Deaconess

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Deaconess \Dea"con*ess\, n. (Eccl.)
     A female deacon; as:
     (a) (Primitive Ch.) One of an order of women whose duties
         resembled those of deacons.
     (b) (Ch. of Eng. and Prot. Epis. Ch.) A woman set apart for
         church work by a bishop.


     (c) A woman chosen as a helper in church work, as among the
         Congregationalists.
         [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  deaconess
       n : a woman deacon

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Deaconess
     Rom. 16:1, 3, 12; Phil. 4:2, 3; 1 Tim. 3:11; 5:9, 10; Titus 2:3,
     4). In these passages it is evident that females were then
     engaged in various Christian ministrations. Pliny makes mention
     of them also in his letter to Trajan (A.D. 110).