What is the role of women as leaders in society and in the early Church?

Women in the early Church were given special status because of their purity, courage, and leadership skills. For example, there were female saints who were more courageous than some men accompanying them in martyrdom, such as Saints Perpetua, Blandina the slave, Felicitas, Symphorosa, Dionysia, and Mercuria. We must also mention some deaconesses such as St. Olympias the disciple of St. John Chrysostom, as well as the desert mothers such as Amma Melania the Elder, who accompanied St. Jerome in his work administering the monasteries. It is also important to mention that many fathers and leading priests used to come for guidance to certain mothers such as Amma Sarah and Amma Syncletica.

The Church Fathers often talked about the important role women play in shaping society as a whole. Origen says, “We have witnessed with our own eyes, girls and women bearing the overwhelming tortures of martyrdom in their early youth.”¹¹⁴²