Deaconess and sacrament of holy orders

[Cluny]

In the Italo-Greek Catholic Church, Deaconessa is the term of respect given to the wife of an Archdeacon. It has no sacramental meaning.

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Diakonissa or some phonetic variant is the usual form of address for a deacon’s wife in the Orthodox Churches (except in the Russian and Ukrainian Churches).

This is NOT the same thing as the Order of Deaconissate as is being considered here.

 

[Debora]

In the Italo-Greek Catholic Church, Deaconessa is the term of respect given to the wife of an Archdeacon. It has no sacramental meaning.

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Diakonissa or some phonetic variant is the usual form of address for a deacon’s wife in the Orthodox Churches (except in the Russian and Ukrainian Churches).

This is NOT the same thing as the Order of Deaconissate as is being considered here.

That is correct. I was just adding some information to the conversation. The title is still used in the Church today and is a sign of respect for an Archdeacon/Deacon’s wife. With that said, the Italo-Greek Catholics are not Orthodox we are Catholic.

What I was taught by my pastor is that the Diakionissa/Deaconissa that were referred to in the original quote were often the assistants who helped to Baptize women because it was considered a delicate matter for women to be prepared by men for Baptism. They really had no formal sacramental role in the early Church.

Just for the recorded, I would like to inform my esteemed fellow bloggers on Catholic Answers Forums, that it is considered impolite to capitalize words when commenting on another’s remarks in blogs or in an e-mail. Capitalization is akin to shouting at someone in person. Thank you. D.

 

[JohnVIII]

… the fact that the deaconess receives the cup as the deacon does behind the iconostasis …

I do not think that it is possible that the Church ever alowed any woman, even a deaconess, to even enter behind the iconostasis, much less receive the cup there! - If someone can prove me wrong I will be shocked!

 

[Aramis]

I found a copy of the Constitutions of the Apostles (4th C;Tr. & Comm: Schaff)… the following is the comparison of the deaconal and deaconessal ordinations:
Concerning the Ordination of Deacons—The Constitution of Philip.

XVII. Concerning the ordination of deacons, I Philip36853685 One V. ms. has the following note: “Philip having proclaimed the life-giving word to the Asiatic diocese, has been buried in Hierapolis of Phrygia along with his daughters, having been crowned with martyrdom in the reign of the Emperor Domitian. Philip, who has the daughters, is one of the seven; it was he also who baptized the eunuch.” make this constitution: Thou shalt ordain a deacon, O bishop, by laying thy hands upon him in the presence of the whole presbytery, and of the deacons, and shall pray, and say:—
The Form of Prayer for the Ordination of a Deacon.

XVIII. O God Almighty, the true and faithful God, who art rich unto all that call upon Thee in truth, who art fearful in counsels, and wise in understanding, who art powerful and great, hear our prayer, O Lord, and let Thine ears receive our supplication, and “cause the light of Thy countenance to shine upon this Thy servant,” who is to be ordained for Thee to the office of a deacon; and replenish him with Thy Holy Spirit, and with power, as Thou didst replenish Stephen, who was Thy martyr, and follower of the sufferings of Thy Christ. Do Thou render him worthy to discharge acceptably the ministration of a deacon, steadily, unblameably, and without reproof, that thereby he may attain an higher degree, through the mediation of Thy only begotten Son, with whom glory, honour, and worship be to Thee and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.

Concerning the Deaconess—The Constitution of Bartholomew.

XIX. Concerning a deaconess, I Bartholomew make this constitution: O bishop, thou shalt lay thy hands upon her in the presence of the presbytery, and of the deacons and deaconesses, and shall say:—

The Form of Prayer for the Ordination of a Deaconess.

XX. O Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man and of woman, who didst replenish with the Spirit Miriam, and Deborah, and Anna, and Huldah; who didst not disdain that Thy only begotten Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of the testimony, and in the temple, didst ordain women to be keepers of Thy holy gates,—do Thou now also look down upon this Thy servant, who is to be ordained to the office of a deaconess, and grant her Thy Holy Spirit, and “cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,” that she may worthily discharge the work which is committed to her to Thy glory, and the praise of Thy Christ, with whom glory and adoration be to Thee and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.

Concerning the Sub-Deacons—The Constitution of Thomas.

XXI. Concerning the sub-deacons, I Thomas make this constitution for you the bishops: When thou dost ordain a sub-deacon O bishop, thou shalt lay thy hands upon him, and say: O Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things that are therein; who also in the tabernacle of the testimony didst appoint overseers and keepers of Thy holy vessels do Thou now look down upon this Thy servant, appointed a sub-deacon; and grant him the Holy Spirit, that he may worthily handle the vessels of Thy ministry, and do Thy will always, through Thy Christ, with whom glory, honour, and worship be to Thee and to the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.

ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07.ix.ix.iii.html

Given this, and the 6th century prohibition in the latin church of ordaining women by laying on of hands, it implies that the use of Nice c.XIV is that the Paulinists didn’t lay hands on their deaconesses, and thus their deaconesses were laypersons, but those who had been ordained deaconesses might be restored to that order.

 

[Just_Lurking]

From here:

Two books on the topic by Evangelos Theodorou, Heroines of Love: Deaconesses Through the Ages (1949) and The “Ordination” or “Appointment” of Deaconesses (1954), documented the sacramental ordination of women in the early church. His work was complemented in the Catholic Church by an article published by Cipriano Vagaggini, a Camaldolese monk, in Orientalia Christiana Periodica in 1974. The most significant scholarship on the topic agrees that women were sacramentally ordained to the diaconate, inside the iconostasis at the altar, by bishops in the early church. Women deacons received the diaconal stole and Communion at their ordinations, which shared the same Pentecostal quality as the ordination of a bishop, priest or male deacon.

 

[Cluny]

I do not think that it is possible that the Church ever alowed any woman, even a deaconess, to even enter behind the iconostasis, much less receive the cup there! - If someone can prove me wrong I will be shocked!

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The link to the ordination of a deaconess has already been given, where you can see it for yourself. It says in so many words that the newly-ordained deconess is given the orarion and places the chalice on the altar after communion.

St. Necatrios of Pentapolis ordained a few deaconesses himself for his women’s monasteries.

The icon of St. Dorothy of Kashin shows her holding a censer–the attribute of a deacon.

Women enter behind the iconostas all the time in women’s monasteries. You don’t think it gets cleaned up all by itself, do you?

With my own eyes I have seen a schema-nun at Holy Nativity Convent in Boston (at the time in ROCOR) bless incense in a hand censer and enter through and out of the deacon’s doors, censing the altar, nave, sisters, and visiting faithful.

I have beheld the now Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh read the prayer of making a sacristan over a woman.

Metropolitan Kyprianos of Fili has done the same thing with Mother Elizabeth of Etna, according to captions in photographs.

Where I was chrismated (GOA), there was an old lady, Marina, who was blessed to do so.

The late Mother Alexandra of Elwood City described how she would act as acolady at services.

It’s not that women are barred from entering the altar because they are women.

It’s that NOBODY is supposed to enter the altar without a specific blessing to do so.

Start thinking and start being shocked.