ndr volume1 issue04 60ppi - idc-nec.org · r neweviewdiaconal contents editorial 2 deacons &...

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EDITORIAL2 Deacons & Virtue

Ashley Beck and Tony Schmitz

DIACONAL SPIRITUALITY4 The Spirituality of Diaconate

Raniero Cantalamessa

DIACONIA OF WORD14 Opening up the Scriptures:

Key moments on the journey in Gospel of LukePaul Watson

DIACONIA OF ALTAR18 The Liturgical Role of the Deacon in

Constantinopolitan Tradition, Part IIDavid Kennedy

DIACONIA OF CARITAS24 The Theological Challenge of Caritas in Veritate

Robert Imbelli 27 Introduction to Lithuania

Paul Wennekes

THEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF DIACONATE34 Humble waiting-on-tables or missionary

going-between? John N. Collins & the nature of ‘diakonia’ in the New Testament Klaus Kiessling

40 Perception of the Diaconate in Early Middle Ages:Some Evidence from Canon Law Thomas O’Loughlin

DIACONAL FORMATION48 Developing Talents: How diaconal students have

been discovering their strengthsLouisa Warren

51 International Research Consortium on the Diaconatein Rome: an UpdateBill Ditewig

DOCUMENTATION / RETRIEVING THE TRADITION52 International Theological Commission

Tony Schmitz

REVIEWS59 Philosophy and Catholic Theology, A Primer,

by Philip A. EganAshley Beck

NEWS60 Fifth National Assembly/IDC-NEC: June 25/6, 2011

Twickenham

Issue 4 May 2010

If you have enjoyedour first three issuesand have not yettaken out a standingorder, pleaseremember to sendus a renewal of yoursubscription.

NDR_Volume1_Issue04_60ppi 15/4/10 8:48 AM

At the time of writing this leader col-umn, a General Election in Britain

will certainly be held in early May thisyear, as we go to press, and almost cer-tainly in the same month there will be onein the Netherlands as well: so many of ourreaders in different countries will be con-sidering how to vote in the light of theCatholic faith and the ministry we arecalled to follow in the Church. In recentyears particularly the pastors of theChurch have taken care to give guidanceto the faithful – not to tell them how tovote, but to remind Catholics and otherChristians of the basic principles ofCatholic social and moral teaching whichshould give guidance. Sometimes thisguidance hits the headlines: in Britain inlate 1996 the Bishops’ Conference ofEngland and Wales document TheCommon Good, now a standard text in theteaching of social doctrine, did more topublicise ‘the Church’s best kept secret’than any other initiative in recent times.The print run was 60,000 and coursesabout it were put on all over the countryand in different denominations; thingswere never the same again and CatholicSocial Teaching was placed very firmly atthe centre of Catholic identity in Britain.At the same time it caused anger: becausethe government of the day was weak aftermany years in power, it was wrongly per-ceived to be an attack on them; similarly agood many prominent (and rich)Catholics were annoyed that they had notbeen consulted.

In Britain this year, in a political situationwhich seems very reminiscent of thosedays (but with the other big party inpower) the Bishops’ Conference of

Published November & May each year by: International Diaconate Centre – North European Circle (IDC-NEC)77 University Road, Aberdeen, AB24 3DR, Scotland.Tel: 01224 481810(from outside UK: +44 1224 481810)A Charitable Company Registered in England In association with The Pastoral Review,The Tablet Publishing Company Ltd, 1 King Street Cloisters, Clifton Walk, London, W6 0GY, UK.

Website www.idc-nec.orgBoard of the IDC–NEC

Tony Schmitz (Chair), Ashley Beck, John Traynor, Nelleke Wijngaards-Serrarens, Rob Mascini, Wim Tobé, Paul Wennekes, Göran Fäldt

EditorsTony Schmitz [email protected] Beck [email protected] are welcome from readers. Please send material to the editors at the e-mail addresses above. For style details please consult the website of The Pastoral Review www.thepastoralreview.org/style.shtml

Editorial consultantsDr John N Collins (Australia)Rt Revd Gerard de Korte (Netherlands)Revd Dr William Ditewig (USA) Rt Revd Michael Evans (England)Revd Dr Michael Hayes (England)Revd Professor Bart Koet (Netherlands), Rt Revd Vincent Logan (Scotland), Most Revd Sigitas Tamkevicius (Lithuania)

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Ashley Beck and Tony Schmitz

New Diaconal Review Issue 42

Deacons


England and Wales has recently issuedanother teaching document in a similarvein, Choosing the Common Good1, as havethe Bishops’ Conferences of Scotland andthe Netherlands. These are designed tohelp us prepare not only for the electionbut also for the visit in September this yearof the Holy Father – to help us reflect moreabout our faith and about our engagementwith wider society. Deacons are expectedby the Church to be specialists in CatholicSocial teaching2 so the documents meritstudy by our readers. The bishops are notconcerned to deal very much with specificissues – although some are alluded to,such as marriage, abortion and immigra-tion – rather, the central part of theEnglish document explores the traditionalidea of virtue. At one point the bishops say:‘The practice of virtue helps to shape us aspeople. By the pursuit of virtue we act wellnot because of external constraint butbecause it has become natural for us to doso. The virtues form us as moral agents, sothat we do what is right and honourablefor no other reason than that it is right andhonourable, irrespective of rewards andregardless of what we are legally obliged todo. Virtuous action springs from a sense ofone’s own dignity and that of others, andfrom self-respect as a citizen. It is doinggood even when no one is looking.’(p. 11)Deacons and others engaged in diaconalministry, because of what the Churchexpects and because they are often work-ing in secular employment, are in a strongposition to help to teach virtue, especially

in relation to the Church’s ministry to thepoor and marginalised and the ways inwhich this should have a bearing on howCatholics vote. The document draws heav-ily on Pope Benedict XVI’s recent encycli-cal Caritas in Veritate. The guidance theChurch tries to give in relation to socialteaching is important for Catholics in allthe countries of northern Europe in whichour readers are found. One common issueall over Europe is immigration and the riseof sinister far right political parties: theChurch’s call to stand by and supportmigrants is a challenge to this disturbingdevelopment and the bigotry behind it.

In this fourth issue we continue to cover avariety of topics relating to diaconal min-istry and formation, ranging from psycho-metric appraisal methods which help usgrow in self-knowledge, to pioneering char-itable work being done in the Church’sname in Lithuania, and what Irish CanonLaw had to say about deacons in the ‘DarkAges.’ There are also details of the com-bined National Diaconate Assembly forEngland Wales and the first InternationalDiaconate Centre – North Europe CircleConference which will be taking place inJune 2011 at St Mary’s University College,Twickenham. We hope many of our read-ers will be able to come. Finally, we arepleased to announce that it will now bepossible for you to renew your subscriptionto our journal online at www.idc-nec.org ifyou have not already taken out a standingorder. �

New Diaconal Review Issue 4 3

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Ashley Beck and

TonySchmitz

1 Available from Alive Publishing, Graphic House, 124 City Road, Stoke on Trent or from www.catholic-ew.org.uk

2 Congregation for Catholic Education Basic Norms for the Formation of Permanent Deacons(Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1998) section 81, subsection (e).

and Virtue


Who was the first deacon in theChurch? St. Stephen? Or was it St.

Lawrence? Everyone of you here knowsthe answer very well, and I can hear itthrilling in your hearts: the first deaconwas of course Jesus the Lord! And as hisdisciples, you indeed have the honour ofmaking yourselves his imitators.

But in order to begin well, we first need tomake a preliminary remark, one that isessential to changing the mindset and atti-tudes of all hearers: when speaking ofJesus, we are not in fact referring to Onewho is absent, but to Someone presentright here, amongst us, right here in thishall. We are not at all speaking of someoneabstract, but of One who is here, in front ofus, really listening to us, in that He is theRisen One, ever standing “where two orthree are gathered in his name” (Matthew18:20). And there is no doubt that you arehere really gathered in his name. So He’shere, amongst you, amongst us! This isthen the very first passage that creates the“short circuit” between past and presentthat is necessary to give us a right start toour reflection.

But how can we know forcertain that Jesus Christwas the first deacon in ourhistory?Well I am very grateful to you todaybecause your invitation was a good occa-sion for me to seek for the answer to thisand to discover that it is right that Hedescribed himself as “a deacon”. And nowwe are going to see the place where he didthat: “When the other ten heard this [thatJohn and James wanted to sit one at hisright hand and the other at his left in hisglory], they became angry with James andJohn. Jesus called them and said to them:You know that those who are recognized asrulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,and those in high positions use theirauthority over them. But it is not to be soamong you. Instead whoever wants to be

great among you must be your servant (inthe original text we read “your deacon”)and whoever wants to be first among youmust be the slave of all” (Mark 10:41-44):here we find the word “doulos” which isrightly translated as “slave”).

It is worth attending to the first part of thispassage, since it focuses on the founda-tions of the Gospel’s ethics, asceticism andspirituality. You can also note this in the

Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap


Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap is thePreacher to the Papal Household. Heleads retreats and formation sessionsthroughout the world. He is the author ofLife in the Lordship of Christ amongstmany other titles. This talk was given tothe National Conference of the Communitàdel Diaconato in Italia which took place inAssisi in August last year. We are mostgrateful to Deacon Enzo Petrolino,president of the Communità del Diaconatoin Italia and Italian delegate to the IDC forpermission to publish this talk in this issueof the NDR. The talk has been translatedby Prof. Maria Cataleno and Tony Schmitz,which translation the author has not yethad a chance to review.

The Spirituality

... whoever wants to begreat among you must beyour servant (in theoriginal text we read“your deacon”)


happens to the term “servant” which forus is much more generic in its use andmeaning and in a sense prevents us fromrealising that it precisely to Christ’s diako-nia that it refers.

The same thing is differently but wonder-fully described in John’s Gospel after thewashing of the disciples’ feet, when Jesussays: “Do you see what I have done to you?You call me, ‘Master’ and ‘Lord.’ You sayso correctly, for so I am. If I then, yourLord and Master, have washed your feet,you also ought to wash one another’s feet.For I have given you an example, that youalso should do as I have done to you”(13:12-15). Now this is surely one of themost revolutionary and innovative asser-tions in the Gospel, since service – ordiakonia –, which had a servile status andwas a humiliating activity in the paganGreco-Roman world, has now been defini-tively transformed into an entirely newcondition and become a living sign ofgreatness!

This inversion of values does not emergein a random way, simply because one particular term or expression begins to beused rather than another. It is in fact nec-essary for something to have occurred, anunexpected “jolt”, which has changed themeaning of words and the whole of humanlife by introducing a totally new scale ofvalues. This same vision is found in Paulwho, after encountering Christ’s light,bears witness to complete transformationthat has occurred when he says: “Whatwere once assets to me, I now throughChrist Jesus count as losses” (Philippians,3:7). Francis of Assisi will later say thesame – namely that things can fully

parallel texts by Matthew and Luke:“When the other ten heard this, they wereangry with the two brothers. But Jesuscalled them and said: You know that therulers of the Gentiles lord it over them,and those in high positions impose theirauthority over them. It must not be thisway among you! Instead, whoever wants tobe great among you must be your servant

(deacon), and whoever wants to be firstamong you must be your slave, just as theSon of Man did not come to be served –the right translation would be “to be dia-conised” – but to serve – that is “to behaveas a deacon” (Matthew 20:24-28). Let usread the parallel text in Luke as well: “Notso with you; instead, the one who is great-est among you must become like theyoungest, and the leader like the one whoserves – the deacon. For who is greater, theone who is seated at the table, or the onewho serves – “who deacons”? Is it not theone who is seated at the table? But I amamong you as one who serves – a deacon(Luke 22:26-27).

Have you ever thought of this? Sometimesgoing back to the Greek text is reallyenlightening, since it conveys in the sim-plest and truest way things unfortunatelytrivialised by the various translations, as


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... service – or diakonia,had a servile status andwas a humiliatingactivity in the paganGreco-Roman world


change direction – by employing differentwords: “What seemed bitter to me(observing lepers) was changed intosweetness of soul and body” (from TheTestament). Such a revolution, universalin its significance, gave birth to a new con-ception of service that first appeared withJesus Christ’s coming into the world. Still,before proceeding, we must bear in mindthat his words are addressed to all his dis-ciples without distinction. And yet thoughthroughout the Gospel there are wordsthat are addressed to everyone, thesesame words have been taken on by theChurch as a “rule”, a “ministry”, a very“special task”, and this is particularly trueof you, deacons, because what is meant tobe a charge for all Christians, it is in fact a“mission” for you, a special “choice” – orbetter – a special “calling”, to take partici-pate in and to carry out Christ’s diakonia.

In other words, you are called both tomake this good news clear within theChurch, and to extend this revolution toeverybody without. The better to appreci-ate the revolutionary character of this newword Jesus speaks about service we mighttry to make a comparison with Nietzsche’sthought. It happens that we often hearabout this man’s ideas precisely becausehe represents the pagan point of viewabout human life and conduct. He wantedmankind and culture to return to the pre-Christian age. Paradoxically, if this is themain reason for considering him as indeedone of the fathers of the post-Christianera, this also precisely provides us with akey that allow us to enter into the verynewness of Jesus’s word. We all know thatNietzsche was engaged in a frontal attackagainst both Christians and against Christhimself, although some try to make a sortof prophet of him by maintaining that hiswas an attack directed not at Christ butsimply at Christians. Now that is simplynot true as he claims quite explicitly thatChrist introduced into the world the “can-cer” of humility and service.

I wish to read you a text written byNietzsche’s sister as a Preface to his workThus spake Zarathustra: “He [Nietzsche]assumes that Christianity, as a product ofthe resentment of the botched and theweak, has banned all that is beautiful,strong, proud, and powerful, in fact all thequalities resulting from strength, and that,in consequence, all forces which tend topromote or elevate life have been seriouslyundermined. Now, however, a new scale ofvalues must be placed over mankind –namely, that of the strong, mighty, andmagnificent man, overflowing with life andelevated to his zenith – the Superman,who is now placed before us with over-powering passion as the aim of our life,hope, and will.” It must be said that, forNietzsche, to exalt service, humility andmeekness is the morality of the slave, thefinal outcome of the resentment of theweak against the power of the strong. Inother words, the need of the weak to exaltsuch attitudes as service, humility andmildness derives from their inability todominate, to make themselves be servedand to do great things. It was just in this

way – Nietzsche says – that Jesus intro-duced a cancer into the world, since Hefully debased human power and clippedhumanity’s wings by preventing humanbeings from doing great things. The ulti-mate consequence of this process is that, ifmen no longer wish to do things accordingto their native power, the very progress ofhumanity is destined to fail.


The Spirituality of the Diaconate – Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap

Nietzsche says – that Jesusintroduced a cancer into theworld, since He fully debasedhuman power and clippedhumanity’s wings bypreventing human beingsfrom doing great things


to be killed as the first voluntary Victim inhistory. St. Augustine affirms Victor quiavictima, because Jesus inaugurates abrand-new type of victory, which Heachieves by not causing other victims but –on the contrary – by making himself a vic-tim. And we must keep in mind thatChristian faith does not clip our wings bypreventing us from doing great things orbeing first; it just shows a new and differ-ent route for reaching this just end!

Once this basic point is clear, we can go onwith our reflection. After outlining thisrule, Jesus in truth gives us the very foun-dation for it: diakonia – the servant’sattendance or waiting on – which was acontemptible and humiliating thing in thepagan world now turns out to be the“pass” to greatness. And the reason forsuch a change is not – as Aristotle wouldhave said – a principle based on rectaratio, because the attitude of diakonia isnot reasonable at all. No, the true reasonis a Person, more than this, an event: theSon of God did not come to be served, butto serve (to be a deacon) and give his ownlife as a ransom for many. Remember?Who is greater, the one who is seated attable, or the one who serves? Is it not theone who is seated at table? But I am hereamong you as one who serves!”

So the basis, the very foundation, of thediaconate is Christological, not just anabstract principle nor just fine wordsdrawn from theology. And the conse-quence of this change is that either thedeacon has a personal relationship toChrist or he is totally on the wrong track;either the diaconate is the way to followJesus – and becomes a bright witness toHim – or it is nothing more than a job likeany other. In other words, you are called tochoose Christ, and your ministry, yourdiakonia, is simply serving with Christand for Christ.

A student of the Summa Theologiae of St

Well, what riposte can be given toNietzsche’s argument? That his is a shampremise: Jesus never said that you cannotdo great things, or that it is wrong to wishto be first. On the contrary, he said “who-ever wants to be first ...” and this meansthat it is a legitimate desire. However, thisdesire must be realised in a way that is newand quite different: whilst for Nietzschewhoever wants to be first has to crush oth-ers under himself, for Jesus the only rightway is to be humble and “to sub-mit” to allyour brothers in order to lift them up. Nowthere is no doubt that this is much moreuseful to mankind, since it allows everyone– the humblest as well as the greatest – tobe raised! Mother Theresa, who served onher knees washing the feet of the poor,

obviously provided mankind with a muchgreater benefit than Nietzsche’s philoso-phy. And yet Nietzsche, paradoxically, isright when he says that the Gospel subvertsall values. Yes it certainly does, but far frompreventing human progress such a revolu-tionary inversion is, on the contrary, thelifeblood of progress, to such an extent thatthe match point in this new civilisation willprecisely be the taking care of the weak, ofthe last, of the disabled, of the needy – inother words, siding with the weak insteadof with the strong. And that comes directlyfrom Jesus!

Today there are some who awkwardlyclaim the right to be recognised as thefounders of this new culture based on thecare for the poor. But the truth is that itwas Christ’s Gospel that first gave light tothe idea that the victim is greater that hisexecutioner, when Jesus offered Himself



Nietzsche, paradoxically,is right when he saysthat the Gospel subvertsall values D

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Thomas is asked to to go far beyond thenotion of the virtues as based on Aristotle’sphilosophy, since virtues are now to berooted in Jesus and founded on what Hedid. St. Paul says as much in hisPhilippians hymn: “Make your own themind of Christ Jesus.” What mind? Hereis the foundation of obedience, as He wasobedient and servant. Here is the founda-tion of humility, too, as “existing in theform of God, He did not consider equalitywith God a thing to be grasped, but emp-tied himself, taking the form of a servant,being made in the likeness of men. Andbeing found in human form, He humbledhimself, becoming obedient to death, yes,the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)Yes, the foundation of obedience is rightthere.

