Are They Not Important Now?
Are They Not Important Now?—A new Christian manuscript, recently discovered by Monsignor Rahmani, the Uniat Syrian Patriarch of Antioch, has been published, under the title, "The Testament of Jesus Christ." The Independent (December 21) places its age at a thousand years, and says that it is a translation of a Greek original, probably of the third century. It furnishes certain details of church order said to be spoken by the Lord, among which is the following:— "Besides deaconesses there is another order of women that stand far above them, the 'widows,' once called 'presbyteresses.' They are ordained apparently by laying on of hands, and the form of ordination is given. The bishop is chosen by the people at large, and ordained with a twofold laying on of hands. He is never to taste wine except at communion, and never to eat meat."