Andyews University Seminary Studies, Vol. 43, NO.1, 133-158.

Copyright 2005 Andrews University Press.

@

DEACONESSES IN HISTORY AND IN THE

SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH
Nancy J. Vyhmeister
Yucaipa, California
In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, deaconesses traditionally prepare
the communion bread, pour the grape juice, and make sure each
participant in the women's room has a partner for the foot washing. They
are not usually ordained. Where do these traditions come from?'
In order to answer this question, this article will examine evidence
relating to the role and function of deaconesses in the Christian church
during various stages of its history. We will begin by evaluating the NT
evidence. Then we will trace the story of deaconesses from the early
church onward, finally coming to Seventh-day Adventist practice and
understanding of the female diaconate.

llbe Word: "Deaconess"

The word "deaconess" is the feminine counterpart of the male "deacon."
Both words come from the Greek verb 6 i a ~ o v h("to serve, to assist, to
minister"). Related nouns are 6rci~ovoc("one who serves, or deacon") and
Gitll~ovia("service or ministry").
In Matt 8:15, Luke 10:40, and Acts 6:2, the verb means to serve at a table,
which is consistent with the earliest Greek usage of the word. For instance,
at the end of the forty days in the wilderness, angels "waited on" Jesus watt
4: 11).The meaning broadens to include other aspects of ministry: Jesus came
to minister or serve (Matt 20:28), Paul considered his trip to Jerusalem to
deliver the offering gathered in Europe as a ministry @om 15:25), and the
author of Hebrews commends the practice of serving the saints (Heb 6:lO).
Thus serving others is what deacons do (1 Tim 3:10,13).
The noun Gia~ovioris used to describe the table ministry the apostles
entrusted to the seven (Acts 6:1,2). In Acts 20:24, it is Paul's God-given
ministry of the gospel, which he also calls the "ministry of reconciliation"
(2 Cor 5: 18). Timothy is encouraged to carry out his G ~ a ~ o v(2 I aTim 45).
Spiritual gifts are to prepare the saints for G i a ~ o v i a(Eph 4:12).
1 , is used in several ways. For example,
The noun 6 1 6 ~ 0 (~6 01 6~~ 0 ~ 0pl.)
it denotes one who waits on tables, as in the wedding feast at Cana (John

'This article is a tribute to my deaconess mother, now in her 96th year. I well
remember how reverently she baked communion bread, and how she wore her special black
suit and white gloves to uncover and cover the table on communion Sabbath.
2:5). Jesus told his disciples to be 6r&~ovoi if they wished to be great (Mark
10:43). Tychicus is Paul's 6r&~ovoc, who ministers to him and helps him
(Col 47). With Paul, the word takes on a specifically Christian sense. Paul
is a 6r&~ovoc of the new covenant (2 Cor 3:6), of God (2 Cor 6:4), and of
the church (Col1:25). He calls Timothy a ~ L & K O V O Cof Jesus Christ (1 Tim
4:6). In these texts, the meaning is much closer to "minister" than to
"servant."
In Phil 1:1 and 1 Tim 3:8-13, ~ L & K O V Ois~used to identify specific church
officers, the "deacons." Theirs was evidently a spiritual occupation, for the
characteristics required of them were personal integrity and blamelessness.
While they seem to have held a position lower than that of the elders (or
presbyters), they were recognized church leaders-not merely people who
opened and closed the church or carried gifts to the poor.
The Greek, which usually distinguishes carefully between masculine
and feminine forms of a noun, does not do so with ~ L & K O V O ~The . same
word is used for male and female religious servers, both in pagan religions
and in Christianity. When the article is used, the gender is visible: b
G L ~ K O V O S(masculine) and fi ~ L & K O V O <(feminine). The canons of the first
general council of Nicaea (325) contain a neologism: ~ L ~ K ~ V L Oa O ~ ,
feminine form of Gi&~ovo~.
Another Greek word speaks of service: 6003L0~(verb, 6oukh), which
means "slave," is consistently mistranslated "servant" in the KJV. Unlike
~ , 6063Lo~has no say over his own person. A 6oD3Log is totally
a ~ L & K O V O the
committed-willingly or otherwise-to a master. The "servants" in Jesus'
parables are actually slaves rather than servants. In Rom 6, Paul portrays
human beings as "slaves," either to sin or to God. Paul calls himself a 6oGho5
of Jesus Christ @om 1:1), thereby showing his total commitment to God.

WomenDeacons in the Nkw Testament

In the NT, women served the church in many ways. This article will
examine only those women who served in official capacities. Those
women who served in unofficial capacities, among whom would be the
women who provided for the needs of Jesus and his disciples (Luke
8:3)-for example, Tryphaena, Tryphosa, and Persis, who "worked hard
in the Lord" (Rom 16: 14, and the older women, whose task it was to
teach the younger (Titus 2:4-5)-will not be discussed in this article.

Phoebe
Paul, in Rom 16:1-2, called Phoebe a ~ L & K O V O Sof the church of Cenchraea.
Besides this brief statement, nothing is known about Phoebe, except that
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 135

she was a "benefactorn of Paul and others, and that Paul commended her
to the church in Rome.
That she was a benefactor or patroness (npooz&n~) suggests a woman
of wealth and position. In the first-century Mediterranean world,
patronage provided sustenance to the clients and honor to the patron. A
patron or benefactor funded the construction of monuments, financed
festivals or celebrations, supported artists and writers, or even provided a
synagogue for a Jewish congregation in exile. In return for the patron's
support, the client-individual or group-provided gratitude, honor, and,
sometimes, the fruit of their artistic labor.2 In ancient Athens, the male
equivalent, npoor&z~, was the title of a citizen whose responsibility it was
to see to the welfare of resident aliens, who had no civic rights.'
That she was commended to the church in Rome is usually accepted
as evidence that Phoebe carried the letter to the church for Paul. Given
that Cenchraea was the eastern port city of Corinth, Phoebe would have
been known to Paul, who seems to have written from Corinth, as is
suggested by references to Gaius and Erastus, who were clearly from
Corinth (Rom 16:23; cf. 1 Cor 1:14,2 Tim 4:20).
Of interest to this study is Phoebe's title, GL&KOVO~. The Greek word
appears here in the masculine but, as noted above, the word was used for
both males and females. Paul recognized Phoebe as a 61&~ovo<, or minister,
of the church at Cenchraea. Only here is 61&Kovogused in relation to a
specific church, implying that the word refers to some kind of position in
the church. Translation of the term ~ L & K O V Oin~ this passage has more to
do with the translator than the meaning of the Greek word. The KJV has
"servantn;the NIV has "servant," with "deaconess" in the note; the NRSV
says "deacon," with "minister" in the note.
Early church writers give their own interpretation of this passage.
Origen (185-254) interprets Paul's statement as follows: "This passage
teaches that there were women ordained in the church's ministry . . .
because they helped in many ways."4 Writing about Phoebe and the other
women of Rom 16, John Chrysostom (ca. 347-407) wrote: "You see that
these were noble woken, hindered in no way by their sex in the course of
virtue; and this is as might be expected for in Christ Jesus there is neither

'For more on patronage, see Nancy Vyhmeister, "The Rich Man in James 2: Does
Ancient Patronage Illumine the Text?"AUSS 33 (1995): 266-272.
-'w.E. Vine, Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Grand Rapids:
Fleming Revell, 1981), S.V."prostatis."
40rigen, Epistoka ad Romanos 10.17.2, cited in Ancient Christian Commentary of
S+ture, vol. 6, Romans, ed. Gerald Bray (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1998).
male nor female."' Theodoret (393-460) noted that the "church assembly
at Cenchreae was already so considerable as to have a woman deacon,
prominent and noble. she was so rich in good works performed as to have
merited the praise of P a ~ l . " ~

