Talk:Episcopa Theodora

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[edit] Episcopa as "bishop's wife"

I wasn't aware there was a large body of ancient texts using "episcopa", let alone ones that clearly referred to bishops' wives. I understand the critics as saying "episcopa" might be a bishop's wife, but we really don't know. They are arguing against the idea that "episcopa" is definitely a female bishop. It's not even entirely clear what a "deaconess" was, and those were mentioned a few times. Gimmetrow 20:34, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, there are extant ordination services for deaconnesses—not really that shadowy, all told. St. Epiphanius of Salamis, for instance, describes their role pretty explicitly.[1]

In any event, though, whether there is a "large" body of texts or not regarding the use of episcopa for the wife of a bishop, it seems to be the only sort of scholarly reference that there is.[2] Or cf. also Canon 13 of the Council of Tours (567 AD): "If an Episcopus does not have an episcopa, let no throng of women follow him." (This would make no sense if were speaking of someone other than his wife.)

I don't really think that the scholarly establishment of Church history regards there as having been female bishops in the mainstream Orthodox/Catholic tradition (which is essentially counter to the claim of those who would reform the RCC along those lines). So, yes, I agree that the argument is primarily a negative one, but the positive statement is usually made that episcopa most often referred to a bishop's wife. —Preost ^{talk contribs} 01:38, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

OK, that makes sense enough. My point about deaconesses was, even given the textual sources, some claim they were merely deacons' wives (by analogy with presbytera, etc). Granting the ordination rites, mainstream Catholic/Orthodox theology would still likely say it was not an ordained ministry (in the sense of "holy orders") Gimmetrow 03:00, 7 June 2006 (UTC)