Presbytide
The term Presbytide, Greek: πρεσβύτιδε, is a term that was used in the earlier Church for which the meaning has been lost, but may have been related to the functions performed by a deaconess.
Presbytides appear as the subject of Canon XI issued by the Synod of Laodicea in Phrygia Pacatiana of c. 365 that reads, Presbytides, as they are called, or female presidents, are not to be appointed in the Church. As a description for the functions of Presbytides has not survived the era of the synod, the meaning and intent of the canon have been the subject of many interpretations and controversy ever since. Such theologians as Theodore Balsamon and John Zonaras (twelfth century) and Karl Josef von Hefele and Johann August Wilhelm Neander (eighteenth century) have explored the issue without reaching definitives answers including any relationship of the function to a clergy position.
While some have read the canon to refer to deaconesses, others have interpreted it to refer to aged women, female presidents (Greek: προκαθήμεναι) who had been given the task of supervision of women in the ancient church but had misused their office, leading to its suppression.
