Prayer For Ordaining A Deaconess (circa 400 AD)

 The Apostolic Confessions  (AD 350-400) , deaconesses were working with the female converts (teaching, leading, helping them) and the Bishop is instructed to ordain  a faithful and holy woman for the ministering to these female members.

The prayer at the laying on of hands for this ordination was included...

"O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the creator of man and of woman, who didst replenish with Spirit Miriam, and Deborah, and Anna and Huldah.; who didst not distain that Thy only begotton Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of the testimony, and in the temple, didst ordain women to be the keepers of the holy gates, - do thou now look down upon this thy servant , who is to be ordained to the office of  deaconess , and grant her thy holy spirit, and ‘cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,’ that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her deaconess, and grant her thy holy spirit, and ‘cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,’ that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her Thy Glory, and the praise of Thy Christ, with whom glory and adoration to be thee and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.” – Anti-Nicene Fathers (7) 1075, pg. 492, found in Women in the Earliest Churches. Ben Withingerton (1988) 200.

When we break this prayer down it becomes clear that women were doing many ministries and pastoral tasks.

First note the nod to the women who were singled out as Prophets of God: Miriam, Deborah, Anna and Huldah. A clear recognition of the longtime presence of women in religious and community life as recognized ministry leaders.

Note that nod to cultural limitations concerning women "who didst not distain that Thy only begotten Son should be born of a woman."  Culture and its patriarchy in Rome and nearby lands devalued women. Aristotelian philosophy - highly influential to Clement, Tertullian and Origin, - called them accidents of nature. Not here, in the Church of Jesus Christ. The Savior was born of a woman. His female followers become his co-heirs with her male brothers in the new life in Christ. A place where their gender, race, and status no longer matter.

Note her clear label as a deacon "do thou now look down upon this thy servant , who is to be ordained to the office of deaconess."  Why? Women had been previously used by God in just such ways: "who also in the tabernacle of the testimony, and in the temple, didst ordain women to be the keepers of the holy gates."

She is anointed to service.  "...grant her thy holy spirit, and ‘cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,’ that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her."  

Her work in this ordination? "that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her [namely] Thy Glory, and the praise of Thy Christ, with whom glory and adoration to be thee and the Holy Spirit for ever."  The 'praise of Christ ' -given the role of deacon this probably refers to preaching and teaching.

In the early 500's, however, the now male dominated clergy and administration of the church forced women out of their New Testament deacon roles.  The influence of the Roman secular culture, always beating at the door of the emergent New Testament church, The Way, finally achieved the dominance it required to reshape the church into a Roman vision of appropriate behaviors. Influenced by the Greek philosophies that denigrated women, elevated men, and required strict social status and hierarchy, the Church of Jesus Christ going into the middle ages is very different from the church that saw "there is neither male or female..." in the Body of Christ. 

*See Councils of Nica (325) and compare to Councils of Orange (441), Epaon (517) and Orleans (533). Nicea noted many deaconesses but a century later the process of removing them was at work. Note also, the "Roman" form of Church is a topic of The Synod of Whitby. At that Christian administrative gathering (Northumbria/Yorkshire in 664), minor issues of tonsure and Celtic Church practices resulted in a vote to assume the Roman customs. This led to a removal of women Bishops and pastors in the Irish Church and the Romanization of many other customs and theology. 

HAVE PODCAST WILL LEAD YOU ASTRAY

One of the downfalls of the social media world in which we live is that the "crazy fringe" can be confused with people who actually know something. The idiot proclaiming some view or another with absolute certainty has had no filter, no criteria, and no challenges to those pronouncements. Their own understanding becomes their absolute call to authority.

People "outside" merely see one large landscape of "Christian" or "Evangelicals" etc.  Denominational doctrines, practices or heritage mean nothing.  Some groups further confuse the issue by blending and merging beliefs from several different rivers of theology to create a mishmash.  This modern syncretism flourishes in independent, non-denominational, and autonomous churches around the globe. 

Doug Wilson has become one well-known name as a supporter of Patriarchy and Christian Nationalist views with extreme political, social, and religious ideas.  His "disciples" have flourished. His ideas echo through social media with striking similarities as if a talking points document was shared by all. Some phrases repeat with odd regularity suggesting cliches more than key points.

Below is a list of some online personalities (Facebook, Reels, Podcasts) and rough identifications as to their theological "camps."  Most are pastors, but some are self-identified influencers, some counselors, some journalists, and some unclear.

Information was located via public online bios, descriptions, ads, and write ups in news sources.

As can be seen most of the voices being heard are not scholars, experts in reading the Greek and Hebrew, and similar fields. Most are pastors of non-denominational churches, or autonomous churches with a generally agreed upon set of doctrinal tenets.

The notes indicate when they were associated with radical or fringe groups, works they published along a specific range of studies, or similar notes.

