Did St. Nektarios Reinstate the Female Diaconate?

Fr. Paul Truebenbach | June 6, 2013

 

One of the ongoing "debates" while I was at seminary was the issue of "reinstating" the female diaconate.  I put the term "debates" in quotations because it was only openly discussed here and there; there was a definite undercurrent, however, with a select few students and a couple of individuals in the faculty or administration who clearly desired this, some even openly advocating it.

I put the term "reinstating" in quotation marks because, based on my research and understanding of the issue,  what is actually desired is not what was once the practice.  My views on this issue would take too long to fully explain for the time being, but one aspect of the debate did seem to pop up more than any other.  This was the assertion that even St. Nektarios believed in the reinstatement of the female diaconate, as he he ordained, within the context of the Liturgy, two females as deacons.  A few points were often made with this belief (either explicitly or implied):

1) St. Nektarios was an "activist" in this issue, his actions being a clear endorsement of bringing the female diaconate back to the Church.

2) The deaconesses were made within the context of the Liturgy, showing that this was, indeed, an ordination.  This leaves no question that the deaconesses were members of the third order of the priesthood (i.e. bishop, priest, deacon).

3) Further evidence that this was an ordination is that the service making the deaconesses involved the laying on of hands.

4) The deaconesses wore the traditional vestments of deacons, including the orarion (or stole), further proving that they were full deacons as any male would be.

5) The deaconesses performed all of the regular functions that a male deacon would during the services.

These assertions have varying degrees of truth, as we shall see.  With the recent publication by Holy Cross Orthodox Press of an English translation of St. Nectarios of Pentapolis and the Island of Aegina: The Monastic Ideal by Celopas Syrongylis, we can discover where the truth in these issues lies.  In a lengthy footnote on page 15, we read:

We consider it beneficial to cite an excerpt of this letter from St. Nectarios, which mentions the laying on of hands for subdeaconesses: "Regarding the subdeaconesses, I inform you that they are primarily the sacristans of the sanctuary. Their dress was adopted according to the manner that the readers who are in the churches of the cities wear their holy vestments. Cuffs were allowed for the following reasons. Because there are no deacons in female convents, and no priests in this particular one, and as I am neither able to attend to the cleanliness of the church, nor to constantly remain in the church serving as a sacristan, and as the sanctuary has an absolute need for appointed persons to clean the holy vessels, change the covers and cloths of the holy altar, move the holy artophorion [or tabernacle], and perform every other duty of a sacristan in the sanctuary, I thought to appoint two [subdeaconesses], so that they can alternate performing duties in the sanctuary.  In an absolute necessity, they bring the Holy Eucharist to very sick sisters in a small chalice designed for this purpose. Aside from this necessary exception, they are sacristans in all their other duties" (Mattheakis, 'O Άγιος Νεκτάριος Κεφαλάς, 147).

Athens university Theological School Professor Evangelos Theodorou examines the laying of hands on deaconesses in his doctoral thesis. In a footnote in his thesis' epilogue, he refers to the dress and the method of the laying of hands on the nuns of Holy Trinity Convent in Aegina during both St. Nectarios' era and afterward. The significance of the subject we are studying compels us to include the aforementioned footnote: "In Aegina, e.g., Holy Trinity Convent established by the local saint Metropolitan Nectarios of Pentapolis (1846-1920), there exist today 'deaconesses' - nuns enabled by the ever-memorable Chrysostomos Papadopoulos, Archbishop of Athens, to wear the deacon's orarion [stole], cense, adorn the holy altar and, in the absence of a clergyman, read passages from the Gospel during services and give the presanctified Gifts to sick nuns. Although they were bestowed their position through the prayers recited during the laying on of hands on subdeacons, and not during the Divine Liturgy, there is an elderly and very venerable 'deaconess' currently serving as abbess in the Convent of the Dormition [named Panagia Chrysoleontissa] in Aegina, whom St. Nectarios himself 'ordained' on the day of Pentecost in 1911, inside the holy sanctuary during the Divine Liturgy through the laying on of hands and the prayers recited during the ordination of a deacon, saying, 'The Divine Grace....' This 'deaconess' (Nun Magdalene Moustaka) was ordained while she was still a nun in Holy Trinity Convent. The nun being ordained did not wear a tunic reaching her feet, but one that almost reached her back, along with a deacon's stole and maniples. She succeeded another deaconess upon whom St. Nectarios also bestowed this title and served the convent in this capacity. Because some people considered this 'laying on of hands' improper, St. Nectarios gave an explanation to the then Archbishop of Athens Theokletos, stressing that the work that he assigned them resembled more that of a subdeacon and was a necessity of the convent, especially during the absence of a priest. It is evident that St. Nectarios' action, taken for all it is worth, was essentially in accordance with the long-standing practices of the Church. We received information regarding all this from the righteous and venerable abbess, as well as from several 'deaconesses' in Holy Trinity Convent in Aegina"... (see original footnote for citation - Averky)

The ever-memorable Nun Nectaria (whose secular name was Zenobia Lalaouni) spent her childhood years in Aegina, near St. Nectarios. In an interview, an excerpt of which was been included here, she speaks of the method with which the saint of the twentieth century used to choose nuns from his convent to officially appoint as subdeaconesses: "When he would come out during the Small and Great Entrances, he had two nuns with him, serving as subdeaconesses, who wore the deacon's crossed stole. When he was to officially lay hands on a subdeaconess, he would pray for God to reveal to him which nuns were worthy of this position. He would ask God to give him a 'sign' to show him who was worthy of assuming this service. And so he would 'see' one or two nuns in the church 'wearing' the stole, without, of course, him having given it to them. He would call them immediately and place the stole upon them" (Melinos, Μίλησα με τον Άγιο Νεκτάριο, 1:252, 254).

St. Nectarios laid hands on two nuns in his convent, thus bestowing upon them the office of subdeaconess: Elizabeth Roka and Magdalene Moustaka, the latter of which later became abbess of the Panagia Chrysoleontissa Convent in Aegina. Having accepted St. Nectarios' practice, Archbishop Chrysostomos Papadopouolos of Athens proceeded to lay hands on other nuns in Holy Trinity Convent, pronouncing them subdeaconesses, on two occasions, only a few years after St. Nectarios' death. On the first occasion the nuns named to this position were Christophora, Kyriaki, Evniki, and Paraskevi, and on the second occasion, they were Nuns Ephrosini, Theoktisti, and Haritini (Matteakis, 'O Άγιος Νεκτάριος Κεφαλάς, 147-48).  

 

Source: https://orthodoxbookshelf.blogspot.com/2013/06/did-st-nektarios-reinstate-female.html