"The Women Likewise"

In 1 Tim 3:2-7, Paul lists the characteristics of bishops or overseers, which
is the literal translation of the Greek i d a ~ o ~ o Verses
s. 8-10 describe the
spiritual traits required of ~ l c i ~ o v o lVerse
.' 11, however, seems something
of a digression: "Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but
temperate, faithful in all things."
Who are these "women"? The Greek word, which can be translated
"women" or "wives," has been variously translated as "women," with
"women deacons" or "their [deacon's] wives* in the note (NRSV);
"women," with "either deacons' wives or deaconesses" in the note
(NASB); "their wives," with "or deaconesses" in the note (NIV)"; or "their
wives," with their in italics, admitting its absence in the original text (KJV).
However, the implication that the term refers to a wife of the deacon
presents difficulties, for in the Greek there is no possessive, so it would
not be possible to know whose wives the text was referring to. On the
other hand, if one takes the context seriously, these are women who serve
the church as do their male counterparts. Quite probably, these women
were female deacons, as was Phoebe. In the late second century, Clement
of Alexandria (155-220) indicated that this text presented evidence for the
existence of ~L&KOVOV y u v a i ~ 6 v("women deacons*).John Chrysostom and
Theodoret, writing in the fourth and fifth centuries respectively, also
understood these women to be female deacons.'
As in the case of Rom 16:l-2, the translation of 1 Tim 3:8-10 varies
according to the translator's presuppositions. The present is interjected
into the past, with the result that because there are no women deacons in
my church now, there must not have been any before, or because we have
deaconesses in the church today, they could have had them in the first
century. Finally, if no other interpretation works, it is always appropriate
for the spouses of church officers to be serious Christians.
'John Chrysostom, Homily 30, on Romans 15:25-27,A Select Library of the Niceneand
Post-NiceneFathers of the Christian Church (NPNF) (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996).
Vheodoret interpret. Epist ad Rom. 16:1, PG 82, cols 2 VD, 220A.
'interestingly, the Miles Coverdale Bible (1563) translated G r d ~ o v oas~ "minister."
'Clement Stromata 3.6.53, Clement ofAlexandria, trans. John Ferguson, The Fathers
of the Church (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1991), 289; John
Chrysostom, In Epistola 1 ad Timotheus3, Homily 11.1, NPNF.
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 137

Women Deacons in the Early Church

During the early centuries, there is mention of women deacons (~L&Kovo<),
deaconesses (~LCCK~VLUOC~),
and widows (xfipar)as recognized church leaders.
We will examine evidence regarding the existence, tasks, and ordination
of women in the dia~onate.~ Then I will point to reasons for the demise of
the female diaconate in the church.

The Existence of Women Deacons

Somewhere between 111 and 113, Pliny the Younger, governor of
Bithynia, wrote to the Emperor Trajan, asking how he should deal with
Christians. In the letter, he tells of questioning two women, who were
called ministrae, the Latin equivalent of ~ L C ~ K O V O ~ . ' ~
Of the ministry of women, Clement of Alexandria wrote:
But the apostles in conformity with their ministry concentrated on
undistracted preaching, and took their wives around as Christian sisters
rather than spouses, to be their fellow-ministers[auv6ia~6vou<,"fellow
deacons"] in relation to housewives, through whom the Lord's teaching
penetrated into the women's quarters without scandal."
The Dldascalia Apostolorum, which has a complex and debated
history, presents information on the work of women in the church. The
document, which is undoubtedly from the East, seems to have been
composed in the third century and has survived in Greek, Syriac, and
Latin fragments. Chapter 16 gives specific instructions about the role of
men and women church workers:
Therefore, 0 bishop, appoint yourself workers of righteousness,
helpers who cooperate with you unto life. Those that please you out
of all the people you shall choose and appoint as deacons: on the one
hand, a man for the administration of the many things that are

?For further information on the history of female deacons, see "The History of Women
Deacons," at <www.womenpriests.org/traditio/deac~ovr.htm> . See also, John Wijngaards,
No Women in Holy Orders? %Ancient Woma Deacons (Norwich, UK: Canterbury, 2002).
While Wijngaards interprets the evidence as including women deacons in the clergy, Aim6
Georges Martimort, whose careful analysis Deaconesses: An Historical Study (San Francisco:
Ignatius, 1986), is considered a classic on the topic, admits the existence of women deacons but
denies that they were ever considered clergy. See Shirley A. Groh, "The Role of Deaconess
through the Ages," w w w . w l s . w e l s . n e t / l i b r a r y / E s s a y s / A u t h o r s / m
(August 17,2004);and Philip Schaff, History ofthe Gristiun Church, vol. 3, N i c m and Post-
Nicene Chiststianity. A.D. 311-600, section 52, "The Lower Clergy," <www.ccel.org/s/
schaff/hcc3/htm/iii.viii.v.htm#-fnf5 > (July28,2004).
'?liny Letters 10.96.
"Clement Stromata 3.6.53
 required, on the other hand, a woman for the ministry of women.'*
The Apostolic Constitutions, from the fourth century, incorporates most of
the Didascalia and thus includes much the same material on deaconesses.13
In answering questions posed by the bishop of Iconium, Basil of
Caesarea points out that ~ L ~ K O Vwho O ~ has committed fornication can
repent, but will not be returned to her office for a period of seven years.14
Basil's canon 44, which comes from the late fourth century, takes for
granted the existence of deaconesses and shows that purity and even
celibacy were expected of them. Canon 15 of the Council of Chalcedon
(451) anathematizes an ordained deaconess who marries.15
Grave inscriptions also provide evidence of the existence of female
deacons in the church. An inscription found in the vicinity of the Mount of
Olives tells of "Sophia the Deacon." Dated to the second half of the fourth
century, the tombstonereads: "Here lies the slave and bride of Christ, Sophia,
the deacon (fi 6id~ovoc),the second Phoebe."16 As a 'bride of Christ," Sophia
would have been celibate. As an imitator of Phoebe, she was a deacon.
A fifth-century inscription from Delphi, Greece, reads as follows:
"The most pious deaconess [ ~ L C I K ~ V L U U CAthanasia,
I] who led a blameless
life in decorum, was installed as deaconess by the most holy bishop
Pantiamianos. She has laced this monument. Here lie her mortal
remains."" A sixth-century inscription from Cappadocia in Asia Minor
gives not only the title, but shows what this female SL&KOVO~ did:
Here lies the deacon Maria of pious and blessed memory, who according
to the words of the apostle raised children, sheltered guests, washed the
feet of the saints, and shared her bread with the needy. Remember her,
Lord, when she comes into your kingdom.18
IZU Concerning deacons and deaconesses," The Didascalia Apostolorum in Syriuc, ed.
Arthur Voobus, Corpusscriptorumchristianorumorientalium, 407 (Louvain:Skretariatdu
Corpus SCO, 1979), 2:156. The Latin calls them diaconissae, Erik Tidner, ed., D2dascaliae
apostolorum, Canonum ecclesiasticorum: Traditionis apostolicae, versiones latinae (Berlin:
Akademie-Verlag, 1963), 42,59, 11 1.
"The Apostolic Constitutions, ANF 7:799-1043.
"Canons of St. Basil, 44, < www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-14/7appndx/basil.htm>
Ouly 22,2004).
15Chalcedon,Canon 15, Conciliorum OecumenicorumDecreta (Bologna:Istituto per le
Scienze Religiose, 1972), 94; also <www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/chalcedon.html> (July
2 1,2004).
"Ute E. Eisen, Women 0ffu:ebolders in Early Christianity: Epigrapbical and Literary
Studies (Collegeville, MN:Liturgical Press, 2000), 159.
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORYAND THE SDA CHURCH 139

In the East, deaconesses appear as late as the twelfth or thirteenth

century. The Libm Patrum states:
As for deaconesses, they must be wise. Those who have provided a clear
witness of purity and fear of God are the ones who should be chosen.
They should be chaste and modest and sixty years or older in age. They
carry out the sacrament of baptism for women because it is not fitting
that the priest should view the nudity of
Thus duly constituted women deacons or deaconesses are clearly
evident throughout the first centuries of the Christian church. Some have
suggested that the existence of women deacons or deaconesses were an
evidence of apostasy, while others are firmly convinced that the women
who served the church were simply heirs of phoebe."