Aristotle would have said, following its ety-mology, “obedience” – ob, “for” and audire,“to listen to” – is based upon the principleof ratio recta, suggesting that the inferior isbound to obey the superior. But Christmade himself obedient and saved usthrough his obedience. The same is said inJohn: “I, the Master, have given you theexample, so you must do the same”. Thusthe diaconate and the entirety of service inthe Church – that of all Christians as wellas the deacons’ more specific one – have aChristological foundation. The motivationfor diakonia does not emerge from a mere-ly sociological need (just because there is ademand for people of good will who showsome readiness to carry out practical ser-vices). No, it is a much deeper and moremeaning-filled motivation! Historically it istrue that the institution of deacons seemsti be due to a contingent need, as the com-munity was continually enlarging and thisgrowth brought increasingly heavy burdensupon the Apostles. But this was in fact thevery ready motivation, the ultimate one,displaying rather the true nature and theaim of the diaconate: to bear witness toChrist, who made himself the model to befollowed and imitated.

But there is also a pneumatological dimen-sion to Christian service, a dimensionbased on the Holy Spirit’s action. St Pauluses the expression Diakonia Pneumatos –the Spirit’s diakonia – in a context whereyou understand that the Spirit is not onlythe object, but also the subject of true ser-vice. If you consider the Spirit only as theobject, then diakonia could seem to beonly the service given to the Spirit and tospiritual things such as preaching and theEucharist, and the Pauline expressioncould be misunderstood as referringexclusively to the ministry of priests andbishops, directly concerned with the spiri-tual dimension of life more than with“serving tables”. Rather, the wordPneumatos refers also to the Spirit as thesubject of diakonia, to convey the idea thatdiakonia is in itself a service offered in theSpirit and with the Spirit: finally, a spiritu-al service not only for its object (the Word,the Eucharist) but especially because donein the Spirit, so that it is rightly He whoserves through you and your ministry.Herein is the quality leap! If Christian ser-vice is rightly that, namely a service done

by the “spiritual man” who lives fromChrist’s Spirit, then this service is not onlyhuman, but firstly, divine in origin,because it is Jesus himself who is servingand who is still washing your brother’s feetwhenever you do that.

There are texts where St Paul describesthis wonderfully. In his Second Letter to



... divine in originbecause it is Jesushimself who is servingand who is still washingyour brother’s feetwhenever you do that


the Corinthians, he says: “Blessed be theGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,the Father of mercies and God of all com-fort; who comforts us in all our affliction,that we may be able to comfort those whoare in any affliction, through the comfortwith which we ourselves are comforted byGod”. Now the first thing to note is that“comfort” is a term behind which wealways find the word paraclitus, and oncemore the Greek text here opens our eyesto inconceivable horizons, since it literallymeans that you are enabled to become inyour turn paracliti for those in trouble, notby addressing good words to them – as oneusually does with people in distress – but

by really comforting them with the samecomfort God has given us.

Which means that when a “spiritual”Christian, namely one who deeply lives hisfaith, embraces a sick person, it is Godhimself embracing him or her; yes, it isGod, the first Paraclitus, who took a humanface in Christ to become a “human”Paraclitus and then sent us the Holy Spirit,the great Paraclitus, who however has nohands to embrace our brothers nor feet towalk along our roads, and therefore needsours. And thus we all are paracliti. Youdeacons are paracliti. This is a splendidvocation for the deacon: to be a comforter,a listener, a supporter; to be comforted andsupported by his wife to comfort and sup-port then anyone else. It is rightly thispneumatological source that places all theservices carried out by a mature Christian

on a different plane from the merely socio-logical one, making them no longer simplyhuman actions but rather human-divineoperations inspired by the Holy Spirit andachieved through His holy gifts.

Such closeness between the diaconate andthe Holy Spirit is pointed up in differentways throughout the Scriptures: all thegifts (charisms) given to the Church aredestined to diakonia. In his Letters to theRomans and the Corinthians, St Paul saysthat they all are given for the profit of all,and calls Christ “deacon of his people inthe Spirit”. Each believer has in Christ themodel to follow to make the communitythe very “place” of diakonia, where eachmember serves the others. Here are thecharismata of diakonia: “Whoever serves(diakoneo), let him do so as by the strengthwhich God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11), whichmeans: “Whoever is given a ministry, lethim practise that ministry”, or in otherwords: “Whoever is given a diakonia, lethim fulfill that diakonia”. Diakonia isalways a charisma!

In the Letter to the Ephesians (4.12) weread: “The gifts are given to knit God’s holypeople together for the work of service”,that is precisely for diakonia. There is,thus, a very close connection betweeen theSpirit’s work and this charisma which is“the gift of all gifts”. If kept out of the waveof the ever-new Pentecost which enlivensthe Church at any time, the whole of theChristian diaconate would be reduced to asociological service, which would make itonly a product of human action. On thecontrary, everything is possible if you openyourselves to Pentecost’s ever new grace;and surely there is no cause for saying thatif you focus on the Spirit’s action youdiminish the importance of Christ, as sometheologians would perversely assert.Instead, the truth is that the more youinsist on the Spirit, the more you insist onJesus himself, since it is the Spirit that infact makes Jesus present in our history.



... when a “spiritual”Christian, namely one whodeeply lives his faith,embraces a sick person, it isGod himself embracing him or her D

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In the Letter to the Romans you find anexhortation to humility, and shortly after-wards to charity: “Let love be withouthypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil.” Thesame is to be found in the Letter to thePhilippians, precisely in the famous hymnwhere Paul draws out some model atti-tudes that are expected to be in the com-munity, saying where to take them from:“If there is therefore any exhortation inChrist, if any consolation of love, if any fel-lowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercyand compassion, make my joy complete,by being like-minded, having the samelove, being of one accord, of one mind”(2:1-2). This is what Paul is telling us justnow. Once I read out this text to the pon-tifical household, the Pope being at myside and the cardinals in front of me. AndI dared to ask the Holy Father for permis-sion to speak to the Roman Curia in hisname. This was precisely the text I readout. After listening to it, John Paul IIexhorted his cooperators to do “nothingthrough rivalry or through conceit, but inhumility, each counting others better thanhimself; each of you not just looking to hisown things, but each of you also to thethings of others” (Phlippians, 2:2-4). Hewas visibly moved, because those werereally his sentiments, as they must be ourstoday! Humility and charity are what inmusic are the harmonic notes, namely, thenotes which join the fundamental note toform the chord. Humility and charity arethe two harmonc notes in the full chord ofdiakonia.

Let us see, then, how these virtues –humility and charity – are expected toshine in the deacon’s service. First of allhumility, because a service given with con-ceit, far from being true service, is justusing others for your own profit, whichinevitably humiliates: while offering thema material service, you hit them with spir-itual humiliation, deprive them of theirdignity and make them slaves. What, then,is true humility? It is everything, but it

could also be nothing. If you want to serveas Jesus did, you must learn humility fromhim, who says: “Learn from me; for I amgentle and lowly in heart” (Matthew11:29). But be careful, as the very essenceof humility does not consist in consideringyourself small and petty (such an attitudecould come from a state of depression or apoor self-image, and so on). On the con-trary, humility consists in making yourselfsmall so as to serve your brothers. That istrue humility!

Service is then the ultimate – the bright-est and surest – form of humility, sincethis humility is that of Jesus who did notconsider equality with God a thing to begrasped but made himself a slave. It is thedivine virtue par excellence and St Francisof Assisi, who had fully understood this,untiringly repeats in many letters “Look,brothers, at the humility of God”, of thethrice-holy and very humble God.Because humility consists in descending,coming down to meet and favour others.Now God surely cannot rise up, he canonly come down: He does so when He

creates the universe, when He inspiresthe holy Scriptures, when He becomesincarnate, when He becomes theEucharist upon the altar. The whole histo-ry of salvation is indeed the history ofGod’s humiliation. Here is true humility:“whoever wants to be first must makehimself last, the servant of all” now. Youdeacons can practise humility in its truestand surest form, that is, not longing forhigh things or prestigious offices, butbending down to the least and humblest



The whole history ofsalvation is indeed thehistory of God’shumiliation


tasks. Whilst speaking of gifts, St Francisexhorts us not to search for conspicuouscharisms, but to choose the simplest ser-vices which are the surest also. I thinkthat St Francis called Sister Water pure,precious and humble, because he hadrealised just that: water ever runs down,always, until it reaches the lowest level.Here we have the model of humility.

Nowadays everyone speaks of service: andservice has thus become a dangerouslypositive word. In the pagan world it wasnegative, since it meant slavery; today ithas instead taken on an opposite meaning,which may make it even more dangerous.

Today it would seem as if anyone does hisown service when on duty: the policeman,the trader serving you as his customer …it’s like “a label” employed to say that oneis helpful to society. There is no doubt thatthese all are useful services for society andfor community. But what then is distinc-tive about Christian service? Motivation!Not money, but gratuitousness and freegiving. And this is what no one is willing todo today, not even political ministers who,according to the etymology of their names,should precisely be the citizens’ servants.Being a servant and fulfilling a servicetoday is thus “dangerously positive” justbecause the true sense of serving hasbecome lost. Motivation is, then, the char-acteristic of Christian service, that whichmakes it distinctive and true: serving andpromoting human dignity, and doing so asa witness to Jesus and his Gospel.

Now let us consider the second harmonicnote in the chord of diakonia, that is,charity. And we can do so correctly bystarting with the word of Paul’s we’vealready read: “Let love be withouthypocrisy”. Anyone reading Chapter 12 ofhis Letter to the Romans is tempted toposition this line on charity alongsidemany others. But au contraire, this initialstatement is the basis for everything else.You will understand this better by return-ing to the original text, where the wholesentence is made up of just two words:agape and anupocritos. Agape, as youknow, means love. But if we consider thatthe “a” at the beginning of a Greek wordmeans “without”, then what does the termanupocritos stand for? That charity needsto be without hypocrisy! And this is like akey word in Paul, since Christian charitymust always be true; it cannot only be “thecharity of hands”, it has instead to be “thelove of the heart”. In other words, beforebenefaction there must always standbenevolence. That is why, whenever hespeaks of charity, St Paul hardly everspeaks of the charitable deeds, but of atti-tudes and the feelings expected to accom-pany those deeds. “Love is always patientand kind, love is never jealous, love isnever rude or conceited”, love is withouthypocrisy and always merciful, becauseonly in this way can it reflect God’s chari-ty. You often hear it said that God is thetotally Other. Well I would complete thisstatement by saying that God is the totallyOther in love. His love is a completely dif-ferent thing, and it is precisely to get near-er to this charity that St Paul tells us thatcharity (especially for you who serve thepoor in particular) needs a mood of mercyand comfort and, if you haven’t such atti-tude yet, it’s important that you borrow itfrom God!

Of course, one can fulfill the “charity ofhands” for many different reasons: a bigpart of the charity we offer to the poor inthe Third World does not spring from love,



But what then is distinctiveabout Christian service?Motivation! Not money, butgratuitousness and freegiving. And this is what noone is willing to do today D

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but from other feelings like remorse or evenshame in some cases. Yet there may beeven worse reasons for that kind of charity,such as the wish to be considered as bene-factors by offering large sums of money.Paul says that charity must move from theheart because only in this way does an actof charity – even the smallest one like offer-ing a glass of water to a poor person – takeon great value, a divine value, since it is Godwho is offering it through you.

We can explain this better by taking furtherexamples. First of all, what is the enemy ofthis diakonia as outlined, in imitation ofChrist? The first enemy is authoritarian-ism, that is, the will to make our authorityover others felt. Perhaps this is a less seri-ous risk for deacons than for the higherranks of the hierarchy, to the extent thatPaul feels it necessary to state that “we donot have lordship over your faith, but arefellow workers with you for your joy” (2Corinthians, 1:24). And Peter, too, recom-mends the elders not to lord it over others.In fact, in each ministry contains the risk ofbeing turned into power, which Jesus him-self denounces when he says “the rulers ofthe Gentiles lord it over them, and theirgreat ones are tyrants over them”. I wish tooffer you, then, one more suggestion: thediaconal service you are entrusted with is tobecome an example or the epiphany of afully diaconal Church, a merciful Church,

a servant-Church – in other words, not aChurch using the world but serving it, aChurch able to live closely alongsidehumanity.

You have many occasions, surely more sothan priests, to offer Jesus this service, tomake his proximity real just as when hewalked in this world and extended mercyand made himself close to those in sorrow.For example, on the occasion of funerals itis extremely important for the family to feelthe Church close to them. You can be the“link” needed, you can make the Churchpresent in situations of pain, illness, dis-may; and especially with the poor the wholeof your potential is being empowered, sincethey are the disadvantaged of life who arethe first in God’s heart. Service rendered tothe poor, moreover, is rendered directly toJesus: “You did it to me”.

Finally, I would like to leave with you a sen-tence of the late Cardinal Van Thuan, aholy man, a Vietnamese cardinal who spentthirteen years in a Communist regime’sprison. During the spiritual exercises he ledin the Vatican during the Jubilee Year 2000,he said the following words that I am nowentrusting into your hands:

I dream of a Church that is the Holy Door:always open, embracing all, full of com-passion that understands the pains andsufferings of humanity, protecting, consol-ing and guiding all people to the LovingFather. I wear this cross and chain dailynot because they remind me of prison, butbecause they represent a profound convic-tion and a constant reference point for me:only Christian love can change hearts.

May this also be the service that you give toJesus and the world in the everyday con-duct of your ministry. �



Paul says that charity mustmove from the heart becauseonly in this way does an actof charity – even the smallestone like offering a glass ofwater to a poor – take ongreat value, a divine value,since it is God who is offeringit through you



2010 National Conference of Priests and Permanent Deacons of Scotland

D E L E G A T E B O O K I N G F O R M

We are expecting a large attendance at this year’s conference so please returnyour booking form with conference fee, payable to NCPPDS, by 1st July, 2010 to:

The Treasurer, Rev Jamie Boyle, Catholic Presbytery, 52 Quakerfield, Bannochburn FH7 8HZ

£280.00 (includes: dinner, bed & breakfast and all conference facilities).

Name ................................................................................................................

Address .............................................................................................................

Telephone .........................................................................................................

Email .........................................................................................................

The executive would welcome suggestions of any topic of ‘National Interest’, for inclusion in the general business matters for discussion at the conference. Please enclose any suggestions with your application details and £280.00 fee.

Fr Raniero Cantalamessa is aFranciscan Capuchin, Catholic Priest.Born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, 22 July 1934, ordained priest in 1958.Divinity Doctor and Doctor in classicalliterature. Former Ordinary Professorof History of Ancient Christianity andDirector of the Department ofreligious sciences at the CatholicUniversity of Milan. Member of theInternational Theological Commission(1975-1981).

In 1979 he resigned his position tobecome a full time preacher of theGospel. In 1980 he was appointed byPope John Paul II as ‘Preacher to thePapal Household’ in which capacityhe still serves. He is frequently invitedto speak at international andecumenical conferences and rallies.He has been a member of theCatholic delegation for the Dialoguewith the Pentecostal Churches for thelast ten years. He runs a weeklyprogramme on the first channel of theItalian state television (RAI).

2010 National Conference of Priests and Permanent Deacons of ScotlandSeamill Hydro, 39 Ardrossan Road, Seamill, North Ayrshire KA23 9NB

4pm Tuesday 21st September – 6pm Thursday 23rd September 2010

Fr Raniero Cantalamessa(Preacher to the Papal Household)

“Preaching God’s Word”


Opening up the Scriptures –

At the heart of the ministry of the Word for me, and a place of continual return

in the Gospels, is the account of the meet-ing between Jesus and the disciples on theroad to Emmaus (Luke 24). I was alwaysstruck by the reaction of the two disciplesto Jesus’ explanation of the Scriptureswhen they said to each other, “Didn’t ourhearts burn within us as he opened theScriptures to us on the road” (Luke 24:32).I have always thought that this is a key textfor those of us who are commissioned toproclaim the Word of God – to preach andto teach the Word. The question has alwaysbeen at the back of my mind: can weexpect to explain or open the Scriptures insuch a way that those who listen will findthat their hearts also burn within them?And if so, how do we go about it? If myunderstanding of the Emmaus incident iscorrect, it appears that the disciples expe-rienced an encounter with Christ in twoprincipal ways. One, which they reportedlater to the Apostles, was that they recog-nised Christ in the “breaking of the bread”;the other was in the way in which Jesusinterpreted for them “in all the Scriptures”the things concerning himself. Surely, thiscaptures, not only a historical encounter,but also the very essence of the Liturgy of

the Eucharist and the Diakonia of theWord which ordained ministers are toexercise within the Liturgy?

Formation for the Diakonia of the WordIf we recognise that the two disciples trav-elling to Emmaus not only experienced aheart-warming encounter with the RisenLord, but were also transformed by it andbecame witnesses of it (they reported whathad happened!), then we might considerthe whole incident as a sort of school forministers of the Word and use it as a start-ing point for reflecting on our own diakoniaof the Word and for reflection on our for-mation for this ministry. Indeed, we mightwant to reflect on the fact that the Churchthroughout her history has sought to estab-lish, taking Christ as her model and teacher,

schools for the diakonia of the Word – inthe form of seminaries, formation pro-grammes, courses of study and so on. Whilethese have been places of training in thestudy of theology, as Dei Verbum (theSecond Vatican Council’s Constitution onDivine Revelation) reminds us, it is SacredScripture and its interpretation that mustbe the “soul of theology”.


Paul Watson

Engaged in the ministry of the Word, inteaching and preaching, for the lastthirty-five years as a priest and morerecently as Director of MaryvaleInstitute, responsible for a variety ofprogrammes, including onecontributing to the training andformation of candidates for thePermanent Diaconate, questions aboutthe ministry or diakonia of the Word,and in particular, questions about theengagement with Sacred Scripture andTradition in order to discern andultimately to communicate the Word ofGod, have been a continual subject ofreflection for Mgr Paul J Watson, aregular contributor to NDR.

Church throughout herhistory has sought toestablish, taking Christas her model andteacher, schools for thediakonia of the Word


Key Moments of the Journeyin the Gospel of Luke

While it was suggested that the road toEmmaus might be considered as a schoolfor the Diakonia of the Word, furtherreflection might lead us to conclude that forLuke, the road to Emmaus is the end of ajourney – a journey that actually began atthe beginning of his Gospel. We might liketo trace some elements of that journey inorder to explore with Luke what might bedescribed as his school for ministers of theWord, in which, ultimately, Christ himself isboth the Exegete and the Exegesis. We shallbriefly touch on and explore a few keymoments in Luke’s Gospel that seem totake us on a journey through the interpre-tation of Scripture, a journey that beginsjust before Christ’s birth and takes usthrough the key moments of his Baptism,his Transfiguration, his death on the Crossand on to the road to Emmaus.

