Deaconesses: A New Testament and Canonical Approach
Deaconesses: A New Testament and Canonical Approach

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the function and ordination of deaconesses in the light of the Pauline Epistles and the Canons and Constitutions of the Eastern Church, where deaconess was a rank of the minor clergy up until the twelfth century. Their ordination was performed by the laying on of hands (cheirothesia) rather than election (cheirotonia), as in the case of deacons and priests, and as such deaconesses were not part of the priesthood proper. The deaconesses ministered to needs specific to the primitive Church, such as at the baptism of adult women, but when these needs declined the office itself fell into disuse.

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