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.
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