The BenedictusWith the remarkable event of the angel’sappearance to him in the Temple and thesubsequent conception of his son,Zechariah begins to reflect on theScriptures, seeing in them a progressiverevelation of the coming of the Messiah. Itwill be the role and function of John theBaptist to prepare the way, to be a prophetof God the Most High, and to make knownto his people their salvation. TheBenedictus makes reference to several OldTestament passages from Genesis 3:15 –the seed of woman who is to crush the headof Satan, through the promise of a seed toAbraham in Genesis 12:1-8, and onthrough Genesis 49:5-7 whence it becomesclear that the seed will be from the line ofJudah. In 1 Chronicles 17:1-15 we learnthat the seed will be a descendant of Davidand a king, while in Isaiah 9:5-7, the child

will be called “Mighty God”. Micah 5:2speaks of his birth in Bethlehem, but his“origins” are from the distant past.

The MagnificatIn Mary’s song, modelled on the song of themother of Samuel, Luke shows that thepromises made to our fathers, to Abrahamand his sons, are coming to completion inthe handmaid of God. This will be herblessedness and also the source of her joy.Mary thereby becomes an embodiment ofthe Old Testament, for within her the Wordof God is tabernacled.

The Nunc DimittisFor Simeon, to touch and see the historicalreality of the child Jesus is to see salvation,the salvation “which you have prepared forall nations, the light to enlighten theGentiles and give glory to your people Israel.In Simeon, Luke provides us with a fore-taste, a type, of the opening of theScriptures that will become a reality for allwith the death and resurrection of Jesus atthe end of the Gospel.

The Baptism of JesusThe Holy Spirit reveals Jesus as theSuffering Servant in whom God delights. Athis Baptism Jesus assumes the mantle ofthe Old Testament – taking as his own com-mission the Old Testament role of Messiahand Suffering Servant, who will justifymany. There is a sense in which at thebeginning of his public ministry, Jesusbegins to take the Old Testament to himself,by accepting the role of the SufferingServant. It is, as it were, the beginning ofhis fulfilment of the Old Testament prophe-cies. However, as the Gospel continues,Jesus does much more than fulfil the


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prophecies; he transforms the whole of theOld Testament into a prophecy of himself.This is seen most clearly in Luke’s accountof the Transfiguration.

The TransfigurationThere are at least three important elementsin Luke’s account of the Transfigurationthat pertain to our understanding of theScriptures. In the first place, the presenceof Moses and Elijah is seen as the fulfilmentof their individual lives since they were twoin the Old Testament to whom God partial-ly revealed his glory. However, the partialnature of this revelation looked forward to atime when both would be permitted to seethe full glory of God – shining through thehumanity of Jesus. At the same time, Mosesand Elijah are seen as representatives of thewhole Old Testament – the Law and theProphets. Luke alone notes that Moses andElijah are also transfigured in the presenceof Jesus. The implication seems to be thatat this moment a turning point has beenreached. It is not simply a matter of open-ing up the meaning of the Scriptures butrather of transforming them, transfiguring

them. This notion of Jesus transforming theScriptures is one which was dear to many ofthe Fathers of the Patristic and MedievalAges. Without losing anything of their sig-nificance as progressive revelation of Godand his unfolding plan of salvation, theScriptures (i.e. the Old Testament), in thepresence of the historical reality of Jesus,become changed from letter to spirit. In

other words, the whole Old Testament istransformed into prophecy, into type ortypology, of Jesus Himself. It is at thismoment that that Old Testament becomesone with Christ Jesus. The Old becomespart of the New Testament – together theyform a unity. There is a sense in whichMoses and Elijah have become one withJesus. All of the Evangelists note that whenthe disciples look up “they saw no one butonly Jesus”. From now on, Jesus carries, asit were, the whole Old Testament, withinHimself.

The Cross of JesusMoses and Elijah now accompany Jesus tothe Cross – to the moment of “his passingwhich he was to accomplish in Jerusalem”.At the moment of Jesus’ death, Lukerecords that the veil of the Temple is tornfrom top to bottom and Jesus cries out in aloud voice, “Father, into your hands I com-mend my spirit”. Jesus’ death is precisely apassing through the veil of the Temple – thesymbol of the barrier of sin separating Godfrom humankind – and taking the OldTestament with Him, enters into the Holyof Holies, the very presence of the Father.In this way, Luke is telling us that the OldTestament has reached its fulfilment. Thedeeper significance of this is that, from thismoment on, the whole of the OldTestament has become something that itwas not, an anticipation of Christ and thepassing through the veil into union with theFather. While there were always particularprophecies of Christ in the Old Testament,now the whole OT – persons, events, Law,Wisdom – has become prophecy of Christ.Like the human nature of Christ, which isthe vehicle for and the means of manifest-ing the divine person of Christ, the secondperson of the Trinity, so the Old Testamenthas become the “letter” in which the “spir-it” is both enclosed and manifested. Theunity and content of the Old and NewTestaments is now simply “Christ”. It is forthis reason and with this understandingthat the Old Testament is now read in the


Opening up the Scriptures – Key Moments of the Journey in the Gospel of Luke – Paul Watson

All of the Evangelists notethat when the disciples lookup “they saw no one but onlyJesus”. From now on, Jesuscarries, as it were, the wholeOld Testament, withinHimself


Liturgy of the Church – most especially atthe Liturgy of the Eucharist – the PaschalMystery, in which the “heart of Jesus” isopened up. As St Thomas Aquinas states inhis Exposition on the Psalms (referenced inthe Catechism paragraph 112) – “thephrase ‘heart of Jesus’ can refer to SacredScripture, which makes known his heart,closed before the Passion, as Scripture wasobscure. But the Scripture has beenopened since the Passion; since those whofrom then on have understood it, consider

and discern in what way the propheciesmust be interpreted.

The Road to EmmausIt is after the Passion, and because of thePassion, that Jesus is now able to open theminds and hearts of the disciples on the roadto a full understanding of the Scriptures –the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms. Luketells us that Jesus explained the Scriptures tothem, “interpreting in all the Scriptures thethings concerning himself.”

The road to Emmaus incident is, perhaps, aclimax point in the Gospel of Luke. Itmakes clear that the opening of theScriptures (the Old Testament) is ultimate-ly the fruit of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus’death and resurrection. In a very realsense, the Old Testament is now trans-formed by Jesus into the New Covenant orNew Testament. It is important that we

remember that phrases “the OldTestament” and “the New Testament” arenot, in the first place, descriptors of twowritten texts, but rather refer to two dis-pensations – the Old Covenant and theNew Covenant. The written Scriptures area testimony to the Old Covenant betweenGod and the people of Israel. With the com-ing of Christ and the accomplishment ofthe Paschal Mystery, a new Covenant isestablished. A significant element of thisnew Covenant is the fact that Jesus takesthe Old Covenant and shows that it hasnow become a prophecy of himself, a shad-ow pointing to the reality of the newCovenant in Christ. This transformation ofthe Old Covenant, and the new explanationand interpretation of the written texts ofthe Scriptures, indicate and imply thatthese texts of Scripture (what we call theOld Testament) are now in fact part of theNew Covenant. And it is as an element ofthe New Covenant that we continue to readthe Scriptures (the Old Testament) in theChurch, and especially in the Liturgy.

For Deacons and those responsible for theministry of the Word in the Liturgy, theimplication is that it is important to inter-pret the Old Testament readings as Jesusdid on the road to Emmaus, i.e. “interpret-ing in all the Scriptures the things concern-ing himself”. The challenge for all ministersof the Word is to have our eyes opened toChrist in those Old Testament readings,and to appreciate more fully the extent towhich the New Testament authors them-selves understand Jesus Christ within theframework of the Old Testament concepts,persons and events.

Our own journey of faith should mirror thejourney outlined in Luke – a progressiveopening of our eyes to the reality of Christhidden in the texts of the Scriptures – anopening made possible by the “passing thathe (Christ) was to accomplish in Jerusalem”.For it is in turning to Christ and his Crossthat the veil is removed! �


Opening up the Scriptures – Key Moments of the Journey in the Gospel of Luke – Paul Watson

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Litanies are very characteristic of the deacon’s involvement in Byzantine

liturgical prayer. The litanies are corporateand hierarchical in structure revealing thecorporate and hierarchical nature of theChurch. Generally, the petitions are fixedand thus are well known to all. The famil-iarity of the petitions together with thecommon response allows the whole body ofthe faithful to participate with ease in thistype of prayer which focuses on the needsof the Church, the world and the assembly.The petitions enunciated and articulatedby the deacon focus on peace, the salvationof souls, the good of the Church, the unityof all, the worshipping assembly, the hier-arch of the Church, the civil authorities,the armed forces, the city and home of thefaithful, seasonable weather, abundance offood, those who are travelling, those whoare captives, deliverance from all affliction,that the day or evening may be peacefuland without sin, that each of the faithfulmay be guarded and guided by an angel ofpeace, the pardon and remission of sins,what is profitable for soul and body, a life ofpeace and repentance, a Christian endingto life, a good judgement before Christ, thedeparted, catechumens, and various otherneeds.

The litanies are sung in a style known asekphonesis. Johann von Gardner describesekphonesis as: “[A] constant level of pitchwith likely deviations at the beginnings andespecially the ends of phrases and texts; alevel of median pitch somewhat higherthan in psalmody; a more extensive elon-

gation of vowels but still without a clearlydistinguishable rhythm; small changes indynamics possible; occasional short melis-mas, especially at ends of phrases.”1 VonGardner also says that the litanies are “apoint of repose” in services, except for theLitany of Fervent Supplication (and Iwould add the litany, “O God, save Thy peo-ple…” which is sung in an ascending stylewhere the musical scale is chromatic).2

These periods of repose provide a familiarcalm in the services. When no deacon ispresent, the bishop or priest must sing thelitany and silently recite the accompanyingprayer (usually at another part of the ser-vice) or make the prayer out loud. Thistends to create a liturgical disharmony andignores the litanic structure both from a lit-erary and more importantly an ecclesialperspective for it distracts the bishop orpriest from his role of presiding. The pointis that when a deacon is not present, thereis a liturgical lacuna in the assembly’sprayer. And this results in both a liturgicaland ecclesial dysfunction.

We can summarize the structure of thelitanic prayer:

1. A series of petitions, usually addressedto the assembly, but at times to God, bythe deacon.

2. A response to each petition by theassembly, e.g. Lord have mercy.

3. A presidential prayer by the bishop orpriest usually recited silently with thedoxology of the prayer aloud.

4. A response to the prayer by theassembly, i.e. Amen.


David Kennedy

The Liturgical Role of David Kennedy, Protodeacon of St Elias Parish, Eparchy of Toronto(www.saintelias.com) gives the secondand concluding part of his paper on therole of the deacon in the liturgy of theByzantine rite.

1 Russian Church Singing. Volume I, Johann von Gardner, St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1980, p57.2 Russian Church Singing, Volume I, p75.


The deacon does not serve when the litan-ic prayer structure is absent. This is thecase at the First, Third, Sixth and NinthHours, as well as at Small Compline andthe Midnight Office. Although SmallCompline, the Midnight Office and theRoyal Office at the beginning of Matins allhave litanies, these litanies have no presi-dential prayer. They do not follow thestructure of the litanic prayer.

The reading of the Gospel is the high pointof the Liturgy of the Word in the DivineLiturgy. It is preceded by a censing done bythe deacon of the Gospel Book on the HolyTable, the icons in the altar, the iconostasis,the bishop or priest, and the assembly. Atthe Divine Liturgy, the deacon sings theGospel as well as at the Liturgy of thePresanctified Gifts. However, the bishop or

priest reads the Gospel at all other services.Among Orthodox Russians and Ukrainianswhen more than one deacon serves at theDivine Liturgy, the Apostolic reading (usu-ally a New Testament letter or a readingfrom the Acts of the Apostles) is sung bythe second deacon. The deacon receives asolemn blessing from the bishop or priestbefore reading the Gospel. He is given theGospel Book by the priest. (This book con-tains only the four canonical Gospels and isbound in metal and decorated with icons.

It is usually quite large in size and visuallyimpressive.) The deacon is the herald ofthe Good News, the angel that brings theglad tidings of salvation. The Gospel is sungaccording to a prescribed intonation.

Once the Gospel is sung, the deacon pre-sents the Gospel Book to the presidingbishop or priest for veneration and it isreturned to the Holy Table. At this pointthe homily is given. While a deacon mayact as the homilist, this is not a usual prac-tice. Typically, the presiding bishop or priestgives the homily. This action appears to beliturgically a presidential function andtherefore more suited to the one who pre-sides. In practice, many deacons simplyhave not received the theological educationand homiletic training to enable them topreach well.

While the Typikon usually prescribes thatthe cantor/reader sings the prokeimenon (ascriptural verse and response, similar tothe Gradual in the Roman Rite), in prac-tice at Vespers and Matins the deacon usu-ally sings it.

One of the most characteristic functions ofthe deacon is to be the minister of incens-ing. In current practice the deacon censesat the Divine Liturgy, Vespers, Matins, theLiturgy of the Presanctified Gifts, Baptism& Chrismation, the Betrothal & Crowning,the Anointing with Holy Oil, the Blessing ofWaters, the Funeral Offices and Moliebens.If the deacon does not cense, he accompa-nies the bishop or priest who does by pre-ceding him while holding a large candle(about a metre in length) in his hand.

The use of incense in Christian worship


the Deacon in the Constantinopolitan Tradition

Part II

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The deacon is the heraldof the Good News, theangel that brings theglad tidings of salvation


usually serves one of three purposes: thedomestic use which is chiefly fumigatory innature, i.e. to create a pleasant odour; thehonorific which is to ‘honour’ either a per-son or a thing; and the sacrificial, as anoblation or offering to God. Besides thesethree common uses a fourth also takesplace. This is as a demonifuge which isused to purify the place of evil spirits.3

These censings are done in a prescribedhierarchical order: first the holy table, thenicons, then clergy according to order, andthen the laity. Usually nothing is said dur-ing the censings. However, at the incensingfollowing the Rite of the Proskomeidia atthe beginning of the Divine Liturgy, and atthe Transfer of the Gifts, the deacon recitesPsalm 50 (51), Have mercy on me O God…which clearly gives these censings a peni-tential tone. In the Rite of Ordination for aDeacon, after the newly ordained is vestedby the bishop with the orarion (stole) andepimanikia (cuffs), the bishop presentshim with a censer, and a ripidion (which isused by the deacon to fan the Holy Gifts).(Unlike the Latin Rite, the Book of theGospels is not presented.)4

The deacon also functions as the master ofceremonies of the liturgical services.Throughout the liturgical services the dea-con prompts the principal bishop or cele-brant with imperatives, e.g. “Master, givethe blessing.” “Master, command.”“Master, proceed.” “Master, cut.” “Master,pierce.” During the Anaphora (EucharisticPrayer) the deacon prompts the celebrantat the epiclesis: “Bless, Master, the holybread.” “Bless, Master, the holy cup.”“Bless both, Master.” He commands theattention of the assembly and thereader/cantor with phrases such as “Let usbe attentive” and “Wisdom.” He remindsthe assembly of the proper postures forprayer by commanding them to stand, bow

their heads, or bend their knees. In thisrole of master of ceremonies the deaconhas a responsibility for the assembly, for itsgood order and its piety. A deacon needs toknow the order of service so well that heknows not only his own role but also that ofeveryone else.

A good deacon can anticipate what willcome next, and he can anticipate theneeds of the celebrant even before the cel-ebrant can anticipate them himself. Thisfunction of master of ceremonies is proba-bly the most challenging and difficult of allthe diaconal liturgical roles to master. It

requires an excellent memory not only ofthe structure and content of the liturgicaltexts but also of the way in which the litur-gical actions are best carried out. The dea-con needs to be able to visualize in hismind not only what is to be said and donebut how it is to be said and done, not onlyfor himself, but also for all other ministersincluding the assembly. This can be a verydaunting task especially for a newlyordained deacon. This is only compoundedwhen a deacon serves with an impatient,intolerant or arrogant bishop or priest,especially one who has very little under-standing of the deacon’s liturgical role.Unfortunately, this is a serious pastoralliturgical problem for many deacons in the


The Liturgical Role of the Deacon in the Constantinopolitan Tradition (II) – David Kennedy

Let us be clear, however,this was not arestoration of thediaconate but of thediaconate as apermanent rank

3 The Shape of the Liturgy,2nd Edition, Gregory Dix, A&C Black, 1979, p429. The Great Entrance, Robert F. Taft, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 200, 1975, p151.

4 Roman Pontifical, Rome, 1974, p 242.


Eastern Catholic Churches. Bishop Basil(Osborne) of the Exarchate of theEcumenical Patriarchate in WesternEurope comments on this: “…In fact thereare very few good deacons. It is much eas-ier to be a priest than to be a deacon. Thisis because to be a deacon you not only haveto know what is going on but you also haveto be ahead of the game. While the priest isdoing one thing, you have to be aware ofwhat he should be doing next. Thus youhave constantly to be a bit ahead. This is avery difficult thing to do well. There arefew good deacons liturgically speaking.”5

What makes all of this an even greaterchallenge is that the deacon is a minister ofthe assembly’s prayer. He must pray withthe assembly as we have seen in his role inthe synaptes. During the Divine Liturgy,the deacon says or sings aloud five to sixtimes the amount of text that is allotted tothe presiding bishop or priest. (Some cele-brants and concelebrants resent the dea-con’s role and would rather serve without adeacon for this would give them more tosay and do. Of course this is reflective of adysfunctional understanding of liturgy andchurch.) The deacon must be able to exe-cute his functions well and this includesbeing able to sing his parts in such a waythat leads the assembly in prayer. He mustbe a man of prayer for he must himself bepraying whilst he serves. He must also beable to direct the service and to attend tothe celebrant, to the assembly, and to theother liturgical ministers while he prays.

