Such women were called deaconesses as served the church in those offices in which the deacons could not with propriety engage; such as keeping the doors of that part of the church where the women sat, privately instructing those of their own sex, and visiting others imprisoned for the faith. In Romans 16:1 , Phebe is said to be a "servant" of the church at Cenchrea; but in the original Greek she is called deaconess.