The Ordination of Women Deacons

The Apostolic Constitutions gives instruction to the bishop on the
ordination of church leaders, male and female. The bishop is to lay hands
upon the woman and pray:
0 Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of man
and woman, who didst replenish with the Spirit Miriam, and Deborah,
and Anna, and Hulda, who didst not disdain that Thy only begotten
Son should be born of a woman; who also in the tabernacle of the
testimony and in the temple didst appoint women to be keepers of Thy
holy gates,-Do Thou now also look down on this Thy servant who is
to be ordained to the office of a deaconess, and grant her Thy Holy
Spirit, and cleanse her from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that she may
worthily discharge the work committed to her to Thy glory and the
praise of Thy Christ, with whom glory and adoration be to Thee and
the Holy Spirit for ever. men.^'
At the Council of Chalcedon (451), the ordination of deaconesses is
expressly called both ~ ~ m o r o v t i a &and
r ~ ~ ~ r p o 0 c a i(ordination
a by the
imposition of hands). Members of the Council agreed that "a woman shall
not receive the laying on of hands as a deaconess under forty years of age,
and then only after searching e~amination."~~

19~iberPatrum, ser. 2, fax. 16, in S. Congregatio pro Ecclesia Orientali, Caltj'i-caziones

unonica on'entale, Fonti (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1930), 34, cited in Martimort,
158.
' O A ~ opposite poles are the authors at <www.womenpriests.org>, who use the
historical material to support the ordination of women deacons and priests, and Martimon,
241-250, who finds the evidence for women deacons as part of the clergy ambiguous.
~ ~ t ~ l ~8.3.20, ANF 7:492.
2 1 ~ p Constitutions
22
Canon 15, Conciliorum Oecumenicorum Deueta, 94.
 Emperor Justinian directed a novella (March 16, 535) to the
archbishop of Constantinople, settling the number of clerics that should
be paid by the churches. Among the clergy of the Great Church of the
capital city, the emperor directed that there should be forty women
deacons. In a subsequent novella, he stated that the same rules should
apply to women deacons as to priests and deacons. As virgins or widows
of one husband, they merited sacred ~ r d i n a t i o n . ~ ~
The Barberini Greek Euchology, an eighth-century Byzantine ritual
for the ordination (ppo~ovicr)of male and female deacons calls for the
laying-on of hands in ordination. Two prayers were to be said. The first
prayer, said by a deacon, notes that God sanctified the female sex through
the birth of Jesus and has given the Holy Spirit to both men and women.
The second prayer, said by the archbishop, states:
Lord, Master, you d o not reject women w h o dedicate themselves t o you
and w h o are willing, i n a becoming way, t o serve y o u r H o l y House, but
admit them t o the order of your ministers. Grant the gift of your H o l y
Spirit also t o this your maid servant w h o wants t o dedicate herself t o
you, and fulfil in her the grace of the ministry of the diaconate, as you
have granted t o Phoebe the grace of your diaconate, w h o m y o u had
called t o the work of the ministry [ l e i t ~ u r ~ i a ] . ~ ~
The Gregorian Sacramentary, a Roman liturgical book of the eighth
century which contains the sole surviving Western formulary for the
ordination of a deaconess, reuses the formula for the ordination of a
deacon, but with the feminine gender.25

Tasks of Women Deacons

From ancient documents, we learn of the functions performed by the
deaconesses of the early church. The Apostolic Constitutions commands the
bishop to "ordain also a deaconess who is faithful and holy, for the
ministrations towards women. . . . For we stand in need of a woman, a
deaconess, for many necessities."' Female deacons had a special ministry for
women, especially in pagan homes, where male deacons were not welcome.
They took the Eucharist to women who could not attend church. In
"Justinian Nowllae 3.1; 6.6; Corpus Iuris Civilis, Novellae (Zurich: Weidmann, 1968),
3:20-21,43-45.
"Barberini Greek Euchology 336; for the original Greek, English translation, and the
history of the manuscript see <www.womenpriests.org/traditio/dea~rl.htm> (July 27,
2004).
25
Matthew Smyth, "Deaconesses in Late Antique Gaul," <www.womenpriests
.org/deacons/deac-smy. htm > (July 15,2004).
Constitutions 3.2.15, ANF 7:43 1.
26Apostoli~
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 141

addition, they ministered to the sick, the poor, and those in prison?7
The most important ministry of the female deacons was to assist at
the baptism by immersion of women. The deaconess anointed the
baptismal candidate with oil, apparently over the whole body. In some
cases, she was to hold up a veil so that the clergy could not see the naked
woman being baptized. It would appear that she also accompanied the
woman into the water. The Apostolic Constitutions states that "in the
baptism of women, the deacon shall anoint only their forehead with the
holy oil, and after him the deaconess shall anoint them: for there is no
necessity that the women should be seen by the men."'
The Disdascalia points to the role of women deacons in the teaching
ministry: "And when she who is being baptized has come up from the water,
let the deaconess receive her, and teach and educate her in order that the
unbreakable seal of baptism shall be (kept) in chastity and holiness. On t h s
account, we say that the ministry of a woman deacon is especially required
and urgent."29In her role of teaching, the deaconess would, evidently, deal
only with women, for in the section regarding widows, the Apostolic
Constitutions is clear that women should not teach or baptize.jO
Women deaconesses were active in the church service. Public duties
included presiding over the women's entrance into the church, examiningthe
commendatory letters of strangers, and assigningthem the appropriate places
in the ~hurch.~'
Evidence indicates that deaconesses were to be in charge of
convents-the "mother superior," so to speak. Between 532 and 534,
Jacobite bishops in exile in Antioch gave the opinion that in the East "the
superiors of female monasteries should be deaconesses and should share
the mysteries with those who are under their power," when no priest or

2 7 ~ a rP.
y Truesdell, "The Office of Deaconess," in The Didconate Today, ed. Richard
T . Nolan (Washington, DC: Corpus, 1968), 150. Truesdell, an Episcopalian deaconess,
unfortunately based much of her writing on secondary sources, such as The Ministry of
Women:A Report by a Committee Appointed by His Grace the Lord Arcbishop of Canterbuly
(London: SPCK, 1919). The chapter is available online, but without footnotes, at
<www.philosophy-religion .org/diaconate/chapter-7.htm > (July18,2004).
28~postolic
Constitutions 3.2.15, ANF 7:431. For details and documents, see "The
Woman Deacon's Role at Baptism," <www.womenpriests.org/traditio/deac~bap.htm>
(July 27,2004).
29Didascalia16, Voobus, 2:157.
Constitutions 3.1.6,9; A M 7:427-428,429.
M~postolic
"See "A Woman's Supervisory Role in the Assembly," <www.womenpriests
.org/traditio/deac-dis.htm > (July27,2004).
deacon was available to do so.j2 About 538, the bishop of Tella, not far
from Edessa, granted the deaconess the authority to assist the priest in the
communion service and to read the "Gospels and the holy books in an
assembly of women.""
James of Edessa (683-708) summarized the activities of the deaconess
in the Eastern church during his time:
T h e deaconess has absolutely no authority regarding the altar. . ..
However this is the authority she has: she can sweep the sanctuary and
light the sanctuary lamp, and this even when the priest o r deacon is not
there. Also, if she lives in a community of nuns, when there is n o priest
o r deacon, she can take the holy sacrament from the tabernacle and
distribute this t o the women w h o are her companions, o r t o children
w h o happen t o be there. But she is not allowed to consume the blessed
sacrament o n the table of the altar itself, o r t o put the blessed sacrament
o n the altar, o r t o touch the altar in any way.34

