Facing up to
Women in Holy Orders: deacons in the past, priests for now
by John
Wijngaards
In the discussion on admitting
women to Holy Orders, the ordination of the first millennium women deacons has
assumed a new role. For one of the key arguments the Vatican handles against
the ordination of women is the assertion that women were never admitted to Holy
Orders. Well, they are wrong. Women did receive a valid ‘sacramental’
ordination to the diaconate.
A word about
terminology
Some people reject the use of the
word sacrament here. They say it is an anachronism. In its full technical
sense, they point out, this term had only been developed in the middle ages.
And, indeed, during the first millennium Christians did not yet use the term
‘sacrament’ as we use it today. Yet the reality of sacrament
existed in the Church at the time and no theologian today would dispute that
bishops, priests and male deacons truly received holy orders and thus ‘the
sacrament of holy orders’ in today’s terms.
The same applied to the Byzantine
bishops who ordained women deacons. They did not know the word
‘sacrament’, but they understood its substance. The circumstance that
people at a particular time did not have a clear term for an object or
an event, or did not define it theologically as we do today, does not disprove
the reality of that object or event.
From the ritual of the ordination
rite it is clear that ordaining a deacon, whether man or woman, was a very holy
and solemn act, through which the power of the Holy Spirit was bestowed on the
ordinand for a sacred task. Here is clear evidence of the sacramental order of
sacred symbols through which Christ is present to his community.
Pseudo-Dionysius
(around 500 AD) says that only three kinds of leaders belong to the ‘order
of sacred ministers’ [ταξις των
‘ιερουργων]: those who purify
(deacons), those who enlighten (priests) and those who perfect
(bishops).
Such considerations make it clear
that "both in the West and the East there were equivalent notions to
sacramentality . . . There existed a widely received theology that understood
cheirotonia or cheirothesia [the imposition of hands] as the act
that mediated the empowerment and the grace of the Holy Spirit on the ordinand.
It clearly entails the substance of ‘sacrament’ even if the word is
not used" (Peter Hünermann). "From at least 400 AD a clear distinction
between major and minor orders began to emerge . . . Ordination is understood
in terms of what we today would call a sacrament" (A. C. Lochmann).
In other words, Byzantine
Christians recognised the ordination to the diaconate as a sacrament, just as
baptism, confession, the eucharist and the anointing of the sick were
sacraments for them, even if they used other terms.
A word about the historical
reality of women deacons
It is not my intention here to
spend time on describing the original women deacons in detail. May it suffice
to say that they served especially in the Byzantine communities of the Eastern
part of the Catholic Church from at least the third to the ninth centuries.
There have been tens of thousands of them. Their record is preserved on tomb
stones, in literary accounts and in the veneration of more than 20 women deacon
saints.
About this and everything
else in this paper, full details are provided in my book:
No Women in Holy Orders? The Ancient Women
Deacons, Canterbury Press 2002. ISBN
1-85311-507-X.
PART ONE.
The Ordination Rite for Women Deacons
In many ancient manuscripts the
precise rite through which women deacons were ordained, have been preserved for
us. I will print here the text as found in the Codex Barberini gr. 336 (780 AD).
Prayer for the ordination of a deaconess [’ευχη
’επι
χειροτονιαι
διακονισσης].
After the sacred offertory, the
doors are opened and, before the deacon starts the litany ‘All
Saints’, the woman who is to be ordained deacon is brought before the
pontiff. And after he has said the ‘Divine Grace’ with a loud voice,
the woman to be ordained bows her head. He imposes his hand on her forehead ,
makes the sign of the cross on it three times, and prays:
"Holy and
Omnipotent Lord, through the birth of your Only Son our God from a Virgin
according to the flesh, you have sanctified the female sex. You grant not only
to men, but also to women the grace and coming of the Holy Spirit. Please,
Lord, look on this your maid servant and dedicate her to the task of your
diaconate [της
διακονιας], and pour out into her
the rich and abundant giving of your Holy Spirit. Preserve her so that she may
always perform her ministry
[λειτουργιαν] with
orthodox faith and irreproachable conduct, according to what is pleasing to
you. For to you is due all glory and honour."
