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Fixed this link, though 2006 is 15 years ago now. The other link in this reference is also broken but is not recoverable as far as I can tell.
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{{Clergy}}
:''This is an article about the order of deaconess. If you are looking for the wife of a deacon, see [[Diakonissa]].
'''Deaconesses''' were an [[holy ordersHoly Orders|order]] in the primitive Christian Church. Information is sparse as to their activities at the time, though it is clear they were mostly involved with ministering to other women and girls.
It being improper for males to be physically handling women, deaconesses were commissioned to assist especially in [[baptism]] and [[chrismation]].
At the same time, the [[Church of Russia|Russian Orthodox Church]], Japan's mother Church, had deaconesses. It seems from the scant material available that the Russian Church has always had deaconesses.
The Greek Orthodox Church of Greece has had deaconesses intermittently over the recent centuries, and appears to have usually had deaconesses in its female [[monastery|monasteries]] from time immemorial. In 2004 the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece officially restored the female diaconate.<ref>[http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=3997 "Grant Her Your Spirit"] by Phyllis Zagano, ''America: The National Catholic Weekly'', February 7, 2005.</ref>
The Russian Orthodox Church still has deaconesses. <ref>[http://www.antiochian.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=472&Itemid=21 "Deaconesses"] which points to Item 8 of [https://web.archive.org.au/contentweb/20070702034339/viewhttp:/466/6eng.sedmitza.ru/index.html?did=1906 The minutes of the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, April 11, 2006]as evidence for the existence of deaconesses in the Russian Church.</ref>
In female monasteries the role of a deaconess seems necessary for the good order and function of the monastery church. It is more seemly than having male deacons involved there.
In 2006, the larger Bulgarian and Romanian monasteries have a deaconess who is usually second in charge. In Romania they wear distinctive garb while performing diaconal duties. The question of having deaconesses perform the liturgical role of deacons in [[parish]] churches or [[cathedral]]s is could be seen as a different matter and should be since the practice of having deaconesses assist in those places seems to have generally died out in the Byzantine Church about 600 years ago with the subject inception of separate discussionthe Ottoman yoke.
==Source==
*[http://www.antiochian.orgnet/index.au/content/php?option=com_content&task=view/&id=472/&Itemid=21/ Deaconesses] ==References==<references />
==See also==
**[http://www.anastasis.org.uk/ordinations.htm "Ordination of a Woman Deacon"] offers background to the link above, both from the ''Euchologion'' of the Monastery of Saint Andrew the First Called in Manchester, England
*[http://www.angelfire.com/pa/deaconess/ The Historical Orthodox Deaconess]
*Archive of [http://web.archive.org/web/20060825124107/http://www.antiochian.org.au/content/view/483/21/ "Female Deacons in the Byzantine Church"] by [[Valerie A. Karras|Valerie Karras]]*Archive of [http://web.archive.org/web/20060825123836/http://www.antiochian.org.au/content/view/484/21/ "The Liturgical Functions of Consecrated Women in the Byzantine Church"]by Valerie Karras
*[http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/5357/geofd.html "Prayers for the Ordination of Women Deacons as found in Georgian Manuscripts"], taken from: "The Georgian Version of the Liturgy of St. James," F. C. Conybeare and Oliver Wardrop, from ''Revue de l'Orient Chretien'', XIX, 1914 (Paris)
*[http://www.stnina.org/journal/art/3.2.7 Book Review: ''Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Ministry''] by Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald, reviewed by Deborah Malacky Belonick for ''St. Nina's Quarterly''
*[http://www.stnina.org/print-journal/artvolume-3/volume-3.-no-2.6 -spring-1999/an-interview-kyriaki-karidoyanes-fitzgerald "An Interview with Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald"] by Teva Regule of the ''St. Nina's Quarterly''*[http://www.stmaryorthodoxchurch.org/orthodoxy/articles/2005-01-27-women.php Church of Greece Restores Diaconate for Women] by Dr. Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald*[http://www.orthodoxwomen.org/files/SCOBA_Women_Deacons.pdf Toward a Complete Expression of the Diaconate: Discerning the Ministry Women Deacons (PDF)] by Kyriaki Karidoyanes FitzGerald, M.Div., Ph.D.
[[Category:Church Life]]
[[mk:Ѓакониса]]
[[ro:Diaconiţă]]
