St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Women’s Gifts and the Diaconate

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by Carrie Frederick Frost

originally posted on Public Orthodoxy

The reinstitution of the ordained female diaconate in the Orthodox Church today would result in a much-needed and transformative outpouring of women’s gifts into the Church and into the world.

In order to appreciate the positive potential of the female diaconate, we must understand the absolute parity of women and men in the eyes of the Orthodox Church. The Church has always understood men and women to be equally created in the image and likeness of God, even if its broader cultural surrounding was highly patriarchal.  As such, statements like this from Saint Basil were nothing short of radical:  “The natures are alike of equal honor, the virtues are equal, the struggle equal, the judgment alike” (On the Human Condition). This thinking is representative of early Church Fathers, including Gregory of Nazianzus and Clement of Alexandria, and amounts to a rejection of any hierarchical understanding of the relationship between men and women in the Roman world. Indeed, this understanding of women and men as equal in their creation by God is one of Christianity’s great gifts to the world.

To be sure, this does not mean that all human life has been experienced in this way; indeed, the subjugation of women (at least within marriage) was part of the Fall (“[Your husband] shall rule over you” Genesis 3:16). We as Orthodox, however, do not enshrine any of the other characteristics of our fallen state outlined in Genesis as part of a sanctified and unquestioned order of things—difficult labor, our inclination toward violence, pain during childbirth, etc.—instead, we understand all of these conditions as worthy of our efforts to mitigate and overcome and that will ultimately be overcome.

Also, to be sure, this does not mean that all Christians throughout history embraced this understanding. For example, the early Church acquiesced to Roman norms of a patrician man’s authority in the domain of his household after it transitioned from a community that expected an imminent second coming to a community that was learning how to self-perpetuate. There is also no shortage of memorable misogynistic quips from famous rigorists, like Tertullian, who claimed, “Woman is a temple built over a sewer.”

There is nothing disrespectful to the Church in acknowledging that it has an imperfect historical record on this issue. In fact, it is our responsibility as Christians to lovingly mend any tears in the fabric of the Church’s earthly presence. Most importantly, these ideas have never been considered to be the basis for an Orthodox understanding of the essence of women and man, not in their own time nor our own.

The weight of our tradition reflects the sentiment expressed above by St. Basil: that women and men are equal, a truth which, of course, was illustrated by Jesus Christ himself. He accorded respect and dignity to women at every turn as recorded in the Gospels, even in the most unlikely of circumstances. There may be no greater affirmation of the respect, dignity, and equality of women with men that the fact that it was his women friends to whom he first appeared as the risen Christ.

And here is the second thing that must be understood in order to appreciate the possibility of the female diaconate for the Church today: Even within the context of the Church’s conviction of the essential equality of women and men, there is no sense that the Church understands women and men to be perfectly equivalent. Instead, there has always been an understanding and appreciation for the ways in which the human experience is lived out differently between women and men; the incarnational reality of women and men is not the same. This is reflected in the lives of the saints, in the marriage rite, in the iconography of the Church, the hymnography of the Church, and so on.

When we fully appreciate the fundamental parity between women and men, it becomes clear that any objection to the female diaconate based on women being subordinate to men holds no weight in the Orthodox context. And when we fully appreciate the longstanding acknowledgement of women and men’s different lived experiences and perspectives—their different incarnational realities—we also appreciate that men and women have different gifts to offer the Church.

In this light, the fading away of the female diaconate in the late Byzantine era for what looks to be complex historical reasons can only be understood as a tragedy. With an isolated exception here and there, for something like eight hundred years the Church has not benefited from women’s gifts offered as deaconesses. Of course, women have contributed to the life of the Church in innumerable ways in every historical and temporal context, but the loss of this sort of ordained ministry—which has the support, the protection, and oversight, and the authority of the Church—has deprived the Church of the experiences, perspectives, and unique gifts of generations of its faithful women.

An aside: Considering that the female diaconate has sound historical precedence and theological underpinnings, that the same cannot be said for the female priesthood, and that there is effectively no movement in the Orthodox Church today to even consider—much less push for—the female priesthood, we ought to be able to consider the female diaconate on its own merits.

