE WIDOWS, THE SOCIAL WORLD OF THE APOCRYPHAL ACTS tell us about the writings attributed to widows.

Second to third centuries. Each of the Acts features a female character who is converted to Christianity and abandons her husband for the church. She becomes a widow, a second-century technical term used to describe continent Christian women who survived their husbands, deserted their husbands, or chose a life of perpetual virginity.
The widows revolted against their marriages, against marriage in general, and against the basic social patterns of the non-Christian world. In composing apocryphal Acts, they became teachers, creative ministers within the church.
Further evidence for female authorship is that the central concerns in the apocryphal Acts are the lifestyles, finances, religious experiences, and difficulties of widows. 'It seems reasonable,' Davies points out 'to conclude that the apocryphal Acts were written by continent Christian women for Christian women.' If this premise can be granted, the apocryphal Acts represent the largest body of literature under female authorship to survive from the ancient world."Davies, THE REVOLT OF THE WIDOWS.

Bibliography for Writings Attributed to Widows

Davies, Stevan L. THE REVOLT OF THE WIDOWS, THE SOCIAL WORLD OF THE APOCRYPHAL ACTS. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press, 1980.

04. MACRINA OF CAPPADOCIA, MONASTIC VIRGIN AND DEACONESS, A.D. 327-379

Mary L. Hammack and the editors, "Other Women of the Early Church, A Few of the Many," in CHRISTIAN HISTORY, tell us about Macrina of Cappacodia.

Macrina another 4th-century Christian woman, is known mostly today for the great influence she had on and with her brothers who became church leaders in Asia Minor: Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea; Gregory, bishop of Nyssa; and Peter, bishop of Sebaste. Born to Christian parents in Cappadocia in 327, she and her brothers grew up in Pontus. Their father was an attorney and professor, and their mother, Emmelia, was recognized as "a godly woman." Their grandparents were also influential Christians. Basil and Emmelia had 10 children, and Macrina was probably the eldest.
Macrina apparently was unusually well-educated for her time; in fact, she may have taught her brothers in their younger years. We know that she, after their mother died, took responsibility for the care and upbringing of young Peter, and that all three of her well-known brothers apparently had great respect for her.
Basil, recognizing her able intellect, arranged for her to receive a theological education -- a great rarity for women in those days. Rare as her case was, it was she who reminded Basil, when he returned from Rome and some high-level studies in Athens, that he ought to stay humble.
About 355, while still in her 20s, Macrina established a religious community for women in Pontus. The monastic movement was still in its early stages, so this was pioneer work. It's probable her cloister inspired Basil to start a companion monastery for men nearby, and served as a model for numerous other monasteries and convents.
On the theological front, Arianism was the conflict of the day, and Basil and Gregory both wrote and taught in defense of the Nicene Creed, affirming that Jesus did indeed share the very substance of the Father. What background support Macrina may have given them in this conflict is uncertain. It is certain she was known for her teaching abilities, for organizing the religious community, and for founding a hospital devoted to caring for the needy. The hospital was funded by the money Macrina inherited from her parents. In fact, she as so generous with this money that she's said to have died almost penniless, in 379.
When a frustrated Gregory came to her deathbed (after being banished by an Arian emperor to a backwoods bishopric in Nyssa), she told him that the church needed him, and that he should accept his responsibility for the church as a blessing from God. Apparently taking her words to heart, she served the church for 20 more years, and won the day for the orthodox faith at the Council of Constantinople in 381.
Gregory stayed with her to the last, and then was surprised to find she possessed no garment suitable for burial; she had given all her formal clothing away to the poor. But her gifts to her brothers and the church was greater: her spiritual influence in their lives, her charity to the poor, and a community of women wholly dedicated to the Lord.
(Hammack, Mary L. and the editors, "Other Women of the Early Church, A Few of the Many," in CHRISTIAN HISTORY, pp. 15-16.)

Bibliography for Macrina of Cappadocia

See Clark, pp. 235-243; Deen, pp. 11-14; Turpin, pp. 29-36.

Hammack, Mary L. and the editors, "Other Women of the Early Church, A Few of the Many," in CHRISTIAN HISTORY, an entire issue devoted to women in the early church. Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, pp. 15-16.

LaPorte, Jean. THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN EARLY CHRISTIANITY. New York and Toronto: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1982, pp. 81-88.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, THE LIFE OF MACRINA, translated by W. K. Lowther Clarke, Early Church Classics. London, SPcK, 1916.

05. THEOSEBIA, A PRIESTLY COLLEAGUE OF GREGORY OF NYSSA, A.D. ?329-?389

PRISCILLA PAPERS and the NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS tell us about Theosebia.

