Deaconess

The office of deaconess is a historic form of Christian ministry in which a woman is formally set apart for service, especially in pastoral care, religious education, mission, and works of mercy. Anglican churches have not always classified the office in the same way. Some provinces eventually placed women deaconesses within the ordained diaconate, while the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) and some Continuing Anglican bodies retain the deaconess as a lay vocation distinct from Holy Orders.

The English word is related to the Greek diakonos, meaning a servant or minister. The precise historical relationship between ancient deaconesses, the male diaconate, later religious communities, and modern forms of commissioned or ordained ministry has varied by period and jurisdiction.

Biblical and early Christian background

The principal New Testament reference is Romans 16:1, where Saint Paul commends Phoebe as a diakonos of the church at Cenchreae. Anglican rites and discussions of deaconesses have also appealed to women who laboured with Paul in the gospel (Philippians 4:2–3) and to the women described in 1 Timothy 3:11.

By the fourth century, deaconesses are well attested in the Christian East. Sources associated with Antioch and Constantinople describe women appointed to ministries among women, including instruction of female catechumens, assistance at the baptism of women, visitation, and charitable service. The REC Deaconess Society notes the evidence in the correspondence of Saint John Chrysostom for approximately forty deaconesses attached to the principal church of Constantinople around AD 400. The office declined during the medieval period, although related forms of service continued in religious communities and charitable institutions.

Nineteenth-century revival

The modern Protestant deaconess movement began in continental Europe, notably with the Kaiserswerth Deaconess Institute in Germany in the 1830s, and influenced Anglican efforts in Britain and North America. In England, a deaconess institution was established in London in 1861. The revived ministry combined disciplined spiritual formation with nursing, education, parish work, and care for the poor.

In the United States, the Bishop of Maryland set apart a group of women in 1857 or 1858; the Archives of the Episcopal Church identifies these as the first Episcopal deaconesses, while noting that national canonical recognition came in 1892. Deaconesses later served as nurses, teachers, missionaries, chaplains, administrators, and pastoral workers. Nearly five hundred women served as Episcopal deaconesses between the mid-nineteenth century and 1970.

Lambeth Conference statements

The 1920 Lambeth Conference devoted Resolutions 48–54 to the position of women in the Church. Resolution 48 described the deaconess as the form of women’s ministry bearing the “stamp of apostolic approval.” Resolution 49 characterized the office as a lifelong ministry of bodily and spiritual aid, especially to women, while rejecting a required vow of celibacy. Resolution 50 recommended a rite that included episcopal prayer and laying on of hands, a formula authorizing the office, and delivery of the New Testament.

The 1930 Conference again commended the order and recommended that the setting apart of a deaconess include prayer by the bishop, laying on of hands, delivery of the New Testament, and a formula of authority. Lambeth Conference resolutions are consultative rather than binding legislation for the autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion.

Later Anglican developments

The status of deaconesses changed as Anglican provinces reconsidered the diaconate and the ordination of women. In the Episcopal Church in the United States, the General Convention of 1970 declared deaconesses to be within the diaconate, repealed the separate deaconess canon, and permitted women to be ordained as deacons under the same rules as men; the changes took effect on 1 January 1971.

The Anglican Consultative Council in 1976 asked provinces to recognize women previously made deaconesses by episcopal laying on of hands as members of the diaconate and to enact appropriate canonical provision for them. Other Anglican and Continuing Anglican jurisdictions have continued to treat the deaconess as a distinct office or lay vocation. Consequently, the terms deaconess, woman deacon, and female deacon should not be assumed to have identical canonical meanings in every Anglican church.

Reformed Episcopal Church

History and canonical status

The Affirmation of St. Louis (1977) included the ancient office and ministry of deaconesses among the lay vocations for women to be encouraged in Continuing Anglicanism. The REC encountered the office anew as the denomination expanded and received congregations from other Anglican jurisdictions. The REC General Council adopted Canon 22, “Of Deaconesses,” in 2002, formally establishing the order in the denomination.

Canon 22 defines the order as an “ancient and Apostolic lay ministry” for women. A deaconess is set apart by a bishop but is not admitted to the threefold Holy Orders of deacon, presbyter, and bishop. She assists a parish, mission, or institution under the rector or priest in charge, or performs work entrusted to her by the diocesan bishop. The canon expressly excludes liturgical functions reserved to Holy Orders.

