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THE ORDINATION OF DEACONESSES
IN THE ORTHODOX LITURGICAL TRADITION
PANAGIOTIS I. SKALTSIS
Abstract: Evangelos Theodorou, Professor Emeritus of Liturgics,
has connected his name and his scholarly research with the study and the
revival of the institution of the deaconess. In the early Church devout woman
were selected “with accurate trials”
and ordained by the bishop as deaconesses, as was the deacon with only minor
differences. According to the Apostolic Constitutions the ordination of the deaconess
occurred by the laying on of hands by the bishop and with a specific prayer. A
complete rite of the ordination of the deaconess survives in the oldest
Euchologion manuscript, the Barberini Codex 336, from the end of the 8th,
beginning of the 9th century. According to the manuscript the
ordination occurred, as the deacons, within the Divine
Liturgy, after the Anaphora, with the laying on of hands, with the epiclectic
invocation “The divine grace…” and
with two prayers. The tradition of the Barberini Euchologion influenced the
subsequent manuscript tradition of the Byzantine period. The differences
between the ordination of the deacon and the ordination of the deaconess are
that the deaconess does not bend her knee, she wears the orarion under the maphorion
and at the time of Holy Communion “she
communes no one”, but “places it
(the holy chalice) on the Holy Altar
Table.” This liturgical experience and tradition of the Church inspired
modern initiatives for the revival of the deaconess and in every case is the
measure of our stance regarding this issue.
It is well known that the honored, by this Conference,
Professor Emeritus of Liturgics, Evangelos Theodorou has had his name and
research connected with the study but also the revival of the institution of
the deaconess. An institution that has
its roots in the New Testament, is recognized by three Ecumenical Councils and
was blessed by our Orthodox liturgical tradition until the end of the Byzantine
period.
The early accounts “of woman deacons”, “in the
women’s balcony by whom the Lord’s teaching was unexceptionably interpolated”[1] and on the structured order of the deaconess,
necessary in multis rebus,[2] find their justification also in the Church’s Euchologion from the 4th
century onwards. Terms such as “χειροτονία,” “χειροτονεῖν,,“χειροθεσία” (with
the meaning of ordination), “καθιαιροῦν,” “ἐπιτιθέναι χεῖρας,” “προχειρίζεσθαι,” “ordination,” “ordinare” and others which are attested to in the sources
suggest that for the deaconess there existed a ritual of ordination similar to
that of the deacon.[3]
A woman “virgin
immaculate”, or “widowed after one
marriage”, or “abstaining in her
first marriage” or a bishop’s wife, in any case a woman “meek – according to the Apostolic
Constitutions – quiet, gentle, guileless,
without anger, not talkative, not clamorous, not hasty of speech, not
slanderous, not giving more meaning to words than actions, not meddlesome”[4] was selected “with
accurate trials”[5] and was dedicated by the bishop, in other words
ordained as was a deacon with only minor variations.
