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Deaconess

Smith's Bible Dictionary

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Deaconess
Dictionaries
American Church Dictionary
• Deaconess
American Tract Society
• Deaconess
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
• Deacon, Deaconess
Charles Buck Dictionary
• Deaconess
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Deaconess
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Deacon, Deaconess
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Deaconess
People's Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Smith Bible Dictionary
• Deaconess
Webster Dictionary
• Deaconess
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Deaconess
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Deacon; Deaconess
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Deaconess
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Deaconess
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Deaconesses

Deaconess. The word diakonos is found in Romans 16:1, (Authorized Version, "servant"), associated with a female name, and this has led to the conclusion that there existed, in the apostolic age, as there, undoubtedly, did a little later, an order of women bearing that title, and exercising in relation to their own sex, functions which were analogous to those of the deacons.

On this hypothesis, it has been inferred that the women mentioned in Romans 16:6; Romans 16:12 belonged to such an order. The rules given as to the conduct of women in 1 Timothy 3:11; Titus 2:3 have in like manner been referred to them, and they have been identified even with the "widows" of 1 Timothy 5:3-10.