Widows in the Early Church

Excerpt

‎In the early church, widows were cared for and steps were taken to ensure equal distribution of food (Acts 6:1-6). The writer of the pastoral Letter 1 Timothy urged a just and cost-efficient plan for the use of limited funds, so that ‘real widows’ (those in abject poverty and truly alone) could be provided for (5:3-16). To this end, families were charged to care for their own (5:3-4, 16), and rules of eligibility for the enrollment of widows were prescribed (5:9-15). This enrollment probably implies the existence of an order of widows who devoted themselves to intercessory prayer and to rendering special services to the church. According to the second-century writers Ignatius (Smyrnaeans 13:1) and Polycarp (Philippians 4:3), such an order or ministry existed in their time. This order of widows later merged with that of church deaconesses.

Achtemeier, Paul J., Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature. Harper’s Bible Dictionary 1985 : 1132. Print.

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