Widows and consecrated virgins in the early church

The church's orders of widows and consecrated virgins, and their rules. Part of The church.

To Polycarp 4.1Ignatius of Antioch · ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) · The bishop must care for widows and oversee everything in the church.
To the Philippians 4.3Polycarp of Smyrna · ca. 110–135 · Widows are to pray constantly and avoid slander and greed, knowing that they are God's altar and that God sees every secret thought.
On Prayer 22Tertullian · ca. 198–206 · Tertullian argues that Paul's command to veil “women” includes virgins, from the use of the word in Genesis and in Greek, from “every woman,” from the angels, and from nature; at the least, betrothed girls and consecrated virgins should be veiled.
To His Wife 1.4Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · The desires of the flesh and of the world that urge remarriage should be overcome, following widows who have chosen to be “married to God” and trusting God's provision.
To His Wife 1.6Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · Many Christians live continently even within marriage, and even pagan priestesses keep virginity and widowhood for their demons; a Christian widow can surely do so for God.
To His Wife 1.7Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · A husband's death by God's will ends the marriage; the church's rules barring the twice-married from office and enrolled widows show how second marriage detracts from holiness.
To His Wife 1.8Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · God champions widows; widowhood, being chosen by effort, has a merit of its own even beside virginity, and a widow should avoid idle and loose company.
To His Wife 2.1Tertullian · ca. 200–206 · In a second book, Tertullian turns to the case of a widow who does remarry: Paul advises continence but commands that remarriage be “only in the Lord.”
Didascalia 3.1Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 3.2Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 3.5Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 3.6–7 (English)Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 3.6–7 (Latin)Anonymous · first half of the third century · Widows who seek gain and gossip are not heard in prayer, but the quiet widow who prays night and day and works to give to others is heard at once, like the widow of the two coins.
Didascalia 3.8 (Latin)Anonymous · first half of the third century · Widows are to be subject to the bishop and deacons and do nothing, not even visiting, fasting, receiving gifts, or praying with laying on of hands, without the bishop's counsel.
Didascalia 3.8 (English)Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 3.9–11Anonymous · first half of the third century
Didascalia 4.10Anonymous · first half of the third century
Apostolic Tradition 10Hippolytus of Rome · early third century
Apostolic Tradition 30Hippolytus of Rome · early third century · Widows invited to a meal are sent home before evening, or given food and wine to take home.
Exhortation to Chastity 12Tertullian · ca. 208 · Tertullian answers the excuses for remarrying (running a household, having heirs) and says a widower should rather take a widow as a “spiritual wife,” warning that a second marriage may bring children anyway.
On the Veiling of Virgins 2Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · Many apostolic churches in Greece and elsewhere veil their virgins; since they are one church with us, their custom is ours too, and the custom that hides virgins from view better suits God's discipline.
On the Veiling of Virgins 8Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · Paul's reasons for leaving men uncovered apply to boys as well as grown men, and his “every woman” likewise includes virgins; the Corinthians, to whom he wrote, still veil their virgins.
On the Veiling of Virgins 9Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · Women may not speak, teach, baptize, or offer in church, and virgins share this condition; so they have no special right to go unveiled, and Tertullian rebukes a bishop who enrolled a young virgin among the widows.
On the Veiling of Virgins 14Tertullian · ca. 208–213 · Displaying virgins to attract others makes virginity a matter of glory and rivalry; some who fall conceal it by staying unveiled, some attempt to destroy their unborn children, and public admiration wears down modesty.
On Monogamy 13Tertullian · ca. 210–217 · Paul's advice that young widows remarry concerns those who could not keep a vow of widowhood; and Romans 7 frees a widow to remarry only under the law, from which Christians have died.
Commentary on John 32.131Origen · ca. 230–248 · The requirement that an enrolled widow have washed the saints' feet should not be taken only literally.
Homily on Luke 17Origen · ca. 233–250 · Joseph is called Jesus’ father for the sake of the genealogy; the “fall and rising” happen in the same person; Christ is a sign spoken against by heretics; the sword in Mary’s soul is doubt at the passion; and Anna is held up as a model of widowhood, with remarriage said to exclude from the kingdom though not from salvation.
