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Deaconess

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Deaconess (and also deacon) comes from a Greek word diakonos (διακονος). This Greek word means a servant or helper and occurs frequently in the Christian New Testament of the Bible and is sometimes applied to Christ himself.

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Early Christian History

Deaconesses trace their roots to Biblical times when women were set apart by the early church to care for the poor, for widows and orphans, and provide catechism instruction to female candidates for baptism. The Apostle Paul commends a deaconess, Phoebe, to the Romans in the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. Paul's reference to Phoebe, "deaconess of the Church of Cenchrae", in Romans 16:1 should be understood against the background of developing ministries in the early Christian church rather than as a reference to an established female diaconate at the time. The office gradually developed, and was recognized by the Church, though it was not considered to be an ordained ministry (the First Council of Nicea stated in 325 that deaconesses did not receive ordination and were to be considered as part of the laity). Deaconesses carried out various tasks and ministries which did not require Holy Orders – they helped with the Baptism of women converts, especially when it was done by total immersion; they presided at prayer services for women; and they distributed Holy Communion in the absence of a priest. As adult baptisms became less frequent, deaconesses became rarer, but were found in the Roman Catholic Church until the eleventh century.

Modern history

The modern deaconess movement began in Germany in 1836 when Theodor Fliedner and his wife Friedericke Munster opened the first deaconess motherhouse in Kaiserswerth on the Rhine. Fifty years later, there were over 5000 deaconesses in Europe. In 1884, John Lankenau, a business owner, brought 7 sisters from Germany to run the German hospital in Philadelphia. Other deaconesses soon followed and began ministries in several United States cities with large Lutheran populations. By the 1963 formation of the Lutheran Church in America, there were three main centers for deaconess work: Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Omaha. These three sisterhoods combined and form what became the Deaconess Community of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America or ELCA.

The spiritual revival in the Americas and Europe of the nineteenth century brought rapid social change. Women who began to seek new roles for themselves turned to deaconess service. For women with a calling to serve God, this was a socially acceptable role at that time. Allowed to function as lay ministers or servants and not ordained clergy, women filled the traditional societal role of caregivers and teachers for various churches.

Denominations

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