After the ‘Amen’, one of the deacons now starts this
prayer: ‘Let us implore the Lord in peace. For peace from above, let us
pray the Lord. For peace in the whole world. For this our Archbishop, for his
priestly ministry, his reward, his endurance, his peace and salvation and the
work of his hands, let us pray the Lord. For so-and-so [name of the
woman] who is to receive the diaconate and for her salvation. That God who
loves people grant her a pure and immaculate diaconate, let us pray the Lord.
For our pious Emperor who is protected by God, etc., etc.’
While the deacon makes these
intercessions, the archbishop, still imposing his hand on the head of the
ordinand, prays as follows:
“Lord,
Master, you do not reject women who dedicate themselves to you and who are
willing, in a becoming way, to serve your Holy House, but admit them to the
order of your ministers
[λειτουργων]. Grant the gift
of your Holy Spirit also to this your maid servant who wants to dedicate
herself to you, and fulfil in her the grace of the diaconate
[διακονιας], as you have granted
to Phoebe the grace of your diaconate
[διακονιας], whom you had called
to the work of the ministry
[λειτουργιας]. Give her,
Lord, that she may persevere without guilt in your Holy Temple, that she may
carefully guard her behaviour, especially her modesty and temperance. Moreover,
make your maid servant perfect, so that, when she will stand before the
judgement seat of your Christ, she may obtain the worthy fruit of her excellent
conduct, through the mercy and humanity of your Only Son."
After the ‘Amen’, he puts the stole of the diaconate
[το διακονικον
‘ωραριον] round her neck, under her
veil, arranging the two extremities of the stole towards the
front.
When the newly ordained has taken
part of the sacred body and precious blood, the archbishop hands her the
chalice. She accepts it and puts it on the holy table.
PART TWO.
The early Women Deacons received a truly ‘sacramental’
ordination
Did women deacons receive the
sacrament of holy orders?
What matters is whether the
bishops at the time intended to impart a full ordination to women. Now there is
no way we can establish that intention except by studying what the bishops said
and did while performing the ordination. The fact that women were ordained
through an ‘imposition of hands’ [χειροτονια]
was significant. However, it does not by itself prove the sacramental character
of the ceremony, for during the first centuries this gesture was also employed
for the imparting of minor orders.
To determine whether an ordination
was a sacrament or not, depends crucially on the form used, that is:
what the bishops in their ordination prayers said they wanted to do, and the
additional ceremonies which helped to define the precise nature of the
matter, namely whether hands were imposed for a full ordination. From
this we can establish the objective intention of the rite.
1. The setting of the
ordination
It is significant that women
deacons were ordained in the sanctuary, before the altar and right within the
eucharistic celebration. Its significance was not only to indicate access to
the altar, but to mark the ordination as one of the ‘major orders’,
to distinguish it from minor ministries such as the subdiaconate and the
lectorate.
Theodore of Mopsuestia (350 - 429)
explains the classic distinction. He defines the diaconate as a ‘ministry
to sacred things’, which certainly also included baptism.
It is worth adding
that we should not be surprised at the fact that he [Paul] does not mention
subdeacons or lectors here. For these [functions] are actually outside the
orders of real ministry in the Church. They were created later on by the need
of many things that had to be done by others for the good of the mass of the
faithful. That is why the law does not permit them to receive ordination in
front of the altar because they do not minister at this mystery. For the
lectors look after the readings and the subdeacons in the sacristy prepare what
is needed for the service of the deacons and look after the lights in church.
However, only the priests and deacons perform the ministry of the mystery: the
former by fulfilling their priestly role, the latter by ministering to sacred
things.
The Orthodox liturgist Simeon of
Thessalonika confirms this in his classic work on ordination, written between
1418 and 1429:
Two ordinations
are given outside the sanctuary, that of the reader and subdeacon. There are
also others for administrators, deputees, acolytes . . . But the exalted
ordinations are imparted inside the sanctuary.
The ordination of women deacons in
the sanctuary ‘right in the heart of the Divine Liturgy’ ranks it
among the orders of the higher clergy (Evangelos Theodorou, Orthodox expert on
women deacons).
2. The public character of the
ordination
Women deacons were ordained before
the whole congregation and "in the presence of the priests, deacons and
deaconesses" (Apostolic Constitutions; 380 AD). This is also clear from
the standard Byzantine ordination rite which mentions the other
clergy.
