ABSTRACT
After viewing the world of the widow in Ancient Israel, we now turn to the widow in the Early Christian church. We will not attempt here to present an exhaustive study but will concentrate on a few questions: what role did widows play in the rise of Christianity,1
how did the increasing institutionalization of the church alter their position, and, last but not least, how did the growing stress on asceticism influence the place of widows in the early church? An analysis of the position of the widow can also show something of the enormous changes which took place gradually and virtually unnoticed in the Roman Empire under the increasing influence of Christianity. Greeks and Romans had always been very negative about old women,2 and permanent widows were usually older women.3 To what extent did Christianity make a difference in this respect?4