The oldest complete ritual of the ordination of the
deaconess is found in the Apostolic Constitutions, a text from the end of the 4th
century that preserves the liturgical traditions until then. Before the rubrics concerning the subdeacon
and after the Epiclesis (invocation)
for the ordination of a deacon, there exists the invocation for the ordination
of a deaconess:
“Ὦ ἐπίσκοπε, ἐπιθήσεις αὐτῇ τάς χεῖρας, παρεστῶτος τοῦ πρεσβυτερίου καί τῶν διακονισσῶν και ἐρεῖς: Ὁ Θεός ὁ αἰώνιος, ὁ Πατήρ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὁ ἀνδρός καί γυναικός δημιουργός, ὁ πληρώσας Πνεύματος Μαριάμ καί Δεβώρραν καί Ἄνναν καί Ὄλδαν, ὁ μή ἀπαξιώσας τόν μονογενῆ σου Υἱόν γεννηθῆναι ἐκ γυναικός, ὁ καί ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ τοῦ μαρτυρίου καί ἐν τῷ ναῷ προχειρισάμενος τάς φρουρούς τῶν ἁγίων σου πυλῶν. Αὐτός νῦν ἔπιδε τήν δούλην Σου τήνδε, τήν προχειριζομένην εἰς διακονίαν, καί δός αὐτῇ Πνεῦμα ἅγιον καί καθάρισον αὐτήν ἀπό παντός μολυσμοῦ σαρκός καί πνεύματος, πρός τό ἐπαξίως ἐπιτελεῖν αὐτήν τό ἐγχειρισθέν αὐτῇ ἔργον, εἰς δόξαν σήν καί ἔπαινον τοῦ Χριστοῦ Σου . μεθ’ οὖ Σοι δόξα καί προσκύνησις, καί τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι, εἰς τούς αἰῶνας. Ἀμήν.” [6]
We see here that the ordination of the deaconess is
accomplished by the laying on of hands by the bishop, in the presence of the
entire presbyterate, the deacons and the deaconesses with only one prayer. One
prayer, in this early period, is foreseen for the dedication – ordination of
all of the ranks of the clergy. Similar to the ordination of the deaconess is
the ordination of the deacon. The prayer of course is different with the
characteristic that the deacon may be found worthy of “greater rank” while in the case of the deaconess the bishop prays “that she may worthily accomplish her
entrusted duty.”[7]
The Apostolic Constitutions classify the deaconess to
the ranks of the clergy and clearly specify the limits of her ministry.
Specifically in the Second Book the following is noted: “But let the deacon stand beside him (the bishop in other words) as Christ does to His Father and let him
serve him in all things blamelessly, as Christ does nothing by Himself, but
always does those things that please His Father. May you honor the deaconess in
the type of the Holy Spirit, and without the deacon may she not do or say
anything, as neither does the Paraclete do or say anything by Itself but
glorifies Christ, awaiting His will. And as we cannot believe in Christ without
the teaching of the Spirit, so without the deaconess let not any woman address
the deacon or bishop.”[8]
An ordination prayer for the deaconess is also
preserved in “The Testament of our Lord
Jesus Christ” (a text of the 5th century AD) in Latin.[9] The prayer is lengthier than that of the Apostolic
Constitutions, but makes no mention of the laying on of hands by the bishop.
When the gifts are offered the deaconesses are inside the altar and stand with
the presbyters to the left side of the holy sanctuary. The deacons also stand to the left, they
receive communion first and are followed by the deaconesses, the subdeacons and
the readers.
A complete rite of ordination of the deaconess, within
the Divine Liturgy with a diaconal litany, the laying on of hands by the
bishop, the invocation “The divine grace…”, two prayers and vesting
of the orarion, is preserved by the
oldest surviving Euchologion, the
Barberini Codex 336, (the end of the 8th – beginning of the 9th
century), the text is published by the Dominican monk Jacobi Goar in the 17th
century.
«Μετά τό γενέσθαι τήν ἁγίαν ἀναφοράν καί ἀνοιγῆναι τάς θύρας. πρίν ἤ εἰπεῖν τόν διάκονον. Πάντων τῶν ἁγίων, προσφέρεται ἡ μέλλουσα χειροτονεῖσθαι τῷ ἀρχιερεῖ καί ἐκφωνῶν τό, Ἡ θεία Χάρις, κλινούσης αὐτῆς τήν κεφαλήν, ἐπιτίθησι τήν χεῖραν αὐτοῦ ἐπί τήν κεφαλήν αὐτῆς, καί ποιῶν σταυρούς τρεῖς ἐπεύχεται ταῦτα.
