Encyclopedia of Liturgical Theology

Deaconesses and Their Work in the Church

Deaconesses and Their Work in the Church

There were deaconesses in the early Church, and there are many articles in the Church canons concerning them.
His Holiness the Pope has seen fit to restore the service of deaconesses once again to the Church. At present, their specific vestment is being prepared, and the liturgical prayers are also being prepared.
Some churches have nominated names to carry out this service, and the door is open before other churches to submit their nominations. A deaconess may be a virgin, and she may also be married. She must be of a dignified age, have a past record in service, and possess suitable qualifications.

The diaconate for women is not a priestly rank, but rather a purely ecclesiastical service; therefore, it does not receive the laying on of hands, but it does have a special liturgical prayer.

The Service of the Deaconess and Her Work:

The deaconess does not serve the altar, because the priesthood is for men only. However, she has other services in the fields of education, organization, social service, and some liturgical aspects. The details are as follows:

1. The deaconess may maintain order in the church in the women’s choir.

2. She may also organize the communicants and present them for Holy Communion after ensuring that they are Orthodox Christian confessors, so that no women infiltrate the ranks of those approaching Communion. She must also ensure their modesty when approaching the divine Mysteries. In this way, she relieves the conscience of the priest in all these aspects.

3. The deaconess works in the field of social service, due to the woman’s natural disposition toward love, compassion, and tenderness. Thus, she can care for widows and orphans, whether in homes or institutions.

4. She may visit women in their homes and convey her information to the priest so that he may do what is necessary within the scope of this service. Through her visitation, she can contribute to the growth of meetings and the visitation of absentees.

5. The deaconess may also visit sick women, whether in their homes or in hospitals, offering them kind words, service, and assistance, and speaking to them the word of God. She represents the Church in caring for them and informs the priest of cases that require his visitation or Holy Communion.

6. The deaconess can also work in the field of personal status matters: she can contribute to resolving family problems, especially since she is more capable of understanding a woman’s psychology and knowing her circumstances. She can relieve the priest of issues that do not require his direct intervention, and she is more capable of listening to certain women’s matters and perceiving their true causes. In this, she helps the priest to know the facts of matters before entering into resolving them.

7. The deaconess may also assist the priest in baptizing women, especially adult women, in matters that do not fall within the limits of the sacrament itself but rather within the bounds of modesty.

8. The deaconess can also work in the field of education, especially in teaching women, girls, and children in general. Therefore, service leaders in church education—if they are mature—can become deaconesses in the Church.

9. The deaconess may serve in child upbringing. A woman is more capable of bearing with a child, granting him tenderness and love, and raising him in his early stages. Therefore, nurseries can be supplied with deaconesses who serve in them, giving them a churchly character in addition to their current social character.

10. The deaconess may supervise women’s activities in the Church, whether workshops, exhibitions, the girls’ library, or the club and summer activities specific to girls.

11. The deaconess may also supervise the cleanliness of the church and the arrangement of its furnishings, for a woman has an excellent sensitivity in cleanliness and elegance. She can perceive what is needed to complete its splendor and beauty, and she may enlist many girls to work under her guidance.

12. The deaconess may supervise nursing in hospitals, if this is among her gifts. In this way, we fulfill the role in which Catholics use nuns. Nuns devote themselves to worship, while deaconesses carry out this service.

An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Fifth Year – Issue Nine – 30 November 1974.

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