Ordination Of Women To The Diaconate In The Eastern Churches

The question of restoring women to the ordained diaconate surfaced during the Second Vatican Council and continued to resound in academic and pastoral circles well after Pope Paul VI restored the diaconate as a permanent state for the church in the West in 1967. Available for the first time in English, these two documents by Cipriano Vagaggini, OSB. Cam., on the historical details of women ordained as deacons in the Greek and Byzantine traditions demonstrate that women were sacramentally ordained to the major order of deacon over the course of many centuries in many parts of the Greek and Byzantine East. Vagaggini introduces the conclusions to his study by noting that "in Christian antiquity there were different beliefs and tendencies distinguishing between ministry and ministry, ordination and ordination, with regard to the nature and significance of the respective orders or ranks."

The question of restoring women to the ordained diaconate surfaced during the Second Vatican Council and continued to resound in academic and pastoral circles well after Pope Paul VI restored the diaconate as a permanent state for the church in the West in 1967. Available for the first time in English, these two documents by Cipriano Vagaggini, OSB. Cam., on the historical details of women ordained as deacons in the Greek and Byzantine traditions demonstrate that women were sacramentally ordained to the major order of deacon over the course of many centuries in many parts of the Greek and Byzantine East. Vagaggini introduces the conclusions to his study by noting that “in Christian antiquity there were different beliefs and tendencies distinguishing between ministry and ministry, ordination and ordination, with regard to the nature and significance of the respective orders or ranks.”

When Pope Paul VI implemented the decision of the Second Vatican Council to renew the diaconate as a permanent order of ministry, he asked the logical question: "What about women deacons?" That question continues to be asked throughout the Church as the possibility of restoring women to the diaconate emerges more and more as a pressing answer to the ministerial needs of the Church. In Women in Ministry: Emerging Questions about the Diaconate, theologian Phyllis Zagano examines three distinct questions about the possibility of women in the diaconate: Is the inclusion of women in the permanent diaconate part of the unfinished business of Vatican II? What are the ecumenical implications of women ordained as deacons? Did Pope Benedict XVI envision the inclusion of women in the diaconate? These three timely and important essays are introduced by Deacon William T. Ditewig, PhD, director of lay and deacon formation in the Diocese of Monterey in California and former executive director of the Secretariat for the Diaconate of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, DC. Book jacket.

A new, enlarged edition of the groundbreaking 'No Women in Holy Orders?', gathering historical evidence to show that women were ordained as deacons in the first ten centuries of the Church, and identifiying over 120 known female deacons.

This collection of essays highlights the thorny and divisive issue of the admission of women into the sacramental diaconal priesthood of the Christian Church from the Orthodox theological perspective. The contributions here stem from scientific papers presented at an international conference titled “Deaconesses, Ordination of Women and Orthodox Theology”, organized in Thessaloniki, Greece, in 2015 by the Center of Ecumenical, Missiological and Environmental Studies (CEMES). They cover almost all the fields of biblical, liturgical, patristic, systematic, canonical, and historical theology. The volume’s main focus is the ancient order of deaconesses, in connection with the overall issue of the ordination of women. Although most papers address the issues from an Orthodox perspective, their sober analysis can provide theological argumentation for the wider Christian community, both the Churches and Christian denominations that exclude women from the sacramental priesthood, and those that have already adopted their ordination.

Contributing Authors: Fr. John Behr Dr Spyridoula Athanasopoulou-Kypriou Dr. Dionysios Skliris Fr. Andrew Louth Dr Mary Cunningham Met Kallistos Ware Rev Dr Sarah Hinlicky Wilson Dr Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald Dr Carrie Frederick Frost Dr Paul Ladouceur Luis Josué Salés This book—a collaborative, international initiative, involving academic theologians and practitioners—invites the reader into a conversation about the ordination of women in the Orthodox Church. It explores questions relating to the significance of being human, Eve’s curse, sexed bodies, the place of Mary, the nature of priesthood, the role of the deacon, and the task of being a priest in the twenty-first century. The reflections move across three main areas of discussion: issues of theological anthropology, particular questions pertaining to the priesthood and the diaconate, and contemporary practices. In each area the implications for ordaining women in the Orthodox Church today are explored.

This book, written by a leading Orthodox theologian, offers a serious re-examination of the role of women in the Church. For Orthodox and Roman Catholics, especially, the question of women's ordination must be asked "from the inside" and not only "from the outside". This book does not suggest final answers, but raises issues and defines their relative importance.