WOMEN IN ORDAINED MINISTRY
An Historical Perspective
The Moravian - September 2005
The ordination of women was affirmed by the Northern Province of the Moravian Church at the General Synod of 1957. This was a time when no women were asking for ordination and it was not an emotional issue. The first woman to be ordained in North America was ordained in 1975 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by Bishop Edwin Kortz at East Hills Moravian Church. I was that person and, for me, it was a very exciting time.
When one looks back at the early history of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem, one wonders why it took so long to see that “common ministry is inherent in the nature of Christian ministry and mission.” (TDMK, Issue No. 17, March 1999, Preface, pg. 6, Arthur Freeman)
The ordination of women first occurred under Zinzendorf’s leadership in Europe and America. There was no formal education but women were chosen for their spiritual gifts as was true of most of the men. The first order was deaconess and the second order was priestess, which would sound very strange today. Actually there was a long line of women who became deaconesses.
In Register II of the Bethlehem congregation there are two columns, one for women and one for men under the overall title of “Ordained.” A number of women came to America already ordained, but not by bishops. Other women, who usually had the rank of eldress, ordained them. By 1745, there were five eldresses in the church. In addition, 16 congregational eldresses were chosen in 1745. In 1746, Anna Nitschmann, who was considered the Mother of the church, consecrated two more women. We don’t know whether eldresses were also deaconesses.
An eldress wore a purple bow on her Haube in contrast to the other colors designated for women and children, depending on their position in life and choir (group) to which they were assigned. The purpose of the choirs was not only for singing but also for religious and life issue instruction, worship, and prayer.
The first American ordination of deaconesses took place in Bethlehem in 1750, when four women were ordained deaconesses and four more were ordained at the Synod in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1753. Most of the time the ordinations were done by other women except in 1763 when two women were ordained by Nathanael Seidel.
In May 1780, there was a significant change when women were no longer involved in doing the ordaining and women’s ordinations had been changed to something less. Thereafter, men were ordained but women were consecrated.
What did ordination mean? A deacon could administer communion except when a priest or presbyter was present. Engravings published in 1757 show a deacon assisting the priest in communion on the men’s side and a deaconess assisting a priest on the women’s side. It was a man who consecrated the elements. “No cases have been located where a deaconess consecrated the elements. Also deaconesses did not baptize, except possibly in emergencies, or conduct weddings and funerals, as deacons did, but in most respects their duties were the same.” (TDMK, Issue No. 17, March 1999, p. 20)
In 1758, Zinzendorf said that sisters also had the right to the rank of priestesses and that about a dozen women had been chosen in secret. He followed the remarks by saying that now it was time to do it publicly at which time he ordained three. No ordinations were done in America but one, Maria Magdalena Augustin, who was ordained in secret. She came to America and managed the Sister’s House in Lititz, Pennsylvania, where she conducted morning devotions, prayed, counseled, and held speaking sessions. Deaconesses did these things also.
Women gradually lost their right to ordain deaconesses or become deaconesses through actions in Synods of 1775 and 1782. Zinzendorf was willing to take risks in ordaining women but in later years leaders became more concerned about how others would see the Moravian Church.
Source: “Ordination of Women in the Moravian Church in America in the eighteenth Century,” Vernon H. Nelson, TRANSATLANTIC MORAVIAN DIALOGUE — CORRESPONDENCE, Issue No. 17, March 1999, English Edition.
The Rev. Dr. Mary Matz, the first woman ordained in the Moravian Church in North America, is now retired and currently resides in Nazareth, Pennsylvania.
