Minor Orders in the Chaldean Catholic Church

[bpbasilphx]

This site shows several men and women having minor orders conferred upon them:

kaldu.org/2008/12/Dec8_08E1.html

I noticed that both men and women wore the orarion.

Is this a recent development in the Chaldean Church, or is it their original custom?

 

[twf]

Certainly the early church ordained deaconesses…why not women to minor orders?

 

[Harpazo]

Certainly the early church ordained deaconesses…why not women to minor orders?

Deaconesses and their role in the early Church have been discussed ad nauseum here, so I am not going to go into that. ALL orders must be given to men, because that is what Christ did. Who are we to say that we have a better idea of how the Church should be than Christ?

I personally don’t like the idea of female servers. Of course there will be those that disagree.

Alloho minokhoun,
Andrew

 

[malphono]

This site shows several men and women having minor orders conferred upon them:

kaldu.org/2008/12/Dec8_08E1.html

I noticed that both men and women wore the orarion.

Is this a recent development in the Chaldean Church, or is it their original custom?

Just an observation: the oraria, (if indeed they are are oraria), worn by the women do not seem to be quite the same as those worn by the men. Perhaps it means something? Maybe one of our Chaldean or ACoE brethern could shed some light.

 

[twf]

Harpazo:
The EO believe otherwise. The problem is, until the 11th/12th centuries, even the Latins hadn’t precisely defined the term “ordination” in the modern sense. I don’t believe that women can receive holy orders. That doesn’t mean there weren’t deaconesses who exercised a special and unique ministry in the church…

 

[bpbasilphx]

Maybe one of our Chaldean or ACoE brethern could shed some light.

That’s what I was hoping foir.

 

[Deacon_Lance]

From the Latin perspective, minor orders are sacramentals, not part of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Church has the power to decide how sacramentals are administered, so it is possible for the Church to allow women into minor orders. Eastern Churches are free to decide this for themsleves, as the Chaldeans have done, apart from the Latin Church which has largely suppressed minor orders except for those institutes using the Extraordinary Form.