Timothy 3.11 has long been recognized as an anomalous element in the discussion of deacons in 3.8–13, to which topic the author of the Pastorals has turned his attention as the second of the two offices described in the first half of chapter 3. Interpreters have struggled to identify the women addressed in this verse. Answers have scarcely been lacking, responses notable for their variety and for the unspoken assumptions delimiting the possibilities entertained. This paper, by scrutinizing the syntax of 3.11 and the structure of the passage on διάκονοι, ‘deacons’, discerns new evidence for the identification of these women as partners in ministry with the explicitly named men of the passage.