Demise of the Female Diaconate

While deaconesses appear in the Eastern church until the twelfth or
thirteenth century, in the West their end came much earlier. This is
corroborated by the British monk Pelagius (tca. 420), who wrote that the
female diaconate was an institution fallen into disuse in the West, though
remaining in the ~ast."'
A late fourth-century Synod of Nimes (396) points out that the
problem with deaconesses was that women had "assumed for themselves
the ministry of the Levites," which was "against apostolic discipline and
has been unheard of until this time." Further, "any such ordination that
has taken place is against all reason and is to be destroyed."102
A series of church councils pronounced against the ordination of
deaconesses. The First Council of Orange (441) ordered: "In no way
whatsoever should deaconesses ever be ordained. If there already are
"Canon 9, in I. Rahmani, Studiu Syriaca 3 (Sharfk, 1908), 33, cited in Martimort, 139-
140; see A. Voobus, Syrische Kanonessammlungen, Corpus scriptorum christianorum
orientalum, 307:167-175.
''John bar Qursos, "Questions Asked by the Priest Sargis," in A. Voobus, ed., The
Synodicon in the West Syrian Tradition, Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalum,
368:197-205, cited in Martimort, 140-142.
j4Syrian Synodicon, in "James of Edessa," <www.womenpriests
.org/traditio/james-ed.htm > (July 27,2004).
'O1~elagius, Commentaryon Romans 16~1, Theodore de Bruyn, Pelagius's Comentaryon
St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 150-151.
'02CharlesJoseph Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church fiom the Original
Documents (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1871), 2:404.
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 143

deaconesses,they should bow their heads beneath the blessing which is given
to all the people."103The Burgundian Council of Epaon (517) ruled: "We
abrogate totally within the entire kingdom the consecration of widows who
are named deaconesses. If they desire it, they may receive only the
benediction which is given to penitents."1@' The Second Synod of Orleans
(533) follows up on this prohibition. Canon 17states: "Women who . . .have
received the benediction as deaconesses, if they marry again, must be
excommunicated." Canon 18continues: "To no woman must henceforth the
benedictio diuco~lisbe given, because of the weakness of the sex."105
The ordination of deaconesses, rather than their work, seems to have
become an issue, perhaps because of their monthly "impurity." Bishop
Epiphanius of Salamis (315-405),who held that women "are a feeble race,
untrustworthy and of mediocre intelligence," pointed out that deaconesses
were not clergy, but served the "bishops and priests on grounds of
propriety."106In a letter to John, Bishop of Jerusalem, he insisted he had
never "ordained deaconesses . . .nor done anything to split the church."lO'
By 1070, Theodore Balsamon, Patriarch of Antioch, could affirm that
"deaconesses in any proper sense had ceased to exist in the Church though
the title was borne by certain nuns."lo8One of the reasons he gave was the
"impurity of their menstrual periods" and the fact that law "prohibits
women from entering the san~tuary."~"
Jacobite author Yahya ibn Jarir, writing from Persia in the third
quarter of the eleventh century, wrote:
lo3Canon26, Council of Orange, in Charles Joseph Hefele, Histoire des concile d'apris
lesdocumentsoriginaux(Paris: Letouzey et Ank, 1908),2:1:446-447. The note that follows this
canon runs from pp. 446-452 and outlines the history of the female diaconate and points to
examples of noncompliance, such as canon 73 of the Council of Worms (A.D. 868), which
reaffirms Chalcedon's Canon 15, as well as certain eleventh-century pontifical decrees that
allowed for the ordination of deaconesses (451-452). The author maintains that the Council
of Orange had to take strict measures with deaconesses because they were attempting to
"extend their attributions" (447).
lo4~ouncilof Epaon, Canon 21, in Edward H. Landon, A Manual of Councils of the Holy
Catholic Church (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1909).
lo5Hefele,A History of the Councils, 4:187; note that "ordination" is no longer
mentioned, but merely "benediction."
'ObEpiphanius of Salamis, Against Heresies 79.1, 3, 4. <www.womenpriests.org/
traditio/epiphan.htm > Ouly 28,2004).
107~piphanius,Letter to John Bishop of Jerusalem, $2 <www.womenpriests
.org/traditio/epiphan.htm > (July 28,2004).
108
Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v "Deaconesses."
'OgReplies to the Questions of Mark, reply 35, <www.womenpriests
.org/traditio/balsamon. htm > (July 15,2004).
 In antiquity deaconesses were ordained; their function was to be
concerned with adult women and prevent their being uncovered in the
presence of the bishop. However, as the practice of religion became
more extensive and the decision was made to begin administering
baptism to infants, this function of deaconesses was ab01ished.l'~
Michael the Great, Patriarch from 1166 to 1199, seemed to agree:
In ancient times there was a need for deaconesses, principally to assist
with the baptism of women. When converts from Judaism or paganism
became disciples of Christianity and thereby became candidatesfor holy
baptism, it was by the hands of the deaconesses that the priests and
bishops anointed the women candidates at the time of their baptism.
This was why they performed an ordination or cheirotoniu on the one
chosen to be a deaconess.
But we can plainly see that this practice has long since ceased in the
Church. The reason for this is that it is now at birth or during infancy
that those who are destined for baptism receive this baptism. There is
no longer any need for deaconesses because there are no longer any
grown women who are baptized."'
Thus two main considerations seem to have contributed to the demise
of the female diaconate. First, infant baptism replaced adult baptism,
making the assistance of a female at the baptism of adult women
unnecessary. Second, the sacrifice of the mass, which gave to the priest the
power of converting bread and wine into the very body and blood of
Jesus, shaped the understanding of clergy and laity and removed lay
people-male and female-from ministry. Further, the rise of monasticism,
with the institution of nunneries and the insistence on celibacy, changed
the focus of church work for women.

The Rediscovery of the Female Diaconate

Following the Reformation in Europe, the office of deaconess is first attested
among the Independents in Holland. In 1575, the "conclusions drawn up by
Thomas Cartwright and Walter Travers . . . contained a clause 'touching
deacons of both sorts, namely men and women.' Both were to be chosen by
the congregation and 'to be received into their office with the general prayers
of the whole Ch~rch.'""~ The Puritan governor WilliamBradford's Dialogue
describesan "ancient deaconessnin Holland, who served the congregationfor
many years after she was chosen at age sixty.
"O~ahyaibn Jarir, Book of Guldance ofJalya ibnJarir, G. Khori-Sarkis,Le livre du gurde
de Yahy ibn Jarir, Orient Syrien 12 (1967): 461, cited in Martimort, 166.
111 Syriuc Pontifical, Vatican Syriac MS 51, cited in Martimort, 167.

"*D. S. Schaff, "Deaconess,"l3e Nau SchafiHerzog Religious Encyclopedia, 3:375.