Particular to the female diaconate: The Church needs its women’s gifts. It needs them by virtue of their baptism; simply on the basis of the unique gifts each human person has to offer. It also needs them because women have a different lived experience than men, a different incarnational reality than men, and therefore have different gifts to offer the Church as women. Women or men can offer the expertise of chaplains, administrators, pastoral counselors, but only women can offer the gifts garnered from their incarnational reality as women.

Any resistance to the female diaconate based on the concern that its effect would be to erase differences between women and men is unfounded. Instead, the female diaconate would honor the differences in the incarnational reality of women, and would allow the Church to benefit from these differences. In fact, refusing to consider the female diaconate out of fear of the Church succumbing to trends in the larger society around us that seek to elide any differences between women and men is actually, and ironically, a capitulation to society’s trends.

Women need women’s gifts; they need woman-to-woman ministry. This is not an antiquated idea that we here in enlightened America have outgrown. There is a reason I belong to an all-woman book group. There is wisdom behind the decision of the hospice where I volunteer to pair female respite caregivers with female patients (and male respite caregivers with male patients). There are times when a woman needs to be ministered to by another woman. And, yes, this happens informally in parishes (and book groups), but the good that could be done would be a hundredfold more if there were theologically and pastorally trained women ordained as deaconesses, ready to minister to other women, with the oversight, support, and authority of the Church.

The whole Church—not only women—needs women’s gifts. Women have a different lived experience of sexual abuse and assault, from which the whole Church would benefit. Women have a different perspective on authority, its judicious use, its squandering, its misuse, its abuse, from which the whole Church would benefit. Women have a different view of childrearing, marriage, and family life, from which the whole Church would benefit—and so on. And, again, yes, some of these gifts are already being shared with the Church here in the twenty-first century—with women on now on parish councils, teaching in seminaries, and so on—but this cannot compare to the ways in which women’s gifts would be truly infused into the life of the Church if women were ordained to the diaconate, and thus had the sacramental blessing of this ministry. As I understand it, the recognition of both the need for woman-to-woman ministry and the ways in which women’s gifts benefit the entire Church prompted the Patriarch of Alexandria to reinstitute the order of deaconesses in Africa last year.

I truly believe that the reinstitution of the ordained female diaconate in the other autocephalous Orthodox churches would do the opposite of undermining the differences between women and men; that it would instead allow the gifts of women to more fully be given to the Church and the world; that these gifts would be honored, celebrated, and realized in new, wonderful, and unanticipated ways; and that the female diaconate would prompt an effloresce of healing, well-being, flourishing, and hope in the life of my beloved Orthodox Church today.

Carrie Frederick Frost, PhD is a scholar of Orthodox theology, Professor of Theology at Saint Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary, and a Board Member of Saint Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

Public Orthodoxy seeks to promote conversation by providing a forum for diverse perspectives on contemporary issues related to Orthodox Christianity. The positions expressed in this essay are solely the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Orthodox Christian Studies Center.

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Orthodox move for women deacons is ‘revitalization’ not ‘innovation’

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Appearing in the National Catholic Reporter

Nov 30, 2017
by James Dearie

Orthodox liturgical theologians are voicing support for the decision of Patriarch Theodoros II and the Greek Orthodox Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria to reinstate the order of deaconesses.

“We respectfully support the decision of the Patriarchate of Alexandria to restore the female diaconate, thus giving flesh to an idea that has been discussed and studied by pastors and theologians for decades,” nine theologians from theology schools and seminaries of the United States and Greece said in a statement dated Oct. 31.

The reinstitution of the female diaconate does not constitute an innovation, as some would have us believe,” the theologians said, “but the revitalization of a once functional, vibrant, and effectual ministry,” the theologians said.

Theodoros, pope and patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, consecrated five women to the diaconate last February in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, primarily to assist in missionary churches.

Modern Orthodox scholarship acknowledges the existence of a female diaconate in the early church, with many tracing it back to a woman named Phoebe mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans. However, “it really fell out of existence in the late Byzantine period,” said Carrie Frederick Frost, an Orthodox theologian who sits on the board of the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess, an organization that provides education about and promotes the female diaconate in the Orthodox Church.

