RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Deacon
An act of ordination marked the entrance. No one could become a bishop without passing first through the two lower orders; but in some cases a distinguished layman, as Cyprian or Ambrose, was elected bishop by the voice of the people, and hurried through the three ordinations. The subdeacon was later associated with the deacon and was declared a member of the " major orders " by Innocent III. (1198-1216; of. Friedberg, Kirchenrecht, p. 150; see Orders, Holy). In fact, the Roman Catholic Church and the canon law have never formally decided whether the episcopate is a distinct order or not. The Council of Trent did not decide the question, although it speaks of the hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons (Schaff, Creeds, ii. 186-187). The schoolmen, including Peter Lombard (Sent., IV. xxiv. 9), Hugo of St. Victor (De sacramentis, II. ii. 5), Thomas Aquinas (Siipple^nentum, xxxvii. 2, ed. Migne, iv. 1056), and Bonaventura (Breviloquium, vi. 12, ed. Peltier, vii. 327), say again and again that the episcopate is not a distinct order, but an office or function. They regarded the presbyters, deacons, and subdeacons as constituting the three major orders. The prevaiKng view to-day in the Roman Catholic Church, if not the universal one (so Hergenrother, Lehrbuch des katholischen Kirchenrechts, pp. 208-209, Freiburg, 1888), is that the episcopate is a distinct order and that the subdeaconate is not.
The deacons continued to be the almoners of the charitable funds of the congregation. Jerome calls them " ministers of the tables, and of widows." They had to find out and to visit the aged, the widows, the sick and afflicted, the confessors in prison, and to administer relief to them under the direction of the bishop. But in the course of time this primary function became secondary, or passed out of sight, as the sick and the poor were gathered together into hospitals and alms- 2. Duties in houses, the orphans into orphan the Later asylums, and as each of these insti- Church. tutions was managed by an appropriate officer. Another duty became the prominent one — viz., to assist in public worship, especially at baptism and the holy communion. Justin Martyr (Apol, Ixv.; ANF, i. 185) says the deacons distributed the bread and wine at the Eucharist after they were blessed by the presiding officer, and also carried them to the sick. They arranged the altar, presented the offerings of the people, read the Gospel, gave the signal for the departure of the unbelievers and catechumens, recited some prayers, and distributed the consecrated cup (in the absence of the priest, the bread also), but were forbidden to offer the sacrifice. Preaching IS occasionally mentioned among their privileges, after the examples of Stephen and Philip, but very rarely in the West. Hilary the Deacon (Pseudo- Ambrose), in his commentary on Eph. iv. 11, says that originally all the faithful preached and baptized, but that in his day the deacons did not preach. In some cases they were forbidden, in others authorized to preach. The Pontificale Romanum, however, defines their duties and privileges with the words " it is the duty of a deacon to minister at the altar, to baptize, and to preach." They stood
near the bishops and presbyters, who were seated on their thrones in the church, and they were deputies and advisers of the bishops and often sent on confidential missions. This intimacy gave them an advantage and roused the jealousy of the presbyters. The Apostolic Constitutions (ii. 44; ANF, vii. 416) calls the deacon " the bishop's ear and eye and mouth and heart and soul, that the bishop may not be distracted with many cares." The archdeacon (q.v.) occupied a position little inferior to that of the bishop and hence he is called "the bishop's eye." He transacted the greater part of the business of the diocese. The canonical age for the deacon's order was set in 385 by Siricius, bishop of Rome, at thirty and later it was twentyfive, according to Num. viii. 24; the Council of Trent reduced it to twenty-three (Sess. xxiii. 12).
III. In the Protestant Churches: In the Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States deacons form one of the three sacred orders, as in the Greek and Roman churches. The canons require the age of twenty-three years before ordination. Deacons are permitted to perform any of the divine offices except pronouncing the formula of absolution and consecrating the elements of the Lord's Supper. In practise the diaconate is merely a stepping-stone to the priesthood. So the deacons are what in other churches are called candidates for the ministry or licentiates. The archdeacon in England is a priest and a permanent officer next after the bishop, with a part of the episcopal power and jurisdiction: he is ex officio examiner of candidates for holy orders, and has a seat in convocation. The institution dates from Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, the first prelate who appointed an archdeacon in his diocese (1075).
In the Lutheran Church "diaconus" is merely a title, inherited from the Roman Church, of assistant clergymen and chaplains of subordinate rank. They are often called second or third preacher or pastor. Luther desired the restoration of the apostolic deacons for the care of the poor and the church property {Works, ed. Walch, xiii. 2464). In the last century the name, like the feminine form, " deaconess," was applied in Germany to members of certain fraternities, organized and trained for general Christian service (see IV., below, and the article Deaconess, III.).
In the Reformed churches the apostolic diaconate was revived, as far as circumstances would permit, with different degrees of success. In the Reformation of the Church of Hesse (1526) it was prescribed that each pastor (episcopus) should have at least three deacons as assistants in the care of the poor. The Church of Basel in 1529 made a similar provision. Calvin regards the diaconate as one of the indispensable offices of the Church, and the care of the poor (cura pauperum) as their proper duty (" Institutes," bk. iv., chaps. 3, 9). The Reformed confessions acknowledge this office {Conf. GulUcana, art. xxix.; Conf. Belgica, art. xxx. and xxxi.). In the Dutch and German Reformed churches the deacons are "to collect and to distribute the alms and other contributions for the relief of the poor, or the necessities of the congrega-
Deacon