Name	Locale	Affiliation	Notes (Assoc., Labels, etc.)
Brian Sauve	UT	Reformed Trad.	New Christendom Press (NPC)
Steve Anderson	AZ	N.I.F.B	Christian Nationalist
Doug Wilson	ID	Reformed Trad.	Christian Nationalist
Zachary Garris	NM	PCA Ref	Hyper-Masculinity
Larry Furtick	NC
Michael Spangler	NC	PCA	Elevation Worship
Andrew Iskar	TN	Reformed Trad.	New Christendom Press
Eric Conn	UT	Reformed Trad.	Hard Man Podcast
Andrew Torbar
Adam Maddison	WY/UT/ID	Baptist
Joel Durbin	AZ	Apologia Chr
Joel Webbon	TX	Baptist
David Eddington Dr.	AZ		Abused Men/ NCP
Matt Walsh	KY	Catholic	Theo Christian Fascist
Mark Driscoll	AZ	Reformed	Hyper-Masculinity
Dale Partridge	AZ	Reformed?	Hyper-Masculinity
John Eldridge	AZ	Reformed?	Anti-Feminist Writings
Joshua Hayes	GA	Influencer Online
Michael Foster	OH	Reformed?	Good to Be a Man of God
Josh Howerton	TX		Lakepoint, Dallas
Al Mohler	KY		SBTS, Pres.
Matt Chandler	TX	Baptist/Independent
Kevin DeYoung (Dr)	NC	Reformed Theo PCA
Noah Revoy
Jonathan Shelby		Steadfast Baptist Church
Jonny Ardavanis		Brentwood, TN	Studied under McArthur

They largely come from church groups self-labeling as part of the greater reformed tradition (Baptist, Conservative Presbyterians, non-denominational, etc.).  The major houses for publishing reformed works are Baker, Zondervan, and Eerdmans with a smattering of other companies.  The "New Christendom Press" was highlighted in Spring 2026 for an Arizona conference featuring a vendor of white supremist works.

The Hyper-Masculines are a group who regularly promote a more male-centric worship style, celebrate masculinity, and host frequent conferences to teach about Biblical Manhood and related topics. They usually have books and studies they are promoting as well.  They generally promote a highly patriarchal agenda as well. There are some exceptions, but they are not seen promoted among the people on this list based on surveys of websites, podcasts, reviews, etc.

Although they are "fringe" in the true sense of the word, their dominating presence on social media add them to the mix.  Just as one bad apple spoils the whole basket, a wide range of bad theologies promoted and shared indiscriminately, are a bad influence - and mostly lead to more bad theology and un-Biblical teachings.

For your next deep dive, explore the topics and see what you discover.

A RISING THREAT

A trend is in motion to bring back "patriarchy" and that is not good news. 

The term is often used to equate to benign things such as traditional values or previous generation culture norms. It is often seen as the only appropriate response to "feminism" which is seen solely as the tentacle of matriarchy. There is no "either/or" choice for the patriarchal people. There has to be someone in control - and it is either male and female, patriarchy or matriarchy. 

Oddly, for proponents of the Gospel of liberation and freedom the term egalitarian or even democracy is treated as a four-letter word. 

Patriarchy is a political-social construct. It was the driving force in the ancient world shaping the cultures of many lands. The Roman controlled culture of the New Testament will strongly influence how the emerging church processes behaviors. 

What causes this tension in the first place? One underlying problem is in how people view redemption and how they view the concept of the trinity. Richard Longenecker, noted scholar, has noted that this tension in views concerning creation and redemption is at the heart of the problem in church thinking. When creation order is stressed, subordination and submission are emphasized alongside later commands to silence. Where redemption is emphasized, the focus tends more toward freedom, mutuality and equality. 

"Paul also lays emphasis on redemption in such a way as to indicate that what God has done in Christ transcends what is true simply because of creation." (New Testament Social Ethics for Today (Eerdmans, 1974)92). This hints at a vision of the Church redeemed, "in Christ," as being "post patriarchal. 

The argument for greater participation of women in Christian faith is based either on the concept of humans created in God's image, given dominion, sinning and then being punished. That punishment will be interpreted as a) a woman will try to have power over a man (not really supported by the text) or b) her desire will be to her husband, but his ongoing response will be to rule over her instead of being in close relationship. 

Patriarchy births the decision to see an eternal hierarchy within the creation account, which in turn influences how people conceptualize the theology of the Trinity (eternal subordination of the Son to the Father theory) and how they interpret relational dynamics between men and women (woman eternally subordinate to the male rather than an equal creation in God's image and a co-heir with Christ). This beginning mind-set of eternal subordination versus a freedom via Christ to be true "co-heirs" with Christ illustrates the entire complementarian vs egalitarian tension.

Patriarchy is about power. It is the struggle with hubris and male mankind's greatest Achilles heel.  The emphasis among those preaching a Gospel of Patriarchy is about authority, dominance, control, leadership, and inflation of male worth over female worth as a natural order.

Christians are defined as "Christ like" and those characteristics promoted by Patriarchalism ignore the servant mentality of leadership (who would be greatest must be like a servant), as well as the expectations of demonstrations of daily love, mercy, grace, kindness, and sacrifice.  The focus is not on the Great Command to spread the Gospel but on maintaining a power structure and control. The focus is not on growing as disciples but safeguarding dominance in the marriage or home. The focus is not on loving and helping others but securing a position as the alpha male, dominant, and controlling head of a church or home.

Added to this level are pure ambassadors of social patriarchy. Not preachers, they are counselors, politicians, businessmen, and institutions that promote patriarchy as the best social structure.  They want to make voting a male only, head of the household activity, reduce women's access to education, and control "gatekeep" her interactions with other women or online.

They often define themselves as "high value" men who must be catered to by subservient wives or companions. Current events show that these two groups the Christian Patriarchs and the Social Patriarchs are joining forces.  Around them are also clustering white supremacists, antisemites, and other negative forces wooed by control an power.