 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 145

She honoured her place and was an ornament to the congregation. She
usually sat in a convenient place in the congregation, with a little
birchen rod in her hand, and kept little children in great awe from
disturbing the congregation. She did frequently visit the sick and weak,
especially women, and, as there was need, called out maids and young
women to watch and do them other help as their necessity did require;
and if they were poor, she would gather relief for them of those that
were able, or acquaint the deacons; and she was obeyed as a mother in
Israel and an officer of christ.ll3
Kaspar Ziegler, a German Protestant jurist, theologian, and
hymnodist, showed a renewed interest in the topic of the deaconess in his
book, De diacone et diaconissis veteris ecclesiae liber commentarius,
published in Wittemberg in 1678.
In 1734, the nonjuring bishops of Scotland were led by their study of
Christian antiquities to desire the revival of the office of deaconess. They
designed a service for the making of deaconesses, complete, beautiful, and
in full accord with ancient tradition, and which provided for the laying-on
of hands. There is no evidence, however, that this service was ever used.l14
The office was gradually introduced elsewhere. One early
eighteenth-century work on the subject indicated that a deaconess was not
to be ordained before the age of forty; her duties were "to assist at the
baptism of women, to instruct children and women before baptism, to
supervise the women in Church and rebuke and correct those who
misbehave," and "to introduce any woman who wanteth to make
application to a Deacon, Presbyter, or Bishop."115
While Mennonites in Holland employed deaconesses, the modern
revival of the office may be said to have begun at Kaiserwerth in 1836,
when Lutheran pastor Theodore Fliedner formed the "Society of
Deaconesses for the Rhenish Provinces of Westphalia" to care for the
unfortunate. The members received "consecration," but were not
considered ordained. They formed voluntary societies for common life
and work, which the volunteers could leave at the call of more urgent
duties. At the Kaiserswerth Institute, women were trained for nursing,
teaching, and parish work.l16
It3~eslieMcFall, Good Order in the Church, <www.btinternet.com/%7Elmf 12/HTML-
GOITC/women-as-elders.htm > (July 13,2004); see also Lucy Rider Meyer, Deaconesses:
Biblical, Early Church, European, American (Cincinnati: Cranston & Stowe, 1889),29-30;
Schaff, 3:376.

1 I6
An interesting detail is that Florence Nightingalestudied there and later wrote about
Fliedner and Kaiserwerth (The Institution of Kaiserwerth on the Rhine [London: London
 In time, there was an attempt to introduce the idea of ordination into
the induction of deaconesses. This came about unofficially in 1861, when
Dr. Tait, Bishop of London, invested Elizabeth Ferard with the office of
deaconess. By 1871, the deaconess was "a woman set apart by the bishop
under that title for service in the Church."l17
According to Mary P. Truesdell, "one of the first persons in America
to have a clear concept of the office [of deaconess] was Bishop Cobbs, the
first Episcopal Bishop of Alabama." His plan called for a cathedral in
Montgomery, "with a house for deacons who were to do missionary work
and assist in pastoral ministrations and a house for deaconesses who were
to teach and-take care of the sick and poor." The plan, however, did not
work, probably because of the Civil war. l8 Bishop Cobbs was succeeded
by his friend, Richard Hooker Wilmer, who, late in December 1864,
"instituted" as deaconesses-but did not lay hands on-"three godly
women who offered themselves for whatever work the bishop might
assign them." The group organized to care for war orphans. In 1885, the
first deaconesses were ordained. The General Convention of the Episcopal
Church adopted a canon authorizing the "setting apart" of deaconesses.
Thus the ancient institution was reinstated in the Episcopal Church.l19
In 1917, the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed a committee of
scholarsto study the historical material regarding deaconesses. After much
discussion, the Lambeth Conference of 1930 affirmed that "the Order of
Deaconess is for women the one and only ministry which we can
recommend our branch of the Catholic Church to recognize and use."'"
Subsequently, the Convocations of Canterbury and York stated: "At her
ordination as a Deaconess, a woman receives by episcopal ordination a
distinctive and permanent status in the Church and is dedicated to a
life-long service and ministry."121
The first American Lutheran deaconesses came to the United States
in 1849. Theirs was a nursing ministry in the Passavant Hospital in
Pittsburgh, which was modeled after the Kaiserwerth 1n~titution.l~~ In

Ragged Colonial Training School, 1851'). American editions followed.

"'Schaff, 3:378.
"'Truesdell, 159-160.

lUuCornmissionfor Women," < www.elca.o%/cw/ordination/panel5/5.l.html> Ouly

28,2004).
 DEACONESSES AM> THE SDA CHURCH
IN HISTORY 147

1884, seven additional deaconesses came to the German ~ o s ~ i t a 1Much .l~~

later, it was decided that nursing was not the only service women could
render, and deaconesses began to serve in other capacities.'"
The work of Lucy Rider Meyer laid the basis for the Methodist
deaconess movement in the United States. After receiving an M.D. in
1887, Meyer organized a number of her women students into a program
of visitation and social service among the urban poor. In 1889, she
published Deaconesses: Biblical, Early Church, Elltopean, American: A
History of the ~ o v e m e n t . "At
~ the Methodist General Conference of 1902,
deaconesses were accepted, but not without debate and the warning, by
some of the "brethren," that the work of "trained women would displace
that of ministers themselves." That same year, the magazine Our Homes
carried a full description of deaconesses. Not a preacher, "she is not
ordained; therefore she is not a female deacon." Yet, she is "authorized and
appointed by the Church, which gives her the right to do some of the
things she could not otherwise do." "As a pastor's assistant she becomes a
leader for the women of that congregation in Church work."12' By 1909,
forty-five deaconesses "had been trained, consecrated, and appointed by
the Church to various types of service.""' In 1915, it was decided that
deaconesses were to have completed high school and two years of college
work in nursing, teaching, or business."'
Most nineteenth-century deaconesses belonged to "sisterhoods" and
lived together in "houses." They wore uniforms and were either single or
widowed. Theirs was a life fully consecrated to service to the church.
Deaconesses were not merely part-time church workers.

Deaconesses and Adventism

The Seventh-day Adventist Church grew up in the nineteenth century,
when the office of deaconess was springing up in various churches in
Europe and the United States. Thus it is not strange that Seventh-day

'''Mark Concepcion and Edward Chen, "Deaconesses of German Hospital,"

<www.aahn.org/gravesites/deaconess.html > (July 28,2004).
124E.g., the history of Lutheran deaconesses, < www.curf.edu/departments/deaconess/

IMustDoSomething.htm> (July 28,2004).

125
Encyclopedia Britannica, s.v. "Meyer, Lucy Jane Rider."
126ElizabethM. Lee, As among the Methodists: Deaconesses Yesterday, TToday, and
Tomorrow (New York: Woman's Division of Christian Service, Methodist Church, 1963),
52-53.
Adventists also considered the possibility of having women serve as
deaconesses.