Homily on Isaiah 6Origen · ca. 235–250 · Comparing Isaiah's readiness with Moses' refusal, Origen teaches that church office is service, explains the spiritual meaning of the foot-washing, and expounds the fat heart, heavy ears, and closed eyes of Isa 6:9–10.
Homilies on Jeremiah 20.4Origen · ca. 240 · A widow who stays unmarried because she wrongly fears that remarriage means damnation profits from the “deception”: remarriage is not damning, but remaining once-married is more blessed; so too the fear of eternal punishment keeps many from sin, while some who reject it grow worse.
Commentary on Romans 8.10Origen · ca. 244–246 (Rufinus's translation ca. 405–406) · Paul makes his ministry illustrious by ministering well, as deacons, presbyters, bishops, widows, virgins and all believers must; if Israel's casting away reconciled the world, its reception at the end will mean the resurrection of the dead and the world's incorruption.
To Quirinus 3.74Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 248–250 (book 3 perhaps later) · True widows are to be honored, but younger widows who grow restless and wish to remarry are warned against.
On Works and Almsgiving 6Cyprian of Carthage · ca. 253 · Tabitha, devoted to almsgiving, was raised from the dead by Peter at the widows' pleading, showing that mercy frees even from bodily death.
Symposium 5.8Methodius of Olympus · late 3rd century · The bronze altar is the elders and widows; the golden altar within is the virgins, pure as gold, whose prayers rise like incense.
Apostolic Church Order 21Anonymous · ca. 300 · Three widows are to be appointed: two for prayer and revelations, one to serve sick women and report their needs to the presbyters.
Canons of Hippolytus, canon 9Anonymous · 4th century · A presbyter moving to another church must bring testimony from his bishop or be examined, and is not reordained; widows are to be honored for their prayer, care of the sick, and fasting.
Testament of Our Lord 1.40Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 1.41Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 1.42Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 1.43Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Testament of Our Lord 1.46Anonymous · ca. 350–500
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.6.21Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Countless women worldwide live consecrated virginity for God.
Encyclical Letter 3Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339 · Athanasius describes how the prefect Philagrius let mobs loose on the churches, which were burned and profaned, and how virgins and monks were assaulted.
Encyclical Letter 4Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 339 · Athanasius describes the plunder of the church, the scourging and imprisonment of clergy, virgins and laity during Lent, and Gregory's role in it.
Canon 4Anonymous · ca. 345–348 · The same rule applies to men who live with widows to whom they are not related, and to widowers and widows.
Long recension, Philadelphians 5Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius completes his instructions, ending with widows, and disclaims apostolic authority, writing as a fellow soldier.
Long recension, Polycarp 4Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius gives Polycarp instructions on widows, slaves, wives and husbands, celibacy and marriage, and urges the church to serve as God's soldiers under the bishop.
Long recension, Hero 3Anonymous · later 4th century (probable) · Ignatius instructs Hero on widows, orphans, his service to the bishops, slaves and women, and explains the virgin birth without disparaging marriage.
History of the Arians 59Athanasius of Alexandria · ca. 357 · Athanasius describes the duke Sebastian and the Arian women harassing the virgins and faithful women of Alexandria.
Letters 46, 47Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil laments a consecrated virgin's fall, rebukes her seducer, and calls her to repentance; a fragment of a second letter asks a bishop to come and help choose a sound bishop for Caesarea.
Letter 169Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil tells Gregory how the deacon Glycerius ran off with a band of virgins and asks him to send them back.
Letter 173Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil tells the canoness Theodora that the gospel life requires faithful attention to the smallest commandments, and lists the virtues it demands.
Letters 198, 199Basil of Caesarea · ca. 357–378 · Basil explains to Eusebius why his letters are few and that he is near death; then (Letter 199, the Second Canonical Letter) he answers Amphilochius on oaths, fallen virgins, monks' vows, sexual immorality and adultery, abduction, unlawful and repeated marriages, deserted spouses, rebaptism of Encratites, and related cases.
Moral Rules (Moralia) 74Basil of Caesarea · ca. 360-370 · This section holds Basil's rules 74–76: on widows, on slaves and masters, and on children and parents.
