Deacon

JOHN CHRYSSAVGIS

The diaconate is the first order of priestly ministry. The Orthodox Church has traditionally held that the ordained minis­try includes “three divinely established degrees” of bishop, presbyter, and deacon. In recent centuries, however, the diaconate has enjoyed a more transitional role, with candidates to the priesthood ordained after only a brief period serving as deacons. In some Orthodox churches there has been a recent effort to rejuvenate the diaconate.

The historical sources of the diaconate are difficult to trace. In the early centuries the usage of the term “deacon” was very fluid and its application quite varied. None­theless, the diaconate developed organically out of the church’s response to increasing pastoral needs. The classic biblical founda­tion is Acts 6.1–6, which also reveals the broader social dimensions of diaconal min­istry. This passage refers to the appointment of “the Seven,” although the word “deacon” never actually appears.

In the second and third centuries the functions and influence of deacons grew dramatically. Their increased responsibility and prominence are described in various documents of the early church. The first post-apostolic writer explicitly referring to the role of deacons within the threefold min­istry is St. Ignatius of Antioch, who referred to deacons as “fellow servants” and “special friends.” However, later tensions, already evident in the Apostolic Tradition and the Didascalia Apostolorum, between bishops and deacons on the one hand and presby­ters on the other, continued to develop in the 4th century. Thus, the Council of Arles (314) explicitly forbids deacons “to make a [Eucharistic] offering,” an indication that such offerings were occurring. Nevertheless, deacons participated in this council, even signing for absent bishops. Canon 18 of the First Ecumenical Council (325) concerned itself exclusively with deacons, itself an indi­cation of their importance and an affirma­tion of their role as episcopal assistants.

Following the Golden Age of the early councils, the diaconate became increasingly limited to a liturgical role. Later church councils dealt with the ministry and manner of deacons, reflecting their ongoing and widespread influence, but conciliar decisions in the form of canons assumed a more legalistic, almost prescriptive tone with regard to maturity, marriage, and demeanor (for instance, the Council of Trullo, 691), as well as marital, spousal, and familial relations (for instance, the Seventh Ecumenical Coun­cil, 787). Nonetheless, in the 4th and 5th centuries, deacons remained important. According to the Apostolic Constitutions, deacons normally represented bishops at synods in their absence. They initiated and even presided over the settlement of dis­putes among Christians. Indeed, the Apos­tolic Constitutions include some 85 canons about ecclesiastical order, a surprising number of which (almost one third, and all of them prohibitive!) concern deacons. This indicates that deacons were still prom­inent in the East, although their function was being more narrowly defined and increasingly confined.

Formerly attached to the bishop, the deacon was in later centuries attached to the presbyter or the parish, resulting in a reduc­tion of the diaconate to a decorative, even superfluous, aspect of the ministry. Still, in the early 7th century, under the Emperor Heraclius, the number of deacons at St. Sophia Church in Constantinople was lim­ited to 150, dwindling to 60 by the late 12th century. From the 11th century, deacons were even members of the Endemousa Synod, wielding considerable influence within the ecumenical patriarchate, which to this day preserves a central administrative and pastoral role for its deacons. The late Ecu­menical Patriarch Athenagoras, while still deacon, served as secretary general of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece (1919–22).

Plate 15 Deacon wearing vestments of his order with the diagonally placed stole and carry­ing the bishop’s blessing candle (Dikeri). Sandro Vannini/Corbis.

Much that is said about the role and function of male deacons is applicable also to female deacons. Indeed, in scriptural and patristic literature, the Greek word diakonos can denote either a male or a female deacon. Moreover, in manuscripts containing the sacrament of ordination (especially the Codex Barberini and the Constantino- politan Euchologion), the rite for male deacons bears striking resemblance to the service for female deacons. In the past, women deacons served in dynamic ministries as educators, evangelists, spiri­tual mothers, and social workers; questions regarding their liturgical role remain. However, contemporary perception and practice with regard to the female diaconate will not advance smoothly unless the church understands the role and function of deacons in general.

To this day, the Orthodox Church regards the diaconate as an essential part of the ordained ministry, without which the pasto­ral ministry would be incomplete. Thus, a comprehensive vision of the sacramental ministry recognizes the central role of the bishop as bond of visible unity; it respects the critical role of the presbyter in celebrating the presence of Christ in the local commu­nity; and it realizes the complementary role of the deacon in completing this circle of unity within the local community.

The diaconate further provides occasion for appreciating the diversity of gifts among the laity as the “royal priesthood.” By means of ordination to the diaconate, such gifts may be embraced and ministerial dignity can be conferred upon certain members of the laity, whose skills would be incorporated and integrated within the community. As a result, such persons would be empowered through the imposition of the hands and by the grace of the Spirit, their various charis­mata and professional contributions recog­nized and intimately bound with the altar. They would support – and not substitute – the priestly ministry of the church.

While the diaconate clearly changed in scope and function over the centuries, it has always remained in essence true to its origin, at once distinguishing and combining the liturgical diakonia and what the Council of Neo-Caesarea (ca. 314) called “the pat­tern of philanthropy» In general, however, it was the liturgical function of the deacon that gradually assumed greater prominence, becoming both elaborate and impressive. This change – or decline – in the diaconate is already evident in the 14th century when Nicholas Cabasilas, the formidable liturgical commentator of Byzantium, is reticent about the function of deacons in his formative books on the sacraments of eucharist and baptism. Thus, while the diaconate survived in the Eastern Church, it did so in a limited and specific form.

SEE ALSO: Deaconess; Episcopacy; Ordi­nation

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Chryssavgis, J. (2009) Remembering and Reclaiming Diakonia: The Diaconate Yesterday and Today. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press.

Fitzgerald, K. (1998) Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church. Brookline, MA: Holy Cross Press.