Phoebe the Deaconess

Phoebe was a first-century Christian woman of Cenchreae, the eastern port of Corinth, known chiefly from the closing chapter of the Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans. In Romans 16:1-2 Paul commends her to the church, calling her a deaconess (Greek diakonos) of the church at Cenchreae and a helper, or patroness, of many, including himself. She is the only woman in the New Testament named with the title of deacon, and the Orthodox Church honors her among the first deaconesses of the Church, commemorating her on September 3.

Paul's language has been read in two complementary ways. The term diakonos identifies her with the service of the church at Cenchreae, while the second term he applies to her, prostatis, denotes a patron, benefactor, or protector. Commentators have understood this to mean that Phoebe was a woman of standing and means who supported the apostolic mission and very likely opened her household to the local Christian community. Several scholars hold that Paul entrusted her with the delivery of the Epistle to the Romans itself, sending her to the believers at Rome.

The precise scope of her ministry has been discussed since antiquity. Origen took the passage as evidence that women were appointed to service in the church, and St. John Chrysostom likewise acknowledged the honor implied by the title Paul gives her. In the later tradition the diaconal office held by women such as Phoebe is associated with charitable service and with the care and instruction of women, including assistance at their baptism. Little else is recorded of her life with certainty; the New Testament preserves the substance of what is known, and traditions concerning her later years are not historically documented.