Webinars - St. Phoebe Center

Past Events

Sharing the Good News: Teaching and Preaching

March 23, 2025

Description: Axia Women and St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess collaborated for a new webinar, “Women Sharing the Good News: Teachers and Preachers.”

Co-sponsors: Axia Women

The Panelists

Nadieszda Kizenko, PhD

Sherry Shenoda, MD

Sarah Byrne-Martelli, MDiv, D.Min

Dina Zingaro

The Moderator

Teva Regule, MDiv, PhD.

Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Perspectives on Deaconesses

March 11, 2025

Description: Conversations about renewing the ancient order of deaconess are lively in both the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches today. This event compared the two conversations, looking at what is shared and what is different in terms of each church’s history, ecclesiology, and the intended roles for deaconesses today.

The Panelists

Rev. Dr. Radu Bordeianu, JoAnn Melina Lopez, Kelly Meraw, Dr. Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos

Proposed Guidelines:

A Presentation and Discussion of the Latest Collaborative Draft

A discussion of a Church-wide, collaborative draft of the Center’s “Proposed Guidelines for the Revival of the Ordained Female Diaconate in the Orthodox Church Today”

September 23, 2024

Description: The “Proposed Guidelines” were created to generate discussion within the Orthodox Christian community, to expand our imagination of what this ancient order might look like today, and to move forward together to ordain deaconesses once again.

The document was published in 2023, during our tenth anniversary symposium. St. Phoebe Center then solicited and received feedback from the whole Church, including laywomen, laymen, deacons, priests, and bishops.

We then revised the “Proposed Guidelines” based on this valuable and appreciated feedback and once again offered it to the Church for discussion and inspiration.

Co-sponsors: Discerning Deacons and the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Holy Cross.

The Panelists

Dr. Carrie Frederick Frost, Dr. Teva Regule, and Dr. Helen Creticos Theodoropoulos

The Moderator

Rev. Dr. Radu Bordeianu will serve as moderator

INFORMATION SESSION:

ST. PHOEBE SERVICE EVENT

Tuesday July 9, 2024

In celebration of St. Phoebe’s feast day, the St. Phoebe Center encourages our supporters to host local service projects.

Those interested in hosting a local service project gathered via Zoom to brainstorm how best to celebrate the Feast of St Phoebe.

The Moderator

Kristina Baktis is a St. Phoebe Center Advisory Board Member, board-certified art therapist, and credentialed art therapy supervisor.

Reflections on the Ordination of Deaconess Angelic

Monday June 10, 2024

Dr. Carrie Frederick Frost shared her reflections and photos on the ordination of Deaconess Angelic of Harawe, Zimbabwe. A Q&A followed the conversation.

Dr. Carrie Frederick Frost, Chair of the St. Phoebe Center, is a lifelong Orthodox Christian and a scholar of Orthodox theology. She received her doctorate in Theology, Ethics, and Culture from the University of Virginia. She works on motherhood, family, children, theological anthropology, iconography, theology in literature, and contemplative prayer.

The Moderator

Paul Meyendorff St. Phoebe Center Advisory Board Member and Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.

EXPLORING THE NEED FOR DIACONAL MINISTRY AND THE FEMALE DIACONATE

Sunday May 19, 2024

Does the Church really need a female diaconate? Couldn’t lay people just do this type of work? These are questions that have been frequently posed to the St. Phoebe Center.

While the St. Phoebe Center wholeheartedly supports lay ministry in the Church, we also acknowledge a place for ordained ministry as well. This seminar focused on the question of the diaconate broadly, as well as the female diaconate specifically.

We first contextualized the issue—examining the order and its relationship with the other major orders of the Church—and spoke to the differences between ordained and lay ministry. Then we heard and shared stories of how a robust diaconate—especially a female diaconate—is needed to meet the ministerial needs of the Church and our mission to the world today.