This article is entitled "Theosebia, a priestly colleague of Gregory of Nyssa:" The one hundred and ninety-seventh letter of Gregory of Nazianzus, addressed to Gregory of Nyssa, contains a message of consolation over the death of Theosebia, who has apparently been his colleague in the Gospel ministry. Theosebian, ten ontos hieran kai hiereos suzugon kai homotimon kai ton megalon musterion axian. (Literally, "Theosebeia, actually the priestess and colleague of a priest and equally honored and equally worthy of the Great Sacraments."
Some scholars have maintained that she was Gregory's consort rather than his colleague, but Gregory belonged to a coterie that eschewed marriage and espoused celibacy.
William Moore both translated and commented on the Greek phrase quoted above:
"Theosebia, the fairest, the most lustrous even amidst such beauty of the adelphoi; Theosebia, the true priestess, the yokefellow (suzugon) and the equal of a priest." J. P. Rupp has well pointed out that the expression "yolk fellow" (suzugon), which has been insisted on as meaning "wife" may, especially in the language of Gregory Nazianzen, be equivalent to adelphos. He sees in this Theosebia "a sister of the Cappadocian brothers."
(William Moore, "A Sketch of the Life of S. Gregory of Nyssa" ANTE-NICENE FATHERS (SIC), V, p.3.)
Nevertheless the series in which this comment (ANTE-NICENE FATHERS (SIC)) occurs provides a quite different translation of the letter by Gregory. The pertinent part reads:

"I had started partly for the sake of seeing you after so long, and partly that I might admire your patience and philosophy (for I had heard of it) at the departure of your holy and blessed sister, as a good and perfect man, a minister of God, who knows better than any the things both of God and man; and who regards as a very light thing that which to others would be most heavy, namely to have lived with such a soul, and to send her away and store her up in the safe garners, like a shock of the threshing-floor gathered in due season, to use the words of the Holy Scripture; and that in such time that she, having tasted the joys of life, escaped its sorrows through the shortness of her life; and before she had to wear mourning for you, was honored by you with that fair funeral honour which is due to such as she. I too, believe me, long to depart, if not as you do, where were much to say, yet only less than you. But what must we feel in presence of a long prevailing law of God which has now taken my Theosebia (for I call her mine because she lived a godly life; for spiritual kindred is better than bodily), Theosebia, the glory of the church, the adornment of Christ, the helper of our generation, the hope of woman; Theosebia, the most beautiful and glorious among all the beauty of the Brethren, Theosebia, truly sacred, truly consort of a priest, and of equal honor and worthy of the Great Sacraments, Theosebia, whom all future time shall receive, resting on immortal pillars, that is, on the souls of all who have known her now, and of all who shall be hereafter. And do not wonder that I often invoke her name. For I rejoice even in the remembrance of the blessed one. Let this, in a few words, be her epitaph from me, and my word of condolence for you, though you yourself are quite able to console others in this way through your philosophy in all things." ANTE-NICENE FATHERS (SIC), VII p. 462.
(PRISCILLA PAPERS, Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring, 1990, pp. 14-15.)

Bibliography for Theosebia

Gregory of Nazianzen, Letter CXCVII (197), Schaff, Philip and Henry Wace, eds. A SELECT LIBRARY OF NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. Second Series, Vol. VII, p. 462. (The above article cites ANTE-NICENE FATHERS, but "A Sketch of the Life of Gregory" is in NPNF, Second Series, Vol. V, p. 1, and the writings of Gregory of Nazianzen are in Vol. VII.)

"Theosebia, a Priestly Colleague of Gregory of Nyssa," PRISCILLA PAPERS, Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 1990, pp. 14-15.

06. FABIOLA, WIDOW, FOUNDER OF THE FIRST HOSPITAL IN EUROPE, ROME, A.D. ?-399

Edith Deen in GREAT WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH tells us about Fabiola.

The Founder of the First Hospital in Europe. Fabiola was called by Jerome "the praise of the Christians, the marvel of the Gentiles, the mourning of the poor, and the consolation of the monks." The best source of information about her in contained by Jerome's Letters 64 and 77. In a letter which he wrote at her death, he eulogizes her as "the first person to found a hospital in Europe." This hospital was in Rome.
Fabiola was a member of the great Fabian family of Rome. After an unfortunate first marriage to a man described by Jerome as "one that not even a prostitute or common slave could put up with," she took another husband. Since this was against the laws of the Church, to atone for this marriage she dedicated her wealth and energy to the Church after the death of her second husband.
Jerome says that she wore sackcloth to make a public confession of her error, discarded her jewels and sold all her property. She used the money that she received from her property to supply the wants of the poverty-stricken, distributing her alms herself. She personally cared for the sick, and because of her high social position, this action made a strong impression on both Christians and pagans in Rome.
With the help of Pammachius, a Roman senator, Fabiola set up a tent for travelers landing at Ostia. There she and the senator showed kindness to those in distress. Many who were helped at this place of refuge were reminded of another retreat on the island of Melita (malta) -- a place where Paul received help when he was shipwrecked.
Jerome writes of Fabiola's voyage to Bethlehem, where she stayed with Paula and Eustochium, and of her zeal for the Bible and the earnestness with which she studied it. Once, when he was reading the Book of Numbers, she modestly questioned him as to the meaning of the great mass of names there. He replied as best he could. Unrolling the book further, and coming to the list of the forty-two halting places of the Israelites in the wilderness, she asked him to write a treatise on this subject. After her death he wrote one dedicating it to her memory.
While she was in Jerusalem, news came that hordes of Huns were marching on Palestine. "Having no other property but what her baggage contained," Jerome records, "she made her way back to her native land."
In recounting her death, he affirmed: "As she was already ready, death could not find her unprepared." When she died in Rome in 399 the people, remembering the solicitude she had shown for them, turned out in thousands to honor her.
"Her triumph was more glorious than that accorded emperors and generals," Jerome concludes. "They had conquered physical force, she had mastered spiritual iniquities."
(Deen, Edith. GREAT WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Company, c1959, pp. 297-298.)