Letter 267Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory asks a bishop to protect the dedicated virgin Eugenia in a dispute over a legacy left by her nurse, and promises to accept his judgment.
Letter 341Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 360–390 · Gregory sternly rebukes a young man of good family who is squandering his estate on women and has carried off virgins consecrated to God.
Tractates on the Psalms 67.7Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · God is father of those who renounce the devil and judge of the church widowed from the law, and also, literally, protector of orphans and judge of true widows.
Tractates on the Psalms 131.24Hilary of Poitiers · ca. 360–367 · Hilary follows the Septuagint 'widow' (not 'catch'), praising widows' continence and, with Romans 7, reading the widow as the church freed from the law to be joined to Christ.
Oration 42.22Gregory of Nazianzus · ca. 362–383 · Gregory asks the bishops to release him with their prayers and to choose a successor who will not merely please, and bids farewell to his church of the Anastasia, the great church, the clergy, the people, the court, the city, East and West, the angels and the Trinity.
Tractates 1.5.4Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno rebukes widows who seek a second marriage, setting their earlier grief against their haste to adorn themselves for a new husband.
Tractates 1.5.5Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno answers the widow who pleads youthful desire: if her husband were long absent, fear would restrain her; let her fear God instead.
Tractates 1.5.9Zeno of Verona · ca. 362-380 · Zeno warns virgins and widows against marriage with pagans and against many successive marriages, urging them, if they marry, to marry a Christian.
Hexaemeron 8.6Basil of Caesarea · ca. 370 · Birds teach lessons on widowhood, the cruelty of exposing children, fair inheritance, and, from the vulture, the credibility of the virgin birth.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 2.19Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatist bishops threw the Eucharist to dogs and the chrism out of a window, and Felix of Idicra, after violating a consecrated virgin, deposed an innocent Catholic bishop by laying penance on him.
Against Parmenian the Donatist 6.4Optatus of Milevis · ca. 366–385 · The Donatists made consecrated virgins do penance and take a second veil, though the veil is only a sign of their profession, not a sacrament; Optatus compares this to a second wedding, which is not celebrated even when a widow remarries, and says it exposed the virgins to abduction.
Commentary on 1 Corinthians 7:40Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Second marriage is permitted for widows because of incontinence but lacks the blessing of a first marriage; remaining a widow is better.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:3Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · True widows are those who declined a second marriage, since a marriage is blessed once, following Anna’s example.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:4Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · A widow must first prove herself by caring for her own family before being enrolled as a widow of the church.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:5Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · The church should support a widow only when her own family neglects her; a true widow, left alone, places all her hope in God.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:6Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · A widow who refused a second marriage to serve God but lives in pleasure is dead while living, an impostor in her profession.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:7Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Widows must live blamelessly, having left worldly hopes to serve God.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:8Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · A widow who neglected her own family is worse than an unbeliever, for she despised the law she knew.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:9–10Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Only a widow over sixty, once married to one husband and proved by good works, is to be enrolled in the church’s records.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:11Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Young widows should not be enrolled, since many who professed widowhood turned back to pleasures and marriage.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:12Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · A young widow who vows widowhood and then breaks it incurs condemnation, so such vows should not be made rashly.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:13Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Idle virgins and widows go from house to house among the rich, gossiping and flattering for gifts, against their profession.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:14–45Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Young widows should remarry and bear children rather than fall into adultery or idleness under a holy profession, which gives Satan his opportunity.
Commentary on 1 Timothy 5:16Ambrosiaster · ca. 366–384 · Believers must support their own widows so the church can care for true widows; in Ambrosiaster’s day the church is burdened with widows of rich families and even with women married two or three times.
Letter 22.13Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome denounces professed virgins who live immorally, conceal pregnancies, procure contraception and abortion, and excuse themselves with Scripture.
Letter 22.15Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome turns to Eustochium herself, citing her widowed sister Blesilla as an example of marriage's uncertainties and of widowhood's lesser but real reward.
Letter 22.16Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome warns Eustochium against the society of worldly married women and of rich widows who flaunt their freedom and patronize fawning clergy.