This ‘public’ character
of the ceremony marks the ordination as one of the higher orders. A study of
the procedure at ancient ordinations shows that the public election of the new
minister belonged to the ordination itself. St. Jerome (347 - 419), for
instance, records this in one of his letters:
In Alexandria,
since Mark the Evangelist until Bishops Heraclas and Dionysius, the priests
always instituted as their bishop one of their own, after having elected him
and enthroned him; as soldiers do when they proclaim their emperor; or the
deacons who elect one of their own as archdeacon because of his
zeal.
At times, as in this example,
there seems to have been no imposition of hands. Normally, the imposition of
hands with the invocation of the Spirit followed on the election. The point is
that the ecclesial context of the ordination, expressed in the common
election and public recognition by the congregation, was crucial at
higher ordinations. Private ordinations, outside the congregation, were ipso
facto invalid. The public setting of the ordination of women deacons
confirms its status as a major ordination.
3. The ‘Divine Grace’
proclamation
We read this rubric in the
ordination rite for women deacons: "The bishop says the ‘Divine
Grace’ with a loud voice". This proclamation was only performed for the
higher orders.
We can be sure that the
‘Divine Grace’ was the same in the case of women deacons and of male
deacons, for a number of reasons. The rubrics explicitly say that everything is
the same for male or female deacons except where indicated. If the Divine Grace
proclamation had been different for women, this would certainly have been
mentioned. Also, the classic ‘Divine Grace’ proclamation had a very
rigid form with only three variable elements. This is the actual
text:
Divine Grace
which always heals what is infirm and completes what is missing chooses
so-and-so [name] as bishop [or priest, deacon] of [name of the
location]. Let us therefore pray for him/her that the grace of the Holy
Spirit may descend upon him/her.
Research has shown that this
Byzantine form is very old indeed, going back to at least the 3rd
century. It was considered the distinctive characteristic of Christian
ordination.
The
ordaining bishop speaks the proclamation with a loud voice. This mystery
signifies that the ordainer, who is loved by God, is the herald of the divine
choice. It is not he himself who leads the ordinand to ordination by his own
grace, but he is moved by God in all ordinations (Pseudo-Dionysius; ca. 500
AD).
[I never aspired to the
priesthood], all the more because many of these ordinations happen through
human ambition, not really by the divine grace (St. John Chrysostom; 344 -
407).
[On the disorderly election of a
bishop.] I would almost believe that political authorities are more ordained
than ours over which one proclaims the ‘Divine Grace’ (St. Gregory of
Nazianze; 330-389).
The great liturgist Bernard Botte
thought that the proclamation itself was the ordination, at least
orginally. But later studies disproved this. Ordination consisted of two
distinct stages of one and the same liturgical action, each equally essential:
the election and the ordination proper. The election indicated
who was chosen for the ministry. It proclaimed God’s choice of candidate.
It manifested the intention of the Holy Spirit. The imposition of hands was the
sacrament through which the Spirit actually descended on the ordinand. The
‘Divine Grace’ proclamation was therefore the public act of election
which designated a candidate to a particular ministry in a specific church. In
398 Emperor Arcadius urged the bishops to "grant the Divine Grace to John
[Chrystostom] to ordain him bishop of Constantinople".
At ordinations, and particularly
at Byzantine ordinations, the ‘Divine Grace’ was only proclaimed for
bishops, priests and deacons. The fact that the ordaining bishop proclaimed the
‘Divine Grace’ to announce the divine election of a woman deacon,
shows that he ranked her ordination, without any shade of doubt, within the
sacrament of holy orders, like that of male deacons.
4. The calling down of the Spirit
The central action of ordination
is the calling down of the Holy Spirit on the ordinand while the bishop imposes
his hands on her.
Do now look
upon this your handmaid, who is to be ordained [προχειριζομενην] to the diaconate [εις
διακονιαν], and grant
her your Holy Spirit.
Dedicate her to the task of your
diaconate [της
διακονιας], and pour out into her
the rich and abundant giving of your Holy Spirit.
Grant the gift of your Holy Spirit
also to this your maid servant who wants to dedicate herself to you, and fulfil
in her the grace of the diaconate
[διακονιας], as you have granted
to Phoebe the grace of your diaconate
[διακονιας].
In the Eastern tradition, the
calling down of the Holy Spirit is technically known as the epiclesis.
During the divine liturgy, it is not so much the ‘words of
consecration’ but the epiclesis that brings about the
transformation of the bread and the wine. Epiclesis, in one form or
other, occurs in all the sacraments, for the sacraments come about through the
action of the Spirit. Every epiclesis means a drawing on the Spirit
Christ obtained for us at Pentecost. The Church asks to receive from God here
and now, what she has already historically received in Christ as a promise.
