DEACON
Y06
DEACOX
jet it 8«emf to be the apostle's meaning ; and, without adverting to modem habits and controversies, it is evi- dent that ihe due discharge of the primitive office of deacon must tend to qualify men for the ministry."
II. In the Earfy Poti-ApoitoKc OtireA.— That the duties of tlie seven deacons were not of an exclusively secular character is dear finom the fact that both Philip and Stephen preached, and that one of them also ftop- Hxd. It is strange, therefore, that the 18th Canon of the Council of Constantinople, in '* Trullo," should de- clare, referring to Acts vi, that the seven deacons had no spiritual fhnction assigned them. (Ecumenius (a celebrated Greek writer of the tenth century) gives his testimony to the same effect (/» Ad. Ap, vi, p. 488). But opposed to this opinion is that of some of the fathers of Uie Christian Church. Ignatius, a mar- tyr-disciple of St. John, and bishop of Antioch (f 115), styles them at once " ministers of the mysteries of Christ ;" adding that they are not ministers of meats and drinks, but of the Church of God (Ignat. Ep, ad TraU. n. 2). Again he says {Ep, ad Trail, n. 8), " Study to do all things in divine concord, under your bishop presiding in the place of (}od, and the presby- ters in the place of the apostolic senate, and the dea- cons most dear to me, as those to whom is committed the ministry of Jesus Christ." Tertullian (f 220) classes them with bishops and presbyters as guides and leaders to the laity. He asks (TertnlL De Fvga^ c. ii) : ** Quum ipsi auctores, id est, ipai Diaooni, Presbyteri, et Episcopi fngiunt, quomodo Laicus intelligere pote- rit? — ^Cum Duces f^unt quis de gregario numero sustinebit?'* Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, A.D. 250 (while refierring their origin to Acts vi), styles them ministers of episcopacy and of the Church (Cypr. Ep. 65, aL 8, od Bogai,) ; at the sane time he asserts that they were called ad altarit tninUUrium — to the minis- try of the altar. Though Jerome in one place speaks of them (Ep, ad Ewmg. yi Com, E§ek, c. 48) as servants of tables and widows, yet again he ranlu them among the guides of the people : still he distinguishes them flrom the priests of the second order, that is, from the presbyters, by the title of Servites, And so, firequently , in the Councils, the names Saeerdot nndLevUanie used as the distinguishing titles of presbyter and deacon. The fourth Council of Cartilage expressly forbids the deacon to assume any one Amction peculiar to the priesthood, by declaring, ** Diaconus non ad saeerdoti- um, sed ad ministerium consecratus.*' (See also 18th Can. Con. Nic.)
Hit ordination, moreover, differed fWmi that of pres- bjrter both in its form and in the powers which it con- ferred. For in the ordination of a presbyter, the pres- byters who were present were required to join in the imposition of hands with the bishop; but the ordina- tion of a deacon might be performed by the bishop aione, because, aa the 4th Canon of the 4th Council of Carthage declares, he was ordained, not to the priest- hood, but to the inferior services of the Church. Du^ Het. — 1. The deacon's more ordinary duty was to as- sist the bishop and presbyter in the service of the sanc- tuary ; espedally was he charged with the care of the utensils and ornaments appertaining to the holy table. 2. In the administration of the Eucharist, that it was the deacon's duty to hand the elements to the people, is evident fh)m Justin Martyr (Apol, ii, p. 152), and ftom Cyprian {8orm. v, ** De Lapsis"). Not, however, that the deacon had any authinity^ or power to conse- crate the elements ; for the IJMh Can. of the Council of Aries, A.D. 812, forbids this. And the 18th Can. of the Council of Nice orders the deacons not even to adminis- ter the Eucharist to priests because of their inferiority. 8. Deacons had power to administer the sacrament of baptism (TertuU. De Bapt. c. 17 ; also Hieron. Dial. ooHlr. lAKtf. c. 4, p. 189). The Council of Elibeiis, Can. 77, plainly acknowledges this right, although the author of the Apost. Oontti^tions^ and Epiphanius also, would seem to deny it. 4. The office of the deacon
was not to preach so nmoh as toinstract the catediuraens. His part was, wlien te knhs^i presbyter did not preach, to read a hoaSHj fnm m of the fethers. St. Ambroee, bishop of lliliB.il 880, says expressly that deacons. In his tias, £iM preach, though he thinks that they wen all evangelists, as were Philip and Stepbea. & b the deacon's buainesa to receive the oflbriagiaf^ people, and, having presented thean ta the Ma^t presbyter, to give expression in a lomi teise uk names of tiie offerers (see Cypr. JBp. lik^tL l&^f (Hieron. Cbiii.MiJSEdLxvffi, p. 587). €k~ sometimes authorised, as the bisbope' specbldele^ to give to penitents the solemn Innwiiatifsi dhm which was the sign of reconciliation (Cypr. ^U A 18, ad Eter.), 7. Deacons had pamfT to saspai* inferior clergy ; this, however, was done m^ Hi the bishop and presbyter were abeent, aad tfeen* g^nt (ContHL Apott. vm, fSl), 8. The erdviT if of deacons with regard to general CoBBdh w titf as scribes and disputants according as tfiiy«»ft rected by their bishops. In some instaaees tbef ^ as proxies fbr bishops who conld not attend ia fmm bat in no instance do we find them v^odag ia t^aai Council by virtue of their office. Bat ia f^imA synods the deacons were sometimea aBovtd to i* their voice, as well as the presbyters, ia tbtir m name. 9. The ApoetoUoal CongUtmHem ^ S7, yk8| infbrm US that one of the subordinate dote eftbiis con was to provide places in the ehnrch forpnaa they entered— to rebuke any that m^fat wlifa,iik laugh, etc during divine service. This m i if which, however, usually devc^ved upon thewMaM 10. But, besides the above, there were so« cte^ fices which the deacon was called upon ta ffl ^td One of these was to take care of the neoe«^» phans, widows, martyrs in prison, and aDthepHrat sick who had any claim upon the pnblie nsaoi' the Church. It waf also his especial duty ts afolii spiritual, as well as the bodQy, wants of the pc^k and wherever he detected evils which he oo^i*^ his own power and authority core, it wis kit ^* refer them for redress to the bishop.