Bibliography for Fabiola

See Clark, pp. 181; Deen, pp. 297-298.

07. PAULA, MONASTIC WIDOW, ROME AND BETHLEHEM, A.D. 347-404

As we come to each of the Roman monastic women we should remember Rosemary Ruether's words:

The Roman aristocracy produced one particular circle of ascetic women of whom the central figures are two remarkable women, Paula and Melania, together with their namesake granddaughters, the younger Paula and the younger Melania. Other figures, especially Marcella, foundress of the Roman circle, have also a place in our narrative. Unfortunately, we are entirely dependent on their renowned male associates for an account of their lives. Although these women were highly literate and studious, not a line has survived from their pens. They wrote many scholarly epistles, but, unlike those of their male counterparts Jerome, Augustine and others, their letters were not collected and preserved. The reason for this seems to derive from the official Church's view that women, no matter how holy, cannot qualify as teachers of the Church. Their influence must be exercised only in private and behind a facade of male direction. ... We are forced to reconstruct their lives and personalities through the uncertain mirror of their male admirers (or detractors).
(Ruether, Rosemary, "Mothers of the Church: Ascetic Women in the Late Patristic Age," in Ruether and McLaughlin, WOMEN OF SPIRIT, pp. 75-76.)

Mary L. Hammack in A DICTIONARY OF WOMEN IN CHURCH HISTORY tells us about Paula.

Paula, a wealthy Roman widow and friend of Jerome. A descendent of Gracchio and Scipio, she married Toxotius when just seventeen years old. She was widowed in her early thirties with five children, four daughters (Blaesilla, Paulina, Eustochium, and Ruffina) and a son (Toxotius). It is likely that she owned a large part of the city of Nicopolis. It is recorded that before she was converted Paula dressed and lived royally but after her conversion lived in an austere manner, protesting against materialism, giving much of her wealth to help the poor and to build hospitals, churches, and monasteries. In 380 she dedicated herself to an ascetic life and with her daughter, Eustochium, followed Jerome to Palestine. After visiting various holy places, they settled at Bethlehem and founded three nunneries and a monastery. She was in charge of the nunneries, while Jerome presided over the monastery. These served as places of refuge for sick, orphans, and needy and as places of study, prayer, and devotion. Jerome dedicated some of his work to Paula and to both Paula and Estochium his versions of Job, Isaiah, Samuel, Kings, Ester, Galatians, Philemon, Titus, and the twelve minor prophets. Paula helped Jerome in his translations and obtained for him at her own expense books and rare manuscripts essential to his translation task. At her memory service six bishops carried her body to the burial place.
(Hammack, Mary L. A DICTIONARY OF WOMEN IN CHURCH HISTORY. Chicago: Moody Press, 1984, pp. 116-117.)

Bibliography for Paula

See Clark, pp. 134-137, 163-164, 197-203, 209-213, 220-221; Deen, pp. 28-33; Hardesty, pp. 17-19; Kraemer, pp. 138-168.

Hammack, Mary L. A DICTIONARY OF WOMEN IN CHURCH HISTORY. Chicago: Moody Press, 1984.

Jerome, Letter CVIII (108), "To Eustochium (Memorials of Her Mother Paula)," Schaff, Philip and Henry Wace, A SELECT LIBRARY OF NICENE AND POST-NICE FATHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Second Series, Vol. VI, pp. 195-212.

Ruether, Rosemary, "Mothers of the Church: Ascetic Women in the Late Patristic Age," in Ruether, Rosemary and Eleanor McLaughlin. WOMEN OF SPIRIT, FEMALE LEADERSHIP IN THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS. New York: Simon and Shuster, 1979.

08. OLYMPIAS, DEACONESS, CONSTANTINOPLE, A.D. 368-408

Mary L. Hammack and the editors of the periodical CHRISTIAN HISTORY tell us about Olympias.