This also applies to the ministries. The Pentecostal Spirit ‘who provides
all things’, pours its fulness into the bishop, the priest and the
deacon.
Being the action of the Spirit in
the Church, the full epiclesis always takes place in the context of the
assembled church community. The epiclesis of ordination also specifies
the ministry for which the Spirit is imparted: as in the case of the woman
deacon who receives the Spirit in view of the diaconate. Though indirect
mention is made of the gifts of the Spirit in the installation prayers of some
of the minor orders, it is only bishops, priests and deacons on whom the full
epiclesis is called down.
5. The second ordination prayer
Having two ordination prayers for
a woman deacon is another indication that a major order was imparted.
The second ordination prayer, also
known as the ekphonese, because the bishop spoke it softly, was a later
development at the higher ordinations, probably starting from the
4th century. It may have been inspired by the need of the ordaining
bishop to make sure that the conditions for ordination had been fulfilled. It
may also manifest the typical eastern trait of prayers spoken softly out of
religious ‘awe and dread’, as we encounter during the
eucharist.
By speaking the ekphonese
prayer over the woman candidate, the bishop again indicated her being
raised to the full sacrament of the diaconate.
As to the contents of the
second ordination prayer, both in the case of the man and the woman, the
substance is the same. The man receives the Holy Spirit "for the ministry of
the deacon", the woman "for the grace of the diaconate [διακονιας], as you
have granted to Phoebe the grace of your diaconate [διακονιας], whom
you had called to the work of the ministry [λειτουργιας]."
Could the ordaining bishop be more outspoken? The woman is even more
explicitly, forcefully, deliberately and undeniably ordained to the diaconate
than the man!
6. Parallelism in all
essentials with the ordination of male deacons.
The ordination of men to the
diaconate runs parallel to that of women in all essentials. The main
differences are for gender propriety (the man kneels, the woman bows her head)
and male/female adaptations in the prayers (Phoebe is the example for women,
Stephen for men). The male deacon is made to "fan" the gifts with the
rhipidion (since he was to serve at the altar) and to distribute communion.
Most scholars consider the close
parallel between the two ordination rites a strong argument for accepting
women’s diaconate as having been as much a sacrament as the diaconate of
men. "It cannot be denied that the ordination ritual puts women deacons and
male deacons on entirely the same level".
This is also the considered
opinion of the Orthodox scholar Kallistos Ware. He wrote classic books such as
The Orthodox Church and The Orthodox Way. He co-authored and
co-translated into English a number of important Orthodox liturgical and
spiritual texts, including a multi-volume edition of the Orthodox classic
collection of spiritual writings, The Philokalia. Since 1966, he has
been Spalding Lecturer in Eastern Orthodox Studies at Oxford, becoming a Fellow
of Pembroke College, Oxford in 1970. In 1982, he was consecrated titular Bishop
of Diokleia and appointed assistant bishop in the Orthodox Archdiocese of
Thyateira and Great Britain, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Bishop Kallistos judges women
deacons to have been truly ordained.
The order of
deaconess seems definitely to have been considered an ‘ordained’
ministry during early centuries in at any rate the Christian East . . . Some
Orthodox writers regard deaconesses as having been a ‘lay’ ministry.
There are strong reasons for rejecting this view. In the Byzantine rite the
liturgical office for the laying-on of hands for the deaconess is exactly
parallel to that for the deacon; and so on the principle lex orandi, lex
credendi -- the Church’s worshipping practice is a sure indication of
its faith -- it follows that the deaconess receives, as does the deacon, a
genuine sacramental ordination: not just a χειροθεσια but a χειροτονια.
No one denies that the ordination
of male deacons during the first millennium was a true sacrament. The same
applies to women deacons.
Conclusion
All the symbolism surrounding the
imparting of ordination to the women signified its being a real sacrament:
- its setting in the heart of the
eucharist,
- the presence of the clergy and the
faithful,
- the proclamation of divine election through the
hallowed ‘Divine Grace’ formula,
- the epiclesis of the Holy Spirit on the
ordinand
- and the addition of the second,
ekphonese prayer of ordination.
