Resolutiones Canonicae, § 24. “The deaconess has
absolutely no authority regarding the altar. That is because she is ordained
for [service to] the church [community], not for [service to] the altar.
However this is the authority she has: she can sweep the sanctuary and light
the sanctuary lamp, and this even when the priest or deacon is not there.
Also, if she lives in a in a community of nuns, when there is no priest or
deacon, she can take the holy sacrament from the tabernacle and distribute this
to the women who are her companions, or to children who happen to be there.
But she is not allowed to consume the blessed sacrament on the table of the
altar itself, or to put the blessed sacrament on the altar, or to touch the
altar in any way.”
Note 1. The prohibition, that she may not touch the altar is
directly related to the prejudice regarding a woman's monthly periods which
were supposed to make her unclean.
Note 2. The same text is found in the Jacobite
Pontifical and in the Nomocanon of Bar-Hebraeus. See A.Lamy, De
Syrorum Fide et Disciplina, Louvain 1859, p. 127; Joseph Assemani,
Bibliotheca Orientalis, vol.II, ‘De Monophysitis’ § 10.