Early Adventism
As early as 1856,Joseph Frisbie wrote about deaconesses as church workers.
He referred to the seven (Acts 6) and Phoebe @om 16:1), noting that they
"were considered servants, helpers or laborerswith the apostles in the gospel,
not that they preached the word, but ministered or served their temporal
wants." He then quoted from "Dr. A. Clarke's Commentary":
There were deaconesses in the primitive church, whose business it was to
attend the female converts at baptism; to instruct the catechumens, or
persons who were candidates for baptism: to visit the sick, and those who
were in prison; and, in short, perform those religious offices, for the
female part of the church, which could not with propriety be performed
by men. They were chosen in general out of the most experienced of the
church; and were ordinarily widows, who had borne children. Some
ancient constitutions required them to be forty, others fifty, and others
sixty years of age. It is evident that they were ordained to their office, by
the imposition of the hands of the bishop; and the form of prayer used on
the occasion is extant in the apostolic con~titutions.'~~
Frisbie then asked: "Would it not be well then, brethren, to appoint
in all the churches deacons and deaconesses who may answer the
qualifications that are laid down clearly in the Bible, with an
understanding of what their duties are?" These duties are then
summarized:
1. To see to the poor and destitute that may belong to the church; such
as widows, orphans, the sick and afflicted that may be among us.
2. That it is the duty of such to first inquire into the wants of the cause,
to introduce them to the church where they belong, at any proper time,
to raise means for the support of the truth. That such be considered the
treasures [sic] and agents of the church where they belong in all matters
of finance.
3. That it may be the duty to keep on hand good wine Uohn ii,10] from
grapes or raisins, for the ready ministration of the ordinances at any
time on the visits of the messengers, which ordinances are too much
neglected for the want of preparation; also to see to all other necessary
preparations for the ordinance^."^

'29JosephBirchard Frisbie, "Deacons," Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 31,
1856, 0102 (Words of the Pioneers, CD ROM);the quotation is from Adam Clarke's
CornmentaryonRom 16:1,2, <www.thebibletool.com/wordsearchresults.jsp?searchTerm=
deaconesses > .
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 149

In 1870, J. H. Waggoner published his ideas about "The Office of

Deacon." His presentation, based on Acts 6:3 and 1 Tim 3:8-12,
emphasized the spiritual characteristics of the deacons. These men were
needed because "it is adopted by us as a custom, in the absence of an elder
to have the deacon take charge of meetings, and exercise a general care for
the ~hurch."'~'Where Frisbie had earlier included deaconesses, Waggoner
makes no mention of them.

Ellen White and Deaconesses

Throughout North America, a large number of books, sermons, and
pamphlets regarding deaconesses and their work were published in the last
two decades of the nineteenth century. In addition, there are reports on
deaconess homes and the ministry of deaconessesin major American cities,
such as Chicago,Boston, and Philadelphia. In this environment, one might
expect that Ellen White would have had some of these books in her
library. She did not. 13*
A search for White's position on the appointment, ordination, or
work of deaconesses proves disappointing. Only one direct reference is
found in a letter written in September 1902, in which White scolds A. T.
Jones for listening to the private woes of women: "You are not to set such
an example that women will feel at liberty to tell you the grievances of
their home life, and to draw upon your sympathies. When a woman
comes to you with her troubles, tell her plainly to go to her sisters, to tell
her troubles to the deaconesses of the church."133
Ellen White's 1895 message on the setting-apart of women is key to
the Seventh-day Adventist understanding of the work of the deaconess.
Women who are willing to consecrate some of their time to the service
of the Lord should be appointed to visit the sick, look after the young,
and minister to the necessities of the poor. They should be set apart to
this work by prayer and laying on of hands. In some cases they will
need to counsel with the church officers or the minister; but if they are
devoted women, maintaininga vital connection with God, they will be
a power for good in the church. This is another means of strengthening
and building up the ~ h u r c h . " ~

"'J. H. Waggoner, "The Office of Deacon," The Review and Herald, September 27,
1870,116.
13*ABibliography of Ellen G.White's Private and Ofie Libraries, 3d ed. (Silver Spring,
MD:Ellen G.White Estate, 1993). She did, however, have Clarke's Bible Commentary,cited
by Frisbie in 1856.
G. White, Letter to A. T. Jones, Manuscript Releases 21, MR 1519.
'33~llen
'"~llenG . White, "TheDuty of the Minister and the People,"Review and Herald,July
 O n the strength of this declaration, deaconesses were ordained. The
first ordination is recorded in the church minutes for August 10,1895, at
the Ashley Church in Sydney, Australia. After the election of new
officers, "Pastors Corliss and McCullagh of the Australian conference set
apart the elder, deacons, deaconesses by prayer and the laying on of
hands."135The second ordination took place at the same church on January
6, 1900, with W. C. White officiating.13' The third occasion was an
ordination service in February or March 1916, when E. E. Andross, then
president of the Pacific Union Conference, officiated, citing as his
authority Ellen White's 1895 Review and Herald article."'

Adventist Deaconesses in the Twentieth Century

The process of becoming a deaconess and the role which the deaconess
plays in the Seventh-day Adventist Church is still emerging.

Ordination of Deaconesses in the

Seventh-dayAdventist Church
The early ordination of deaconesses in the Seventh-dayAdventist Church
was soon forgotten. In the Church Oficers' Gazette of December 1914,
deacons and elders are to be ordained, for "until this is done they are not
properly qualified to attend to all the duties of their office." The work of
the deaconess, "closely associated with the deacon in looking after the
many interests of the church," is "of the greatest well-being of the church,"
but nothing is said about the deaconess's 0rdinati0n.l)~In spite of this, F.
A. Detamore described a visit to a church in Sarawak, Borneo, and noted
the ordination of "Sister Lee [as] deacone~s."'~~
When the first Church Manual was published in 1932, the N T origin
of the deaconess was noted. However, the Manual goes on to state that

9, 1895, par. 8.
l J 5 ~ r t h uN.
r Patrick, "The Ordination of Deaconesses," AdventistReview, January 16,
1996,18-19;see also Jerry Moon, "'A Power That Exceeds That of Men': Ellen G. White on
Women in Ministry," in Women in Ministry: Biblical and Historical Perspectives, ed. Nancy
Vyhmeister (Berrien Springs: Andrews University Press, 1998), 201-203.
'%ASrecorded in the church minutes and the diary of W. C. White; see Patrick, 18-19.
'37Correspondenceon this is transcribed in Appendix C of Ellen G. White, Daughters
of God (Hagerstown, Maryland: Review and Herald, 1998), 253-255.
'38"0. A. Olsen, "The Duties of Deacons and Deaconesses," 7%e Church Oftcers'
Gazette, December 1914, 1.
13?F.A. Detarnore, "First Fruits in Sarawak, Borneo," Adventist Review, December 8,
1921, 11.
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORYAND THE SDA CHURCH 151

"there is no record, however, that these women were ordained, hence the
practice of ordaining deaconesses is not followed by our
denomination."'" This sentence appears in the ChurchManual through the
sixteenth edition in 1986.14'
The Annual Council of 1984 recommended revising the Church
Manual to delete the sentence about not ordaining deaconesses, and to
include Ellen White's 1895 statement about laying hands on women who
would "consecrate some of their time to be of service to the Lord." The
last sentence of the amended version was to read: "The church may
arrange for the ordination of deaconesses by an ordained minister who
holds current credentials from the ~onference."'~~ The General Conference
Session of 1985 voted to refer the amendment to the standing Church
Manual Committee for consideration in 1990, after a delegate objected to
calling Phoebe a deac~ness."~ At the 1990 session, it was voted to use the
word "induction" rather than "ordination" to refer to the commissioning
of deaconesses. Thus the 1990 Church Manual reads: "The church may
arrange for a suitable service of induction for the deaconess by an ordained
minister holding current credentials." Furthermore, the recognition of
Phoebe as a deaconess is included.lH This same sentence appears in the
latest edition issued in 2000.'~~
It is understood that this "appropriate ceremony" may include the laying-
on of hands, but ordination of deaconesses is not practiced in all churches.
For example, in the year 2000, the Southeastern California Conference, well
known for being progressive on women's issues, reported that only 38
percent of its congregations ordained women as deacons or deaconesses.The
rest maintained the nonordination tradition.'46

"O~eneralConference of Seventhday Adventists, Church Manual (n.p, 1932), 34.