Letter 22.25Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Using the Song of Songs, Jerome urges Eustochium to meet Christ in the privacy of her room and not to seek him in public, where she will be exposed to danger.
Letter 23.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome praises Lea, a noble widow who became head of a community of virgins and lived in humility and prayer.
Letter 39.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome laments the death of the young widow Blesilla, praising her faith, learning, humility, and last words.
Letter 49.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome cites his statements that marriage is permitted in the Gospel though it does not win the rewards of chastity, and that the married stand in the third grade after virgins and widows.
Letter 49.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome recalls that he said the church does not condemn marriage but ranks it below virginity and widowhood.
Letter 50.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome asks Domnio to warn the critic against teaching virgins in private and to put his objections in writing, as Pammachius did.
Letter 54.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome answers the young widow Furia, who asks how to remain a widow, recalling that the women of her family traditionally did not remarry.
Letter 54.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Furia to imitate her mother, persuade her father, and make her widowhood a virtue.
Letter 54.13Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome warns Furia against suspicious company and public display and holds up her relative Eustochium at Bethlehem as a model.
Letter 54.15Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome answers the reasons young widows give for remarrying and describes the troubles of second marriages.
Letter 54.16Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome offers Anna the prophetess, the widow of Zarephath, and Judith as models for widows.
Letter 54.17Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome adds Deborah, Naomi, and the poor widow of the Gospel as examples, interpreting them spiritually.
Letter 54.18Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome holds up the widow Marcella as a living model and refers Furia to his books against Jovinian on second marriage.
Letter 65.20Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome interprets the virgins and companions led to the king as the ranks of virgins, widows, and the continent married within the church.
Letter 79.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Salvina to devote herself to raising her children and to keep her widowhood in chastity and austerity, avoiding rich food and luxury.
Letter 79.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome warns Salvina that penitence is no substitute for keeping chastity, and argues that second marriage is only a concession to prevent worse sin.
Letter 79.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome compares the concession of second marriage to the 'statutes that were not good' given to rebellious Israel and holds up Judith and Anna as models for Salvina's widowhood.
Letter 92.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Theophilus accuses the presbyter Isidore, protector of the Nitrian monks, of evading a trial on a woman's grave accusation, and describes a riot staged against him in Alexandria.
Letter 123.1Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome introduces his letter to the young widow Geruchia and the widows of her family—her grandmother, mother and aunt—who model widowhood for her.
Letter 123.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome sets out Paul’s instruction in 1 Timothy 5 that younger widows should remarry, and reads it as a concession to prevent sexual immorality, not a command.
Letter 123.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Reading 1 Corinthians 7 and 1 Timothy 5, Jerome argues that widowhood is a freedom, that Paul counsels widows to remain unmarried, that young widows should support themselves, and that the once-married rule binds laity as well as clergy.
Letter 123.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome says the church does not condemn second marriages or expel the twice-married, but ranks a second marriage outside the hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold harvest.
Letter 123.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome urges Geruchia to read the Scriptures that crown chastity, not those that concede remarriage, and to take widowhood as a God-given freedom.
Letter 127.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Marcella, widowed after seven months, refuses a rich elderly consular suitor, and Jerome compares her with the widow Anna in Luke.
Letter 127.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Marcella keeps her reputation spotless in slanderous Rome, and her modest dress and conduct show the pagans what Christian widowhood is.
Letter 130.6Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome describes the joy of Demetrias's family, of Africa, Italy, and the East at her profession, and contrasts parents who give only their unmarriageable or poorly dowered daughters to virginity.
Letter 130.18Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Demetrias should avoid married women's gossip and vain girls, and choose grave widows and virgins as companions.
Letter 130.19Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome warns virgins against dandified young men, going out alone, and lax living, recalls his earlier treatise on virginity, and urges perseverance in the chosen life.
Letter 147.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome explains the custom by which consecrated women in Eastern monasteries have their hair cut and keep their heads veiled.