It is essentially important to keep in mindat all times that the deacon’s liturgicalfunctions always take place in conjunctionwith the rest of the assembly’s liturgicallife. The liturgical assembly should consistof a bishop (or his representative a priest)who presides, deacons who serve andassist, subdeacons (or altar servers) whoserve and assist, readers/cantors, and the

assembly of the baptized communicantswho act through and with Christ, in thepower of the Holy Spirit to the glory of Godthe Father. The deacon’s liturgical func-tions are not to be analyzed outside of theliturgical assembly which is the Church,the Body of Christ and the temple of theHoly Spirit.

The liturgical diaconalroles in the Roman rite andthe Byzantine traditionOne of the most fruitful reforms of VaticanII was the restoration of the diaconate as apermanent rank in the hierarchy of theChurch. Let us be clear, however, this wasnot a restoration of the diaconate but of thediaconate as a permanent rank. In thecommunion of the Catholic Churches thishas had a far reaching effect not only onthe Roman Rite but also on the EasternCatholic Churches. What comparison canbe made between the liturgical functionsof the deacon in the Roman andConstantinopolitan traditions? TheByzantine deacon can be said to serve andassist whilst the bishop or priest presides.The current liturgical texts as well as thoseof the past exhibit a common consensusand witness to this. Quite simply, theByzantine tradition has never known apresidential role for the deacon. When apriest is not present, the deacon does notserve. The deacon never substitutes forthe bishop or priest. The tradition ispatent, the Eucharistic or Divine Liturgy isnot celebrated without a bishop or priestwho presides. And this is true of all otherByzantine rite services.

Yet there is an exception, for a liturgicalpresident is not always available and itappears that only a bishop or priest canfunction as such. The Praises or Liturgy ofthe Hours found in the Horologion may becelebrated without a bishop or priest. Thepresidential prayers that are recited by the



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5 “The Deacon in the Orthodox Tradition”, Distinctive Diaconate Study 13, no date, p2.


bishop or priest are not said. This meansthat the synaptes so characteristic of theservices are also dropped. They arereplaced by cantor/reader chanting “Lord,have mercy” 40, 12 or 3 times. The presi-dential ecphoneses are replaced with thefollowing: “By the prayers of our holyfathers, O Lord, Jesus Christ, our God,have mercy on us. Amen.” This is spokenby the senior person present but this per-son is not presiding since no presidentialprayers are said. In monasteries and con-vents when there is no priest, and in thehomes of deacons or of any of the laity, thisis the manner in which the Liturgy of theHours is celebrated.

The only sacrament that a Byzantine Ritedeacon may perform is baptism and thatonly in case of necessity: “In case ofnecessity, baptism can be administered bya deacon or, in his absence or if he isimpeded, by another cleric, a member ofan institute of consecrated life, or by anyother Christian faithful; even by the moth-er or father, if another person is not avail-able who knows how to baptize.” Canon677 §2. It would be extremely rare for thisto happen, and of course the chrismationwhich is to accompany baptism wouldneed to be completed by a bishop or priestas soon as possible. The Roman Rite dea-con, like the Byzantine Rite deacon,assists and serves. But following theSecond Vatican Council, he also presidesin certain circumstances. When no bishopor priest is available the Roman Rite dea-con presides i.e. he represents the bishopin his role of liturgical presidency. Thismay occur at baptism, marriages, funer-als, burials, the Liturgy of the Hours, ser-vices of the Liturgy of the Word, as at var-ious blessings of persons and objects.

Why these differences? A careful scrutinyof liturgical texts prior to the SecondVatican Council will show that the RomanRite deacon did not preside.6 Very simply, itwas the desire of the fathers of thatCouncil, for pastoral reasons, to allow alimited role of liturgical presidency to thedeacon in the Roman Rite.7 However, this was not their desire or intention for the Eastern Catholic Churches.8

The Pontifical Commission for theInterpretation of the Decrees of VaticanCouncil II wrote in a commentary found inNotitiae 11 (1975) pp 36-39, in reply to aquery on the powers of the deacon regard-ing blessings and sacramentals (we quotein part):

Admittedly, with the reform of the liturgy,profound changes have come about rela-tive to earlier discipline: deacons havebeen placed on a par ritually with priests inregard to the administration of some of thesacraments and sacramentals. Even forBaptism, the deacon has become an ordi-nary minister, whereas before he was theextraordinary minister. On the other hand,there are some sacramentals that it seemsa deacon cannot administer: for example,the blessing of an abbot, consecration to alife of virginity, institution to ministries.This is because of the status of the personswho through these blessings are conse-crated to divine worship and to theChurch’s worship. The tradition of theEastern Churches contrasts sharply withthe concessions made in the Latin rite todeacons: blessings are reserved exclusivelyto the bishop and the priest; the deaconassists the priest at the Eucharist and –except in an emergency – is not the minis-ter of Baptism, since its administration isconjoined with that of Confirmation.”9



6 The Office of the Deacon in Ecclesiastical Law, Richard E. Zenk, Rome, 1969.7 Lumen Gentium, 29.8 Orientalium Ecclesiarum, 17.9 Documents on the Liturgy, 1963-1979 Conciliar, Papal and Curial Texts, The Liturgical Press,

1982, pp 803-804.


A theological reflection How does the deacon’s liturgical role revealand determine what the deacon is? We haveseen him performing a variety of functions.He can be styled the angel of prayer for it ishis duty to invite the Church to pray. As theregular minister of the litanies, he articu-lates in prayer the needs of the Church andacts as the voice of the assembly suggestingthe petitions. He is the general sacristan ofthe Church and the keeper of its vessels. Asmaster of ceremonies, he oversees the ritu-al action, maintaining good order and arhythmic flow throughout the service. Hedirects and sets the mood of prayer, both by

words and actions, shaping the piety of theassembled community.

The deacon is the personal assistant to thebishop, functioning as his valet. By exten-sion he assists the presbyter. The deaconcan be described as a hinge or link. Headdresses the assembly on behalf of the pre-siding celebrant and the presiding celebranton behalf of the assembly. He admonishesand directs the liturgical assembly, and attimes his role as master of ceremonies isextended even to that of choir director.Through his exhortations and commands,he orders the service and keeps it moving.He is a link between the presiding celebrantat the altar and the assembly in the nave.

In the Constantinopolitan tradition, theliturgical role of the deacon is explicitlyclear: the deacon is the attendant to the

president of the liturgical assembly. Thedeacon serves the bishop or priest so thatthe bishop or priest might preside at theChurch’s liturgical prayer. The prayersassigned to the liturgical president are gen-erally in the plural and thus are the prayersof the whole assembly. They are usuallyaddressed to God the Father. They receivethe consent of the whole assembly by meansof its Amen. The deacon’s voice is generallydirected not to God but to the assembly.

As an attendant and assistant to the bishop,the deacon’s ministry of service is alsoextended in a diakonia to the Church andto the world. Let us look at this as a cosmo-logical vision in which it is the nature of theChurch to reflect divine or heavenly reality.Within this cosmology the deacon is thesacramental image of Jesus Christ who isthe diakonos of his Father. He also is a typeof the angel, the heavenly servitor, the mes-senger of glad tidings, the creature whoseentire life is given over completely to prais-ing, adoring, and singing the glory of, God,the Holy One.

The Eucharist makes the Church, just as theChurch makes the Eucharist. It is the sum-mit and source of its life. If we are to have anunderstanding of diaconal ministry, we mustsee that ministry within the context of theChurch’s liturgical celebrations. A theologyof the diaconate which fails to make theEucharist the basis of its reflection cannot beconsidered within the given framework ofthe Constantinopolitan tradition. Althoughthe Church is only a faint reflection of theHeavenly Kingdom, during the DivineLiturgy the Reign of God becomes present ina mystical reality. In this reality, the deaconreveals the diakonia of Christ to the Father:the Only-Begotten Son, the eternal Word ofthe Father is the diakonos of the Father. Asthe personal attendant of the president ofthe liturgical assembly, the deacon in theConstantinopolitan liturgical tradition sacra-mentally manifests the hierarchical Divinerelationship of the Son to the Father. �



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A theology of the diaconatewhich fails to make theEucharist the basis of itsreflection cannot beconsidered within the given framework of theConstantinopolitan tradition


Pope Benedict’s recent encyclical,Caritas in Veritate, has received a

great deal of attention, with particularinterest focused upon its implications foreconomic matters in a time of economicturmoil. Without denying the importanceof such considerations, it is crucial not toignore the strictly theological challengesthat the Encyclical poses. For, in the Pope’sview, economic concerns cannot bedivorced from what concerns mankindultimately: God’s economy of salvation.Thus I suggest three features of theEncyclical that present challenges toCatholic reflection.

The first feature of the Encyclical mayseem entirely self-evident. Yet, I think it iscrucial to underline it and not take it forgranted. The Church’s social teaching isecclesial –- its basis and matrix is the GoodNews of Jesus Christ entrusted to and pro-claimed by the Church.

Pope Benedict writes: “Social doctrine isbuilt upon the foundation handed on bythe apostles to the Fathers of the Churchand further explored by the greatChristian doctors. This doctrine pointsdefinitively to the New Man, to the ‘lastAdam who became life-giving spirit’ (1 Cor15:35), the principle of the charity that‘never ends’ (1 Cor 13:8)” (#12).

Indeed, this conviction is already clearlyenunciated in the very first section of theencyclical. Here Benedict writes: “All peo-ple feel the interior impulse to love

authentically: Love and truth never aban-don them completely because these arethe vocation implanted by God in the heartand mind of every human person. Thesearch for love and truth is purified andliberated by Jesus Christ from the impov-erishment that our humanity brings to it,and he reveals to us in all its fullness theinitiative of love and the plan for true lifethat God has prepared for us. In Christ,charity in truth becomes the face of hisperson, a vocation for us to love our broth-ers and sisters in the truth of his plan”(#1).

Now an implication to be drawn from thisChristological orientation, given to theentire Encyclical, is that the Church’ssocial teaching is rooted ultimately in theGospel, not in “natural law.” In saying this

I do not mean to rule out all appeal to “nat-ural law” reasoning which is, of course, acharacteristic aspect of Catholic reflectionon social issues. There are certainly spe-cific contexts of cultural and political dia-logue in which such an appeal is appropri-ate and even necessary.

However, the well-intentioned desire tofind common ground with all people ofgood will, can unintentionally uproot theCatholic appeal to natural law from the


Robert P. Imbelli

From 1986 to 1993 Father Robert PImbelli was Director of the Institute ofReligious Education and PastoralMinistry at Boston College and iscurrently Associate Professor ofTheology at Boston College. An earlierversion of this article appeared in theEnglish Weekly edition of theOsservatore Romano

The Theological Challenge

... the Church’s socialteaching is rootedultimately in the Gospel,not in “natural law”


rich theological soil which alone can nour-ish and sustain it.

In other words, natural law discourse is an“abstraction” from a far thicker and morecomprehensive Catholic language thatarticulates a vision for humankind and theworld: the integral humanism, so dear toPaul VI and confirmed by Benedict XVI inhis Encyclical.

Indeed, unless that richer Catholic lan-guage is invoked and drawn upon, as thePope does throughout the Encyclical, onerisks reducing religion to ethics, personalrelationship and fraternity to the promo-tion of a cause (however just and desir-able).

A second feature of the Encyclical is theneed, precisely in order to foster authenticdevelopment, to have recourse to an inte-gral vision of the human, one whose con-cern embraces “the good of every man andof the whole man” (#18, quoting Paul VI,Populorum Progressio, #14). This “trulyintegral humanism” (#78) weaves into aseamless garment the individual and thesocial, body and soul, effective concern forthe earthly city and fervent hope for theheavenly city.

It is noteworthy that Benedict XVI bringstogether in one over-arching vision aspectsof the magisterium of Pope Paul VI thatare too often kept apart in Catholic circles,contributing, in no small part, to our pre-sent polarization: namely, PopulorumProgressio, Humanae Vitae, and EvangeliiNuntiandi. Together, these documentsbear powerful witness to a vision of humanbeing and destiny that is awe-inspiring in

the horizon of hope that it proclaims andthe scope of transformation to which itsummons.

This vision of the human that the Popesets before us, this theological anthropolo-gy of the Catholic tradition, is ultimatelyrooted in Christology. Pope Benedict’s per-suasion faithfully reflects the teaching ofVatican II’s Pastoral Constitution on the

Church in the Modern World, Gaudium etspes, which affirms “The truth is that onlyin the mystery of the incarnate Word doesthe mystery of man take on light … Christ,by the revelation of the mystery of theFather and his love, fully reveals man toman himself and makes his supreme call-ing clear (Gaudium et spes, #22; cf.Caritas in Veritate, #18).

Hence, the Encyclical issues a furtherchallenge to Catholic thought and action.It is a pressing need in contemporaryCatholic life and theology to promote anintegral reception of Vatican II. In thiseffort we must seek to appropriate the fourconciliar constitutions: for each illumi-nates the other and each must be accord-ed its full due. We cannot afford to be cafe-teria conciliarists.

Thus the proponents of Gaudium et spes


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of Caritas in Veritate

... one risks reducing religion to ethics, personalrelationship and fraternityto the promotion of a cause(however just and desirable)


and its social concern must develop itsChristological underpinnings in the light ofthe Constitution on Divine Revelation, DeiVerbum. The advocates of the liturgicalreform, initiated by Sacrosanctum concili-um, must in turn see the Church’s wor-ship to be intimately conjoined with thewitness demanded of it by Lumen gen-tium’s teaching regarding the Church as“sacrament of salvation” for the wholeworld.

A final consideration can take its point ofdeparture from some words of thePresident of the United States, BarackObama. In a speech marking the anniver-sary of the collapse of the Wall Street firm,Lehman Brothers, the President attributedthe financial crisis to “reckless behavior,unchecked excess, and an appetite forquick kills and bloated bonuses.” Then headded: “this was not merely a failure of reg-ulation or legislation; not merely a failure ofoversight. It was a failure of responsibility!”

Of course, the President could not use the“C-word” on Wall Street – the word “con-version.” But popes can proclaim whatpresidents can only whisper. Structuralchange, however necessary, can neversubstitute for authentic conversion ofhearts and minds.

In the concluding section of Caritas in

Veritate Benedict XVI writes:

“Development requires attention to thespiritual life, a serious consideration of theexperiences of trust in God, spiritual fel-lowship in Christ, reliance upon God’sprovidence and mercy, love and forgive-ness, self-denial, acceptance of others, jus-tice and peace. All this is essential if‘hearts of stone’ are to be converted into‘hearts of flesh’ (Ez 36:26), rendering lifeon earth “divine” and thus more worthy ofhumanity” (#79).

And, since conversion is not a once and forall affair, but an ongoing imperative, theChurch’s social teaching is only completewhen embodied in a spirituality thatnourishes and sustains its commitment tocharity in truth. Such a spirituality willdaily “place man before the astonishingexperience of gift” and foster the realiza-tion of “the gratuitousness present in ourlives in many different forms that often gounrecognized because of a purely con-sumerist and utilitarian view of life”(#34). For Catholics such spirituality isalways rooted and centered in theEucharist in which the body of Christ isreceived for the nourishment of theChurch and the well-being and salvation ofthe world.

If these remarks suggest that Catholicsocial teaching derives from and dependsupon the Catholic tradition’s ecclesial andliturgical matrix and its dogmatic affirma-tions, then I have been understood cor-rectly. Someone may object: does thisreading of the Encyclical impede dialoguewith other traditions, perspectives andstances? Does it bespeak a narrowly sec-tarian attitude? I think not. It may howev-er, spur those who share certain of theconcrete values and proposals set forth inCaritas in Veritate to consider the basis fortheir own claims and convictions. In thisway real dialogue and discernment canonly be deepened (cf. #55). �


The Theological Challenge of “Caritas in Veritate” – Robert P. Imbelli

... since conversion is not aonce and for all affair, but an ongoing imperative,the Church’s social teachingis only complete whenembodied in a spiritualitythat nourishes and sustainsits commitment to charity in truth


General figures Lithuania is the southern-most country ofthe three Baltic nations and borders on theBaltic Sea, and on Latvia, Belarus, Polandand the Kaliningrad Oblast, that small part ofRussia which until 1945 used to be part ofGerman East Prussia. Lithuania itself has3,350,000 inhabitants of whom 84% areLithuanians, 6% Poles and 10% Russians,Ukrainians, Belarusians and others. The cap-ital city Vilnius has a population of about558,000; the second city Kaunas has some352,000 inhabitants; and the port town ofKlaipeda has 183,000. The remaining popu-lation is divided over 65,300 square kilome-tres which is about twice the size of theNetherlands. For Western Europeans it isalways surprising to learn that the geograph-ical centre of Europe lies 24 kilometres to thenorth-west of Vilnius. Traditionally Lithuaniawas an agricultural nation but under Sovietrule and as a result of forced industrialisationa strong shift from the countryside to the(provincial) cities occurred. This process stillgoes on together with a high rate of emigra-tion. It is estimated that in the last ten yearsabout 350,000 people have left the country,mainly for Great Britain, Ireland and theUnited States1.

Some history Lithuania was first mentioned in 1009 in theAnnales Quedlinburgenses. In 1253 the vari-ous tribes united into one kingdom andMindaugas was crowned the first king ofLithuania. In the Middle Ages Lithuania wasa very powerful state covering large parts ofpresent day Belarus, Ukraine and Poland. Atits peak it even stretched as far as the Black

Sea. In 1385 Jogaila, Grand Duke ofLithuania married the Polish princessJadwiga, accepted Christianity, and wascrowned king of Poland. The following yearJogaila founded the diocese of Vilnius andstarted a campaign to evangelise Lithuaniawhich was the last country in Europe toaccept Christianity. For a long time theTeutonic Order (German crusader knights)had been trying to expand their territory inthe Baltics but in 1410 Grand Duke Vytautus,commanding a combined army ofLithuanian, Polish, Russian and Czech forcesdefeated the Teutonic Order in the famousbattle of Grünwald/Tannenberg and thwartedthe threat. In the following centuries, thePolish and Lithuanian states grew increas-ingly closer and in 1569 a commonwealthbetween the two countries was established.


Paul Wennekes

Our journal aims to support not onlyordained deacons and students for thediaconate but others who are engagedin ‘diaconal’ work, in the Church’sministry of service and charity. PaulWennekes works for the organizationCommunicantes based in theNetherlands which supports this sort ofwork and he is also a student for thediaconate for the diocese of s’-Hertogenbosch. From its inceptionIDC–NEC has embraced the Balticcounties and has developed close tieswith Lithuania. The Chairman ofIDC–NEC and some board membersmade an early visit to see what couldbe done to help bishops to restore thediaconate in Lithuania and Estonia.This article by Paul Wennekesintroduces us to the diaconal work ofthe Church in Lithuania and concludeswith an interview with JurateMatikoviene, a staff member of CaritasLithuania and responsible for the SunGroups project.