"'General Conferenceof SeventhdayAdventists,Seventh-dayAdventist ChurchManual
(n.p., 1986), 64.
142~nnualCouncil Minutes, 253-846, October 15, 1984, <www.
adventistarchives.org/docs/GCC/GCC1984-lO/index.djvu?djvuopts&page= 78 (11August
2004 > .
"'"Ninth BusinessMeeting, Fifty-fourth General Conference Session,Tuesday, July 2,
1985," Adventist Review, July 4, 1985,9.
"'General Conferenceof SeventhdayAdventists, Seventh-&y Adventist ChurchManual
(Silver Spring, MD:General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, 1990), 64.
ChurchManual,rev. ed. (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald,
145Seventh-day~dventist
2000), 56.
146"Southeastern
CaliforniaConference Values Gender Inclusiveness,"AdventistReviezer,
March 23,2000, <www.adventistreview.org/2000-12/news.htm> (August 10,2004).
B e Taks of Deaconesses in the
Seventh-dayAdventist Church
In the answer to a question regarding deaconesses in a 1909 Review and
Herald, T. E. Bowen affirmed that the "work of the deaconess, properly
carried on, is of great importance and will bring much blessing into the
church. Her duty is not done when the quarterly meeting services are
over." Deaconesses should visit "the sick and those in need of loving help.
. . .They should take the lead in this noble work throughout the year and
enlist the interest and help of other sisters in the church.""' In the same
year, in a lea for the use of proper baptismal robes, Mrs. S. N. Haskell
points out that "those who accept, at the hand of the church, the office of
deaconess, obligate themselves to spend time to attend to the things of the
Lord's house." These things include baptismal robes.14'
In June of 1914, the Seventhday Adventist Church began to publish
instructions for local church officers in ?he Church Ofices' Gazette. Its first
two issues carried articlesdelineating the duties of deaconesses:"caring for the
appointments of the church building, and looking after the welfare of the
members of the church."'" The first article emphasizes the second of these
tasks: "It is her duty to become acquainted with the members by systematic
visiting, and to render them such assistance as may be required." The
attention required included caring for the sick, providing food and clothing
for those in need, helping people to find work, and teaching the sisters how
to cook and care for home and children. The deaconess should not do this
alone, but should "solicit the assistance of the other members of the church,
. . . thus leading them to become interested in one another's welfare and
uniting the church as one family." Finally, the deaconess was to keep record
of the "poor fund, administered by the deacon and deaconess." "It will be seen
that the duties of the deaconess open before her a very wide field of usefulness
in ministering to the needs of the members."'%
Almost at the end of the article, the care of different aspects of the
church building are considered: arranging the platform, placing flowers on
the desk, and dusting the sanctuary. Deaconesses were entrusted with the
preparation for communion and the women's ordinance of humility.
They were also to care for baptismal robes and help the women who were
baptized. Deaconesses should report their labors in a quarterly meeting.
Summarizing the duties, the unknown author stated: "To faithfully
14'T. E. Bowen, "Questions Answered," Review and Herald, January 7, 1909, 19.
'48Mrs.S. N. Haskell, "BaptismalRobes,"Review and Herald, March 11, 1909, 10.
Church Offtcm' Gazette, June 1914,2.
1491%e
'%The Duties of the Deaconess," ?he Church Offcers' Gazette, July 19l4,2.
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 153

perform the duties that belong to the office of a deaconess means much
hard work and self denial."151
The December 1914 issue of The ChurchOficm' Gazette repeats much
of the advice given in the June issue. It ends by stating that "deaconesses
should be real mothers in Israel. In connection with their other church
duties, they will do well to take a special interest in the welfare and
salvation of our children and
The article "Deacons and Deaconesses" in the October 1919 Church
OficersJGazette gives only one short paragraph to the care of the sick and the
poor. Much more importance is given to the deaconess's part in preparing for
the "quarterly [communion] service." The same Gazette recapitulates the
duties of deaconesses in its issue of July 1923. While the practical help
deaconesses may render "in the home or sick-room" did not disappear, the
emphasis shifted from caring for and visiting the members to a concern with
"dishes, decanter, goblets, and linen cloths" for comm~nion.'~~
Among the 1929Annual Council recommendations were several that
had to do with "shepherding the flock." One was that members should be
visited at least once a year "by the minister, or by the church elder,
deacon, deaconess, or other spiritually minded person."154
The first Adventist Church Manwl, published in 1932, dedicates five
short paragraphs to the work of deaconesses. Their major tasks were
preparing the communion table, overseeing the footwashing ceremony,
assisting in baptisms, and doing "their part in caring for the sick, the needy,
and the unfortunate, co-operating with the deacons in this
In the Church Oficers'
-- Gazette of October 1948, deaconesses were
instructed regarding the highly coreographed communion service. After
folding the napkins covering the bread, "the deaconesses, always moving
'in sweet accord' and unison, return to the table to remove and fold the
large cloth that covers the wine service. Somehow, women's fingers can do
this so much more skillfully than men's."'56

'520.A. Olsen, "TheDuties of Deacons and Deaconesses,"The Church Oficen' Gazette,

December 1914,l.
1 5 ' ~A.
. Hollister, "Deaconand Deaconess,"The Church Off~ers'Gazette, July 1923,2;
the article by 0 . A. Olsen, first published in 1914, was republished in a shortened form in
February 1924, omitting the injunction for deaconesses to be "mothers in Israel" and the
stress on the importance of the "home mission."
of the Autumn Council,"Adventist Review, November 14, 1929, 15.
154"~eport
155Ch~r~h
Manual, 1932,34.
lS6DorothyForeman Beltz, "Communion Service and True Worship," The Church
Offcers' Gazette, October 1948,4.
 In a 1952 essay on local church administration, Leif Tobiassen suggested
that the church be divided into small groups under the leadership of deacons
and deaconesses. He recommended that deaconesses be instructed "as to the
details" of their office and work closely with the church elders. The greatest
opportunity for service would be in a "campaign or a project," organized and
promoted by the church. The pastor would not spend time promoting
church activities from the pulpit, but deacons and deaconesses would lead
their groups into activity and then report to the pastor. In this way, each
member could be "an active worker. This ideal," wrote Tobiassen, "can most
surely be reached by the pastor if he takes pains to educate the deacons and
deaconessesto enlarge their vision of the significance of the part they should
take in the spiritual and missionary management of the remnant church."ls7
An echo of Tobiassen's idea, suggested by Harold Howard, was the
"undershepherd"plan. Deacons and deaconesses would work with the elders
to shepherd the flock.15*
A task that is halfway between the care of church property and
church people is the attendance of children during the church service. In
a 1940 edition of Ministry, the deaconess is in charge of the mothers' room,
supplying "picture books, crayons, blocks, and other busywork for tiny
tots."'" A 1954Review article suggests that deaconesses could be in charge
of a nursery where the little ones could play during the church service.lM
In 1963, deaconesses are told to encourage mothers to remove their noisy
children from the sanctuary to the mothers' r o ~ r n . ' ~ '
In a 1956 article in Ministry, Bess Ninaj delineates six major duties of
deaconesses. The first has to do with the communion service; it involves
preparing the bread and juice, and includes maintaining the table linens
and covering, and uncovering the table. Another duty is attending to all
that is necessary for the ordinance of humility, aided in the heavy work
by the deacons. Deaconesses are in charge of all items necessary for
baptism and assist women candidates. They also greet visitors at church
services. In addition, deaconesses should care for the sick and the poor,
which "may involve financial assistance, personal help with children in the
home, assistance with household duties, or making arrangements for any

