The Deaconess in History.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume V, Issue 5, 1 November 1914, Page 56

The Deaconess m History.

In studying .the history ; of ; the Order of Deaconesses our starting point isi Holy Scripture; '•• In Romans xvi. 1, we read, " I comimend unto you Phoebe, our sister, who is a Deaconess of the Church that is at Cenchrea ; that ye receive her m the Lord, worthily of the saints, and that ye assist her m whatsoever matter she may have need; of you ; for she herself also hath been a succourer of many and of mine own self ; " and m i Timothy iii., 11, S. Paul lays down rules for. the Women; - Deacons,— they "must be ejrave, not slanderers, temperate, faithM m all things." The meaning of both these passages is made clear m the Revised Version, the Greek word " Diaconia " is that always used of a minister m the Church. Bishop Jyightfoot writes, "As I. read 'my New Testament, Phoebe is as much a Deaconess,, as Stephen and Philip are. Deacons." This comparison exactly expresses the value of the reference ; we do not expect or claim to find m the early ; Church life of the first century^. the definite organisation of later days, but we find first principles and essential rudiments, and there growing up side by side with

the .ordered ministry of men . is the . ordered;, ministry ; of women. | . ' ' . : . ,'.', : History has left us considerable Records of the; early Deacpriesses, we see them at work, m the Eastern Church :as late as the twelfth century, but the closer :we \ go , jback . to Apostolic tinies, = the more we. hear of. them. JNot only from the pens of ecclesiastical writers do we. learn ; ;• their history, the heathen;, statesman) Pliny, ; writing to : his royal master, the Emperor Trajan, gives him the account he had extracted from the. lips -pf : martyr Deaconesses, of the faith , for which;; they were ready not only to die,; but endure the torture of ; th<s . Roman Governor. We get many a glimpse .of them at r their work ; now one alone, now m twos and, threes, and sometimes ;, m larger bodies. , . , Once . there • : comes before us a queenly figure amongst them,— Olympia of Constantinople, who . stands out on the. pa,ge of history as one whom God had endowed with great gifts, beauty, wealth, position, >ii)fltience v , She was a strength to S, Chrysostom, and had been admitted to her office by his predecessor at a very early age, because of the beauty of her character. Letters from S. Chrysostom to her are extant. ; Under this great Head Deaconess ■. were, forty women belongings to that one Church. ; . In the Western Church, speaking generally,: women?s work developed mainly on the \lines ; of the Sisterhood ; and m the rough condition of society m the; Middle Ages, those who felt called , to God's special service were . everywhere obliged to seek the shelter of the Convent. . The primitive Deaconess was always under the jurisdiction of tfre Bishop, and was considered a clerical person.. There is no doubt that the rite by which a woman was admitted 'to the diacoiiate was regarded as ordination. The General Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D., speaks of a Deaconess ; as " ordained by imposition of hands, '!, The Bishop, laid his hands upon her head praying that she might, receive the grace' of the; Holy Spirit, even as Phoebe who was called to the work of the ministry. He then invested her with the diaconal stole, and placed m; her hand the Chalice, . which she put back upon the Holy Table y The work, of the Deaconess has always lain primarily airiorig those

of her own^sex, and her service was specially' needed m the East, where women lived, m greater Seclusion than did their sisters m the West. The most important of her functions related to the administration of Holy Baptism, which was always performed by immersion. She received the candidates as they came up put of the water, and to her was committed their further instruction m the faith. Another of her principal duties was the visitation of women m their own homes, and she was permitted to take to them m sickness the consecrated Bread and Wine from the Altar. She was the Church's Almoner, reporting cases of distress, and distributing to each " the ministration that is right " ; she was the doorkeeper of the Church on the women's side, ready to welcome strangers and find places for them ; she was also, somewhat later, the cleaner of the Sanctuary, the lighter of the lamps, and she prepared the Sacramental elements. The Order was never forbidden by any Eastern Council, nor, with the exception of a few local synods m Gaul, was it ever abolished m the West. Owing to the changed conditions of Church life, it gradually fell into disuse, and the Deaconess passed out of sight, but she, like the maiden m the miracle, was not dead, but sleeping : her office lay dormant, until the timte came ..when " the new life which God has given to His Church m England m these last days should call back out of the past this beautiful form of Ministry." In 1869 Bishop Tait set apart Elizabeth Ferrend to be the first Deaconess of the English Church. The way had been prepared by the German Protestant Institutions, whose members took the title of Deaconess; the famous Institution at Kaiserwerth was founded m 1833, and m thirty years there were 1200 workers, all sprung- from the mother-house, or its branches. The name had thus become familiar but unfortunately 'its Protestant associations had led many to regard it with distrust, which was increased by its adoption by the Mildmay workers, who held it without any connection with a Ministerial Order. Slowly but surely the mbyeriient spread, the first Deaconess Institution was that of London (West), the second was the Ely Diocesan Home at Bedford, founded m 1869 by Bisjiop Harold !

Browne, who threw himself heartily into the cause, and helped it on by every means m his power. Then followed Chester, Canterbury, Salisbury, Winchester, East London, South London or Rochester, Llandaff, Durham, Exeter, and Newcastle. ' : ' Not only m England but beyond the seas has the Order been revived, the American Church even preceded us, the first Deaconess being set apart at Baltimore m 1855., There are now large Training Homes at New York and Philadelphia. And passing round the globe we find Institutions at Sydney, Melbourne, Christchurch, Lahore, and Lucknbw, whilst m Canada and South Africa, China and Japan, there are parish Deaconesses, although as vet no centre for training. In women's work m the Foreign Mission Field " there is great scope for the Deaconess, there the old need of the early Eastern Church is emphatically repeated, "a woman to minister to the' women." The subject was brought before Convocation m 1871, and Principles and Regulations signed, and m 1891 Resolutions were passed which bad been drawn up by a special Committee, the first of these being that it was desirable to encourage the revival of a ministry* which had undoubtedly formed part of the organisation of the Early Church. Havingr thus briefly studied the Deaconess) m History, I think we shall be m a position to answer the questions often asked : is it a ministry that can be laid aside at will ? is it compatible with the formation of family ties ? Undoubtedly the Deaconess is called to a life-long service, the faithfulness required of her is faithfulness unto death, it is not only a matter of doing a certain work, but of living a certain life, hence the careful training necessary. The whole aspect of the life, for those who know it from the inside, depends on its being permanent. And it is a life that requires a whole-hearted dedication, the Candidate kneeling before the Bishop, promises to give herself to the work m singleness of heart, it is thus impossible for her to fulfil at the same time the vocation of a wife: There is no thought of comparing the one calling with the; other, as higher and^ lower, they are mutually exclusive, because each demands the whole. . J

Let us end with one practical iq uestion : Do we believe as we .should m the reality of Vocation ? do we believe m a purpose of God for each soul and a call to fulfil fthat purpose ? We need to cultivate the grace of humble, prayerful Expectation, and then the call to each particular form of service will meet with a due and glad response.