Olympias a daughter of the wealthy Count Seleusus, was born near Constantinople in 368. Apparently her parents died when she was still quite young, but they left her a substantial fortune. This drew the attention of many matchmakers, including the Emperor Theodosius, who wanted to be sure that such a large amount of wealth -- and the influence that went with it -- came to rest in the proper hands.
So while still in her teens, Olympias married an official in the imperial court named Nebridius. But he died less than two years later. The stream of eager suitors resumed, but she chose to not remarry -- having decided, as a Christian, that she would devote herself to the Lord and her inheritance to helping the poor.
This decision aggravated Theodosius, who used his royal privilege to seize her fortune and place it in trust until she turned 30. Olympias wrote to thank the emperor for relieving her of the burden of all that money, and insisted that, as executor of the inheritance, he divide it between the church in Constantinople and the poor. Outfoxed by the plucky teenager, Theodosius restored the wealth to her prerogative ... and she immediately began to give the money away again, to the sick, widows, prisoners, beggars, and slaves (she even bought hundreds of slaves and set them free).
She became a deaconess of the church at Constantinople, and a good friend of John Chrysostom, the local bishop, who once advised her to give less to the poor because she was making them lazy.
Her loyalty to Chrysostom eventually cost her much. He, a gifted preacher, spoke out against the wanton behavior of the Empress Eudoxia. Incensed at his impertinence, the empress pulled strings in the church hierarchy and, in 403, got John banished-for-life on trumped-up charges. Olympias and many other Christians in Constantinople protested this treatment of their beloved bishop, and hence were physically harassed. Then, when Olympias refused to recognize the new bishop that was appointed, she was banished as well. She was also tried for disrupting the church, and was heavily fined. Later, all her assets were seized and her charitable projects shut down.
Throughout all these troubles, Olympias and Chrysostom managed to maintain a correspondence. In his letters John encouraged her, praising her patience and dignity. He died in 407; within a year she also died, a pauper. But she was remembered as a devoted Christian who used her great wealth unselfishly for the Lord, as a regular student of the Bible, and as a faithful deaconess of the church.
(Hammack, Mary L. and the editors. "Other Women of the Early Church, a Few of the Many," CHRISTIAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, pp. 17-18.)

Bibliography for Olympias

See Clark, pp. 223-231; Deen, pp. 296-297; Kraemer, pp. 187-194, 195-204.

Hammack, Mary L. and the editors. "Other Women of the Early Church, a Few of the Many," CHRISTIAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, pp. 17-18.

09. MARCELLA, MONASTIC WIDOW, ROME, A.D. 325-410

Mary L. Hammack and the editors of the periodical CHRISTIAN HISTORY tell us about Marcella.

Marcella who was born to a noble roman family in 325, was highly revered by Jerome, the 4th-century translator of the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible. This noblewoman offered her palace as a sanctuary for Christians who were being persecuted, and was active in leading Bible classes and prayer meetings among the other noblewomen.
Though widowed at an early age and having no children, she chose to not remarry and instead devoted herself to serving Christ and the church. When Pope Damasus commissioned scholar Jerome to make a newly revised translation of the Gospels, taking the latest available Hebrew and Greek texts and translating them into Latin, Jerome moved into Marcella's retreat house/palace for the duration of his task. For three years, he depended upon Marcella and her other house guests to critique his ongoing work, which eventually became a classic, the Latin Vulgate Bible.
Marcella founded the first convent for women in the Western church, and gave liberally of her wealth to help other Christians, clearly showing to her fellow noblewomen that greater rewards and fulfillment come from storing up treasurers in heaven than from hoarding treasurers on earth.
(Hammack, Mary L. and the editors. "Other Women of the Early Church, a Few of the Many," CHRISTIAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, pp. 16-17.)

Bibliography for Marcella

See Clark, pp. 162-163;, 205-209; Deen, pp. 17-21; Hardesty, pp. 15-17; Kraemer, pp. 178-186.

Hammack, Mary L. and the editors. "Other Women of the Early Church, a Few of the Many," CHRISTIAN HISTORY, Vol. VII, No. 1, Issue 17, pp. 16-17.

10. MELANIA THE ELDER, MONASTIC WIDOW, ROME AND JERUSALEM, A.D. 383-?

Elizabeth A. Clark in WOMEN IN THE EARLY CHURCH cites Paulinus of Nola and his LETTER 29 to tell us about Melania the Elder.

Melania the Elder gave up her aristocratic life in Rome and went to Palestine where she founded monasteries for men and women in Jerusalem. Her life demonstrates the profound depths of spirituality of the women of her time who wanted to serve God.
Paulinus of Nola, perhaps the cousin of Melania the Elder, wrote his LETTER 29 to Sulpicius Severus who had sent him his book on the life of St. Martin of Tours. Paulinus sends back a tunic in return. He told of Melania the Elder's return trip to Rome and how her poverty outshown the great riches of her family.