'57LeifTobiassen, "AdventistConcepts of Church Management,"Ministry, November

1952, 18-20.
158~arold
Howard, "TheUndershepherd Plan,"Ministry, September 1992,26;seen. 95.
15W.E. Howell, "The Meaning of 'Holy Place'," Ministry, October 1940, 18.
'60Eric B. Hare, "Conditioningthe Child for the Church Service-Part 1," Adventist
Review August 5, 1954,9.
'610rvalScully, "Childrenin Church," Adventist Review, March 21, 1963,ll.
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORYAND THE S D A CHURCH 155

or all of these." Finally, "the deaconesses and deacons assist the pastor in
his work of calling on the members of the church. It is suggested in the
Manual that these visits be made at least once every three months, but
preferably each month."'"
After listing these duties, Ninaj notes that some of these duties "are
recognized and carried out quite uniformly by the churches. Some of them
are consistently neglected or unrecognized."'" The second part of the
article suggests that the care of people is neglected. To remedy this
situation, Ninaj lists six tasks that deaconesses should carry out: home
visitation in their own neighborhood, visitation in the homes around the
church, conducting a "Sunday school at the church" for neighborhood
children, conducting Vacation Bible Schools, developing a hospital
visitation program, and visiting families that have had a bereavement. To
achieve this kind of ministry, Ninaj insists, there "needs to be an
awareness of the needs and possibilities" and also preparation. She
concludes by quoting from Ellen White regarding the task of pastors in
organizing and preparing the church for service.'64
A two-part Ministry article in 1972 refers to the privileges and
responsibilities of deaconesses in relation to communion and footwashing,
and contains a recipe for communion bread.'"
A ministry description, dated 2004 and prepared by the North
American Division for deacons and deaconesses, lists the common duties
of deacons and deaconesses as understood throughout the last century:
deacons and deaconesses are in charge of greeting and ushering, keeping up
the church property, seeing to security, and visiting members. Deaconesses
are to help with the baptismal service, which includes preparing robes,
laundering and storing equipment, and assisting women candidates. The
functions regarding footwashing and communion are the same as those
listed earlier. One item, however, is new: "It is appropriate for either
deacons or deaconesses, who have been ordained, to assist in distributing
the emblems and uncovering and recovering the table during the service."
In addition-and here the list seems more similar to the ones of the early
twentieth century-"they will join with the pastor and elders in visiting
church members. Some churches assign a geographic area or certain
number of members for deacons and deaconesses in teams of two or three

lbZBess
Ninaj, "The Deaconess and Her Work," Ministry, December 1956,36.

165DaloresBroome Winget, "The Deaconess and the Communion Service," 2 parts,

Ministry, October 1972,28-30;November 1972,41112.
 visit."'" The final item bears quoting in full:
In many churches an unwritten tradition gives the women who serve as
deaconesses or deacons the responsibility of organizing hot meals for
any church family that experiences a death or other tragedy. This may
mean simply taking food to the home or, in some cases, the serving of
an entire meal to family and guests after a funeral. Often the planning
of wedding and baby showers is also done by this group. This is an
important aspect of a caring ministry in the congregation. 167
What Seventhday Adventist deaconesses do varies according to the
nature of the local church they attend. In Black churches in North America,
deaconesses have more visibility than in White churches. A 1999book, based
on a workshop given for deacons and deaconesses by the author Vincent
White, shows some of these differences. In Black congregations, deaconesses
are instructed to "be dressed uniformly in white outfits." In the church
service, they are to help maintain reverence and see that the preacher has a
glassof water by the pulpit.'a Deaconessesmake arrangements for the funeral
dinner and "serve as flower bearers."'" In addition to the expected services a
deaconess might render at a baptism, she is to "privately call the pastor's
attention to candidates who may be wearing colorful cosmetics and
jewelry."'70~eaconessesprepare for the communion service and footwashing.
If dressed appropriatelyin white, they may participate in the processional and
veil and unveil the table (for which activity specific details are given).
Deaconesses also prepare the communion kits for those who were unable to
attend, form part of the team that takes communion to shut-ins, and dispose
of the emblems of communion by burning the bread and pouring out the
wine on the ground.17'
Deaconesses participate in visitation of church members so that all
families receive one ten- to fifteen-minute visit per quarter. When they find
problem situations, they are to use a nine-step problem-solving method to
meet the physical, social, and spiritual needs of those they work with. They

'('('Church Resources Consortium,North American Division of SeventhdayAdventists,

Responsibilities in the Local Church , rev. ed., 2002, <plusline.org/article.php?id=236>
(August 10,2004).

E. White Sr., Problem Solvers and Soul Winners (Knoxville, TN:AVA,

'68~incent
l999),ll-l2.
 DEACONESSES
IN HISTORY
AND THE SDA CHURCH 157

are backed up by interdiscipl@-y teams in the local church.'72In addition,

the head deaconess, together with her male counterpart, organizes the
telephonecommittee and helpstrain those who participate.'73Deaconessesare
to be soul winners and help disciple new members.'"
With this book, one might say that Seventh-day Adventists have
returned full circle to the early vision of the deaconess. Unordained
women carry out a ministry of caring-for things and people. At different
times the emphasis has varied, yet one cannot doubt that these women
have been an integral part of the leadership of their respective churches.

Conclusion
That women served the church as deacons in the N T is clear. What they
did and whether they were ordained is not. But then, the same could be
said about the deacons in the Pastoral Epistles.
The service of women as deacons in the early centuries is well attested.
The most important of their duties had to do with the baptism of adult
females, but they were also involved in visitation and care of women in
the church. In the early church, their existence seems to be taken for
granted and their ordination accepted. Later, as the understanding of
ordination changed and people were ordained to a position rather than to
a task, the role of deaconesses changed and nearly disappeared. Given the
"indelible character" of ordination and the power it provided to the clergy,
women were excluded-earlier and more completely in the Western than
in the Eastern church. At the same time, adult baptism practically
disappeared and monasticism became the preferred way for women to
serve God and the church. Thus women deacons disappeared.
The Radical Reformation saw the beginning of a renewed interest in
the service of deaconesses, but it was not until the nineteenth century that
deaconesses came into their own. And then it was as sisterhoods for
nursing, teaching, and ministry-single women devoting their full time to
church service.
Adventism was born as a grass-roots movement. Everyone-including
females-was needed to spread the message.171As early as 1856, Frisbie
called for women deacons. Ellen White pleaded for women who gave part-

I7'see Michael Bernoi, "Nineteenth-CenturyWomen in Adventist Ministry against the

Backdrop of Their Times,"in Women in Ministry: Biblical and Historical Perspectives (Berrien
Springs: Andrews University Press, 1998), 2 11-234.
time service to be ordained by the church. The women that Frisbie and
White envisioned as serving the church were not to be ascetics or members
of sisterhoods, living separate from the world. They were to be people
involved in everyday life, giving of themselves; they were not clergy, but
lay people who were ordained to specific tasks. My research would suggest
that this concept of deaconesses was an attempt to recreate a NT or very
early-church custom.
Twentieth-century Seventh-dayAdventists, for the most part, lost the
impetus and potential of the early deaconess movement. Deaconesses in
pastoral ministry became a rarity, becoming, to a great extent, lovely
ladies who poured wine and water and kept communion linens and
baptismal robes. Marginal tasks, such as greeting people at the church door
and distributing welfare to the poor, were sometimes added, but
deaconesses were not a force to be reckoned with. Suggestions for
instructing and organizing deaconesses appear as isolated calls to use the
female talents in the church, but seem not to have been heeded.
Perhaps twenty-first century Seventh-day Adventists can learn from
history. Seventh-day Adventist deaconesses may yet be recognized as lay
ministers. Perhaps the church will find ways to instruct and enable them
so that they may serve the church and its Lord with love and creativity,
becoming a force for strength and growth within the church.