Introduction to Lithuania

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1 For more information please see the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuaniahttp://www.urm.lt/index.


This however also meant a long and continu-ous process of polonisation of the Lithuanianstate and society. In 1579 Vilnius Universitywas founded and for two hundred yearsremained Europe’s most easterly university.

In 1795 the third Polish partition wasimposed and the Polish-Lithuanian state wasabsorbed into Czarist Russia and polonisationwas replaced by russification. From 1864 till1904 even the Latin alphabet was proscribed.Books in Lithuanian were printed in nearbyEast Prussia and smuggled into the country.During this period the local clergy in ruralparishes played a decisive role in the preser-vation of the Lithuanian language and cul-ture. The Russian occupation lasted until theend of the First World War. In 1918Lithuania was one of the new states toappear on the European map as a result ofthe various peace treaties. The Lithuanianshowever did not succeed in keeping theircapital Vilnius, with its large majority of Polishinhabitants. Between the two World Wars thecity of Kaunas functioned as the capital. In1940 as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentroppact, the secret treaty in which the SovietUnion and Nazi Germany divided Europeamong themselves, Lithuania was occupiedby the Soviet Union. The Soviets immediate-ly installed a communist regime and the firstof thousands of officers, teachers and intel-lectuals were deported to Siberia. TheGerman attack on the Soviet Union and theoccupation of Lithuania by the Nazis wasoriginally greeted by many Lithuanians as asort of liberation but it soon became clear thatthe Nazis had no intention of restoringLithuanian independence. Nazi terror grewsteadily, especially against the Jewish popula-tion and only very few Jews survived the war.In 1944 the Soviet Union reconqueredLithuania and tens of thousands ofLithuanians, recalling the earlier Sovietoccupation, fled to the West to join the emi-grant communities of Lithuanians, especiallyin the USA and Canada. In Lithuania thesovietisation of society began all over againand tens of thousands of Lithuanians were

deported to Siberia as “Nazi collaborators”, asenemies of the state or simply as “bourgeoiselements”. From 1944 until the early fiftiesmany partisan groups took to the woods andfought the Soviet forces in the attempt to freetheir country and to put a stop to communistpolicies which included among other thingsthe collectivisation of the country and depor-tations. It was only as late as 1954 that thelast partisan groups gave up the fight.

On March 11th 1990 Lithuania was thefirst country within the Soviet Union to

declare its independence. UnfortunatelySoviet security troops killed fourteen andinjured some six hundred participants in a peaceful demonstration at the tele-vision tower in Vilnius. Professor VytautasLandsbergis, the leader of the reformmovement Sajudis which was founded in1988, was elected as the first president ofthe re-established independent state ofLithuania. In 1993 the last Soviet troops leftthe country and in 2004 Lithuania joinedboth NATO and the European Union.

The Catholic Church inLithuania Lithuania is a predominantly Catholic coun-try. At the time of the Reformation Lutheransand Calvinists had some success but theCounter-Reformation, strongly supported bythe Polish state, made Roman Catholicismthe predominant Church again. During theSoviet era churches were left open but


Introduction to Lithuania – Paul Wennekes

The state permitted very fewstudents to enter the soleseminary that was allowed tofunction and the state selectedthe least able students toserve in the largest and mostlively parishes


priests and church-goers were strictly con-trolled by the secret service. Catholic youthwork and social organisations were pro-scribed, Catholic publishing was renderedimpossible. The state permitted very few stu-dents to enter the sole seminary that wasallowed to function and the state selected theleast able students to serve in the largest andmost lively parishes. All seminarians andpriests were under pressure to becomeinformers for the KGB. Religious orders andcongregations were driven undergroundwhere they survived as best they might. Inthe seventies a group of five priests, amongstthem Father Sigitas Tamkevicius SJ, the pre-sent archbishop of Kaunas (and now an edi-torial consultant to this journal) and FatherJonas Kauneckas, the present bishop ofPanevezys, founded the Catholic Committeefor the Defense of Believers’ Rights whichpublished the Chronicle of the CatholicChurch of Lithuania, an underground jour-nal on human rights violations. One of themembers, Father Zdebskis, was murdered bythe authorities and Father Tamkevicius wasexpelled for twenty years to Siberia. The pub-lication of the Chronicle never ceased, how-

ever, thanks to a large network of mainlyunderground women religious and layfolksympathisers who kept on printing and dis-tributing it. Again, the Catholic Churchplayed an important role in the preservationof the Lithuanian language and culture.

After independence, the Church regainedher full rights and initiated an impressivereconstruction of its internal and externalstructures. Finally seven dioceses were estab-lished. There are now three seminaries(Vilnius, Kaunas and Telsiai) with altogether100 students. After high numbers of semi-narians in the beginning, numbers have beentailing off rapidly more recently andLithuania is now facing a shortage of priests.The same goes for male and female congre-gations of religious. Jesuits, Franciscans andMarianists are well-known but are few innumber. The twenty women religious con-gregations, which co-operate in a conferenceof superiors, number about six hundredmembers. In most congregations one willfind a larger numbers of elderly sisters withonly some younger members; the in-betweengeneration is for the most part missing.Members of congregations work largely inparishes and in social organisations for whichthey generally receive very modest salaries.The financial position of the congregations isdire and many rely on foreign aid for all costsapart from everyday living costs. ManyCatholic organisations were founded in thepast twenty years. Every diocese has its ownyouth centre, Caritas and family centre andall three organisations also have national cen-tres. The pre-war youth organisation Ateitishas been revived. There are some Catholicmagazines but these have a very hard timetrying to survive the competition from secu-lar magazines. The internet news serviceBernardinai in Vilnius, founded by theFranciscans, attracts many readers becauseof the quality and the impartiality of the infor-mation (www.bernardinai.lt). There aresome Catholic schools, of which the Jesuit-run gymnasia of Vilnius and Kaunas are themost well-known, but these schools also face



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many financial and organisational problems.

The social situation andthe Church’s responseForty-five years of communism have leftscars in the hearts and minds of many peo-ple. Since the Communist Party claimed amonopoly in the running of all social affairs,people had little to no experience of volun-tary social work. The involvement of theChurch with social issues, based on thesocial teaching of the Church, had to berediscovered. After independence theChurch in Lithuania, as in all other EasternEuropean countries, had to renovate run-down churches, create new communities,educate hundreds of volunteers, catechistsand youth leaders and incorporate the theo-logical changes that followed the SecondVatican Council, and all this in but a coupleof years. Nevertheless, once the basic struc-tures were re-established, the LithuanianChurch found the resources to deal withsocial problems as well. In all of EasternEurope alcoholism is a colossal problem,resulting in all kinds of social problems suchas violence in families, social orphans (chil-dren fleeing their homes, preferring to liveon the street), and unemployment. In duecourse drug and gambling addiction super-vened. The situation of prisoners, both whilstin custody and after their release, neededattention. Special consideration needed tobe given to the victims of trafficking. Manywomen were lured to Western countrieswith promises of a job but then forced intoprostitution. One of the greatest problems isthe ongoing emigration of younger, well edu-cated people. Many emigrants leave with theaim of working abroad for a number of yearsand then returning home. But once abroadthey integrate into their host societies, findpartners and stay on. Or else upon returnthey simply cannot find work in Lithuaniasuch as would support a family. The vastmajority of emigrants do not return, therebyleaving behind growing numbers of relatives.Often grandparents have to take care of chil-dren ‘temporarily’, but are effectively aban-

doned with the children. The pensions thesepeople receive are hardly sufficient for theirown survival, let alone for raising children.Parents of emigrants, even without the prob-lem of having to raise grandchildren, toooften face psychological problems. Lithuaniahas the largest number of suicides in Europeand lately the number of suicides amongpensioners has risen sharply. Sick peopleand handicapped people find it very hard tosurvive on the minimal social insurancemoney they receive and generally face lone-liness and a loss of meaning in life. Thisproblem is especially urgent in rural areaswhere the state, constrained by the financialcrisis, has closed almost all social institutionssuch as schools and hospitals. Often thelocal parish is the only social institution sur-viving in the countryside and this imposes aheavy burden on the local clergy.

One of the church organisations whichattempts to address the social needs isCaritas Lithuania. A small office in Kaunasco-ordinates a programme called theDignity of Children which focusses on allissues in respect of family and children. Asecond programme is directed at the victimsof trafficking. The Caritas programme givesmedical, psychological and judicial aid tothese victims, helping them re-integrate intosociety by assisting women in their searchfor housing and employment. Besides that,a lot of attention is devoted to preventionand to influencing public opinion which alltoo often still sees victims of trafficking as‘women who asked for it’. A third pro-gramme relates to prisoners and their rela-tives. Caritas staff and volunteers visit pris-oners, re-establish contact with relatives, tryto improve living conditions in prison andhelp released prisoners to re-integrate insociety. Increasingly Caritas succeeds inreaching prison guards as well, who also liveunder a huge strain. One final example isthe large programme for sick, handicappedand lonely people. This programme is beingrun by Mrs. Jurate Matikoviene. An inter-view with her follows this article. It remains




the hope of IDC–NEC to arrange a studytrip to the fascinating and wonderful coun-try that is Lithuania.

Paul Wennekes: Jurate, tell us aboutyourself?

Jurate Matikoviene: I am JurateMatikoviene. I am 32 and I’m a profession-al social worker. I began my studies at theKaunas Medical University, within theFaculty of Public Health. Since I wanted tobecome a social worker in the area ofhealth and since social work as a professionwas still not very well known at that time,after graduation I entered VytautasMagnus University to gain a master’sdegree in social work. At the time it was theonly way to obtain an education in socialwork. During my studies I started to workas a social worker in a large institution: part

orphanage, part rehabilitation centre forfamilies that had children with disabilities.

I began my work for Caritas Lithuaniaalmost seven years ago as a social worker,working with victims of trafficking. Aftersome years of working in that department –and after earning my master’s degree insocial work – Caritas Lithuania asked me tobecome head of the Care and the Apostolatedepartment, a post I happily accepted, givenmy background as a public health specialist. Ihad already had experience of this field dur-ing my studies at Kaunas Medical Universityas I had opted to do my elective placement inthe primary care hospital. But at the time Ihad thought that this area was not for me – Iwas too young, too inexperienced and so on.But now I came to see that Providence has anice sense of humour – I finally ended upwhere He planned me to be.


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Paul Wennekes: Could you inform usabout the work of Caritas Lithuania ingeneral and about the Sun project in particular?

Jurate Matikoviene: Caritas Lithuania isone of the biggest charititable organizationsin the country. The organization aims to support diocesan Caritas organizations andto offer so-called “model projects” to beimplemented at local level. The activities ofCaritas Lithuania are directed towards awide range of clients – street children, ex-convicts, victims of trafficking, poor families.

Our Sun Groups project derived its inspira-tion from the original Zonnebloem (sun-flower) organization in Holland. The namewas invented by a couple of volunteers atlocal level discussing the significance oftheir activities helping single or lonely peo-ple in the parish. They where reflectingone elderly lady’s opinion that usually lone-ly people stayed at home, waiting for some-one to visit them. And when the volunteerscome along they were like small “suns” forthe ones they helped – they shone andmade life warmer. Our plan for Sun Groups was not only to support people inneed but also to improve community life.The usual cycle takes one year – we start inthe autumn with a public invitation to any-one interested in offering help for elderlyand willing to participate in long-termtraining. With those who come forward wemake an agreement: the training we offeris provided by professional trainers – psy-chologists, social workers, doctors – andconsists of forty hours of theory and fortyhours of practice. After training, each par-ticipant receives a Certificate. Since thetraining for participants is free of charge wedo ask participants, in exchange, to helpus, during the training period, in the provi-sion of assistance to the lonely and house-bound. Most of the participants are only tooeager to help. During their training, whichtakes some seven to nine months, it is ourtask to help participants develop a feeling

of community and belonging to theirparish. We also ask the local priest to par-ticipate in our meetings. We try to ensurethat the training takes place in churchpremises and in this way people get used tobeing part of the local Church. After awhile, people come to hear not only fromtheir trainers but they also come to see andspend time with each other. After the train-ing is completed we invite those who arewilling to stay and to join a local Sun Group.

Once a year we organize a special pilgrim-age for volunteers from different cities toone of the special places in Lithuania.During this pilgrimage there is the opportu-nity for volunteers to meet others from othercities, to make contacts, to pray, to supporteach other and to experience a communityof people sharing the same ideals.

Paul Wennekes: Please describe thespecific social background of this project.

Jurate Matikoviene: When I was workingwith victims of trafficking I used to thinkthat this is the most marginalized group ofclients due to the peculiarity of the problem.If someone who had been addicted to drugsor to alcohol managed to quit he or shecould stand in front of people and proclaim:“Look, this is me – I was at the bottom andnow I’m back on top,” and everyone wouldapplaud and congratulate him or her. But awoman involved in prostitution – willingly ornot – would never dare to reveal this inLithuania. It’s too big a shame – the pictureof Mary Magdalene as a sinner is very alivein our country. Such a woman would putherself and her children in danger. Butwhen I started to work with the elderly Ireally was shocked. Our clients – single,lonely, ill or handicapped people – are sim-ply erased from society. No one wants to talkwith or think about them. The governmentis only tokenly supporting NGOs’ activitiesin this field because economically it is of nointerest. The mass media do not give newsof it because it has no scandal attached to it.




Even on our national television broadcaststhere are only two presenters who are agedover fifty. Growing older is a subject we donot want to face and is best ignored.

Paul Wennekes: Why was it Caritas thatstarted this project?

Jurate Matikoviene: Caritas in Lithuaniaoften acts like a firefighter. We see and expe-rience existing social problems at a verygrass-roots level. And usually we are the firstto see the new needs and new dangers fac-ing communities. It was the same whenLithuania became part of the EU and thetrafficking problem arose; it was the samewith ex-convicts released from prisons intonowhere. The same is true today in the mat-ter of assistance to the sick and elderly. Thesystem of social help for elderly dependentpeople remains woefully inadequate.Principally it is the family that has to arrangeall care. When a person is ill, according toour laws, he or she is supposed to be treatedin a hospital for a period of up to 54 days. Ifsomeone needs further rehabilitation thereis a rehabilitation period in other institutionsfor up to two months; or if he or she needscare, then there are care and nursing hospi-tals where someone may stay for up to fourmonths per year. But after that, in every caseit is up to the family what they will do withtheir relative. There is still no functioninghome care system. Care homes and homesfor the elderly have very basic facilities and avery limited number of places and that iswhy dependent persons are usually takenhome for family or neighbours to nurse himor her. But after a while relatives can becometerribly exhausted and need the support ofothers. That is where we intervene.

Paul Wennekes: How is this projectgoing so far?

Jurate Matikoviene: One of the obviousfeatures of our work is that we don’t haveto advertise our services. Many peopleknow that if they need help, they need to

contact Caritas and they will receive it.One of the signs of trust on the part of thegovernment is the financial support givenby the structural funds resources to orga-nize services for people of working age whotake care of children up to ten years old orof elderly dependent family members.

Speaking of local volunteer groups – wealready have around twenty places all overLithuania where we work. In some places(like Marijampole and Panevezys) groupsconsist of forty to fifty members. These arehuge numbers for us. But a new demand isarising. The pattern of family life is chang-ing: children no longer wish to live withtheir parents. To devote part of one’s younglife to taking care of ill parents or grand-parents is no longer taken for granted asthe thing to do. And with a high rate of emi-gration – people of working age leavingLithuania to work and live abroad – theirelderly parents and small children get leftbehind. This situation causes new prob-lems and demands new solutions from us.

Paul Wennekes: What role does faithand the teaching of the Church play inthis project?

Jurate Matikoviene: The social teachingof the church is very important for ouractivities. Illness and suffering can leaveus in a very vulnerable position where theonly remaining hope is faith.

Paul Wennekes: Is there anything furtheryou would wish to add?

Jurate Matikoviene: I have to say thatsometimes I too fear ageing. When I seeillness, suffering, unfairness – it’s reallyfrightening. But the bright side also comesfrom the people we help. As one of our ladyclients from Kaisiadorys says: “I’m soamazed to see how many good peoplethere are on earth. And they care aboutme … .” I would like to be able to say thatwhen I’m seventy years old. �



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That the meanings of the word groupdiakonia / diakonein are difficult to

locate within a common perspective is notsomething that has only recently emergedwith the appearance, in the post-conciliarChurch around the world, of the differentforms taken by diakonia, in the sense ofthe social welfare work of the Church, onthe one hand, and diaconate, in the senseof the ecclesiastical order of deacons, onthe other.1 Already in the New Testamentwe find the distinction between a “materi-al” diakonia of “waiting on tables” (Acts6:2), the “spiritual” diakonia of preachingthe Word (Acts 6:4) and the Pauline“diakonia of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:18).What is it, then, that constitutes theessence of diaconal activity – back thenand in our own days?

Hermann Wolfgang Beyer’s notion of “waiting on tables”The first volumes of the TheologischesWörterbuch zum Neuen Testamentappeared in the 1930s. There, HermannWolfgang Beyer – making no effort to hidehis anti-Jewish bias – formulated a notionof diakonein that has endured up till thepresent day and which can best bedescribed as “waiting on tables”, i.e. “pro-viding for the meals, for the feeding, andfor the sustenance” of others. In this view,diakonein refers to services performedtowards other people. In profane Greek, as anyone can read in a dictionary, diakonein means some lowly activitybeneath the dignity of the normal citizen;it is an activity performed by those whohave to do with the lowly and the lowliestin society and who perform actions whichare not befitting to those who look for suc-cess and respect in any conventional form.In a biblical sense, diakonein means afreely chosen service, a free commitment


Klaus Kießling

Humble waiting-on-tables or John N. Collins and the

1 German makes a clear distinction between „Diakonie“ and “Diakonat”. The term “Diakonie”was used originally in Protestant circles to designate the social welfare work of the Church,for which male “Diakone” and especially feminine “Diakonissen” were often set apart by a“blessing” and organized into “mother houses”, comparable in many respects to activereligious congregations in the Catholic Church, but who were not regarded as holding anecclesiastical office conferred by ordination. The term “Diakonat”, by contrast, was usedmainly in Catholic circles to designate the ecclesiastical office conferred by ordination, whichin practice, however, was reduced to a mere transitional step to priestly ordination withpredominantly liturgical functions. With the rise of the movement, in both Catholic andProtestant circles , for the renewal of a permanent diaconal office conferred by ordinationand endowed with both liturgical and charitable functions, both terms have now come intocommon use by both Catholics and Protestants. In English, usage is not so clear, butincreasingly “diakonia” is coming to be used to designate the social ministry of the Church ingeneral, and thus, in this paper, it will be used to translate “Diakonie”, while “diaconate” willbe used to translate “Diakonat”. ”Diaconal” is used to translate the German adjective“diakonisch”, which can refer to either of the two noun usages.