But the Lord conferred a further grace as a result of your gifts and letter. Our brother Victor arrived here about the very time when I welcomed that holy lady who was returning from Jerusalem after twenty-five years. What a woman she is, if one can call so virile a Christian a woman! What am I to do now? Fear of being unbearably tedious forbids me to add more to the volumes written about her; yet the worth of her person, or rather God's grace in her seems to demand that I should not exclude with hasty omission a mention of this great soul. ... In this way I may be seen to make some return for that book of yours, so splendid in its matter and style, if I describe the woman who is a soldier for Christ with the virtues of Martin, though she is of the weaker sex. She is a noblewoman who has made herself nobler than her consular grandfathers by her contempt for mere bodily nobility. (pp. 105-106.)
I think that I should begin to proclaim her praiseworthy holiness by praising her ancestry, for this, too, has a bearing on the grace which God has heaped on her. ... Here was a woman of higher rank who for love of Christ had sublimely lowered herself to practise humility, so that as a strong member of the weak sex she might arraign idle men, and as a rich woman embracing poverty and a noblewoman embracing humility she might confound the haughty of both sexes (pp. 106, 108.)
Her grandfather was the consul Marecellinus, and the pomp of her family and opulence of wealth caused that she married whilst still a young girl. Soon she became a mother, but that transitory happiness she enjoyed only briefly so that she might not love earthly things too long. For quite apart from the bereavements which she mourned in company with her surviving husband after labour vainly ended in premature births, her griefs so accumulated that she lost two sons and her husband in a year; only a baby boy was left to provide remembrance of, rather than solace for, her loved ones. But since the Lord brings forth from the seeds of our ills the sources of heavenly blessings, through the loss of her human love she conceived a love of God. She was made wretched to become blessed; she was afflicted to be healed. (pp. 108-109.)
She was taught by these proofs not to bound herself with this frail world and to put her hope only in God, the sole Person whom we cannot lose involuntarily. So she clad her son and herself in the knowledge of salvation, so that she loved her child by neglecting him and kept him by relinquishing him. By commending him to the Lord she was to possess him in absence more firmly than she would have embraced him in person if she had entrusted him to herself. (pp. 109-110.)
Melania had many struggles, too, with the hate filled dragon during her training for this service, because the envy of the spiteful enemy did not allow her to depart without difficulty and in peace. The devil attempted, through the utmost pressure of her noble relatives, whom he equipped to detain her, to block her design and prevent her from going. But she was lent strength superior to the power of the tempters. She gladly threw off the bonds of human love with the ropes of the ship, as all wept. She joined unwearied battle with the waves of the sea, so that she could conquer these as well as the billows of the world, and sailed away. Abandoning worldly life and her own country, she chose to bestow her spiritual gift at Jerusalem, and to dwell there in pilgrimage from her body. ... Of her many divine virtues I shall recount just one, so that from this you can assess all her achievements. During the notorious reign of Valens, when the rage of the Arians assailed the church of the living God using that king of impiety as their lackey, Melania was the leader or companion of all who stood fast for the faith. She gave refuge to fugitives or accompanied those arrested. But after she had hidden those who were the objects of greater hatred from the heretics because of their notable faith, and those who helped to conceal them had incurred loathing, the torches of the devil fired the serious discord. She was ordered to be haled forth for holding the state law in contempt and to suffer the fate awaiting her hidden proteges unless she agreed to produce them. She advanced fearlessly, desirous of suffering, and rejoicing at the unjust proclamation. Though she had not anticipated arrest, she flew along before her would-be escort to the judge's tribunal. His respect for the woman before him troubled him, and his surprise at her bold faith caused him to drop his heretical rage. About the same time she fed five thousand monks, who lay in hiding, for three days with her own bread, so that by her hand the Lord Jesus again fed in the desert the same number as of old. But now His kindness was all the greater as the hidden monks were being accorded less freedom and affection than that former five thousand who had voluntarily assembled before the Lord in freedom and in peace. But Melania did not fear arrest. Untroubled she provided the assistance which was forbidden. She wished to obtain no recognition or glory from her work, but the scale of her assistance brought fame, and she was renowned by as many attestations before men as the number whom she fed in league with God. (pp. 112-114.)
I shall now hasten over her other achievements and days, and in imitation of her journey I shall embark on the crossing on which she made her return, so that I may conclude my words more speedily by recounting her arrival here In this event I witnessed the great grace of God. She put in at Naples, which lies a short distance away from the town of Nola where I live. There she was met in welcome by her children and grandchildren, and then she hastened to Nola to enjoy my humble hospitality. She came to me here surrounded by a solicitous retinue of her very wealthy dear ones. In that journey of mother and children I beheld the glory of the Lord. She sat on a tiny thin horse, worth less than any ass; and they attended her on the journey, their trappings emphasizing the extraordinary contrast. For they had all the pomp of this world with which honoured and wealthy senators could be invested. The Appian Way groaned and gleamed with swaying coaches, decorated horses, ladies' carriages all gilded, and numerous smaller vehicles. Yet the grace of Christian humility outshone such vain brilliance. The rich marvelled at this poor saint whilst our poverty mocked them. I beheld the world in a turmoil fit for God's eyes, crimson silk and gilded trappings playing servant to old black rags. I blessed the Lord who exalts the humble, lends them wisdom, and fills them with good things, whilst the rich He sends empty away. Yet on that day I was astounded at the spirit of poverty shown by those rich people towards their mother's welfare, for they took pride more in her holy poverty than in their own conspicuous wealth. God's glory seemed to ensure that I beheld the riches of my sister in poverty now possessed by her children, so that she was already obtaining a reward for her faith by beholding her victory over the utter emptiness of this world, when at close quarters she saw all that she had left for Christ, all that she had continued unremittingly to despise. Those silk-clad children of hers, though accustomed to the splendour of a toga or a dress according to their sex, took joy in touching that thick tunic of hers, with its hard threads like broom, and her cheap cloak. They longed to have their woollen garments, so valuable with their golden embroidery, trodden down beneath her feet or worn away with the rubbing of her rags. For they thought that they were cleansed from the pollution of their riches if they succeeded in gathering some of the dirt from her tawdry clothing or her feet. ... We have a cottage here raised off the ground, which runs quite a distance along to the dining hall, and has a colonnade separating it from the guest rooms. God in His kindness seemed to make this bigger, and it afforded modest but not too constricted accommodation not only for the numerous holy ladies who accompanied Melania, but also for the bands of rich people as well. The ringing choirs of boys and maidens in the cottage made the near-by roof of our patron Saint Felix resound. ... But I hasten to return to the perfect dove of the Lord. Be sure that there is such divine strength in that weak woman's body that she finds refreshment in fasting, repose in prayer, bread in the Word, clothing in rags. Her hard couch (for she lies on the ground on a cloak and quilt) becomes soft as she studies, for her pleasure in reading reduces the hardship of that stiff bed. That holy soul is at rest when she is awake for the Lord.
(Paulinus of Nola, Letter 29, "To Severus," Walsh, LETTERS OF ST. PAULINUS OF NOLA, Vol. II, pp. 114-116.)
Biblioraphy for Melania
See Clark, pp. 213-221.
Paulinus of Nola, Letter 29, "To Severus," in Walsh, LETTERS OF ST. PAULINUS OF NOLA, Vol. II.
Ruther, Rosemary and Eleanor McLaughlin. WOMEN OF SPIRIT, FEMALE LEADERSHIP IN THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN TRADITIONS. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979, pp. 72-73, 75-76, 81, 83-88, 93-94.

