Deaconess

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Icon of St. Olympias of Constantinople , an early Christian deaconess

The deaconess (from ancient Greek διάκονος diákonos, servant, helper) holds a spiritual office within the church, the diaconate . There are deacons in various churches in which women are ordained , for example in most Protestant , Anglican and Old Catholic churches . The Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches do not ordain deaconesses, with the exception of the Church of Greece . In 2004 the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece decided to admit women to the diaconate there, according to the local bishop.

A deaconess exercises an ecclesiastical office like a deacon and works in a parish on behalf of the regional bishop . She is subordinate to the community leader . The main task of a deacon is to combine pastoral care and social work, for example pastoral care for the elderly and sick. Biblical References (z. B. Acts 6.1 to 7  EU ) and other early Christian testimonies about the apostolic constitutions , lead to the conclusion that the diaconate for both men and women in early Christianity not a precursor to the priesthood , but a was an independent service.

In early Christianity , the service of the deaconess (also called deaconess in older literature) was carried out by women, e.g. B. attests the Didaskalia Apostolorum of the 3rd century, which according to Evangelos Theodorou, was widespread until the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century. The ordination of women in the Western Church, on the other hand, was less common and ended in the 11th century, with the occupation of the Roman episcopate with German popes. The deaconess corresponded in spiritual rank to a deacon and, apart from the altar service , had similar tasks. Deaconesses participated in the preparation and baptism of the female catechumens , since baptism was then carried out by immersion and anointing of the whole body.

Early history

A woman is already mentioned in the Bible who exercises the office of a deacon: Phoibe (Phöbe), the deaconess of Kenchreai , who brings the letter of Paul to the Romans ( Romans 16,1  EU ). Extra-biblically, Pliny mentions two female deacons around 112 AD. Both Clement of Alexandria and Origen interpret Paul to mean that there were male and female deacons.

In the Syrian Didaskalie (municipal code ), 250 deacons and their areas of responsibility were described before the year. A theological comparison makes it clear that this is a hierarchical office, the bishop is compared with God the Father, the deacon with the son and the deaconess with the Holy Spirit , who is female in the Semitic language. “There was no more room for the priests, they are compared with the apostles”.

Other well-known deacons were Makrina the Younger , the older sister of Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa , Olympias of Constantinople and Radegundis .

In the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, female deacons are mentioned by all the leading church fathers in the East, and numerous deaconesses are named in the church annals. The diaconate was considered an honorable office to which numerous talented women of high rank belonged. In the Hagia Sophia were under Justinian I. forty deaconesses; smaller congregations had up to six deacons.

In the Byzantine Church there were deaconesses up to the 12th century, in the Western Church , where they were generally less represented, until the 8th century. With the development of the diaconate towards a form of the tripartite ordination office, the previous practice came to an end. The increasingly rare baptism of adult women in these times also meant the almost complete elimination of the most important area of ​​responsibility of the deaconess.

tasks

The Didaskalia Apostolorum (Syria, around 280), Chapter XVI, says:

“Therefore, O Bishop, you should call for yourself workers of righteousness who are lifelong helpers. Among all people you should choose and call as deacons those who appear good to you, a man to do many necessary things and a woman to serve women. For there are houses where you cannot send the deacon to women because of the Gentiles, but you should send the deaconess. Because in many other things the office of a woman is required. (85.4) "

This source shows that deaconesses were specifically necessary for ministries in which a man could not be used for moral reasons. These included:

  • the assistance in the baptism of adult women: “It is necessary that those who go into the baptismal font are anointed with the anointing oil by a deaconess .” (85:13) The background here is the full-body anointing before baptism .
  • the instruction of newly baptized women: "When the baptized comes out of the water, the deaconess is to receive her and teach her how to keep the seal of baptism unbroken in chastity and holiness." (85:22) This included clear words on sexual matters, therefore a man was out of the question for this interview.
  • delivering messages from the bishop to women (85:33)
  • Care for the sick and poor (85,33)

ordination

Deacons were ordained and counted among the clergy in the early Church . The ecumenical councils of Nicaea (325), Chalcedon (451) and the Trullan Synod (692) mention the ordination of female deacons. Whether this also applied to female deacons is controversial in theology (see ordination of women ).