Canon 2Anonymous · 374 · Virgins vowed to God who marry are not to be admitted to penance at once, and their communion is deferred until they have made full satisfaction.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 26.14.2Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul commands younger widows to marry and bear children.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 48.9.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · The church honors virginity, widowhood, and marriage, and forbids sexual sin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 48.9.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul bears with the weak, as his counsel on younger widows shows.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 48.9.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Only widows who broke a vow are condemned for remarrying; Paul permits others to marry.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.5.1Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Paul does not permit a vowed virgin to marry.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.6.6Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Tradition forbids a vowed virgin to marry, yet Paul says a virgin who marries does not sin.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.6.8Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Widows who break their pledge incur judgment.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.6.9Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · A vowed virgin who marries is more culpable.
Panarion (Adversus Haereses), Haer. 1-64 61.6.10Epiphanius of Salamis · 374-377 · Breaking a vow of virginity incurs judgment.
Apostolic Constitutions 2.26.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · Presbyters represent the apostles, widows and orphans the altar, and virgins the altar of incense.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.1.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Women enrolled as widows must be at least sixty, so that a second marriage is not to be feared.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.1.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · A young enrolled widow who remarries is blamed for breaking her promise, not for the marriage itself.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.1.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · A vow of widowhood should not be made rashly.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.1.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · A young woman who stays unmarried after losing her husband, having the gift of widowhood, is blessed like the widow of Zarephath.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.1.5Anonymous · ca. 380 · Such a widow is like Anna the prophetess and will be honoured on earth and in heaven.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.2.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Young widows are not to be enrolled but should be supported, so that need does not drive them into an unseemly remarriage.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.3.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · True widows, married once and known for good works, are to be supported by the church.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.5.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · A widow must be gentle and quiet, avoiding gossip and meddling.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.6.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · The widow, as God’s altar, should stay at home and not go round the houses for gifts.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.6.4Anonymous · ca. 380 · Virgins and widows must not roam others’ houses as gossiping beggars.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.7.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · Gadabout widows have closed hearts and serve the adversary’s desires.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.7.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · Some widows make begging a trade, hoard money and lend at interest.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.7.6Anonymous · ca. 380 · The true widow, like Judith, prays without ceasing for the church and is heard by God.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.7.7Anonymous · ca. 380 · The widow should pray, fast and work like the widow with two coins; widows must obey the clergy and not accept gifts from robbers, prostitutes or the excommunicated.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.12.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · A widow in name only who does the devil’s works will be shut out of the kingdom.
Apostolic Constitutions 3.13.1Anonymous · ca. 380 · The model prayer of a widow giving thanks for gifts to her fellow widow, the donor and the bishop.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.10.9Anonymous · ca. 380 · Prayer for deacons, lower clergy, virgins, widows, orphans and married people.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.25.2Anonymous · ca. 380 · A widow of long standing and good life is enrolled among the widows, not ordained.
Apostolic Constitutions 8.25.3Anonymous · ca. 380 · A recently widowed woman must first be tested by time.
On Widows, chapter 2Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose expounds Paul's rules for widows in 1 Tim 5, says that a woman who has entered a second marriage, which the apostolic precepts do not condemn, may still devote herself to widowhood, though the widow of one marriage is more approved, and explains “better to marry than to burn” as a remedy, not a precept.
On Widows, chapter 11Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose counsels widows not to remarry but says plainly that he does not forbid second marriages, only does not advise them and does not approve repeated ones, describing marriage as a mutual servitude from Rom 7:2 and 1 Cor 7, and warning against teachers who impose continence beyond people's strength.
On Virgins 1.11Ambrose · ca. 377 · Ambrose answers the complaint that he praises virginity in vain: virgins come to Milan from Placentia, Bononia, and Mauritania, while mothers at home hinder their daughters; the virgins of Bononia live together and win others to their life.
To a Young Widow, section 1John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom begins his consolation of a young widow by explaining why he waited until her first grief had passed, and by telling her that God has taken her husband's place as her protector.
To a Young Widow, section 2John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom shows from 1 Tim 5 that widowhood is a name of honour, notes that young widows are often drawn into second marriages, tells how his pagan teacher admired his mother's long widowhood, and says that widows are joined to Christ in their husbands' place.