11. EMPRESS PULCHERIA, DEACONESS, CONSTANTINOPLE, A.D. 399-453

Edith Deen in GREAT WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH tells us about Pulcheria.

Pulcheria, regent and empress for forty years, ruled the Empire of the East. The English historian Gibbon says of her: "She alone, among all the descendants of the great Theodosius, appears to have inherited any share of his manly spirit and abilities." She was a devout Christian who did so much for the Church that she has been venerated as a saint since the Middle Ages. In her youth she and her sisters made a solemn vow of virginity. For the remainder of her life she dressed simply, ate frugally and kept her palace to resemble a monastery.
After the death of her father Arcadius in 408, imperial affairs fell into the hands of male regents, but in 414 Pulcheria, who was only fifteen and just two years older than her brother Theodosius, took over the regency and was proclaimed empress by the senate and made regent for her brother.
A student of Latin and Greek, and deeply interested in medicine and natural science, she helped to prepare and inspire her brother for his role. After he was made monarch, she served as a joint ruler for about ten years. Then she arranged his marriage with an Athenian girl, Athenias, who she converted to Christianity and had baptized under the name of Eudoxia.
Under Pulcheria's Christian influence, Eudoxia composed a poetical paraphrase of the five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges and Ruth, as well as the prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah. Although Pulcheria educated Eudoxia and raised her to the status of an empress, the latter sided with Pulcheria's enemies in a clash over church doctrine. However, she was fervent in the Christian faith and journeyed to the Holy Land, bringing back to Constantinople some of the sacred relics of the Church, including the chains of Peter. Eudoxia returned to Jerusalem a second time and it was there that she died.
At her brother's death in 450, Pulcheria became sole ruler. Since it was unprecedented that a woman should rule in her own right and name, Pulcheria made Marcian, a distinguished general, her husband. She was past fifty; he was a little under sixty. After her death in 453, he continued to rule for four years.
Pulcheria's benefits to the Church were numerous. She built three magnificent churches in Constantinople, and dedicated them to Mary, Mother of Christ. She established hospitals and a home for pilgrims. In order to restore unity to the Church at Constantinople, she brought back from Pontus the body of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople. He had been banished to that Province by Pulcheria's pleasure-loving mother, Princess Eudoxia, and deliberately killed by being forced to travel on foot in severe weather.
She also brought to Constantinople relics of the forty martyred Christian soldiers of the "Thundering Legion," who in Lesser Armenia in 320 were left naked on the ice of a frozen pond at Sebaste, within sight of baths of hot water placed on the banks to tempt them to renounce their faith.
Wishing to preserve orthodoxy within the Church, she vigorously opposed the heresy of Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople. He was deposed in 431 by the Council of Ephesus. She favored the great theologian Cyril of Alexandria, who upheld the perpetual virginity of Mary.
Because Pulcheria condemned Nestorius, his followers attacked her, forcing her to retire temporarily to a suburb of Constantinople, where she led a monastic life. Several years later she returned to the imperial palace.
In 451, two years before her death, she was invited to the Council of Chalcedon, which was attended by six hundred bishops. She was one of the few women, if not the only one, at this ecumenical council, which drew up the historic statement of faith asserting "one Christ ... in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation."
When Pope Leo I wrote to Pulcheria, he noted that both Nestorian and Eutychian heresies, which divided the early Church, had been overcome largely by her efforts. He also thanked her for other benefits, including the solemn burial of Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople.
(Deen, Edith. GREAT WOMEN OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH. Westwood, NJ: Barbour and Company, c1959, pp. 298-300.)
Bibliography for Empress Pulcheria
See Deen, pp. 298-300, Hardesty, pp. 21-26, Turpin, pp. 37-44.
Teetgen, Ada. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE EMPRESS PULCHERIA. London: Swan Sonnenschein and Company, 1907.

12. EGERIA, WHO MADE A PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND BETWEEN A.D. 404-717

Patricia Wilson-Kastner tells us about Egeria in A LOST TRADITION: WOMEN WRITERS OF THE EARLY CHURCH.

