This is an example of a situation where the headline does not express the reality being discussed.
The letter confuses two terms “deaconess” and “female deacon.” The two are not the same thing.
Even the text of the letter admits that. To give one example. take this sentence “Above all, the process requires that the role and functions of the deaconess be identified, properly defined, and clearly stated.”
Let’s think that through, please. If the signers were truly writing about “female deacons” then there would be no question as to role or function, or for that matter anything else. If they truly intended female deacons, then there would be NOTHING to discuss or decide. Obviously, they recognize that such questions do need to be answered.
I also want to caution readers that the Eastern approach to the Mysteries (Sacraments) is not the same as the West. We have the same sacraments, but very different ways of speaking about them. The East is much looser in its vocabulary. For example, the Greek word “chirotony” only loosely translates as “ordination” in English. Yes, it refers to the ordination of a priest. However, it also refers to all kinds of installations and ceremonies which a Western speaker would never call an ordination–such as the installation of an arch-priest, an arch-deacon, what we now call a vicar general, consecration of a new church building, or consecration of a new baptistry. The Eastern Churches ordain readers, while the West no longer uses that word. One could even legitimately translate the “chirotony of a new cemetery” as the “ordination of a cemetery.” So we must be very careful about translating words and concepts from Eastern usage into Western.
