The ordination of women deacons in the early Greek and Syriac
speaking dioceses was clearly a real, sacramental ordination, equal to the
ordination of male deacons.
The ordination ceremony
This follows from the following facts:
In the ordination rituals, both the ordination of a deacon and of a
deaconess is called cheirotonia, i.e. Greek for ‘imposition of
hands’, ‘ordination’.
Both the male and the female deacon are ordained by the Bishop.
Before the ordination of both the male and female deacon the Bishop
publicly declares his intention of ordaining the ordinand deacon in the
‘Divine Grace’ statement, as in all major holy orders.
The ordination of both male and female deacon takes places in the
sanctuary before the altar, during the liturgy of the Eucharist and at a very
solemn moment, namely after the sacred Anaphora. So-called minor orders, such
as the lectorate and subdiaconate, are imparted by a simple imposition of hands
outside the sanctuary and not during the Eucharist.
The Bishop ordains both by imposing his hands on the head of the
person to be ordained (the materia of the sacrament of orders).
The Bishop invokes the Holy Spirit both on the male and the female
deacon with the same invocatory prayer, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit . . .
’, (the forma of the sacrament of orders).
Both the man and the woman selected for the diaconate stand waiting
on the steps in front of the holy doors leading into the sanctuary, and are
then conducted to the sacred altar and there ordained by the Bishop.
The Bishop speaks two prayers of ordination, characteristic for
higher orders.
For both the male and the female deacon, the Bishop speaks the
ekphonese (=soft-spoken) prayer ‘The divine Grace . . . .’,
something that is characteristic of the higher orders.
Because of the presence of the rest of the clergy and the people, the
ordination has a public character.
Both the male and the female deacon receive the stole as a
sign of their ecclesiastical rank.
Both the deacon and deaconess receive the chalice for communion,
which the deaconess returns personally to the altar.
The actual text of the ordination rituals for women deacons has been
preserved in a few precious manuscripts:
I am working on a number of other manuscripts from the University of
Leiden and the British Library, and hope to put out the results soon: here!
There are some small differences which do
not affect the essence of the ordination.
The sacramental character of the ordination of women deacons is
indisputable. In particular, both the matter and form of the
ordination are identical for men and women, and express the bishop's intention
to ordain a true minister.
“If anyone says that, through sacred ordination, the Holy Spirit
is not given, and that therefore the Bishop says in vain: ‘Receive the
Holy Spirit’, or that through this ordination the character [of holy
orders] is not imprinted . . . , let him be anathema.” The Council
of Trent, Canon 4. Denzinger no 964.
While some traditional theologians still deny
the sacramentality of the deaconesses' ordination, more and more experts concur
in stating that the ordination of women deacons undoubtedly belonged to the
sacrament of order:
J. Morinus, Commentarius de sacris ecclesiae ordinationibus,
Antwerp, 1695, P. III. ex. X. f. 143ff.
A. Ludwig, ‘Weibliche Kleriker in der altchristlichen und
frühmittelalterlichen Kirche’, in Theologisch-praktische
Monatschrift 20 (1910) pp. 548-557, 609-617; 21 (1911) pp. 141-149.
“The cheirotonia of the deaconess with its ceremonies is
in form parallel to that of the deacon. All consecration formulas, from those
of the Apostolic Constitutions and the Testamentum to those of the Monophysites
and the Nestorians and that handed down by Matthaeus Blastares, bear witness to
this fact." A. Kalsbach, Die altkirchliche Einrichtung der Diakonissen bis
zu ihrem Erlöschen, Freiburg, 1926, p. 109.
“The ordination of deaconesses is an exceptional case in the
history of the Church. It belonged , without any doubt, to the higher
orders.” Evangelos Theodorou, ‘Die Weihe, Die Segnung der
Diakoninnen’ (in modern Greek), Theologia 25 (1954) pp. 430 - 469.
“The ordination of deaconesses possessed an absolute morphological
sameness to the cheirotonia of the higher clergy”; Evangelos Theodorou,
‘Das Ambt der Diakoninnen in der kirchlichen Tradition. Ein orthodoxer
Beitrag zum Problem der Frauenordination’, US 33 (1978) pp. 162-172.
J. Funk, “Klerikale Frauen?” in Österreichisches
Archiv für Kirchenrecht 14 (1963) pp. 274-280.
L. Zscharnack, Der Dienst der Frau in den ersten Jahrhunderten der
christlichen Kirche, Göttingen, 1902, pp. 130ff.
J. Daniélou, “Le ministère des femmes dans
l’Église ancienne, ” in La Maison-Dieu 61 (1960) pp. 70
- 96.
“To push the argument against the sacramentality of the
ordination of deaconesses too far would be in fact to deny the sacramentality
of the ordination of deacons. ” Ch. R. Meyer, ‘Ordained Women in the
Early Church’, in The Catholic Citizen 53 (1967) p.118.
Cipriano Vagaggini, ‘L'Ordinazione delle diaconesse nella
traditione greca e byzantina’, Oriente Christiano Patristico
(OrChrP) 40 (1974) pp. 145 - 189.
Roger Gryson, Le ministère des Femmes dans l'Église
ancienne, Gembloux, Duculot 1972; ‘L’Ordination des Diaconesses
d'après les Constitutions apostoliques’, MSR 31 (1974) pp. 41-45.
Herbert Vorgrimler, Sacramental Theology, The Liturgical
Press, Minnesota 1992, pp.272-273: “The possibility of ordaining women as
deacons is quite another matter. There was such an ordination in the early days
of the Church . . . The question whether their ordination is sacramental could
not be asked before the reflections on sacramental theology in high
Scholastics. In the Byzantine liturgy, it has all the characteristics of a
major ordination.”
Andreas Christof Lochmann, Studien zum Diakonat der Frau,
Siegen 1996.
Walter Gross, Frauen Ordination. Stand der Diskussion in der
katholischen Kirche, München 1996.
A. Jensen, ‘Das Amt der Diakonin in der kirchlichen Tradition
des ersten Jahrtausend’, in Diakonat. Ein Amt für Frauen in der
Kirche -- Ein frauengerechtes Amt?, ed. P. Hünermann et al.,
Schwabenverlag, Ostfildern 1997, pp. 53-77.
P.Hünermann, ‘Theologische Argumente für die
Diakonatsweihe von Frauen’, in Diakonat. Ein Amt etc., pp.
98-128.
B.J.Hilberath, ‘Das Amt der Diakonin: ein sakramentales Amt? Ein
Zugang von der Gemeinde her’, in Diakonat. Ein Amt etc., pp.
212-218.
D.Sattler, ‘Zur Sakramentalität des Diakonats der
Frau’, in Diakonat. Ein Amt etc., pp. 219-224.
Full documentation on
all the ancient 