The current President of the International Diaconate Centre and Head of the School of ReligiousEducation and Pastoral Psychology at thePhilosophisch-Theologische Hochschuleof Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt am Main, inthis article advances the on-goingdialogue with John N Collins in New Diaconal Review and elsewhere


in contrast to douleuein, which is doneunder coercion and signifies slavish subju-gation. Thus a person can be called adiakonos, who does not belong to the classof slaves and who freely enters into a ser-vant relationship to another person. Sounderstood, the biblical term diakonos isused in a gender-neutral way for both menand women.

John Neil Collins’ notion of“mediating activity”John Collins questions this widespreadinterpretation (see also Terttu Pohjolainenand Bart J. Koet). Collins asserts that thesemantic field of diakon- in the biblicaltexts does not stand in contrast to itsmeaning in the profane Greek usage.Quite the contrary! He locates the con-cepts based on diakon- precisely in the dis-course used in (other) religions. Thediakonos of the word becomes the“mouthpiece” of God, God’s “spokesman”and “messenger” – and in this sensestands in continuity with the cynic philoso-pher who called himself the diakonos ofZeus, the god’s “world-wide missionary”.Collins concludes that the semantic fieldof diakon- especially refers to “go-between” functions, e.g. the function of a“middleman”, who brings agriculturalproducts from the countryside into the cityor the function of a commissioned “agent”.This view shifts the weight of the meaningfrom “serving” in the sense of exercisingsocial or charitable responsibilities tomediatory activities exercised in diverseareas of social, political, cultural, and reli-gious life. Most recently, Anni Hentschelhas called attention to the fact that suchmediatory activity is never undertaken onthe basis of personal initiative; it always

supposes a commission received fromsomeone else. In this sense, diaconal activ-ities are not primarily services performedfor others, but rather actions undertakenin the name of another person.

This understanding of a mediating role isreflected – as Jürgen Roloff likewise pointsout – in the language of St. Paul, who usesthe semantic field of diakon- to describepreaching the Gospel and delivering mes-sages and collections (e.g.1 Cor 3:5; 2 Cor3:5f and 8:19; Col 1:7 and 1:23ff; 1Thess3:1ff; Rom 16:1f). What is characteristichere, is the activity of a messenger, whosees himself to be commissioned for mis-sionary preaching and to act as a “go-between”.

In this view, diakonia as waiting on tables(Acts 6:2) and diakonia as preaching theword (Acts 6:4) can no longer be playedoff against each other (Bettina Eltrop).They show themselves to represent a falsealternative, when both mediation andcommission are put in central focus, forwith them it is possible to describe bothevangelization as diakonia in the sense ofpreaching the word and serving at tablesas diakonia in the sense of social ministry.Admittedly, Collins does not see the latteras the principal meaning of diakonein, buthe does include it as a possible activity ofthe “go-between”, for someone who waitson tables moves back and forth betweenthe kitchen and the dining room. Here aquestion arises for me: Is it not so that theperson who acts as an intermediary in factvery often acts for the sake of the personto whom his mediation is addressed, sothat his mediation in practice becomes amatter of service? In any case, what is


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missionary going-between?nature of diakonia in the New Testament


decisive for the diakonos is not his servil-ity but rather his mobility. In this sense,what is at stake is that Christian men andwomen see themselves first and foremostas commissioned persons. And when andbecause they take their commission seri-ously, they can do nothing other than tolet themselves be taken into service, notonly at tables, to be sure, but also in a diakonia of reconciliation (KjellNordstakke and Hans-Jürgen Benedict).From one human being to another, butalso in a world-wide perspective, in theface of growing globalization and escalat-ing violence, such diakonia becomesmore and more urgent.

In reverse, Beyer also makes expresslyclear that diaconal activity must take placeout of a power given by God, a power goingout from God and returning to God.

Beyer and / or CollinsCollins has noted that Beyer’s interpreta-tion of diakonia goes back to a study byWilhelm Brandt from 1931; Stefan Dietzeland Ismo Dunderberg likewise point inthis direction. Brandt maintained closerelations with the diaconal institutions inKaiserswerth and Bethel. This leads one tosuspect that the development of diakoniaand diaconate in German Protestantism ofthe 19th Century exercised a decisiveinfluence on Brandt’s judgments about thesemantic field diakon- and thus had astrong influence also on Beyer.

Reading the texts, I notice that in dealingwith the New Testament understanding ofthe semantic field diakon-, Brandt beginswith the Gospels before he consults thePauline sources, whereas Collins proceedsin just the opposite manner, treating theGospels only after the epistles. In theGospels, Lk 22:27 plays a prominent role:“…who is greater, the one who is at thetable or the one who serves? Is it not theone at the table? But I am among you asone who serves.”

“As one who serves”For Collins, this motif stands in the contextof the eschatological banquet and remindsone of the practices among the Greeks,that on festive occasions, masters wouldwait on their slaves. Collins sees this ideaof reversing the relationships as beingrestricted to the situation of the ceremoni-al banquet, in which Jesus, like an ancientdignitary, assumes the role of one whoserves – again in continuity with religiouspractice in the surrounding culture. Suchan exchange of roles is in fact well attestedto in the framework of carnival events,whose exceptional character is clearlydelineated as a temporary break with thepractice prevailing before and after.However, I cannot find such a context inLk 22:27. For Luke, Jesus’ word to his dis-ciples in the context of their argumentabout their ranking, “But not so with you;rather the greatest among you mustbecome like the youngest, and the leaderlike one who serves” (Lk 22:26), has clearconsequences. The immediately followingstatement in Luke connects up with thetheme of temptation, “You are those who

have stood by me in my trials” (Lk 22:28),and with the eschatological reference tothe Last Judgment and the Kingdom ofGod (Lk 22:29f). It likewise points to theenduring seriousness of this scene, where-by the Matthew text on the Last Judgment(Mt 25) explicitly refers to the semanticfield diakon-.

Collins proposes that Lk 22:27 implies acomparison: “as one who serves” would


Humble waiting-on-tables or missionary going-between? – Klaus Kießling

For Collins, this motif stands inthe context of the eschatologicalbanquet and reminds one of thepractices among the Greeks,that on festive occasions,masters would wait on theirslaves


then indicate a restriction of the meaning,to be like a servant without really being aservant. Personally, I see more in thismetaphor and would give it a differenttwist: Out of the playful exchange of roles,a new horizon opens up; out of themetaphor a new idea. Just as Jesus, in thisscene, becomes a servant toward his disci-ples and acts for their sake, so also will itbe in the eschatological perspective: Jesus’suffering, death, and resurrection benefitall of us human beings, and he becomesfor us our representative and proxy.Elsewhere I have written on the diakoniaof representation, therefore so much forthat: For the reasons mentioned, I hold theword “as” to be more than a mere particle

indicating a comparison; I see it rather asa sign of a strong metaphor; Jesus estab-lishes a new reality here, regarding which.I refer also to Mk 10:45 (recalled byThomas Söding): “For the Son of Mancame not to be served but to serve, and togive his life as a ransom for many.”

In this sense, it is possible to distinguishbetween a tradition in the Gospels, whichemphasizes the service character of dia-conal activity, and the Pauline manner ofspeaking, which emphasizes mediation,with all the accruing political and provoca-tive connotations. But the Gospels alsoaddress the relationships between powerand powerlessness, provided we do notreduce the semantic field of diakon- to asmall-minded, subservient attitude, butrather recognize therein the opportunity toshape anew the network of our relation-ships to God and to other people.

Humble waiting-on-tablesor missionary going-between?I see no reason to play the one insight offagainst the other, contrasting the Paulinenotion in the context of mission and theGospel’s notion in the context of the tablefellowship. Everything indicates that both ofthese biblical traditions – both likewisereflecting Jewish traditions – should betaken seriously, precisely in their diversity. Itis precisely the socially motivated “go-between”, who can act out of solidarity andwho can establish solidarity. And “serving”should not be reduced to mere charitableaction – that, one should note, has its ownproper motivation – and it should not bepushed off into an unpolitical limbo. InGerman, the term for humility, Demutcomes from Dien-mut (= to serve bravely)and combines serving with courageouslyintervening. From each element, specificchallenges emerge. According to the NewTestament, Jesus, who is the Lord in theKingdom of God, appears as the one whofreely does service, and thus, in the scene ofthe washing of the feet (Jn 13), turns thehuman ranking order upside-down, literallyputting the head where the feet are.

I do not mean, in this way, to push the motifof the “go-between” into a corner; on thecontrary, I find the discussion of Collins’research very stimulating, because it shakesup what at first glance appears to be self-evi-dent, because it irritates and for this reasoncarries the discussion forward. I am happyabout the broader and deeper meaning ofthe semantic field of diakon- which emergesfrom Collins’ lexical analysis and contrastswith the notion based exclusively on Brandtand Beyer and the tradition resting on theirwork. Likewise, I value the theological plu-ralism often contained in biblical texts and Ihold it to be indispensable. This pluralismitself requires a “go-between”, a “bridge-building” between the texts which empha-size the one aspect and the texts whichemphasize the other aspect. �



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Collins proposes that Lk 22:27implies a comparison: “as onewho serves” would then indicatea restriction of the meaning, tobe like a servant without reallybeing a servant


For their contributions to carrying thediscussion further, I express my gratitude toNelleke Wijngaards Serrarens and EskoRyökäs.

Selected literature on the topic that I refer toin this paper:• Hans-Jürgen Benedict, ‘Die größere Diakonie.

Versuch einer Neubestimmung im Anschlussan John N. Collins’, in: Wege zum Menschen53 (2001) 349 – 358.

• Hermann Wolfgang Beyer, ‘diakoneo,diakonia, diakonos’, in: Gerhard Kittel (Ed.),Theologisches Wörterbuch zum NeuenTestament, Vol. II, Stuttgart 1935, 81 – 93.

• Wilhelm Brandt, Dienst und Dienen imNeuen Testament (NeutestamentlicheForschungen, Zweite Reihe: Untersuchungenzum Kirchenproblem des Urchristentums,5th issue), Gütersloh 1931.

• John Neil Collins, Diakonia. Re-interpretingthe Ancient Sources, Oxford 1990.

• John Neil Collins, Deacons and the Church.Making connections between old and new,Harrisburg 2002.

• John Neil Collins, ‘A German Catholic view ofDiaconate and Diakonia’, in: New DiaconalReview 2 (2009) 41 – 46.

• Stefan Dietzel, ‘Zur Entstehung desDiakonats im Urchristentum. EineAuseinandersetzung mit den Positionen vonWilhelm Brandt, Hermann Wolfgang Beyerund John N. Collins’, in: Volker Herrmann,Rainer Merz & Heinz Schmidt (Eds.),Diakonische Konturen. Theologie im Kontextsozialer Arbeit (Veröffentlichungen desDiakoniewissenschaftlichen Instituts an derUniversität Heidelberg; Vol. 18), Heidelberg2003, 136 – 170.

• Ismo Dunderberg, ‘Vermittlung stattcaritativer Tätigkeit? Überlegungen zu JohnN. Collins‘ Interpretation von diakonia’, in:Volker Herrmann, Rainer Merz & HeinzSchmidt (Eds.), Diakonische Konturen.Theologie im Kontext sozialer Arbeit(Veröffentlichungen desDiakoniewissenschaftlichen Instituts an derUniversität Heidelberg; Vol. 18), Heidelberg2003, 171 – 183.

• Bettina Eltrop, ‘Biblische Grundlagen zumDiakonat’, in: Richard Hartmann, FranzReger & Stefan Sander (Eds.),Ortsbestimmungen: Der Diakonat alskirchlicher Dienst (Fuldaer Studien; Vol. 11),Frankfurt am Main 2009, 91 – 99.

• Anni Hentschel, Diakonia im NeuenTestament. Studien zur Semantik unterbesonderer Berücksichtigung der Rolle vonFrauen (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungenzum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe; Vol. 226),Tübingen 2007.

• Klaus Kießling, ‘Spiritualität derStellvertretung’, in: Klaus Kießling (Ed.),Diakonische Spiritualität. Beiträge ausWissenschaft, Ausbildung und Praxis(Diakonie und Ökumene / Diakonia andEcumenics; Vol. 3), Münster 2009, 36 – 55.

• Bart J. Koet, ‘International Conference on TheSources of the Diaconate. How it came aboutand how it turned out: A first Report’, in: NewDiaconate Review 3, Nov. 2009, pp 29-32.

• Kjell Nordstokke, ‘Der theoretische Rahmender Diakoniewissenschaft’, in: TheodorStrohm (Ed.), Diakonie an der Schwelle zumneuen Jahrtausend. Ökumenische Beiträgezur weltweiten und interdisziplinärenVerständigung (Veröffentlichungen desDiakoniewissenschaftlichen Instituts an derUniversität Heidelberg; Vol. 12), Heidelberg2000, 394 – 406.

• Terttu Pohjolainen, Rezension zu John N.Collins, ‘Diakonia. Re-interpreting the AncientSources’, und John N. Collins, ‘Deacons andthe Church. Making connections between oldand new’, in: Diaconia Christi 41 (2006) 137.

• Jürgen Roloff, Die Kirche im Neuen Testament(Grundrisse zum Neuen Testament; Vol. 10),Göttingen 1993.

• Thomas Söding, ‘Nicht bedient zu werden,sondern zu dienen’ (Mk 10,45). Diakonie undDiakonat im Licht des Neuen Testaments’, in:Klemens Armbruster & Matthias Mühl (Eds.),Bereit wozu? Geweiht für was? ZurDiskussion um den Ständigen Diakonat(Quaestiones Disputatae; Vol. 232), Freiburgi.Br. 2009, 30 – 62.

This article was translated by Thomas Riplinger, Germany.




The history of the diaconate in the Latinchurch is a complex affair. On the one

hand, this is one of ‘the major orders’ andas such merits consideration in legislationon clergy, the priesthood, and the legal con-sequences of ordination, so there is awealth of material to examine. On the otherhand, probably by the time of Gregory theGreat (pope: 590-604), or, certainly, veryshortly after that, the missa priuatabecome the most common form ofEucharistic celebration, in monasteries atleast.1 From this development flowed twoconsequences: first, the possession of the‘power to consecrate’ became the corner-stone both of ministry and of the theology ofthe Eucharist, and so no young monk/cler-ic wished to remain ‘below the bar’, and,secondly, in this form of celebration thedeacon was not a practical necessity, whichmeant that the deacon’s actual role wasconfined to community Mass and becamean addition to what was ‘necessary’ and,therefore, someone whose presence wasseen principally as indicating added solem-nity on particular occasions. This situationis further complicated in that virtually allour evidence comes from monastic, ormonastic-affected, sources, hence we donot know what was happening in the aver-age village where often earlier patternswere continuing. Moreover, our legal evi-dence cannot be taken at face value asindicative of the practice of any particulartime or region. Almost all legal collectionsrecorded earlier laws as precedents or sim-

ply as part of the body of law – seen tostretch back to Moses the legislator – with-out necessarily seeing it as part of their day-to-day needs. Therefore, any assumptionthat one can relate actual practice, or actu-al difficulties, as a mirror image of the legis-lation then being enacted in synods – whorepeated earlier legislation to demonstratethat they stood in orthodox continuity withthe earlier fathers or mentioned in collec-tions of law which often sought to gather asmany sententiae as possible – is wide of themark.

However, if we are to have a history of thediaconate, and in a church which seesitself in historical continuity with its past inmatters relating to Holy Orders havingsuch a history this is desirable, then wemust search that canonical record forwhatever light it can throw on howChristians in various places and timesviewed this matter. In looking at the legis-lation we cannot assume that it is a ‘snap-shot’ of the past nor that it is guide to someideal of the diaconate nor a body of prece-dent, but rather that it may throw light onhow what happened, happened. In this thehistorical theologian is the antithesis of thecanonist: the canonist looks to the past forprecedent or decision one way or another;the historical theologian looks at the pastin order to understand more accuratelyhow the churches’ perceptions of variousmatters has altered over time and howthose changes have had long-term conse-quences, with the underlying hope that byknowing the past more fully we areenabled to situate ourselves more accu-


Thomas O’Loughlin

Little academic work has been done onthe place of the diaconate in the historyand development of Canon Law. In thefirst of two articles Tom O’Loughlin,Professor of Historical Theology in theUniversity of Nottingham, looks at theearly medieval picture

The Perception ofin the Early

1 See T. O’Loughlin, ‘Treating the “Private Mass” as Normal: Some Unnoticed Evidence fromAdomnán’s De Locis Sanctis.’ Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft 51(2009) 1-12.


rately, and look towards the future with aclearer vision of what is possible.

So where should one begin? The usualanswer to this is with the earliest docu-ments: those from the first and secondcenturies, some of which are in the canon-

ical collection such as 1 Tim, which areused in investigations of the ‘church orderquestion’ by scholars engaged in the earlyChristian and New Testament studies.2

However, while this may throw light on ori-gins, it is often so far away from the actualpractices of the later churches that it bearslittle relationship to the key factors thathave shaped practice down the centuriesand which are still influential today. For

instance, the debate about the relationshipof the diaconate to the sacerdotium (seenas including bishops and presbytersbecause both groups as sacerdotes couldoffer sacrifice, i.e. confect the Eucharist)is a major issue still today in the CatholicChurch where a deacon is an ‘optional ‘minister while a priest is not. But this issuehas no counterpart in the evidence forfour to five hundred years after ‘the three-fold ministry’ becomes the norm some-time in the second century.3 Hence, ourinvestigation must be focussed on a laterperiod that can be seen as both earlyenough to exhibit variations from the laternormality, but sufficiently late to manifestthe beginnings of later attitudes and con-cerns. In historical evidence that has thisJanus-quality, we have the best chance ofunderstanding crucial moments in theo-logical evolution. Where can one find suchmaterials? The terminus ante quam mustbe the canonists of the Carolingian period,for it was from them and their accompa-nying theologians that the debate on min-istry in the Catholic Church took on itsfamiliar parameters.4 The paradigm wasestablished sometime between 800 and900, and refined and developed by thecanonists of the twelfth century and the


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2 See T. O’Loughlin, Shaping Disciples: The Didache and the earliest Christians (London2010), ch. 6, for a discussion of this approach.