In the Apostolic Constitution , female deacons are mentioned, after the deacons and before the sub-deacons . Deaconesses were ordained by the bishop laying his hands on them in the presence of the priests, deacons and deaconesses ( chirotonia ) and saying the same prayer of consecration as in the deacon ordination.

present

Protestant churches

Since the 1970s, deacons have been trained again alongside deacons. In addition to theological training, you will also receive a socio-pedagogical or nursing training. The training is regulated differently in the regional churches , it usually lasts between three and five years. The deacons in the regional church are no longer ordained, but “blessed” into service, which is connected with fewer rights under canon law. The Association of Protestant Diaconal Communities in Germany (VEDD) has been campaigning for the office of deacons to be equated with the office of pastor since 1999. Deaconesses are not to be confused with deaconesses .

Free Churches

The situation in the free churches is very different in relation to the deacons. In the last few decades many free churches have hired deaconesses as well as deaconesses, whose number is falling sharply. In the Federation of Evangelical Free Churches , the deacons are organized in an association. There have been deacons since 1979. Since 2003 deacons have not only been employed within this covenant, but also ordained. The areas of responsibility include youth work, senior work, women's work, visiting and nursing the sick, counseling in social matters, leading Bible study groups and much more. In terms of their area of ​​responsibility, they are comparable to a Catholic parish officer .

Roman Catholic Church

The possibility of reintroducing the old church diaconate for women has been discussed for a long time, especially in the western world. The teaching of the Catholic Church excludes the ordination of women. The sacrament of ordination comprises three orderly stages: the diaconate (deacon ordination), the presbyterate (priestly ordination) and the episcopate (episcopal ordination), with the fullness of the sacrament only being united in the latter as the highest ordinance. According to Catholic doctrine, the sacrament of consecration can only be validly received by a man.

In 1975 the Würzburg Synod , in which all German bishops were also involved, suggested that the Pope examine the question of the diaconate of women in accordance with current theological knowledge and, given the pastoral situation, possibly admit women to diaconate ordination.

At the study day of the spring plenary assembly of the German Bishops' Conference in February 2013 , Walter Cardinal Kasper made the suggestion of a benediction , comparable to that of an abbess . According to tradition, this can also be combined with the consecration of a virgin . Archbishop Robert Zollitsch also spoke out in favor of a specific service for women in April 2013. Regensburg Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer and Munich Archbishop Reinhard Cardinal Marx turned against the ordination of women to the diaconate .

The reasons given for the admission of women to the ordination offices are the lack of priests , furthermore the internal church appreciation of women and the fundamental equality of women in other areas of life. The reasons given against this are: the example of Christ who chose only men to be apostles, the constant practice of the Church, which imitates Christ in the exclusive election of men, and the magisterium, which adheres to this divine commandment.

On May 12, 2016, at an audience for women religious , Pope Francis announced the establishment of a commission through which the diaconate of women in the early church would be scientifically examined again. On August 1, 2016, the Holy See announced the establishment of the commission headed by Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer SJ, but which, according to Pope Francis, had not led to a unanimous result in May 2019. At the Amazon Synod in October 2019, the admission of women to the diaconate was requested several times, but was not taken up by the Pope in his post-synodal letter Querida Amazonia . On April 8, 2020, it was announced in Rome that Pope Francis had set up his own study commission headed by Cardinal Giuseppe Petrocchi, consisting of five women and five men.

Old Catholic Church

In the 1970s, after heated debates , the Bishops' Conference of the Union of Utrecht reaffirmed the non-admission of women to the apostolic office of deacon, priest and bishop. The reason given was that Jesus had only called men to be apostles , so women were not admitted to sacramental offices.