One of the more fascinating documents of the early church was unknown to the modern world until it was discovered in 1884 by G. F. Gamurrini, the Italian historian and archaeologist. Along with some of the works of Hilary of Poitiers, it was found in an eleventh century codex in Arezzo, in the library of the Brotherhood of St. Mary. With the beginning and end of the journal missing, as well as one major lacuna in the middle, Gamurrini published this account of a pilgrimage to various sites in and around the Holy Land, and a lengthy description of the Jerusalem liturgy. Internal evidence indicated to him that it had been written by a woman traveler through Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, probably in the early part of the fifth century. Since then no other copies have been discovered; only a few fragments which add nothing substantive to the text have been found.
Because of the somewhat fragmentary nature of the document, and the absence of contemporary supporting evidence, very little in (sic) known about the author of the account. The exact date of the pilgrimage is uncertain, her name is not firmly established, and only inferences can be drawn about her motives, social background, and ecclesial status. Nonetheless, her journal provides us with substantial information about the geography, religious and liturgical life of the church in her time, as well as something about her role and the status of women in her day.
The very fact that Egeria was on her pilgrimage for several years (she stayed in Jerusalem for three years), a matter of which we are certain from her text, indicates that she must have been of high social status, with considerable money at her disposal. She travels with an entourage, never indicates any concern for money to support her either on her travels or during her stay in Jerusalem, is received by the chief local clergy and monks, who pray with her and discuss Scripture, and is escorted by soldiers in dangerous situations. Local clergy are always eager to show Egeria the sites; the bishop or presbyter in charge is always happy to explain the virtues of each place, and to escort her to new ones she may not be aware of. ... Perhaps one of the most telling indicators of Egeria's social status is that she never questions that this sort of reception is her due, nor is she surprised. She speaks of her unworthiness for all of these graces, and her gratitude that God has preserved her to see all these wonders, and she praises the holiness of those who received her so hospitably.
Paula, the friend of Jerome, is received in a similar way according to Jerome's descriptions; she is the wealthy descendant of one of Rome's most ancient noble families, and even she did not travel as extensively, for as long a period, or as comfortably as Egeria.
Egeria is not a woman learned in the secular classics, but she is well-read in the Scripture and demonstrates a thorough grasp of them. We should not be surprised, because she is clearly a member of a circle of religious women who made the Scriptures the basis of their learning. ... Egeria's journal makes constant references to events in the Scriptures, particularly the Old Testament. She discusses the Scripture with the bishop of Carrae, and tries to interpret her reading of the Bible in light of his knowledge of the places in the area and the local lore he offers. Her whole well-designed project of a pilgrimage to the lands of the Bible makes no sense unless we assume that she was Biblically well-versed, and knew what she wanted to see. She is always commenting that "appropriate" psalms and Scriptural passages are read when they reach a site, and speaks of such an observance as her own wish. Her ability to distinguish between what she has read and what is a non-Biblical tale also points to a woman of ecclesiastical culture and literacy.
An important dimension of Egeria's character is her participation in a group of women whom she calls venerable ladies, sisters, my light, and perhaps also "your affection." They belong to a movement of devout persons rather than an organized group of monastics. They seem to have been virgins with some responsibility for the service of the church, Biblically and liturgically versed, bound by strong ties of affection and common interest, but also very unstructured in their freedom to move about and decide on the forms their devotion in the church would take. If one were to fix a role for them, it would be as spiritual forebears of the canonesses of medieval Europe, charged with proper observance of the liturgy in cathedral and other major churches. Egeria's writings testify to her certainty that they will be anxious to hear what she has to say about her journey, her discoveries about the Bible, and the liturgy of Jerusalem; she unquestioningly assumes that they will be still gathered together upon her return.
It is essential to underscore that Egeria's life also demonstrates that the devout ecclesial women of this period did not all follow monastic/ascetic lifestyles. With Egeria one finds none of the great fasting and emphasis on poverty which Jerome cultivates in the women of the so-called "Roman circle," and one could surely not say of her, as Gregory of Nyssa of his sister Macrina, that "obscurity was her glory." Rather than assume that she is an aberrant religious, or a lay woman, one must recognize that in the fourth and fifth century there were communities of devout women of significant Biblical and liturgical learning, one of whom entered into this lengthy journey not only for herself but also for her community. She and the community to which she belonged back along the coast of France or Spain were ancestors of the communities of canonesses whose stories have not yet been properly written. It is unfortunate that we do not have any other major documentation about such women at this period.
Within this perspective Egeria's account of her reunion with an old friend at the shrine of St. Thekla, about a mile and a half from Selucium, introduces a kindred spirit for Egeria and her community. Marthana, who is called by Egeria famous throughout the East, is a deaconess and head of the group of virgins who live around the shrine. Marthana is the only person whom Egeria mentions by name rather than function, and is evidently a person for whom Egeria has great affection. Egeria's comment to her sisters assures them of the particular devotion paid to St. Thekla, a woman famous still in the fourth and fifth century as a follower of the Apostle Paul and teacher in her own right. It equally assures them of someone who is carrying on the living tradition of an ecclesial woman with authority and responsibility as are they. On a personal level, one might wonder if Marthana is not also the only one mentioned in the journal whom Egeria considers both friend and colleague, and ecclesiatical equal.
Egeria as a person is one of the liveliest and most charming individuals of the early church to come down through her own writings. Her interests and her status as woman removed her from the theological and disciplinary polemics of the period, and her journal shows a person of unflagging interest and tenacity, appreciative of the efforts made to help her in her quest, and possessing a clear mind which is able to understand and order those things which are of importance to her as a member of a community concerned with Scripture and the church's liturgy.
(Wilson-Kastner, A LOST TRADITION: WOMEN WRITERS OF THE EARLY CHURCH, pp. 71-77.)
Bibliography for Egeria
Egeria. "Egeria," in Wilson-Kastner, Patricia, et al., eds. A LOST TRADITION, WOMEN WRITERS OF THE EARLY CHURCH. Lanham: University Press of America, 1981, pp. 71-134.