“Every now and again there has been one … but, for the most part, the past few hundred years have not seen deaconesses,” Frost told NCR in a Nov. 20 interview.

For several decades, Orthodox patriarchs have discussed the possibility of bringing the order back. A 1988 Pan-Orthodox Consultation at Rhodes, Greece, produced the document “The Place of Women in the Orthodox Church,” which stated that the “apostolic order of deaconesses should be revived.”

Little had been done to advance the cause until Theodoros’ surprise move earlier this year.

Reports indicate, however, that Theodoros did not ordain the women in the traditional manner, with the laying of hands at the altar, but “consecrated” them on the side.

Frost says that the ceremony appeared to be a “blending” of the ordination of deacons and the blessing of those entering the subdiaconate, the highest minor order in the Orthodox Church, possibly to deflect pressure from parts of the church that are resistant to the idea of conferring major orders on women.

“There’s an allegiance to tradition that sometimes gets lived out as resistance to change,” Frost said. Many Orthodox are wary of breaking with tradition, she said, and see the decline in other churches’ membership as evidence that the way of the past is the way of the future for the Orthodox Church.

“They see [the female diaconate] as a slippery slope,” she said. “It’s a fear about capitulating to what is perceived to be the secular world at large, in that doing things differently in the Orthodox Church, even if it were a return to something that was historically the case, like the female diaconate, that that would be a capitulation to secular pressures about modernity and change.”

For this reason, the Patriarchate of Alexandria’s decision could have a large impact. Orthodox bishops do not answer directly to a pope or head patriarch, and could technically start ordaining women as deacons, but probably will not as long as it appears that such a move would cause conflict. In a church very concerned with precedent, the patriarchate “really gave us an example of a local church … making that decision internally,” said Frost.

Ultimately, she said, the question of female deacons is a question of the needs of the modern church, many of which she believes female deacons could help meet, citing ministry to women as an important example.
Related: Orthodox Church debate over women deacons moves one step closer to reality

“I don’t want to pigeonhole them into woman-to-woman ministry, but I think that is something they would give the church that the church does not have right now,” Frost said.

She also notes that in the case of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the women were chosen “to help with missionary work. The church is growing gangbusters in Africa right now; there aren’t enough priests, there aren’t enough people on the ground … and they desire to deputize these women to teach, catechize and lead services.”

The revitalization of a female order of deacons in the Orthodox Church could influence the work of Pope Francis’ commission studying the possibility of female deacons in the Roman Catholic Church, which has traditionally recognized the validity of Orthodox sacraments.

“I’m sure that there’s a whole lot of conversation going on in the Holy See right now with regard to Catholic-Orthodox relations on this question,” William Ditewig, a theologian, Catholic deacon and former head of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for the Diaconate, told NCR.

While both churches are considering the possibility of women in the diaconate, the move in the Orthodox Church should not be seen as a step toward women in the priesthood. “There’s no movement [in favor of female priestly ordination],” Frost said of the Orthodox Church.

“In the Orthodox Church, the diaconate is a ministry on a different level than that of bishops and [priests],” Orthodox Fr. Steven Tsichlis told NCR. “One can be ordained to the diaconate and remain a deacon for one’s entire life; the diaconate should not be seen merely as a step to the priesthood and episcopacy in Orthodoxy — although it sometimes is today.”

“It’s about the vocation,” said Ditewig. The diaconate “is not a lower-case priesthood. This is a vocation in its own right.”

https://www.ncronline.org/news/theology/orthodox-move-women-deacons-called-revitalization-not-innovation

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

New St. Phoebe Center Brochure Now Available

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The St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess is pleased to provide this brochure that explains how restoration of the ancient ordained role of the female deacon could help build up Christ’s Church and its people.

Please download and share.

Download the new St. Phoebe Center Brochure

 

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Work of St. Phoebe Center is Mentioned in Commonweal Magazine article “Will the Church Get Women Deacons?”