The Panelists

Fr. Marc Dunaway is the Archpriest of St. John the Evangelist Cathedral in Eagle River, Alaska. He directs the Eagle River Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies and is an Advisory Board member of the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

Dr. Demetra Jaquet, D.Min, is retired from 25 years of professional life as a Pastoral Counselor, CPE Supervisor, Spiritual Director, and Adjunct Professor. She founded the Women’s Orthodox Ministries and Education Network (WOMEN) and is on the Advisory Board for the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

Dr. Teva Regule, received her PhD in Systematic Theology from Boston College, focusing on liturgical theology and history. She now teaches theology at her alma mater. Dr. Regule is a contributing academic on the ministry of women in the Church and is a Board Member of the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

Responding to the Critics

March 7, 2024

On March 7, 2015, the St. Phoebe Center hosted an evening of “responding to the critics.” Grounded in sound scholarship and theology, panelists from our Board and Advisory Board addressed a series of common objections or concerns around having deaconesses in the Orthodox Church.

The Panelists

Fr. Radu Bordeianu, St. Phoebe Center Advisory Board Member Dr. Valerie Karras, St. Phoebe Center Advisory Board Member Dr. Teva Regule, St. Phoebe Center Board Member

Moderator

Ms. Ann Marie Mecera, St. Phoebe Board Member and Founder

Girls’ Participation in the Liturgy

January 28. 2024

Co-sponsored with Axia Women, this third event in a series focused on integrating girls into our liturgical celebration by addressing this issue from various perspectives—from those who plan and coordinate this ministry, to the perspectives of parents, and to the perspective of clergy on how this ministry has been received in their parishes and its value for the parish. The event was moderated by Dr. Teva Regule, a liturgical scholar, an expert on lay participation in the liturgy, and a St. Phoebe Center Board Member.

Dr. Regule began the evening by noting, “One of the most pressing pastoral issues of our day is how to connect our young people to the life of the Church,in particular to our liturgical celebration. Our liturgy can be quite powerful, but it can also be quite inaccessible for young people, especially your girls as their participation tends to be more circumscribed. This event focused on the participation of girls in our liturgical celebration more particularly.”

Read the rest of Dr. Regule’s opening remarks here.

The Panelists:

Anna Kallis, MDiv, founder of the Myrrh-bearer Ministry at Sts. Peter and Paul.

Kristina Baktis, MPS, LCAT, LPAT, co-founder of a ministry for young girls at her parish.

Andy Nosal, PhD, parent of a daughter who participates in this ministry.

Fr. Peter Baktis, DMin., parish priest.

Why are Deaconesses Needed in the Orthodox Church Today?

In this webinar, St. Phoebe Center explored the need for the Deaconess in the Orthodox Church as it pertains to modern day.

Panelists:

Kristina Baktis is a licensed art therapist and a credentialed art therapy supervisor, and she co-founded the handmaiden ministry at the OCA Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection in NYC and serves on the board of the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

Nicholas Denysenko holds the Emil and Elfriede Jochum Professor and Chair in Theology at Valparaiso and specializes in the Orthodox liturgical tradition. He is the author of many books including The People’s Faith: The Liturgy of the Faithful in Orthodoxy.

Elizabeth Prodromou is Senior Researcher at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where she directed the Initiative on Religion, Law, and Diplomacy and taught on religion and geopolitics. She has worked with the Ecumenical Patriarchate on many projects, including serving as a Special Consultant to the Holy and Great Council in 2016 and as a member of the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Task Force on Modern Slavery.

Marilyn Rouvelas is a co-editor of the forthcoming book, Deaconesses: A Living Tradition for Today and Tomorrow, with Petros Vassiliadis, Niki Papageorgiou, and John Chryssavgis, author of Remembering and Reclaiming Diakonia.

The Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham

Women Scholars of Orthodox Christianity

The Orthodox Christian Studies Center is delighted to present the ninth episode of its webinar series highlighting the scholarly insights and academic careers of female scholars whose research and writing explore some facet of the history, thought, or culture of Orthodox Christianity.

Speaker:

Carrie Frederick Frost, Ph.D. This episode features an interview with Carrie Frederick Frost, Ph.D., adjunct professor in the Global Humanities and Religions department at Western Washington University, and in theology at Saint Sophia Ukrainian Orthodox Seminary. She is the author of Maternal Body: A Theology of Incarnation from the Christian East (Paulist Press, 2019) and the editor of The Reception of the Holy and Great Council: Reflections of Orthodox Christian Women (GOARCH, 2018). Her work attends to matters of women and mothers in the church, sacraments and practice, the reinstitution of the ordained order of deaconesses, Christian material culture, and contemplative prayer. She serves on the boards of the International Orthodox Theological Association and the Saint Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

The Female Diaconate and Young Women: Meeting Their Needs/Garnering Their Gifts

This webinar seeks to address the needs, questions, and concerns of young women today and how the revival of the female diaconate could both meet those needs and be a tool to garner their gifts.