Ὁ Θεός ὁ ἅγιος, ὁ Παντοδύναμος, ὁ διά τῆς ἐκ Παρθένου κατά σάρκα γεννήσεως τοῦ μονογενοῦς σου Υἱοῦ καί Θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἁγιάσας τό θῆλυ. καί οὐκ ἀνδράσι μόνον ἀλλά καί ταῖς γυναιξί δωρησάμενος τήν χάριν καί τήν ἐπιφοίτησιν τοῦ ἁγίου σου Πνεύματος. Αὐτός καί νῦν, Δέσποτα, ἔπιδε ἐπί τήν δούλην σου ταύτην. καί προσκαλέσαι αὐτήν εἰς τό ἔργον τῆς διακονίας σου, καί κατάπεμψον αὐτῇ τήν πλουσίαν δωρεάν τοῦ ἁγίου σου Πνεύματος. Διαφύλαξον αὐτήν ἐν τῇ ὀρθοδόξῳ σου πίστει, ἐν ἀμέμπτῳ πολιτείᾳ κατά τό σοί εὐάρεστον τήν ἑαυτῆς λειτουργίαν διά παντός ἐκπληροῦσαν. Ὅτι
πρέπει σοι… ἀμήν.
Καί μετά τό ἀμήν ποιεῖ εἷς τῶν
διακόνων εὐχήν οὕτως.
Ἐν εἰρήνῃ τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν.
Ὑπέρ τῆς ἄνωθεν εἰρήνης, καί
εὐσταθείας τοῦ σύμπαντος κόσμου.
τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν.
Ὑπέρ τῆς εἰρήνης τοῦ σύμπαντος
κόσμου. τοῦ Κυρίου
δεηθῶμεν.
Ὑπέρ τοῦ ἀρχιεπισκόπου ἡμῶν [τοῦ
δεῖνος], ἱερωσύνης, ἀντιλήψεως, διαμονῆς, εἰρήνης, ὑγείας, σωτηρίας αὐτοῦ καί
τοῦ ἔργου τῶν χειρῶν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν.
Ὑπέρ τῆς προχειριζομένης
διακονίσσης τῆσδε καί τῆς σωτηρίας αὐτῆς. τοῦ Κυρίου δεηθῶμεν.
Ὑπέρ τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου καί
θεοφιλεστάτου βασιλέως ἡμῶν.
Ὑπέρ τοῦ ῥυσθῆναι ἡμᾶς.
Ἀντιλαβοῦ σῶσον.
Καί ἐν τῷ γενέσθαι
ταύτην τήν εὐχήν ὑπό τοῦ διακόνου, ἔχων ὁμοίως τήν χεῖρα ἐπί τήν κεφαλήν τῆς
χειροτονουμένης ὁ Ἐπίσκοπος, ἐπεύχεται οὕτως.
Δέσποτα Κύριε, ὁ μηδέ γυναῖκας
ἀναθεμένας ἑαυτάς και βουληθείσας καθ’ ὅ προσῆκε λειτουργεῖν τοῖς ἁγίοις οἴκοις
σου ἀποβαλλόμενος, ἀλλά ταύτας ἐν τάξει λειτουργῶν προσδεξάμενος. δώρησαι τήν χάριν τῆς διακονίας
ἀποπληρῶσαι χάριν, ὡς ἔδωκας χάριν τῆς διακονίας σου Φοίβῃ, ἥν ἐκάλεσας εἰς τό
ἔργον τῆς λειτουργίας.
παράσχου δέ αὐτῇ ὁ Θεός, ἀκατακρίτoς προσκαρτερεῖν τοῖς ἁγίοις ναοῖς σου,
ἐπιμελεῖσθαι τῆς οἰκείας πολιτείας, σωφροσύνης δέ μάλιστα, καί τελείαν
ἀπόδειξον δούλην σου. ἵνα
καί αὐτή, παραστῶσα τῷ βήματι τοῦ
Χριστοῦ, ἄξιον τῆς ἀγαθῆς πολιτείας ἀπολήψηται τόν μισθόν. Ἐλέει καί
φιλανθρωπίᾳ τοῦ μονογενοῦς σου Υἱοῦ, μεθ’ οὗ εὐλογητός εἰ. καί τά ἑξῆς.
Καί μετά τό ἀμήν, περιτίθησι τῷ
τραχήλῳ αὐτῆς ὑποκάτωθεν τοῦ μαφωρίου τό διακονικόν ὀράριον, φέρων ἔμπροσθεν
τάς δύο ἀρχάς. καί τότε ὁ
ἐν τῷ ἄμβωνι διάκονος λέγει.