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In an article titled “Will the Church Get Women Deacons?” appearing in the July 8, 2016 issue of Commonweal Magazine, author Rita Ferrone suggests that “Clergy who obsess about the dangers of clericalism in women are projecting their own sins and selling short women’s capacity for virtue.”

The magazine is billed as an “independent journal of religion, politics and culture edited by lay Catholics”. The author of several books about liturgy, Ferrone points out: “There is also conversation in Orthodox circles about the “rejuvenation” of the ministry of women deacons. Here one might mention the scholarly work of Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald, Saint Catherine’s Vision (a pan-Orthodox theological fellowship), and the St. Phoebe Center for the History of the Deaconess.”

Read the entire article here.

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Updated: Why are there no female deacons in the Orthodox Church today?

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Download FAQs PDF

Thanks to a comment made on our original post from Dr. Phyllis Zagano, Senior Research Associate-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor of Religionat Hofstra University, we have revised our FAQ addressing the absence of female deacons in the Orthodox Church today.

Originally, our answer stated that “…by the 7th century in the West, the male diaconate had become mostly a transitional office to the priesthood/presbytery and the ordained female diaconate, which had not been as widely accepted or exercised in the West, had disappeared.”

We have updated this sentence to read: “…by the 7th century in the West, the male diaconate had become mostly a transitional office to the priesthood/presbytery and the ordained female diaconate, which had not been as widely accepted or exercised in the West, had virtually disappeared.”

To further explain this revision, we have added the following footnote:

“We have evidence (e.g. papal letters) that, in some cases, abbesses of monasteries were still being ordained to the diaconate until around the 12th century. This was separate from their consecrations as abbesses.”

Download Updated FAQs PDF

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

New FAQ: Why are there no female deacons in the Orthodox Church today?

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First, it is important to realize that although the female diaconate has fallen into disuse, the order has never been abolished or disallowed by any Ecumenical Council or canon of the Eastern Church.  Theoretically, a bishop could ordain a woman to the diaconate today. (For instance, on Pentecost Sunday in 1911, Archbishop (now, Saint) Nektarios ordained a nun to the diaconate to serve the needs of her monastery.)  However, he is unlikely to do so without the approval of the Synod of bishops of the autocephalous church to which he belongs.

In general, the question must be answered within the context of the decline of the diaconate of the church more broadly.  From historical sources, we know that by the 7th century in the West, the male diaconate had become mostly a transitional office to the priesthood/presbytery and the ordained female diaconate, which had not been as widely accepted or exercised in the West, had disappeared.  In both cases, the various (active) monastic orders seemed to have assumed many of the historical functions of these ministries.

In the East, both the male and female diaconates were more developed ministries. For instance, the male deacon prepared the offering, assisted in the liturgical celebration, preached, provided pastoral care to the flock, acted as an emissary of the bishop in church and philanthropic matters, etc. The deaconess helped with the baptism of women, taught and provided pastoral care for many of the newly illumined in her care, acted as an agent of the bishop in church matters and philanthropic activity, supervised in the liturgy, etc. However, with the fall of Byzantium the scope and function of the diaconate diminished greatly.  Today, the male deacon generally functions almost exclusively in the liturgical realm and, oftentimes, the diaconate has become merely a transitional stage to the ordination to the priesthood/presbytery. The female diaconate has virtually disappeared.  There does not seem to be any one factor that led to the diminishment of the diaconate for men and the disappearance of the order for women. Most seem to revolve around social-political realities.

