Orthodox Church ordains female deacon

[Michie]

Angelic Molen of Zimbabwe was ordained a deaconess in the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and of All Africa, a part of the Eastern Orthodox Church. | Credit: St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess​

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa ordained Zimbabwean Angelic Molen as a deaconess in the Orthodox Church. Taking place on May 2, Orthodox Holy Thursday, the ordination was conducted at St. Nektarios Mission Parish near Harare, Zimbabwe, by the archbishop of Zimbabwe, Metropolitan Serafim.

The St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess, a U.S.-based organization that has advocated for reviving the ancient female diaconate, said in a press release that Molen’s ordination would prepare the way for the restoration of the role in other branches of the Orthodox Church. The group’s board chair, Dr. Carrie Frost, wrote: “Being the first to do anything is always a challenge, but the Patriarchate of Alexandria has courageously chosen to lead the way with Metropolitan Serafim laying his hands on Deaconess Angelic.”

According to the release, Molen said: “At first I was nervous about going into the altar, but when Metropolitan Serafim blessed me to enter the altar as part of my preparation this week, those feelings went away and I felt comfortable. I am ready.” According to the St. Phoebe Center, Molen was well received by her community and parish.

“The Alexandrian Patriarchate in Africa felt the need to revive this order to serve the daily pastoral needs of Orthodox Christians in Africa,” the release read. Metropolitan Serafim said that Molen will have both liturgical and pastoral roles. He said: “She is going to do what the deacon is doing in the liturgy and in all the sacraments in our Orthodox services.”

Continued below.

Orthodox Church ordains female deacon

The Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa ordained Zimbabwean Angelic Molen as a deaconess in the Orthodox Church.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

 

[RileyG]

Deaconesses are part of the ancient Church so there’a nothing heretical about it.

 

[WarriorAngel]

Being the first to do anything is always a challenge,

It's not a first, but bringing it back.

So long as the same formula and understanding remains, she cannot have a higher ordination.

Peace be with her in Baptizing women.

 

[Michie]

In recent developments within the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, notably the ordination of Angelic Molen as a deaconess, significant theological and canonical questions arise when seen through the lens of Catholic ecclesiology and sacramental theology.

Historical Background​

In the early Church, deaconesses played significant roles, especially in the East. By the third and fourth centuries, they were involved in liturgical functions and the baptism of women, as documented in sources like the Apostolic Constitutions and the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. The Church in the West also had women serving in similar capacities, though less formalized, focusing on baptism and works of charity. Figures such as St. Epiphanius of Salamis provide insight into the ambivalent attitudes toward their ordination at the time.

By the early Middle Ages, the role of deaconesses began to decline in the East, and faded even more definitively in the West, as the Church clarified that sacramental ordination is limited to men.

Continued below.

How the Catholic Church Sees the Ordination of an Orthodox Church Deaconess

COMMENTARY: Any consideration of women in the diaconate must be grounded in a thorough understanding of the Catholic Church's tradition and divine revelation.

www.ncregister.com

 

[WarriorAngel]

In recent developments within the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria, notably the ordination of Angelic Molen as a deaconess, significant theological and canonical questions arise when seen through the lens of Catholic ecclesiology and sacramental theology.

Historical Background​

In the early Church, deaconesses played significant roles, especially in the East. By the third and fourth centuries, they were involved in liturgical functions and the baptism of women, as documented in sources like the Apostolic Constitutions and the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. The Church in the West also had women serving in similar capacities, though less formalized, focusing on baptism and works of charity. Figures such as St. Epiphanius of Salamis provide insight into the ambivalent attitudes toward their ordination at the time.

By the early Middle Ages, the role of deaconesses began to decline in the East, and faded even more definitively in the West, as the Church clarified that sacramental ordination is limited to men.

Continued below.

How the Catholic Church Sees the Ordination of an Orthodox Church Deaconess

COMMENTARY: Any consideration of women in the diaconate must be grounded in a thorough understanding of the Catholic Church's tradition and divine revelation.

www.ncregister.com

Thanks Michie. An early person of interest - I did not read about.
SORRY I referenced as a Saint. Good gravy.


New advent. org discloses the ordinations as going no further than the role of assisting other women in the very early Church due to 'modesty' concerns [and the ordination was not open to further steps of ordination as it was for men to enter priesthood... ]

But now baptism has conformed to our era. Also the DIdache allowed such practices as today.

I would think nuns do plenty in charity.
I don't know if this is necessary for women to participate in charity in our generation or baptisms.

It's a wait and see where the East allows this to go.

 

[WarriorAngel]

Maybe it is cultural for Africans to undress at baptisms.