Πάντων τῶν ἁγίων μημονεύσαντες καί τά λοιπά.
Μετά (δέ) τό μεταλαβεῖν αὐτήν τοῦ
ἁγίου σώματος καί τοῦ ἁγίου αἵματος, ἐπιδίδωσιν αὐτῇ ὁ Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος τό ἅγιον
ποτήριον. ὅπερ δεχομένη
ἀποτίθεται τῇ ἁγίᾳ τραπέζῃ.”[10]
Other very important manuscripts, Sinaitic, the
Grottaferrata, the Athenian etc., 11th – 14th century,
provide similar findings.[11]
From the
study of this manuscript tradition which was first highlighted by Prof.
Theodorou in his doctoral dissertation with the title: Ἡ «χειροτονία» ἤ «χειροθεσία» τῶν διακονισσῶν, in Athens
1954, but also in other recent works of his, the following points emerge.
1) The
ordination of the deaconess occurs, as that of the deacon but also those of the
other ranks of the Priesthood, within the Holy Altar and during the Divine
Liturgy. In contrast the ordination (χειροθεσία) of the subdeacon, reader and chanter (lower clergy)
occurs outside of the Holy Altar and not during the Divine Liturgy.
2) The point in the Divine Liturgy at which the
ordination (of the deaconess and deacon) occurs is after “The mercy of our great God…” in front of the Holy Altar Table, in
other words at the end of the Anaphora or after the deposition of the holy
gifts at the Great Entrance when a Presanctified Liturgy is celebrated. This is because the deacon and even more so
the deaconess do not officiate but they serve.
3) Until the
time of her ordination the deaconess stands on the solea, as does the deacon,
in front of the central doors of the Holy Altar, wearing a maphorion on her
head.
4) Brought
before the Holy Altar Table she bows her head and the bishop ordains her with
the laying on of hands and the epiclectic invocation “The divine grace…” He then makes three signs of the cross over her
and he prays thus, in other words he reads the prayer, “Ὁ Θεός ὁ ἅγιος , ὁ Παντοδύναμος...”, in
which God is entreated to send down the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit and
to invite her, the deaconess, “to the
task of His ministry.”
5) The petitions are said by the deacon who is of the
same rank as the deaconess. This is done at the ordination of all three orders,
after the first prayer a cleric of the same rank as the one being ordained
intervenes with the petitions.
6) The differences that exist between the ordination of
the deacon and the deaconess is that although the deacon bends his right knee
and rests his forehead on the Holy Altar Table, the deaconess stands upright
bowing only her head in respect. “The
ordained deaconess was vested, as the deacon, with the diaconal orarion,
placing it however ‘under the maphorion’ with its two ends in the front.”
At the time of Holy Communion the deacon received first and then the deaconess.[12]
More or less the ministry of the deaconess is very
similar to the ministry of the deacon, which by virtue of his mission and ordination
he is called to. According to the
Apostolic Constitutions the deacon “does
not bless, does not give a blessing, but receives it from a bishop or
presbyter. He does not baptize, he does
not offer, but when a bishop or a presbyter has offered, he distributes to the
people not as a priest, but as one who ministers to the priests.”[13]
In particular the deaconesses offered invaluable
service to the Church, for example they were the link between the Christian
woman and the clergy. During worship they supervised their participation in “chanting together” and the kiss of
peace, and they entered and assisted in the Holy Altar standing next to the
deacons. During baptisms they also assisted women “for decency.” In the
monasteries the nuns with the Great Schema or those who had the responsibility
of abbess exercised the duties of a deaconess.
Deaconesses could also undertake the transport of the Holy Gifts from
the Church and even commune infirmed woman.[14]
By this liturgical experience and tradition of the Church
both in the ancient period and during the Byzantine era, modern examples have
been supported, for example St. Nektarios who for the needs of the Monastery of
the Holy Trinity, in 1911 “on the day of
Pentecost ‘ordained’ in the Holy Altar and during the celebration of the Divine
Liturgy by the laying on of hands and by the prayer that is said during the
ordination of the deacon ‘The divine grace’.