In the early church, the two main ministerial orders were the episcopacy and the diaconate.  As the Christianity grew and spread, the presbyter, a delegate of the bishop to the local community, assumed more responsibility for its ministerial and pastoral needs.  Later, with the attacks against and eventual collapse of many of the centers of Christianity (e.g. by the Islamic Ottomans), the social and philanthropic outreach of the church—an important diaconal function—as well as its public presence, were more limited.*  In addition, or as a result of the declining diaconate, some of the male diaconal duties were assumed by the priest/presbyter (e.g. preparation of the bread and wine for the offering, intoning some petitions, etc. in the liturgical celebration and pastoral care duties outside of the gathering) and/or the sub-deacon (assisting the priest in the liturgical celebration, intoning the petitions of the antiphons, etc.), hollowing out the ministry, but placing additional burdens on the presbyter particularly.  The scope of the female diaconate had contracted over time as well. Once infant baptism became the norm, fewer deaconesses were needed to assist in the baptism of adult women. Eventually, the female deacon was limited to functioning mostly within women’s monasteries. Oftentimes, the abbess of the monastery was an ordained deaconess. While she continued to provide instruction and spiritual guidance to those under her care and serve in the liturgy, her ministry was exercised in a more limited context and out of public view.  The rise of a more Levitical understanding of “uncleanness” after iconoclasm seemed to contribute to the disappearance of the female diaconate altogether, since it would have prohibited her liturgical ministry at certain times of the month.  Moreover, the understanding of women as being “unclean” began to be applied to women more generally, limiting the liturgical activity of all women. (More information here.)

The 20th century saw a flourishing of liturgical scholarship and a serious look at the pastoral needs and institutions of the church, especially in the Christian West. (For the most part, western Christian scholars sought to reclaim the inheritance of the undivided Church, oftentimes by looking to its expression in the East.) Because of what has been called the Liturgical Movement, many of the Christian communities in the West reclaimed an understanding of the vital importance of the diaconate—a ministry of liturgy, word and charity. Today, the permanent diaconate for both men, and in some places women, is thriving in those communities, ministering more fully to the needs of their faithful and the world.

In the Christian East, calls for the reinstitution of the deaconess had begun in Russia in the 19th century. (See Calls for the Rejuvenation of the Deaconess in Modern Era.) In the early part of the 20th century, the Moscow Council (1917–18) discussed the issue (as well as a number of others aimed at ministering more fully to the faithful), but no action was taken at the time due to the Bolshevik Revolution. Soon, all the Orthodox churches in the “Eastern Bloc” would be subject to state suppression and any attempt at revitalizing church life at the institutional level (including a rejuvenated diaconate for both men and women) would be put on hold; they were concerned primarily with just surviving. These churches have only recently emerged from state control. Similarly, in the Greek-speaking world, the Church in the 20th century was only beginning to re-emerge after 500 hundred years of Ottoman rule. It has only been within the last hundred years that it has begun to re-engage with society and look at its pastoral needs, internal structures, and external mission. Notably, in 2004 the Church of Greece took steps to reinstitute the female diaconate to serve the needs of remote monasteries. (More information here.) Other ecclesial practices that have a much longer history than the disappearance of the female diaconate are beginning to be re-examined and reclaimed by the Orthodox Church as well. For example, frequent communion of the laity (which had fallen into disuse, by some accounts, as early as the 4/5th c) is now encouraged, the reading aloud of the prayers of the liturgy by the celebrant, especially the Anaphora, (a practice that had died out, in some places, as early as the 6th c.) is found in more places, etc. These renewed practices have contributed to the spiritual growth and enrichment of the faithful. Let us hope that the Church will reexamine and see the efficacy of a renewed and rejuvenated diaconate for both men and women similarly to meet the ministerial needs of Her faithful and the world for today.

*Because Christianity was brought to the Slavs during a certain epoch of its existence (i.e. after much of the social and philanthropic emphases of the diaconate had disappeared), the diaconate in the Slavic tradition has usually been more limited in scope and more particularly focused on its liturgical expression.

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St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Orthodox Women in the Healing Ministries Resource

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Women in Healing Ministries-logo-FINALVisit the website of Orthodox Women in the Healing Ministries and learn about the important work of this group.

As part of their mission, ‘the founders have defined all women as persons who “minister to others,” including priest’s wives, teachers, students, mothers and the like…”

Listen to the talks “Toward a Spirituality of Care” by Fr. Silviu Nicolae Bunta, Ph.D during their October 2015 retreat. These are found on the Ancient Faith Ministries website, where you will find other talks on the vital roles women play in ministry.