To a Young Widow, section 3John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom tells the widow that her husband Therasius has gone to a better life, and urges her to keep his bed untouched by another man and to live as he did, so as to be with him in the age to come.
On not marrying again, section 1John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom asks why widows who once lamented marriage seek it again, names forgetfulness, vanity and incontinence as causes, and states that he does not condemn second marriage, which Paul allows “only in the Lord,” but holds one marriage to be much better.
On not marrying again, section 3John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom explains that Paul's “refuse younger widows” and “I want younger widows to marry” (1 Tim 5:11, 14) forbid not widowhood but its profession by those who would later marry, and that Paul allowed second marriage as a concession to prevent worse evils.
On not marrying again, section 5John Chrysostom · ca. 380-386 · Chrysostom concludes that second marriage, though not punishable, is not praiseworthy, sets out the troubles it brings to a widow and her children, answers the case of a woman widowed young, and urges widows to remain free for Christ.
Against Helvidius 23Jerome · ca. 383 · Jerome explains Paul's counsel on virginity and answers Helvidius's taunt about unworthy virgins.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 3Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · A consecrated, veiled virgin who falls or marries is guilty of breaking her vow to Christ and must do penance for many years before pardon.
Letter 10, canons of the Roman synod to the bishops of Gaul, chapter 4Siricius, bishop of Rome · 385 · A girl who had resolved on virginity but was not yet veiled, and who marries without the blessing of the veil and the witness of family and clergy, is to do penance, as is the man; the Old Testament's stoning is now a spiritual exclusion.
On the Duties of the Clergy 1.20Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · Clergy should avoid the company of the intemperate, the banquets of outsiders, and needless visits to widows and virgins, and spend free time in reading and prayer.
On the Duties of the Clergy 2.29Ambrose · ca. 386–390 · The Church must guard the deposits of widows and orphans against the powerful, as God defended the temple treasury against Heliodorus and as the bishop of Ticinum did against an imperial order.
Exposition of Psalm 118 6.20.2Ambrose · ca. 386-397 · Life enters by the same windows when we honor a consecrated virgin or protect an orphan’s property.
Letter 130.7Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · A true widow must count herself desolate and not set her heart on pleasures, caring for the body only for the sake of health.
Letter 130.29Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Proba should pray as a widow of Christ, for Scripture specially enjoins prayer on widows, as the examples of Hannah, Anna, and the persistent widow show.
Letter 130.30Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Every soul away from the Lord is a widow; Proba should pray as poor and desolate, and her household of widows and virgins should do likewise.
Letter 188.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Alypius and Augustine write to the widow Juliana, rejoicing that her daughter Demetrias, after their exhortation, chose consecrated virginity instead of marriage.
Letter 208.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine writes to console and exhort Felicia, a consecrated virgin troubled by scandals in the Church.
Letter 212.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 386–430 · Augustine commends the widow Galla and her daughter, the virgin Simpliciola, to Bishop Quintilian, noting that they carry relics of the martyr Stephen.
Homilies on Matthew 31.5John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · The dead child has been freed from the evils of life and will be received back in glory; the bereaved, and the widow, are to bear their loss with philosophy, as having returned a deposit to God.
On 1 Cor 7:39, section 4John Chrysostom · ca. 390 · Chrysostom explains that Paul permits a widow's second marriage “in the Lord” while ranking widowhood higher, and calls those who resort to prostitutes to true repentance with tears, prayer and almsgiving.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.62Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · The turtledove, offered at Christ's presentation, does not remarry when widowed, an example of widowhood for women.
Hexameron (Exameron) 5.63Ambrose · ca. 387-390 · Even Paul did not make widowhood a law but allowed the young to remarry; God himself gave the turtledove its continence.
Sermon 96.9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Christ’s call to self-denial is for the whole church, virgins, widows, and married alike, each in its place; to turn from a chosen continence back to marriage, though lawful, is looking back like Lot’s wife.
Sermon 132.3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Those vowed to continence live the life of angels on earth; in the resurrection virginity, married chastity, and widowhood will shine differently, but all will share heaven.