In 1982, however, the International Bishops' Conference determined that nothing stood in the way of the diaconate of women, a reintroduction was left to the local churches. The first deaconess in Switzerland was ordained in 1987, the first in Germany in 1988, the first in Austria in 1991. Since 1996 priestesses have also been ordained in the Old Catholic Church in German-speaking countries.

Orthodox churches

The office of deaconry was relatively widespread in Byzantine times, but almost disappeared after the end of the Byzantine Empire. Deaconesses can be ordained both sacramentally and non-sacramentally, although sacramental ordination is very rare today, in contrast to the Byzantine period. In rare cases, however, deaconesses have also been sacramentally ordained in modern times, for example in the 20th century by Saint Nektarios and the former Athens Archbishop Christodoulos.

A general reintroduction is being discussed in some Orthodox churches today. Since 2004 , if the respective local bishop agrees, deacons have been admitted to the Orthodox churches in Greece by decision of the Holy Synod. In November 2016, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All of Africa decided to reinstate the women's diaconate for the Orthodox Churches in Africa. Theodoros II , the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria , then consecrated five women, three nuns and two catechists, to be deacons in 2017 . They should work in the mission in Katanga , Africa , especially in adult baptisms , church weddings and in catechesis .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Vatican Radio: Greece revival of the women's diaconate
  2. ^ Ernst Leuninger: Women in early Christianity ( memento of June 8, 2003 in the Internet Archive ); Lecture given in Limburg on September 28, 1997
  3. ^ The Syrian Didaskalia, translated and explained by Hans Achelis and Johs. Flemming, The oldest sources of oriental church law, Volume 2, Leipzig 1904 online .
  4. ^ Evangelos Theodorou: Ordination of women in the Orthodox Church? In: Dietmar W. Winkler (Ed.): Diakonat der Frau. Findings from a biblical, patristic, eastern church, liturgical and systematic-theological perspective. LIT Verlag, Münster 2010, ISBN 9783643501813 , p. 45 ff.
  5. ↑ Baptisten.de: Convention of Deacons in the BEFG ( Memento from February 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ); accessed on February 17, 2016
  6. ↑ Domradio.de : " We are still experiencing it", discussion about the ordination of women , March 31, 2017
  7. ↑ https://www.dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/Synoden/gemeinsame_Synode/band1/synode.pdf Joint synod of the dioceses in the Federal Republic of Germany
  8. ^ Bishops' Conference: Cardinal Kasper proposes a new office for women. In: Spiegel Online . February 20, 2013, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  9. ↑ http://de.radiovaticana.va:80/news/2013/04/30/d:_verwirrung_um_%E2%80%9Adiakonenamt%E2%80%99_f%C3%BCr_frauen/ted-687679 ( Memento from May 3rd 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ http://www.archivioradiovaticana.va/storico/2013/04/29/d_bischof_voderholzer_gegen_diakonat_der_frau/ted-687290
  11. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from May 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ Ordinatio Sacerdotalis , No. 1.
  13. ^ Vatican Radio on the establishment of the commission
  14. ↑ domradio.de: Investigation becomes study commission. Pope has women's diaconate re-examined , April 8, 2020.
  15. ↑ http://www.alt-katholisch.de/info/frauen/process.htm ( Memento from October 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ "Διακόνισσες και Ορθόδοξη Θεολογία"
  17. ^ Orthodox Forum: Women's Diaconate
  18. ^ Patriarch ordains deacons . In: Continents , vol. 52 (2017), issue 4 (July / August), p. 9.
  19. ↑ https://www.paris.catholique.fr/le-patriarche-d-alexandrie-a.html

Web links

literature

  • Dorothea Reininger: Diaconate of women in one church. Discussions, decisions and pastoral-practical experiences in Christian ecumenism and their contribution to the Roman Catholic discussion . Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern 1999, ISBN 978-3-7966-0949-7 .
  • Mari Kristin Arat: The Deaconesses of the Armenian Church in a canonical view. Mechitharist printing house, Vienna 1990.