3 This evolution is not nearly so neat when described by scholars working on early Christiandocuments, than it appears in many doctrinal histories: see F.A. Sullivan, From Apostles toBishops: The Development of the Episcopacy in the Early Church (New York, NY 2001) for asurvey. There is no history of ministry that takes full account of the work produced over thepast thirty years by those working with early texts: it is an area that is crying out forexamination in a series of doctoral dissertations.

4 See R.E. Reynolds, ‘Unity and Diversity in Carolingian Canon Law Collections: The Case ofthe Collectio Hibernensis and Its Derivatives’ in U.-R. Blumenthal ed., Carolingian Essays(Washington, DC 1983), 99-135.

the DiaconateMiddle Ages – Some Evidence from Canon law: Part I

The terminus ante quam mustbe the canonists of theCarolingian period, for it wasfrom them and theiraccompanying theologians thatthe debate on ministry in theCatholic Church took on itsfamiliar parameters


theologians of the thirteenth,5 and it is thatshape, with some minor refinements thatwe still have. The terminus post must beafter, firstly, the rise of the clergy as anestablished part of the social stratigraphyof the Roman empire, when they becamepart of the ordo – hence our term sacraordo for the collection of ministries that goto make up the clergy – and, secondly, afterthe emergence of the notion that theEucharist is a power-filled sacrifice. Sincethe Dialogi of Gregory the Great the basisfor multiple ‘Gregorian Masses’ [for therecently deceased] until recent times areour best evidence for this approach to theEucharist (in a document that was rapidlydiffused throughout the West, and whichwas even translated into Greek) we cantake Gregory’s death in 604 as a startingpoint.

Hence, any document that comes fromapproximately the mid-point between 600and 800 is especially deserving of ourattention, and the Collectio canonumhibernensis must date from the closingdecades of the seventh century or the firstdecade of the eighth, as it was being copiedon the continent in the second decade ofthe eighth century.6 This collection has twofurther advantages for the historical the-ologian as a source for understandingLatin theology over the whole spectrum ofthe Christian life. First, it is one of the ear-liest, if not the earliest, systematic collec-tions of canon law.7 In contrast to the ear-lier ‘historical collections’ which simplyarranged the canons, decretals, and other‘judgments’ in chronological order, the rev-olution of the systematic collection wasthat the material was arranged topically.This meant that the collection formed an

overall picture of each issue, and its rela-tionships with other matters covered bythe law came into focus. While to need toconcord various decisions produced ajurisprudence that would eventuallybecome a central part of scholastic theo-logical method. So while the actual con-tent of the law may or may not reflect theconcerns of the church that produced it,the way it was put together, its arrange-ment, and the matters it did not make intotopics are all specific to particular theolog-ical situations. In the editing, even morethan in the actual sententiae, we see anoperative theology laid out. This would notnecessarily be true to later collectionsbecause later collections copied their formand arrangement from earlier ones, but in

a systematic arrangement of the early col-lections we do have fleeting glimpse at howone generation of canonists actually sawthe world. The second advantage is this:although the Collectio canonum hibernen-sis was produced in the insular region, itrapidly diffused into England and the con-tinent. It played a major role in the evolu-tion of Carolingian law,8 and its influencecan be traced from collection to collectiondown to the time of Gratian. In examiningthis collection, therefore, we are notengaging with a text of antiquarian inter-est, but looking at initial state of a docu-ment that is truly representative of the


The Perception of the Diaconate in the Early Middle Ages: Part I – Thomas O’Loughlin

5 See S. Kuttner, Harmony from Dissonance: An Interpretation of Medieval Canon Law(Latrobe 1960).

6 For dating, background, and a guide to further reading, see T. O’Loughlin, Celtic Theology:Humanity, World, and God in Early Irish Writing (London 2000), 109-27.

7 See A.M. Stickler, Historia Iuris Canonici Latini (Rome 1950), vol. 1, 93-58 See Reynolds, ‘Unity and Diversity.’

... in a systematic arrangementof the early collections we dohave fleeting glimpse at howone generation of canonistsactually saw the world


canonical / theological tradition of theLatin church over a considerable duration.

The diaconate within thestructures of the lawThe Collectio, in the form most commonlyfound in the manuscripts, is divided intosixty-seven books: each of which corre-sponds to what the compilers saw as amajor theme found within their legalinheritance.9 Within this arrangement,and reflecting the importance attached tosuch matters in the compliers’ minds, thefirst ten books are devoted to the clergy,their origins, their status within thechurch, their qualifications, powers,duties, and rights. The Collectio was made,although most probably in a monastery,10

by clerics for clerics. So, apart from thosefirst ten books, many other books are sole-ly of concern to clerics11 or else are writtenfrom the cleric’s perspective looking at thelaity in the church.12

The first seven books are devoted to whatthey saw as the seven grades of order:bishop, presbyter, deacon, subdeacon, lec-tor, exorcist, and porter. These were themost significant men in the world of thecompilers, and these were the humangroups that had attracted the greatestamount of canonical attention in the lawsthey were presenting systematically. So thedeacon takes his expected place, third inline of importance within the church, andwith several lesser forms of ministrybetween that of deacon and that of theordinary Christian.

However, a better appreciation of the place

of deacons within these lawyers’ firma-ment can be obtained by noting how manyheadings (capitula) are devoted to each ofthe orders, because each heading relatedto an actual legal situation upon which thelaw might need to be consulted and thenused in forming an actual judgement.There is a direct relationship between thenumber of headings and the significanceof an issue within the law, and so withinthe historic life of the church, which thesecompilers are at a particular momentseeking to arrange and study.

The amount of attention is:Bishop: 22 headings;Presbyter: 27;Deacon: 10;Subdeacon: 4;Lector: 4;Exorcist: 1Porter: 3

While deacons received more attentionthan lesser orders, when we consider thatfor all but the exorcist, the first two head-ings concern the meaning of the nameand then ‘the origin’ (de exordio) of theorder in a biblical event, we see that dea-cons received less than a third of the cov-erage devoted to presbyters, and barely asixth as much as sacerdotes,13 i.e. bishopsand presbyters combined. Deacons withinthis clerical world may be located near thefront of the queue, but they are of veryminor importance in the overall scheme.This is significant because in the sameinsular culture, one hundred a fifty yearsearlier, the most significant theologian ofthe period, Gildas, who saw himself fulfill-



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9 The edition being used is that by H. Wasserschleben, Die irische Kanonensammlung (Leipzig1885). It will be cited by book, heading, and sentence; all translations, unless otherwisenoted, are my own.

10 There is only one book devoted explicitly to monastics, book XXXIX, de monachis.11 For instance, book LII, on the tonsure.12 For instance, book XVIII on who can be buried where.1314 For the use of sacerdos as a generic word encompassing bishops and priests in the culture

of the Collectio, see Adomnán, De locis sanctis, exordium.


ing the role to his church like that of theprophets in Israel preaching before wickedkings, and whom later generations, includ-ing the compilers of the Collectio wouldcite as an authority14 and sometimes referto as ‘Gildas Sapiens,’ was prepared tocarry out his ministry and write his greatwork, the De excidio Brittanniae while adeacon.15 While still earlier, probably in thefifth century, Patrick, a bishop, remarksthat his father was Calpornius, a deacon,and his grandfather, Potitus, was a priest.16

Both examples indicate that at a timebefore that of the compilers of theCollectio, the diaconate was a distinct andsignificant order within the clergy to whichindividual clerics were proud that they ortheir relatives belonged.

The content of the lawThe first heading in Collectio III has thistitle: ‘Regarding the word deacon.’17 Andunder this heading falls a single sentence:‘Deacon is a Greek word, and in Latin wewould use minister [servant] because heministers at the altar’; and another manu-script has this addition ‘because he minis-ters at the altar and to the priestly grade.’This is typical of the introductions foundacross the theological works of the Latinwest in the early Middle Ages. It is not adefinition of terms in the scholastic sense,for there the aim was to remove as muchambiguity from debate as possible by

ensuring that all knew the value of wordsin a particular discourse. This is based ona notion of an intimate extra-mental inter-connection between the nature, purpose,inner reality of an object and the name bywhich it is known. It is an assumption ofmost writers in the period that by beingable to analyse names, one can gain aninsight into the object named. Hence thegreat popularity of the encyclopedia byIsidore of Seville entitled the Etymologiae.His etymologies were ‘real’ rather than‘verbal’ etymologies: by finding the mean-ing in the original language, the studentone was discovering the original and fun-damental basis for understanding the real-ity. We may think this a trivial game orimagine its intellectual basis ludicrous(contrast the names we give to computerparts: ‘mouse’ for example), but without

acknowledging its role in pre-scholastictheology many later theological disputesbecome inexplicable.

This explanation of ‘deacon’ is, as weshould expect, derived from Isidore’sEtymologiae.18 However, while Isidore is



14 For the use of sacerdos as a generic word encompassing bishops and priests in the culture ofthe Collectio, see Adomnán, De locis sanctis, exordium.

15 For example, Gildas is cited as an authority at I,16,b.16 This was first suggested by O. Chadwick in ‘Gildas and the Monastic Order,’ Journal of

Theological Studies, n.s. 5(1954)78-88; my own recent research has put the matter of hisstatus as a deacon beyond dispute; see ‘Gildas the Deacon’, Journal of Celtic Studies,forthcoming.

17 See Confessio 1, in T. O’Loughlin, Discovering Saint Patrick (London 2005).18 The Latin reads: de nomine diaconi which some might translate ‘regarding the name deacon’

but while this would be accurate as regards a dictionary, it is also false. It is not simple thename deacon nor the noun /d e a c o n / that is being referred to be the reality as addressedby a particular sound which is recording in writing with these marks: d i a c o n u s. Hence,what we are translating is a word which is both a sound and sign. This complex hermeneuticneeds to be kept in mind in translating all Late Latin texts.

Deacon is a Greek word, and inLatin we would use minister[servant] because he ministers at the altar


the formal source – as he is for virtuallyevery Greek word that was carried intoLatin, with its ending appropriatelychanged, as a technical Christian usage –of this sentence, the information waswidely diffused. Augustine, preaching onStephen the Protomartyr, had written:‘Now the word which we use in Latin [forStephen] is ‘minister’ while in Greek itwould be ‘diaconus,’ for in reality theGreek word ‘diaconus’ is ‘minister’ inLatin.’19 So the core of the notion that anyLatin speaker was to think, upon hearingthe sound ‘diaconus,’ was that it meant ‘aservant.’20

But inherent in the notion of ‘servant’ isthat of serving someone or something.Here the Collectio adds to a further expla-nation to that given in Isidore: ‘because heserves the altar.’ The significance of thisaddition shows that at the time of the com-pilation of the Collectio the only servicethat could be imagined for a deacon wasliturgical, and apparently nothing beyondthat. The deacons have a liturgical role atthe altar, i.e., at the Eucharist, and appar-ently this liturgical role exhausts his pur-pose. When we relate this limited under-standing of the diaconate to the state ofthe development of the practice of themissa priuata in the same ecclesiasticalculture, we can see that the eclipse of thedeacon is already an established fact by theend of the seventh century. This bluntconclusion will be corroborated by the restof the headings in Collectio III.

Accepting that the diaconate was an order,it must then have a moment of institution,and this is the subject of the second head-

ing. This is not, in the context, a historicalquestion about origins, but a legal questionabout its mandate, and its authenticity inthe Christian scheme as coming from God.In the terminology of the Council of Trentthis is the question: is the diaconate a iurediuino? In the early medieval context it isframed in this form: De exordio diacono-rum in utraque lege (Regarding the basisof the diaconate in both laws). Since thediaconate is a Christian ministry, that itshould be seeking for its origin in the NewLaw, i.e. the New Testament writings, isnot surprising: such searches for its ‘scrip-tural mandate’ would be a feature of dis-putes about ‘the three-fold ministry’ untilwell into the twentieth century. What maybe surprising is that they also wanted amandate from the Old Law. This reflectsboth the older patristic notion that every-thing in the new law had an anticipation,an antetype, in the old, but it also re-presents a growing aspect in LatinChristianity in the early middle ages of see-ing the Old Testament as a direct sourcefor precedent and regulation for theChurch. We see the beginnings of this ten-dency in works such as the Collectiowhere, for example, the regulationsregarding the ‘cities of refuge’ in Nm 35and Jos 20-21 were taken as having adirect bearing on the granting of sanctu-ary/amnesty after a crime,21 and in thesteadily growing habit, in the same cultureas that which produced the Collectio, toview Sunday through the lens of the Law’sregulations for the Sabbath.22

We shall look first at how the diaconate isimagined in terms of the Old Testament.The origins lie in the event of Moses



19 Etymologiae VII,12,22.20 Sermo 319,3,3 (Patrologia Latina 39,1441).21 This can be seen in the Vulgate in Rom 16:1 and 1 Tim 3:10 where variants of minist- are

used when the Greek uses variants of diakon-.22 See Collectio XXVIII: de ciuitatibus refugii; and for commentary of this, see T. O’Loughlin,

‘Map and Text: A Mid Ninth-Century Map for the Book of Joshua,’ Imago Mundi 57:1(2005)7-22 and pl. 1.

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selecting the tribe of Levi, as the Lordcommanded him, and his selection of thesons of Aaron as priests when they wereordained for the service of the divine cult.This statement is based on the conflationof several texts relating to the Aaronicpriesthood found in the Pentateuch, butespecially Ex 28: 1-4 and Num 3:6-8which is echoed in the language of theCollectio.

Collectio III,2,aNum 3:5-8Diaconorum ordo a tribu Leui accipitexordium; Precipit enim Dominus adMoysen ut per ordinationem Aaron sacer-dotis et filiorum eius rursus Leui tribus indiuini cultus ministerio ordinarentur …locutus est Dominus ad Moysen dicensadplica tribum Leui et fac stare in con-spectu Aaron sacerdotis ut ministrent ei etexcubent et obseruent quicquid ad cultumpertinet multitudinis coram tabernaculotestimonii et custodiant uasa tabernaculiseruientes in ministerio eius

The Collectio continues by noting that thattribe were to be consecrated to the Lord inorder to serve God on behalf of Israel assubstitutes for all the firstborn of theIsraelites, which is a statement closely fol-lowing the prescriptions and view of therole of the priesthood in Num 3:12-5. Thisgroup, specially segregated from the rest ofthe people and acting on their behalf, wereto carry the ark and the tabernacle and allits vessels. This statement is a summary ofinstructions found in several places in thePentateuch (most especially Num 1:50 and3:31) and with a more elaborate place inthe memory from references elsewhere tothe carrying of the ark (for example: Jos3:3). And the members of this group havebeen given an order (mandatum) to servein the tabernacle from the time that theyreach the age of twenty-five; this statement

is based on Num 8:24, which is verballyechoed in the language of the Collectio.

This image of the deacons from the OldLaw sees them as part of a very clearlydefined group – the clergy as the new tribeof Levi – who are separate from the peopleand act on their behalf; using an explicitlyOld Law view of the priesthood ratherthan that of the ministers being part of thewhole priestly people with special respon-sibilities. Moreover, the only role imaginedfor the group is liturgical and cultic.

In contrast to the complex picture of thegroup in the Old Law, the Collectio statesthat its ‘origin in the New [Law] can beread about in the Acts of the Apostles’ andit quotes 6:2-4:

And the twelve called together the wholecommunity of the disciples and said, “It isnot right that we should neglect the wordof God in order to wait on tables.Therefore, friends, select from amongyourselves seven men of good standing,full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we

may appoint to this task, while we, for ourpart, will devote ourselves to prayer and toserving the word.”

The fact that this group of seven are nevercalled deacons does not trouble the com-pilers. The identification of these sevenmen of good repute as the original deaconswas already centuries old by this time – wehave already noted a case of the identifica-tion by Augustine and Gildas compareshimself with this group23 and it is just an



23 See T. O’Loughlin, ‘The Significance of Sunday: Three Ninth-Century Catecheses’, Worship 64(1990)533-544.

... select from among yourselvesseven men of good standing, fullof the Spirit and of wisdom,whom we may appoint


assumed fact, which does not even raise aquestion, for the compilers. More surpris-ing perhaps is that in this passage fromActs ‘the deacons’ are there to do all thepractical acts of service that are neededwithin the community as distinct fromwhat could be seen as cultic work. Thisdoes not bother the compiler, not becausethere is a tension in Acts in that when wemeet these men later they are preaching(Stephen in Acts 6:8 for instance), butbecause he takes the fact of the actualmen he meets who perform a liturgicalfunction and are called ‘deacons’ as hisstarting point, and then seeks in the pastfor a mandate for this group. It is agreed inthe tradition that the text in Acts appointsdeacons, and this is sufficient.

It is worth noting how different this theo-logical hermeneutic is from our own orthose of the recent past. The compiler isnot searching the history / experience ofthe church looking for original identity,vision, or ‘job description’ for these dea-cons; nor is he seeking to establish them aspart of scripturally defined universe. Thecompiler’s experience of the present issimply accepted: the church’s behaviour isnot being queried or doubted nor is areform being suggested; rather he looks inthe New Law and finds a basis that locatesthe basis of the practice in the mind of thedivine lawgiver. This is neither theReformation’s quest for ‘a sure warrant ofScripture’ nor the near contemporarysearch for an ‘original purpose’ or ‘founda-tional insight’ about the nature of the dia-conate.

Once the compiler has established thatthat group are part of the Levitical class,

and so belong to the ordo, the next ques-tion is how are they ordained: Collectio III,4. The heading has only one sentence: thestatement from the Statuta ecclesiae anti-qua24 that a deacon is ordained by a singlebishop imposing hands on the candidatewith the proviso that he is not consecratedfor priesthood but for ministry (non adsacerdotium sed ad ministerium).25 This issufficient information to answer the ques-tion and so there is nothing further said.That the sententia’s explanation of the dif-ference between the sacerdotium (bishopsand presbyters) and the diaconate is actu-al empty, a mere verbal quibble: non illesed hic, does not trouble the compiler. The

compiler knows, firstly, how the ordinationis done, and, secondly, has an authority saythat this is ‘not for priesthood but service’and that is enough. To suggest that ordina-tion to priesthood might also involve ordi-nation to service, assumes a degree of crit-ical distance between his questioning andhis authorities that is wholly foreign tohim. �



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24 The Statuta ecclesiae antiqua comes from southern Gaul, but was cited in the Collectio as acanon from a Synod of Carthage. The sententia cited is Statuta, n. 92 (CorpusChristianorum, Series Latina 148, p. 181).