The ordained did not wear robes, but a sticharion reaching down to her
lower back, as well as a diaconal orarion and diaconal cuffs. She was succeeded by another deaconess who
was also dedicated by St. Nektarios for the ministerial needs of the monastery.”[15]
The former Archbishop of Athens and All Greece
Christodoulos of blessed memory, as Metropolitan of Demetrias, also ordained,
of course outside the Holy Altar, a nun as a deaconess “so that the abbess – deaconess could distribute the presanctified holy
gifts of Holy Communion to the sisters, when it was not possible for a priest
to visit the Holy Monastery, because it was located in an inaccessible area.”[16] Also by his own initiative as Archbishop of Athens a
Synodal Decision decreed that the institution of the deaconess may be brought
back to the Holy Monasteries for needs as described above.
In any case this liturgical richness cannot remain
unutilized in the discussions that are occurring today about the deaconess and
in the opportunities that exist for the revival of this ancient institution.
[1] Clenent of Alexandria, Στρωματεῖς 3,6, PG 8, 115Α. See also Ev. D. Theodorou, «Οἱ
διακόνισσες στήν ἱστορία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας», in Φύλο
καί Θρησκεία. Ἡ θέση τῆς γυναίκας στήν Ἐκκλησία, Indiktos, Athens 2004, p. 186.
[2]
F.X. Funk,
Didaskalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum,
III, 13, 2, vol. 1, Paderborn
1905, pp.
212-214.
[3]
See, Ev.
D.
Theodorou,
Ἡ «χειροτονία» ἤ «χειροθεσία» τῶν
διακονισσῶν, Doctoral Dissertation, Athens 1954, and ibidem, «Οἱ
διακόνισσες στήν ἱστορία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας», p. 190.
[5] Canon 15 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council.
[6] Διαταγαί τῶν Ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων 19,1-20,1, Sources Chrétiennes 336,
220-222 (=PG 1, 1116D – 1117A).
[7] Διαταγαί τῶν Ἁγίων Ἀποστόλων 17,1-20,1, Sources Chrétiennes 336,
218-222 (=PG 1, 1116D-1117A). See also
Ev. D. Theodorou, Ἡ «χειροτονία» ἤ «χειροθεσία» τῶν διακονισσῶν, pp.
50-51.
[9] I.E. Rahmani, Testamentum Domini nostri Jesu Christi, Moguntiae 1899, p. 99. See
also Ev. D. Theodorou, Ἡ «χειροτονία» ἤ «χειροθεσία» τῶν διακονισσῶν, p. 51.
[10]
S.
Parenti - E. Velkovska, L’ Eucologio Barberini
gr336,
CLV-Edizioni Liturgicae, Roma 22000.
See, also, Ev.
D.
Theodorou,
Ἡ «χειροτονία» ἤ «χειροθεσία» τῶν
διακονισσῶν, p. 55-56. Also his «Οἱ διακόνισσες
στήν ἱστορία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας», pp. 191-192. J. Goar, Eὐχολόγιον sive
Rituale
Graecorum, Venetiis 21730
(=facsimile
reproduction
Graz
1960), pp.
218-219.
[11]
See
Ev.
D.
Theodorou,Ἡ «χειροτονία» ἤ «χειροθεσία» τῶν
διακονισσῶν, pp.
56-57. Ibidem,
«Οἱ διακόνισσες στήν ἱστορία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας», pp. 193-194.
[12]
Ev.
D.
Theodorou,
«Οἱ διακόνισσες στήν ἱστορία τῆς Ἐκκλησίας», pp. 60-65. Ibidem, Ἡ «χειροτονία» ἤ «χειροθεσία» τῶν διακονισσῶν, pp. 194-196.
[16]
Ev.
D.
Theodorou,
«Εἰσηγητικές ὑποβολές πρός ἀναβίωσιν καί ἀνάπτυξιν τοῦ θεσμοῦ τῶν διακονισσῶν»,
in Θεολογία ΞΘ’ (October –December
1998), issue 4, p. 600.