Ministry and functions

The REC describes the vocation as lifelong service expressed through prayer, pastoral care, teaching, mission, and works of mercy. Traditional functions include:

• caring for the sick, afflicted, and poor;
• teaching the Christian faith and helping prepare candidates for Baptism and Confirmation;
• assisting the clergy in parish, mission, school, hospital, and institutional work;
• organizing ministry among women and children;
• undertaking social-service, educational, and pastoral-visitation work; and
• when specifically authorized, leading forms of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, or the Litany while omitting portions reserved to a priest.

These functions are exercised under ecclesiastical authority rather than by independent commission. Work in a diocese requires the written authority of its bishop, and work in a parish requires the rector’s authority. Canon 22 treats a parochial deaconess as an official member of the parish staff.

Candidacy and formation

The REC standardized its current candidacy process at the 2023 General Council. Canon 22 and the published process provide that an applicant ordinarily:

1. is a communicant member in good standing and at least twenty-three years old;
2. submits a rector’s recommendation, recommendations from two women communicants, and evidence of a four-year degree; an applicant without that degree must be at least thirty-five and demonstrate readiness for the required study;
3. completes a background check and an interview with her diocesan bishop;
4. receives the bishop’s recommendation and the approval of the diocesan Standing Committee, after which she becomes a candidate and is assigned a mentor;
5. undertakes theological and practical formation, normally for eighteen months to two years and never less than one year, including at least a nine-month internship supervised by a presbyter;
6. reports during candidacy at the Ember seasons; and
7. passes written and oral canonical examinations before the bishop, with the advice and consent of the Standing Committee, authorizes her setting apart.

The canonical examinations cover Holy Scripture, Church history, Christian missions, doctrine and the Book of Common Prayer, Christian ethics and moral theology, and the office and practical work of a deaconess. Formation may be a bishop-approved directed course of study or a formal seminary program. Seminary admission is separate from admission as a deaconess candidate, and completing a program does not by itself guarantee that a woman will be set apart.

Setting apart, title, and oversight

After the candidate has completed the requirements, the bishop may admit her to the office using the REC’s Form for the Setting Apart of a Deaconess. The rite includes presentation of the candidate, an account of the office, promises concerning faithfulness, prayer and Scripture, obedience to ecclesiastical authority, episcopal prayer, and laying on of hands. This ceremony is called setting apart or ordering within REC usage, but the resulting office remains canonically a lay ministry rather than Holy Orders.

A woman so admitted is addressed as “Deaconess,” abbreviated “Dss.” On official occasions she wears the order’s distinctive habit; Canon 22 also provides for a common cross, blessed and presented by the bishop at the setting apart. The handbook describes the traditional marks as a navy-blue habit, distinctive collar, and silver cross.

A deaconess not attached to a parish remains under the direct oversight of her diocesan ecclesiastical authority. She reports annually to her bishop and may transfer between dioceses by letters testimonial. She may resign the office; suspension or removal requires cause, the bishop’s action, the consent of the Standing Committee, and a hearing. Although the vocation is understood as lifelong, Canon 22 does not require celibacy. A married candidate, or a deaconess contemplating marriage, must demonstrate that she can fulfill both her marital and ministerial vocations.

Education and financial support

The REC Deaconess Society lists three formal educational pathways: a Deaconess Certificate or an M.A.R. concentration in Deaconess Studies at Cranmer Theological House, a Licentiate in Theology at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, and a Deaconess Certificate at Cummins Memorial Theological Seminary.

The Deaconess Scholarship Fund, funded in 2023 through the REC Committee on Women’s Ministry, assists approved candidates enrolled in REC seminary programs and deaconesses pursuing advanced study in Deaconess Studies. Awards are administered under criteria established by the REC Theological Commission and are paid to the student’s seminary.

Resources and devotional life

The REC Deaconess Society maintains a collection of historical studies, Anglican publications on women’s ministry, devotional aids, digital libraries, application documents, and seasonal collects. Its historical reading list includes works hosted by Project Canterbury, the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, and other repositories. These resources document a range of historical and theological views and do not all have the same canonical or doctrinal authority.

See also

• Anglican Deaconess Association
• Diaconate (Anglicanism)
• Reformed Episcopal Church
• Lambeth Conference
• Affirmation of St. Louis
• Phoebe (biblical figure)

External links

• Reformed Episcopal Church Deaconess Society
• REC Canon 22, “Of Deaconesses”
• REC candidacy process and documents
• Handbook for the Order of Deaconesses in the Reformed Episcopal Church (2020)
• REC Deaconess Society resources and historical reading list
• Anglican Deaconess Association