Sermon 148.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · If God punished Ananias and Sapphira for withholding vowed money, he is far more angry when vowed virginity or chastity is broken, since these are vowed for his own temple.
Sermon 161.12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Consecrated virgins, overcoming even their parents' opposition, seek to please Christ by inner beauty; their example should teach married people at least to avoid adultery.
Sermon 192.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Virgins, widows, and married people all share in the joy of Christ's birth; the Church, like Mary, is mother and virgin.
Sermon 196.2Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · The married, the widowed, and virgins each have a model who bore witness to Christ at his birth: Elizabeth, Anna, and Mary.
Sermon 304.1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 391-430 · Lawrence, deacon at Rome, who ministered Christ’s blood and shed his own, fulfilled the proverb about the mighty man’s table; but not only martyrs follow Christ: married people, widows and virgins too have their place in the Lord’s garden.
Homily on 1 Cor, 19.6John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains 1 Cor 7:28–40: marrying is no sin for an unvowed virgin, though widows who break a vow of widowhood by remarrying are condemned; Paul grants a second marriage “in the Lord”, and holiness is required in every state.
Homily 14.1 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains that neglecting one's own family is a denial of faith, and begins on Paul's qualifications for enrolled widows: sixty years, wife of one husband, known for good works.
Homily 15.1 on 1 TimothyJohn Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains why Paul refuses to enroll younger widows and wishes them to remarry: remarriage is not forbidden and is better than broken vows and idle gossip.
Section 1John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom opens his homily on 1 Tim 5:9 by linking it to his earlier sermon on the dead and teaching that widowhood is not a misfortune but a dignity, since the widow has Christ as companion.
Section 2John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom praises the widow's power of intercession with God and distinguishes poor widows supported by the church, who are helped without conditions, from the enrolled order of widows to which Paul's age limit applies.
Section 3John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom explains that Paul does not forbid young widows to remain unmarried, but tells Timothy not to enrol them, and wishes only those who would break their pledge to Christ to remarry beforehand.
Section 4John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom shows that Paul's wish for young widows to remarry is a concession for the weak, like marital relations in 1 Cor 7, and distinguishes the works of widowhood, open to all, from the honour of enrolment after sixty; men too should not remarry.
Section 5John Chrysostom · ca. 392-397 · Chrysostom insists that the church does not forbid second marriage, which Paul permits, but advises against it for the peace of the household, describing stepmothers' jealousy, and teaches that widowhood without good works is worthless.
Against Jovinianus 1.14Jerome · 393 · Jerome argues from 1 Cor 7:39–40 and other texts that second marriage is permitted only as a concession and ranks below a single marriage.
Against Jovinianus 1.33Jerome · 393 · Jerome answers Jovinian's claim that baptized virgins and widows are equal, citing Jeremiah's virginity and Ezekiel's freedom after his wife's death.
Against Jovinianus 2.34Jerome · 393 · Jerome argues from the division of the land, the temple, the Psalms of Ascents, and the orders of priesthood that there are ranks in the Church and in heaven.
Canon 25Anonymous · 397 · Clergy and ascetics may visit widows and virgins only with permission and in company.
Canon 6Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · Virgins dedicated to God are not to keep company with confessors or unrelated laymen, or visit readers' houses, except in respectable company.
Canon 16Anonymous · ca. 397–400 · A dedicated virgin who sins does ten years' penance; if she has married, she is admitted to penance only if she lives chastely or after her husband is gone.
On Holy Virginity 34Augustine of Hippo · 401 · Augustine sets aside vowed women who regret their vow or live loosely, and addresses his warning about pride to those who keep their profession well.
Canon 126 (Bruns)Anonymous · 401–424 (collection of 419) · In danger of abduction or of death, a bishop may veil a virgin under twenty-five despite the age rule.
Letter 2 to Victricius of Rouen, chapter 13Innocent I, bishop of Rome · 401–417 · Veiled virgins who marry or are seduced may not do penance while the man lives, just as a woman who marries another while her husband lives is an adulteress.
Dialogues 1.9Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · Gallus notes Jerome’s attack on virgins’ familiarities with clergy; Postumianus defends Jerome’s orthodoxy, leaves his household with him, and goes to the Upper Thebaid.