13. THEODORA, BISHOP, MOSIAC IN THE CHURCH OF SAINT PRAXEDIS, ROME, NINTH CENTURY
Joan Morris in THE LADY WAS A BISHOP tells us about Theodora.

The word EPISCOPA, that is, BISHOP applied to women, is to be found on stone ad mosaic inscriptions. These are stones that today cry out truths that have been hidden away. These inscriptions prove that women once held a place in the hierarchical service of the Church that is now denied to them.
In the Church of Saint Praxedis, Rome, there is a mosaic with the word EPISCOPA over the head of a veiled woman, and with the name Theodo(ra) down the side. The name has been tampered with an appears as Theodo. But the head is the head of a woman.
The Church of Saint Praxedis was one of the very earliest titulus churches where bishops presided and where baptisms were performed, although in earlier times baptism was only given in cathedrals. Wherever baptist was performed deaconesses were necessary for women catechumens.
The mosaic in question is inside the chapel built by Pope Paschal I in the ninth century in honor of Saint Zeno. Other mosaics in the church are known to date from the fifth century. The later mosaics have been well blended with the earlier ones. The mosaic of the episcopa Theodora depicts the busts of the two sisters Saint Praxedis and Saint Pudentiana, the daughters of Pudens. The church was built on the territory inherited by the sisters from their father.
So we see that as in the East so also in the West, church communities were allocated in the homes of women. It is to be expected that Saint Praxedis would be an "elect lady," like the person addressed by Saint John. The name of overseer, that is, EPISCOPA, may well have been passed down from her time.
The mosaic shows Saint Praxedis and Saint Pudentiana on either side of the Virgin Mary. All three have a round halo. To the left of the group is the bust of Theodora with a square halo, which indicates that she was still alive when the mosaic was made, but shows that she held an honorable position. The word EPISCOPA is written horizontally above the name. Theodora vertically by the side of the veiled woman.
De Rossi made a thorough examination of the mosaic. He did not consider the horizontal position of the world EPISCOPA characteristic of early centuries; he surely was hoping to declare the inscription a late insertion. But he was honest enough to admit that the mosaic cubes were old with a few modern ones put under the name Theodo where the -ra had been eliminated.
The title THEODORA EPISCOPA is repeated in an inscription on a marble slab on one of the columns outside the chapel. It is a long inscription giving all the names of saints whose relics had been placed by Pope Paschal I in the church. This took place on July 20, 818 according to the LIBER PONTIFICALE. In this list Theodora episcopa is said to be the mother of Pope Paschal and buried in the church. The mosaic shows Theodora when alive, and she is veiled in white without any jewelry as worn by the senator Puden's daughters.
The question now can be asked whether the mosaic represents the mother of Paschal or an earlier leader of a women's community in service of the titulus church. The list of virgins that follows the name of episcopa Theodora among the inscriptions gives one the impression of being ANCILLAE DEI, that is, dedicated virgins. Pope Paschal's mother might well have retired as a widow to head such a community. This does not eliminate the possibility that the mosaic represents an earlier Theodora because there is a mention of a Theodora who came from Alexandria to Rome and who brought relics of saints with her. These were first placed in via Portuense and later transferred by her to the Church of Saint Passera, that is, a variation of the name Praxedis, to whom she was devoted. This was at the time of Pope Innocent I (402-417). There is an epitaph dated 449 in the crypt of the Church of Saint Praxedis with the words PUELLA VIRGO SACRA C.M. ALEXANDRIA. So it is possible that Theodora of Alexandria brought a community with her of which she was overseer, that is, EPISCOPA.
It is quite well known that the Church is Saint Praxedis was one of the earliest titulus churches in Rome, which may even have dated from apostolic times. If Saint Pudentiana and Saint Praxedis were daughters of Puden mentioned by Saint Paul, as is possible, then the church would date from only one generation after Saint Paul.
(Morris, Joan. THE LADY WAS A BISHOP. New York: The Macmillan Co., pp. 4-6.)
Bibliography for Theodora
Morris, Joan. THE LADY WAS A BISHOP, THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF WOMEN WITH CLERICAL ORDINATION AND THE JURISDICTION OF BISHOPS. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1973, pp. 4-6.
Hoppin, Ruth. PRISCILLA'S LETTER, FINDING THE AUTHOR OF THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. San Francisco: Christian Universities Press, 1997 (More can be learned about Pudens in Hoppin.)
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