Mărturii despre diaconesele antice în inscripţii – Attestazioni sulle antiche diaconesse nelle iscrizioni
Testimonies about the ancient deaconesses in inscriptions

Summary/Abstract: Attestations on the ancient deaconesses in the inscriptions. The mission of women in favor of the apostolate is present in the Church and has developed since its origins. The different forms of diaconal assistance to the apostles and communities exercised by women seem to have an institutional character. The Greek epitaphs send us the names of a certain number of deaconesses, but they do not give us much information about their role. The widespread diffusion of Christianity in Asia Minor is confirmed by the numerous Christian inscriptions found. In fact, most of the epigraphs concerning deaconesses come from this region, then from Greece, Palestine, a few from Syria, Trace and only three from the western part. As an official title, dia / konoj and diako / nissa are used. The neologism diako / nissa appears for the first time in an official document in can. 19 of the Council of Nicea. An interesting text is the epitaph of a deaconess named Mary, who says that according to the word of the Apostle, she educated her children, practiced hospitality, washed the feet of the saints and distributed her bread to the poor, this eulogy is inspired by 1Tim 5,10 and reveals, the tendency to assimilate deaconesses to established widows. In an inscription discovered in Jerusalem, which recalls the diaconess Sofia, she is described as "servant and bride of Christ" and presented as "second Febe", the deaconess mentioned by Paul in Rom. 16,1-2. About two thirds of the inscriptions found in Asia Minor appoint deaconesses next to relatives, thus making them suspect that they lived in the family. Some are remembered as parents or siblings, most are wives and mothers, some have ties with members of the clergy. In Palestine, the sources attest to the presence of deaconesses from the fifth century, in the period in which Christianity enjoys greater stability thanks to a strong development of monasticism. With this, the inscriptions reveal the existence of deacon women also in the monasteries, in all the eastern regions. The testimonies on the existence of deaconesses in Illyricum are concentrated in Constantinople and in the diocese of Macedonia, while three inscriptions of the sixth century attest to its presence in Dacia, Thrace and Dalmatia and three others in the West.

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