 

 

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Interview with Board Member Dr. Valerie Karras

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My interview with Dr Valerie Karras

by Ryan P Hunter

Posted on

On Saturday, June 27, 2015, I attended a fascinating Orthodox Women’s Conference held at the historic ROCOR Church of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin & St Sergius in Glen Cove, New York….

Dr Valerie Karras, Adjunct Lecturer in New Testament at Eden Theological Seminary and board member at the St Phoebe Center for the History of the Deaconess, spoke on “The Liturgical Roles of Women in the Early and Byzantine Church”. This presentation was especially fascinating, as she covered a topic of great interest to me, the institution of the female diaconate which existed from the apostolic age up to the twelfth century in Constantinople. Read more…

Mr. Hunter is a Staff Writer, Researcher & Blogger for the Institute on Religion & Democracy

 

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Enthusiastic First Meeting of St. Phoebe Center Southern Chapter

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Speakers at St. Phoebe Conference Recap Event (L to R): Dionne Manos, Marilyn Rouvelas, Matushka Alexandra Safchuk, and Christina Jatras.

Speakers at St. Phoebe Conference Recap Event (L to R): Dionne Manos, Marilyn Rouvelas, Matushka Alexandra Safchuk, and Christina Jatras.

The Southern Regional Chapter of St. Phoebe Center hosted a program, “Restoring the Holy Orthodox Tradition of Deaconess” at St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church, in Falls Church, VA, on May 28, 2015.

Over forty people from Romanian, Greek, OCA, Antiochian, and Russian parishes in the Washington area and Richmond, VA, attended. Participants shared their enthusiasm, concerns and questions in a lively discussion after the presentations.

The conversation and planning next steps will continue on Thursday, July 16, 2015.

Two recaps of recent women deacons conferences were presented: Matushka Alexandra Safchuk (St. Mark Orthodox Church, Bethesda, MD) read the summary prepared by Lena Zezulin (Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John, Washington) of the St. Phoebe Center Conference, December 6, 2014, in New York City. Marilyn Rouvelas (St. Katherine Greek Orthodox Church, Falls Church, VA) recapped the conference held by the Center of Ecumenical, Missiological and Environmental Studies in January, 2015 at Thessalonki, Greece.

Christina Jatras and Dionne Manos (Protection of the Holy Mother of God Orthodox Church, Falls Church, VA) who had attended the St. Phoebe New York conference, joined Matushka Alexandra and Marilyn for a panel discussion with the audience. The discussion included concerns about what women deacons could do today to serve and meet the needs of the Church, why the Church stopped ordaining them, what liturgical role women had in the early Church, and whether ordination to the diaconate might lead to ordination to the priesthood. The panelists explained that the ordination of women deacons is not a pathway to priesthood, but a restoration of a historic ministry. It was pointed out that the definitive Inter-orthodox Consultation on “The Place of Women in the Orthodox Church” at Rhodes, Greece, in 1988, concluded that women could not be ordained priests, but could be ordained deacons.

Attendees wanted to know the process for getting women ordained, and it was pointed out that ordination is by a bishop who would need to have the approval of his synod before doing so. One of the benefits of ordination is that a deacon is accountable to the bishop. The discussion showed that this ministry is entering new territory and will entail extensive dialogue among the bishops, priests, deacons, diaconate program directors and laity to determine how these women could serve the church today, the required qualifications, and how they would be educated and trained. The document, Dialogue, not Demands: Engagement Suggestions from St. Phoebe Center was used as a basis for discussion about next steps.

Exploration, discussion and planning will continue at the next meeting on July 16, 2015, in Arlington, VA. For more information on this meeting email mrouvelas at verizon dot net.

 

 

St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

Board Member Valerie Karras to Speak at Women’s Conference

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Dr. Valerie A. Karras, professor at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, MO, and St. Phoebe Center board member, will speak at the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) Women’s Conference titled “Living and Thinking Orthodoxy Yesterday and Today”. Dr. Karras will speak on “The Liturgical Roles of Women in the Early and Byzantine Church.” The conference is being held Saturday, June 27, 2015 at Holy Virgin Intercession Church in Glen Cove, NY.

More details can be found here.