other · 57 · Cenchreae
Romans 16 opens with a commendation in the standard ancient form for a letter-bearer: I commend to you our sister Phoebe. What is not standard is what Paul calls her. She is diakonos of the church at Cenchreae — the word is the ordinary masculine noun, used without qualification, and Paul uses the same word of himself and of Timothy — and she is prostatis of many and of himself, a patron, which in a Greek city means someone with money and standing who takes people under protection. In the ancient world the bearer of a letter read it aloud to the assembly and answered questions about it, because the sender could not be there. Whatever else is true of Phoebe, the letter to the Romans was first heard in Rome in her voice.
To carry the letter to Rome, and to be received there.
The most consequential document in Christian theology, delivered by hand.