Significance of the institution of widows in reference to the status of virgins during the first centuries of the Church

Herein the article it is given the analyses of the institution of widows and status of virgins. A special attention is paid to their mutual relations and status at the first centuries of the Church. On the basis of the above mentioned analyses we can see how the mutual relations between them have been changed during centuries. Since the times of the Apostles the widows have been surrounded by a special care and played a very important role at the community. In regard of the great effort which widows, who had been already acquainted with the marital consumption, had to make to keep abstinence their value was greater than value of virgins. A special attention to this fact was paid by Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria. In the course of time the situation has been slowly changing. The change of the ministerial status at the Church and the edict of toleration issued by Galerius in the year 311 brought to a gradual acceptance by virgins of the status which earlier had been a privilege of widows. The process of valorization was escalating more and more simultaneously with the development of monasteries and monastic life at the IVth century