Panelists:

Kyra Limberakis, M.T.S.

Rachel Contos, B.A.

The Calls Calls for Rejuvenation of the Female Diaconate in the Modern Era

This webinar addressed the numerous calls for the renewal of the female diaconate and how we might envision both a revival of the female diaconate and a rejuvenated male diaconate for today.

St. Phoebe Center Board Member Teva Regule, Ph.D. summarized the numerous “Calls for Rejuvenation of the Female Diaconate in the Modern Era” and previewed their vision for a renewed female diaconate. She also shared a paper written by Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, Ph.D. titled ‘What Do Deacons Do. Viewpoint,’ which explored the possibilities for rejuvenating the male diaconate to help build up the Church for today.

DOWNLOAD THE POWERPOINT: The Call for Rejuvenation of the Female Diaconate

DOWNLOAD THE NOTES: What Do Deacons Do?

DOWNLOAD THE POWERPOINT: What Do Deacons Do?

The Panelists:

Teva Regule, Ph.D.
Teva was raised in the Orthodox Church and has been an active member for all of her life. For many years she was involved in the work of youth ministries in the Church, working on the national level of the American Romanian Orthodox Youth (AROY) and serving two years as the national president. For the past twenty-five years, her worked has focused on the ministry of women in the Church. For over fifteen years, she served as Managing Editor of the St. Nina Quarterly, a publication dedicated to exploring the ministry of women in the Orthodox Church and one which aimed to cultivate a deeper understanding of ministry in the lives of all Orthodox Christian women and men. In addition, Teva served as an Orthodox consultant for a number of consultations on women and men in the church sponsored by the World Council of Churches. At present, she serves on the Board of the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

A life-long student of theology, Teva completed her Master of Divinity degree at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 2007, graduating with highest distinction. In addition to the ministry of young people and women, she is very interested in the Church’s liturgical life. For the past few years, she has focused her studies on liturgical theology and history. She received her PhD in Systematic theology (with a focus on liturgical theology and history) from Boston College and is now an adjunct professor at her alma mater. In addition, she is presently the President of the Orthodox Theological Society in America (OTSA).

Reverend Deacon Nicholas Denysenko, Ph.D.
Deacon Nicholas Denysenko serves as Emil and Elfriede Jochum Professor and Chair at Valparaiso University. He previously taught at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles (2010-2017). Deacon Nicholas is a graduate of the University of Minnesota (B.S. in Business, 1994), St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (M.Div., 2000), and The Catholic University of America (Ph.D., 2008). His most recent books are The People’s Faith: The Liturgy of the Faithful in Orthodoxy (Rowman and Littlefield), and The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation (Northern Illinois University Press). He is a deacon of the Orthodox Church in America, ordained in 2003.

The Gifts of the Spirit: The Female Diaconate, its Fall into Disuse, and Why it all Matters

DOWNLOAD THE POWERPOINT

On Sunday, June 7, the Church celebrated Pentecost, the time of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Christ, which included His mother and the women disciples. As St. Paul reminds us, the Spirit bestows unique gifts to each member of the body of Christ, for the service and benefit of all. Each is necessary and of great value, all working together for the whole. Women as well as men receive these gifts to build up the body of Christ.

This webinar examined how women served the Church for over a thousand years through the ministry of the ordained diaconate, why that matters, and what it can say for women’s ministry today. In addition, the webinar explored possible causes for its eventual fall into disuse and looked at what that means for its restoration.

The Female Diaconate in a Time of Pandemic

DOWNLOAD THE POWERPOINT

On Sunday, May 3, the Church reads from Acts 6:1-7 in which the apostles appoint others to help with ministry in the early Christian Church. This has traditionally marked the beginning of the office of the deacon. On this day, the Church also reads an account of the Myrrh-Bearing Women who, when they go to anoint Christ’s body, are told of His Resurrection and instructed to tell the disciples, beginning the Christian witness to the world.

We offer this webinar to consider the need for a fully functioning diaconate in the Orthodox Church—both male and female—to minister to the faithful and witness to the world today.