Through this symbolism the
ordaining bishop indicated, both to the ordinand and to the assembled
congregation, his unmistakable intention to impart a full, sacramental
diaconate ordination to the woman.
If this was not a full sacrament,
then neither was the ordination of bishops, priests and male
deacons.
PART
THREE. If women could be deacons then, they can be priests now.
The real issue at stake behind
this seemingly obtuse historical argument is a question that rocks the Catholic
Church of our time: "Can women be ordained priests?" In spite of the
quite legitimate distinction between diaconate and priesthood as separate
ministries, the women deacons of the past are inextricably linked with a wider
inquiry about holy orders themselves. For if the diaconate of women was a true
diaconate, if it was one valid expression of the sacrament of holy
orders, then women did in fact receive holy orders and the priesthood too
is open to them.
Now it is true that some
theologians consider the diaconate a ministry that stands on its own, so that
any objections to ordaining women to the priesthood would not apply to their
being ordained to the diaconate. They are abolutely right in the sense that the
diaconate is a separate ministry and was considered as such in the Early
Church. This is also how it has been reactivated by the Second Vatican Council.
Moreover, whereas in the Middle Ages the three major orders were unified in the
priesthood, with the focus on eucharistic sacrificial service at the altar, the
Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) has expressly rejected this view. Deacons
are ordained "not unto the priestly ministry [sacerdotium], but unto a
ministry of service [servitium].
For such reasons, some theologians
contend that it would be perfectly possible for the Church to separate the two
ministries in such a way that women could be given the sacrament of the
diaconate, even though the priesthood was withheld from them. This is, for
instance, the opinion of the Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware and the Catholic
theologian Phyllis Zagano. I believe that they are mistaken. A real and
important distinction between the three ministries does not destroy their
sacramental unity.
Vatican II speaks of one
"divinely established ministry which is exercised on different levels by those
who from antiquity have been called bishops, priests and deacons". It thus
confirms the unity of the sacrament already proclaimed by the Council of Trent.
On the 15th of July 1563 that Council had declared that "holy orders
is one of the seven sacraments of the Church" and that "in the Catholic Church
there exists a hierarchy by divine ordination instituted, consisting of
bishops, priests, and deacons". The implication is that the Council of Trent
considered all three major orders, including the diaconate, as fully
sacramental, without fully resolving their inner connection.
Vatican II sees Jesus Christ as
the main unifying factor of the sacrament. He is the founder, the origin, the
source, the main inspiration from which the variety of ministries originate.
Bishops, priests and deacons all participate to various degrees in
Christ’s saving work which he continues in the one sacrament of holy
orders.
Theologians discuss this unity in
more detail. Peter Hünermann, for instance, gives the oneness a
Trinitarian dimension. "The unity of these distinct ministries lies in their
common source: the grace of God the Father, the mercy of the incarnate Son and
the goodness of the Holy Spirit. Their unity also lies in their common,
ultimate purpose: salvation of people". Christoph Böttigheimer sees the
bishop as ‘the construction joint, the focus of the ministry’.
Theology will no doubt continue to refine its concepts in line with the new
impulses received from Vatican II.
However, for our purpose it
suffices to note the unity of the sacrament. While the Council of Trent was
somewhat ambiguous about the sacramentality of the diaconate, this was
re-affirmed clearly by Vatican II which stated that deacons are ordained and
are strengthened by the grace of the sacrament. This unity of the sacrament
directly affects the question of women in the ministries. Since women in the
past did receive the sacrament of the diaconate, they are obviously capable of
receiving holy orders as such, that means: also the priesthood and
episcopacy.
This is the opinion of the
dogmatic theologian Hans Jorissen: "The possibility of women receiving the
sacramental diaconate stands or falls with the possibility of women receiving
the priesthood." His view is shared by the theologian Dirk Ansorge: "If women
are ordained deacons, the unity of the sacrament of holy orders will demand
their access to the sacramental priesthood." The canon lawyer Charles Wilson
expressed it in this way: "If the Church does admit women to diaconal
ordination, it seems to me that this action would give rise to the formidable
challenge of performing the difficult mental gymnastics involved in asserting
that women can validly be admitted to one grade of orders while at the same
time reaffirming the definitive teaching of the Church that they cannot be
admitted to the others."
Well, the Church did impart a full
sacramental diaconate ordination to tens of thousands of women during the first
millennium of its existence. If it could ordain women then, it can, and should,
do so now.
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