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In the course of the Church’s history, three ministries
have emerged as ministries to which access comes through ordination.
These
are the three so called holy orders.
We know them as the episcopacy,
priesthood and diaconate.
Though different in scope, all three are part of
the one sacrament of holy orders.
The Second Vatican Council
speaks of one ‘divinely established ministry which is exercised on
three levels by those who from antiquity have been called bishops, priests and
deacons’ (Lumen Gentium § 28).
Women were given the full ordination to the diaconate in the
Early Church.
The practice has been documented
extensively for the first nine centuries in especially the Eastern
part of the Church.
Women deacons assisted
in the baptism of
women which required anointing and immersion of the whole
body.
We know the exact ordination rites that were used. They involve
the imposition of hands by the bishop, the invocation of the Holy Spirit to
impart the diaconate and the imposition of the diaconate stole.
Read here one typical
example of such a rite.
The ordination to the diaconate was
identical in all essentials for men and women.
If women deacons were
not ordained validly, neither were the male deacons.
The
eastern part of the Church was at that time fully Catholic, since the schism
with the west only took place in 1054.
The practice can be
traced back to St. Paul. Co-ministering with him was Phoebe, ‘the
deacon of the church at Cenchreae’ (Romans
16,1-2).
International Church Councils, such as Chalcedon, Trullo and
Nicaea II endorsed the ordination of women
deacons.
If women
received holy orders then, they surely can receive them
now.
The latest book on Women Deacons
No Women in Holy
Orders? The Ancient Women Deacons
by John Wijngaards,
Canterbury Press 2002.
"This is an exceptionally
engaging and readible book, written with great empathy for the historical
background. Wijngaards has also rendered a great service by translating the
original sources and presenting them in an easily accessible
format."
Script
for dramatizing the ancient ordination rite
Reviews ----- * -----
How to Order
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