1 Timothy 5:9 (WEB)
Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,
Fathers and councils · 10
Jerome
“What the holiness of second marriage is, appears from this—that a person twice married cannot be enrolled in the ranks of the clergy, and so the Apostle tells Timothy, “Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man.”” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 9. Other authorities, however, suppose the words to refer to an order of widows, and pertinently ask, would the Church thus limit her alms.
Read the whole comment“…if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints’ feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.”” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 9, 10.
Read the whole comment“He had previously described his ideal widow as one who had been the wife of one man, who had brought up children, who was well reported of for good works, who had relieved the afflicted with her substance, whose trust had been in God, and who had continued in prayer day and night.” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 9, 10.
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Ambrose of Milan
“And of what kind she ought to be who is chosen the description is given in the words of the teacher himself: “Not less than threescore years old, having been the wife of one man.”” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 9.
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Augustine of Hippo
“For she had “been the wife of one man,” had requited her parents, had guided her house piously, was “well-reported of for good works,” had “brought up children,” as often travailing in birth of them as she saw them swerving from Thee.” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 4, 9, 10, 14.
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Sozomen
“…should not be admitted into the ministry, unless they had had children, and were upwards of sixty years of age, according to the precept of the Apostle Paul.” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 9. Cf. change in Justinian, Novell. 123. 13.
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First Council of Nicaea (325)
- First Council of Nicaea (325), First Council of Nicaea, Excursus on the Deaconess of the Early ChurchEditor's excursus
“It moreover has been suggested that the “widows” of 1 Tim. v. 9 may have been deaconesses, and this seems not unlikely from the fact that the age for the admission of women to this ministry was fixed by Tertullian at sixty years (De Vel.” — the author cites it
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Tertullian
“Further, if we set down in order the higher and happier grades of bodily patience, (we find that) it is she who is entrusted by holiness with the care of continence of the flesh: she keeps the widow, and sets on the virgin the seal and raises the self-made eunuch to the realms of heaven.” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 3, 9, 10; 1 Cor. vii. 39, 40.
Read the whole comment“…authority which licenses her sitting in that seat uncovered is the same which allows her to sit there as a virgin: a seat to which (besides the “sixty years” not merely “single-husbanded” (women)—that is, married women—are at length elected, but “mothers” to boot, yes, and “educators of children;” in order,…” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 9.
Read the whole comment“…suffers not men twice married to preside (over a Church), when he would not grant a widow admittance into the order unless she had been “the wife of one man;” for it behoves God’s altar to be set forth pure.” — editor's note: 1 Tim. v. 9, 10.
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Cross-references · 15
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 2.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 2.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 2.
Cited together in First Council of Nicaea, Excursus on the Deaconess of the Early Church.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 2.
Cited together in To His Wife I.7.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 2.
Cited together in On the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 9.
Cited together in On the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 9.
Cited together in To His Wife I.7.
Cited together in Confessions IX.9.
Cited together in Confessions IX.9.
Cited together in To His Wife I.7.
Cited together in On the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 9.
Cited together in On the Veiling of Virgins Chapter 9.