ABSTRACT
Ignatius twice produces a puzzling image of the Christian ministry. In both Magnesians VI and Trallians III, he likens the ἐπίσκοπος to God, the πρεσβύτεροι to the Apostles and the διάκονοι to Christ. Reading this in the light of the developed clerical hierarchy, it seems odd that the deacons should be ranked higher than the presbyters. 1 Nor is this to be lightly explained away, for we find exactly the same oddity in the Didascalia Apostolorum IΧ, 2 indeed compounded, since deaconesses are likened to the Holy Spirit, and therefore presumably are also considered above the presbyters! This note offers an explanation which may radically revise our conception of how Christian clerical orders developed.