Dialogues 2.8Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · Postumianus doubts that Gallic clergy will heed Martin’s example; Sulpicius complains of the hostility his rebukes earned him; Gallus tells how straw from Martin’s bed healed a possessed man at Claudiomagus.
On the Christian Life 15Fastidius · ca. 411-430 · The author applies his teaching to the widow he addresses: of three kinds of widows, she should be the true widow of 1 Tim 5, devoted to prayer and works of mercy.
On the Good of Widowhood 1Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Augustine sends the widow he is addressing the promised treatise on holy widowhood and asks her to share it with others.
On the Good of Widowhood 3Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · In 1 Cor 7:8 “unmarried” includes widows as well as virgins, so Paul's praise of remaining unmarried applies to widows.
On the Good of Widowhood 4Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Faithful married women are members of Christ; a widow's continence does not make her more than a member, but gives her a better place among the members.
On the Good of Widowhood 5Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Marriage, with its offspring, faithfulness, and indissoluble sacrament, is good; a widow who remarries after her husband's death is blessed, but one who remains a widow is more blessed.
On the Good of Widowhood 9Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · A good is praised more when there are lesser goods beside it, as God's works are very good all together; so the widow should not be proud of her better gift.
On the Good of Widowhood 10Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Under the old dispensation holy women married, and men took several wives, out of duty to propagate the people from whom Christ would come; so Ruth's second marriage need not rank below Anna's widowhood.
On the Good of Widowhood 11Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · In the last times, when children are begotten spiritually from all nations, a second marriage for a widow with children would show only incontinence; marriage remains good, but a vowed continence must not be broken.
On the Good of Widowhood 12Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · For one who has vowed continence even the wish to marry is condemned: not because marriage is evil, but because the vow is broken.
On the Good of Widowhood 13Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Augustine rejects the view that marriages of women who broke a vow of continence are adulteries, since separating such couples would make the husbands, who then remarry, real adulterers.
On the Good of Widowhood 15Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Augustine will not condemn third or later marriages after a spouse's death, since neither Paul nor Christ did, though their number is a matter of shame; every widow is more blessed if she remains so.
On the Good of Widowhood 16Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · A widow's merit is measured by the strength of her continence, not by the number of her husbands; Anna is praised for her long widowhood after a short marriage.
On the Good of Widowhood 17Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Comparing imagined widows, Augustine gives the palm to the most fervent piety rather than to having had only one husband.
On the Good of Widowhood 18Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · The addressee can have all Anna's merits, and her daughter's consecrated virginity adds virginal merit to the household.
On the Good of Widowhood 20Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Turning to exhortation, Augustine urges the widow to thank God for her continence as his gift, as the liturgy's “Lift up your hearts … Let us give thanks” teaches.
On the Good of Widowhood 23Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · The unmarried woman should turn all the care a wife gives to pleasing a husband into pleasing Christ, whose beauty is inward.
On the Good of Widowhood 24Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Mother, virgin daughter, and aged grandmother should together please Christ with inward beauty, the grandmother guiding the others in perseverance.
On the Good of Widowhood 25Augustine of Hippo · ca. 414 · Time is short and desire can be restrained even by women waiting to marry; much more can it be by those who have vowed continence and so given up hope of marriage.
On 1 Tim 5.11Theodoret of Cyrus · ca. 436-448 · Theodoret explains that younger widows are not to be enrolled because, maintained by the church without work, they fall into idleness and break their pledge by wishing to marry.
Canon 5Anonymous · 439 · Armentarius may bless and consecrate virgins in his church, ranking below a bishop and above a presbyter.
Canon 27Anonymous · 441 · A widow's vow is made before the bishop and marked by the widow's garment; her abductor, or she if she abandons it, is condemned.
Canon 46Anonymous · date disputed (between ca. 442 and 506) · Vowed widows who consent to their abduction are condemned with the abductors.
Canon 52Anonymous · date disputed (between ca. 442 and 506) · Consecrated virgins over twenty-five who marry are excommunicated with their husbands; they may do penance, but reconciliation is long delayed.