25 See De excidio Brittanniae 1 (H. Williams ed., Gildas (London 1899-1901); early medievalwriters such as Gildas believed that that there was a basis for the identification of the sevenas deacons from a supposed reference to one of them in Apoc 2:1-7.

... a deacon is ordained by asingle bishop imposing handson the candidate with theproviso that he is notconsecrated for priesthoodbut for ministry


BackgroundAs a rule, we are not brought up to spendour time most of our time on developingour strengths. A common experience ofschooling is where teachers (and oftenparents) focus their attention on the sub-jects where we are struggling. We do ofcourse need to reach at least minimumstandards in key areas, and it may not beuntil we choose further study (at A leveland beyond) that we start to be offeredopportunities to do what we do best. Up tothat point, we may well have been exhort-ed to ‘fix our weaknesses’. But Gallup’sresearch over the past 40 years – includinginterviews with well over two million peo-ple – has demonstrated that we will bemost successful when we build our livesaround our innate strengths. Of course wehave weaknesses – and we need to knowwhat they are, but not to correct them –more to adapt strategies for coping in situ-ations which require us to use them.

But first of all we need a tool which enables us to discover our strengths. TheStrengthsfinder does just that. We describea strength or talent as a recurring patternof thought, feeling or behaviour. When youhave a strength in a particular area, it ishard to stop yourself from using it – an indi-

cation of the extent of its power. In order tobe successful, we need to add skills andknowledge into the picture – without them,a strength remains untapped potential.The difference is, we can enhance ourskills with practice, and we can acquiremore knowledge. But a talent is somethinginnate, which cannot be learned, no matterhow much we feel motivated to do so. Wemay become slightly better at demonstrat-ing the behaviour in question, but it wouldnot become the ‘recurring pattern ofthought, feeling and behaviour’ which typ-ifies a true talent or strength.

So what is theStrengthsfinder?The Strengthsfinder is an online assess-ment that measures thirty-four attributes,and presents them in rank order. The firstfive are described as our ‘SignatureStrengths’ – usually this means that theyare particularly dominant and observablein our daily behaviour, and in how we reactto various situations. We are confrontedwith many different challenges and cir-cumstances every day, and we react tothem based on who we are. For example,let us consider St Paul prior to his conver-sion on the road to Damascus – he was astubborn and single-minded individual,zealous in his attacks on Christians. Andafter the conversion? He was just as stub-born and single-minded, but now his zealwas directed towards promotingChristianity. His conversion did not changehis talents – but it did change his values.

By concentrating on our strengths we areaccepting that we are, fundamentally,unlikely to change – at least, not in the coreof our being. However, this does not mean


Louisa Warren

In this journal we aim to share goodpractice within various programmes fordiaconate formation in northernEurope: these include tools which wecan use in the process of the ‘humanformation’ of those intending tobecome deacons. Louisa Warren isSenior Consultant with Gallup and forthe last five years has been involved inrunning their ‘Strengthsfinder’assessments for students on thediaconate formation programme for thedioceses of Southwark, Westminster,Cardiff, Arundel and Brighton,Brentwood, East Anglia, Northampton,Plymouth and Portsmouth.

Developing Talents –have been


that redemption is impossible – becausethis happens in connection with our val-ues, as opposed to our strengths. Like StPaul, we remain who we are whatever thecircumstances. A person with a strength inDiscipline, for example, who has a real flairfor structuring their time and getting theirtasks done methodically and efficiently, isunlikely to become someone who does notneed a plan and a ‘to do’ list for the day.Conversely, an individual who hates rou-tine but who is hugely imaginative and cre-ative, with the strength of Ideation, isunlikely to develop into someone whoneeds to plan every moment of their day –they would see this as constraining theircreativity, which needs space and freedomin order to flourish.

We started our work with the diaconate in2005. Father Ashley Beck, a priest in myparish of Beckenham, knew of our workand approached us to work with the stu-dents. We usually work with one year group at a time; they complete theStrengthsfinder assessment online, thenthe consultants meet one-on-one witheach student at a residential weekend.Those who come to the Strengthsfinderfor the first time are often unsure of how itworks, and what it can do for them. Overthe years the reaction from the studentshas been very positive – they are often sur-prised by the accuracy of the tool, and thepositive nature of the feedback sessions.We often find in our work that people donot get enough opportunities to talk aboutwhat they are really good at. The patternslaid down in childhood of trying to developweaknesses are hard to put aside. TheStrengthsfinder gives people a vocabularyto talk about their strengths.

Recurring strengthsamongst the studentsBefore we began this work, we reflected onwhich of the 34 strengths might be mostprevalent in a group such as this. Whilstpeople are of course immensely individual– and there are over 33 million possiblecombinations of the Top 5 strengths alone– when they are united around a commonpurpose some commonalities can arise.There are three of the Strengthsfinderthemes which have the most potential to reflect spirituality and values – they are called Belief, Connectedness andResponsibility.

Those who are strong in Belief are veryclear about the values they stand for – andthose values are unchanging; they providethe individual with a very strong sense ofpurpose in life. This strength is also oftenfound in altruistic people, who find muchsatisfaction in giving to others. People withConnectedness have a very strong sensethat we are all connected in some way;that there is a reason for everything, andthat the impact of our actions can resonatea long way away from where the actionstarts. It is also often the way people seeGod’s hand in everything, and that it allmakes sense to Him. This theme is oftenused to ‘connect’ with others at a veryhuman and compassionate level, whichtakes no account of status or hierarchy.

And Responsibility is a theme whichmakes people take complete ownership fortheir actions, along with a commitment totrust, honesty and loyalty. When a jobneeds to be done, the first to volunteer arethose with this theme. Looking at thesethree strengths in combination, it is not


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How diaconate students discovering their strengths


surprising that they are so prevalent in thegroup – they reflect the power of vocation,and a need to give of oneself to others, inan environment that nurtures shared val-ues and which is at one remove from thematerial demands of our consumer soci-ety. In the groups we have worked withthus far, the Connectedness theme seemsto be the most prevalent, with Belief andResponsi-bility also very common.

Other common themesOther common themes are Learner(which denotes an appetite for gainingknowledge); Input (an interest in collect-ing all kinds of things, but often knowledgeand experiences); Relator (an ability tobuild close relationships with others, andwhich demonstrate a deep caring); and afair amount of Empathy (an ability to takethe emotional temperature of a situation,and to feel in a very deep way what othersare feeling – this theme is not as widelyfound in other groups we work with).Developer was also common – a strongsense of purpose in coaching, helping andencouraging others in the parish; alsoHarmony – a flair for achieving consensusin a group, and being a catalyst for peopleto build bridges with one another.

Beyond these themes, there are of courseall of the others, and the way theStrengthsfinder is structured, with all 34themes displayed in an order unique toeach person, allows for a richness of inter-pretation. As we work with the students,we ask them about the challenges they willbe taking on after their ordination as dea-cons, and we link their strengths to thosechallenges. For example, those with Inputand Learner find particular satisfaction ingathering information and then applyingthemselves into learning more, whichmeans they not only thrive on the acade-mic elements of the course, but they arealso laying down a wealth of knowledge onwhich to draw when it comes to preparinghomilies.

To take homilies as an example: someonewith Discipline and Developer (a flair forteaching and mentoring others) will pre-pare their homilies in some detail, and keepthe message in mind which they want to bethe ‘learning point’. Someone withCommunication (a gift for enlivening pre-sentations and telling stories) and Woo (anability to capture attention using charm inorder to break the ice with others) willweave stories into their homily, and perhapssome humour to encourage people to lis-ten. Whereas someone with Relator andFocus (a need to have a goal, and set prior-ities) will make sure that they reach out toothers, but with a clear goal in mind of whythey are making certain points and whatthey hope to achieve by them. The list ofpossibilities is endless.

What can we hope toachieve once we know ourstrengths?Once we have a better understanding ofwho we are, we can give more thought toensuring that we get to use our mainstrengths every day. We describe strengthsas needs – we really do need to use them ifwe are to feel fulfilled as human beings. Aswe have seen, they are there to be usedwhatever the external circumstances. Itworks even better when we can know thestrengths of others around us. For thosewho are interested in further reading, and achance to take a sample Strengthsfinder,the books listed below provide you with acode to do an online assessment, and toreceive your top five strengths.

My late father, Ray Zacaroli, was ordained adeacon in the diocese of Birmingham in1989, amongst the first cohort to beordained there. He had just retired from hisjob as a solicitor due to ill health; the dia-conate provided him with ongoing purposein his life. He worked very hard at his stud-ies, with my mother alongside him. A natu-rally gregarious person, he loved meetingwith and talking to new people. Insatiably


Developing Talents – Louisa Warren


curious, he would ask so many questionsthat my mother had to restrain him attimes! He most likely had the strengths ofLearner and Woo. Regrettably he nevertook the Strengthsfinder so I will neverknow for sure. For those who do have theopportunity to discover and work with theirstrengths, it can be a very enriching experi-ence. For those of us who come along asconsultants to talk to the students, it is ahugely enriching experience for us too – wemeet with so much dedication and com-mitment, it is awe-inspiring. We are verygrateful to Father Ashley for getting usinvolved.

In his book Man’s Search for Meaning,Victor Frankl quotes Sigmund Freud, whoonce asserted: “Let one attempt to exposea number of the most diverse people uni-formly to hunger. With the increase of theimperative of hunger, all individual differ-ences will blur, and in their stead willappear the uniform expression of the oneunstilled urge.” Victor Frankl, who spentseveral years in concentration camps in

the Second World War, goes on to say,‘Thank heaven, Sigmund Freud wasspared knowing the concentration campsfrom the inside. There, the “individual differences” did not “blur” but, on the con-trary, people became more different; peo-ple unmasked themselves, both the swineand the saints.’ He justifies his use of theword “saints” by reminding us of FatherMaximilian Kolbe, who was starved andfinally murdered at Auschwitz, and eventually canonized in 1983. TheStrengthsfinder celebrates the uniquenessof individuals, and whilst we may not allbecome saints, it helps us to be the best wecan be.

Further reading: • Albert L. Winseman, Donald O. Clifton and

Curt Liesveld Living Your Strengths, Gallup2004

• Viktor Frankl Man’s Search for Meaning,new English ed., Ebury 2004, firstpublished in 1946 under the title ‘EinPsychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager’

• www.strengthsfinder.com �


Developing Talents – Louisa Warren

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locations in Rome. During a recent seriesof meetings in March in Rome, the teamagain received the enthusiastic support ofthe Congregation for Catholic Educationand the collaborators from the pontificaluniversities. A proposed catalogue ofcourses and a schedule is being devel-oped, with the hope that the first round ofcourses will be conducted at a variety oflocations in Rome during the summer of2011. �

Deacons Rob Mascini (of the Nether-lands), Bill Ditewig (of the USA) and

Enzo Petrolino (Italy) continue their project to establish an InternationalResearch Consortium on the Diaconatein Rome. The consortium will involveprofessors from universities around theworld, as well as from the various pontifi-cal universities in Rome, who will teachcourses and direct research during sum-mer intensives to be offered at various

Bill Ditewig

International Research Consortium onthe Diaconate in Rome: an Update


In the life of civil society – as in the life ofthe Church – there exist, according to

Clement of Alexandria, qualifications thataim to benefit us through service both spir-itual and practical (therapeia beltiotike,hyperetike). There are also people who ofthemselves are ordered to the service ofthose of a higher rank. Priests belong tothe former group and deacons to the lat-ter.33 For Origen, the diakonia of the bish-op is always considered the service of theentire Church (ekklesiastike diakonia),the bishop being called both “prince” andalso, at the same time, “servant ofall”.34 Deacons are often criticised byOrigen because they are in a particularway contaminated by a spirit of covetous-ness. On account of their responsibility forcharitable work, they made frequent con-tact with money. Commenting on a textabout the expulsion of traders out of the temple, Origen speaks of “deaconswho do not administer well the tables ofthe money of the Church (i.e. the poor),

but always act fraudulently towardsthem.”35 “They accumulate riches forthemselves by diverting the money belong-ing to the poor.”36

In the Didascalia (third century) we findevidence of deacons holding a certainsupremacy over priests, for deacons arelikened to Christ, whilst priests are likenedto Apostles merely.37 On the one hand,however, priests are presented as the sen-ate of the Church and the bishop’s asses-sors: they stand around the altar and areseated round the bishop’s throne. Deaconsfor their part are called “the thirds”, whichrather suggests that they rank after bish-ops and priests. On the other hand, dea-cons undoubtedly seem to have enjoyed astatus and a scope of activity that exceed-ed that of priests. Laity would have had agreat confidence in deacons, not constant-ly having to importune the head, butrather making known to him their desiresthrough the hyperetai, that is through thedeacons, since neither can anyoneapproach the almighty Lord God exceptthrough Christ.38 In the Didascalia, theincreased status of the diaconate in theChurch is quite remarkable, and this willresult in a growing crisis in the reciprocalrelations between priests and deacons. Totheir social and charitable service we nowfind added the charge of providing variousservices during liturgical assemblies: wel-


Tony Schmitz

The NDR presents the next instalmentof a fresh and complete translation ofthe International TheologicalCommission’s important researchdocument Le Diaconat: Évolution etPerspectives, Les Éditions du Cerf,Paris, 2003. The German, Greek andLatin footnotes are translated for thefirst time. Deacon Tony Schmitz isDirector of Studies of the nationaldiaconate formation programme for theDiaconate Commission of the Bishops’Conference of Scotland and co-editor ofthe New Diaconal Review. The followingis the third part of the Second Chapter.

The ConsolidationDiaconate

33 Strom. VII 1,3; GCS 17,6. [Translator’s note: The French of the Commission’s document issomewhat distant from the exact meaning of the original Greek here.]

34 Comm. in Mat. 16,8; GCS 40,496.35 Ibid. 16,22; 40,552.36 Ibid. 16,22; 40,553.37 Didascalia apostolorum, ed. by R. H. Connolly, Oxford 1969, 89.38 Cf. A. Vilela, La condition collégiale des prêtres au IIIe siècle (ThH 14), Paris 1971.


coming and ushering to their placesstrangers and pilgrims, taking care of theofferings, superintending order andsilence in the assembly, and ensuringdecorum and propriety of dress.

The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus ofRome († 235) gives us the first evidence ofthe theological and juridical status of dea-cons in the Church. They are includedamongst the group of the ordinati throughthe imposition of hands (cheirotonein) incontrast to those in the hierarchy calledinstituti. The “ordination” of deacons wasperformed solely by the bishop (ChapterEight). This link determines the scope ofthe deacon’s tasks since he holds himselfat the disposition of the bishop, fulfillingthe latter’s orders, whilst being excludedfrom participating in the council of priests.

We need to compare the two texts for theordination of deacons – the Veronense (L,Latin version) and the Sahidic Ethiopian(S[AE]) one, because we find several dif-ferences between them. L reads: Diaconusvero cum ordinatur, eligatur secundumea, quae praedicta sunt, similiter impo-nens manus episcopus solus sicuti praecip-imus. “When a deacon is ordained, let himbe chosen in accordance with what hasbeen said above, with only the bishop lay-

ing on his hands in the same manner, ashas been laid down.” S(AE) is clearer:Episcopus autem instituet (kathistasthai)diaconum qui electus est, secundum quodpraedictum est. “The bishop will institutethe deacon who has been chosen, inaccordance with what has been saidabove.”

There remains nevertheless a differencebetween ordinatio et institutio. ChapterTen of the Apostolic Tradition – in respectof widows – contributes some significantelements: “Non autem imponetur manussuper eam, quia non offert oblationemneque habet liturgiam. Ordinatio (cheiroto-nia) autem fit cum clero (kleros) propterliturgiam. Vidua (xera) autem instituitur(kathistasthai) propter orationem: haecautem est omnium.”39 “Do notimpose hands upon her, for she does notoffer the oblation, nor does she have aliturgical duty. Ordination is for the clergyfor the purpose of liturgical duty. Thewidow is appointed for the purpose ofprayer, which is a duty for all.” Accordingto this text, if the laying on of hands isabsent from the rite then we are dealingonly with an institution (katastasis, insti-tutio) and not with an ordination – ordina-tio. Thus, already in the course of the thirdcentury, the laying on of hands constitutedthe distinctive sign of the ritual of ordina-tion for major orders. This will be extendedto minor orders too in the fourth century.

In respect of the liturgy, the deacon’s taskis to take up the offerings and to distributethem. In the administration of baptism hisrole was to accompany the presbyter and


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... already in the course of thethird century, the laying on ofhands constituted the distinctivesign of the ritual of ordinationfor major orders

39 SCh 11 bis, 66.


to serve him “the oil of catechumens andthe chrism as well as to go down into thewater with the one receiving baptism(Chapter 21). Another field of activity fordeacons was teaching: “Let them cometogether and teach those who are in theChurch” (Chapter 39). In a quite specificway their social activity in close conjunc-tion with their bishop is emphasised.

According to St Cyprian “Deacons shouldnot forget that the Lord himself chose theApostles, that is the bishops and heads ofthe Church, whilst, in the case of deacons,it was the Apostles who instituted them tobe ministers of their episcopacy and of theChurch, after the Lord’s Ascension.Accordingly, just as we dare not undertakeanything in defiance of God who makes usbishops, neither can they themselves dareto undertake anything in defiance of usbishops who make them deacons. ”40 Itwould seem that even in Carthage, fromtime to time, deacons wanted to occupythe place of the presbyters. They had to bewarned that deacons come in third placein the hierarchical ranking. Whilst a seewas vacant they also played an importantrole in the direction of the Church. Fromhis exile, Cyprian normally addressed him-self to “the priests and deacons” in order todeal with any problems of discipline. InCyprian’s writing, priests together withdeacons are sometimes designated by theword clerus, and less frequently they arecalled praepositi.41 The priest GaiusDidensis and his deacons are both chargedwith offering the Eucharist, but the fifthletter indicates that in reality it is thepriests who offer it, attended by the dea-

cons.42 By contrast, the exercise of charityin the visiting of prisons falls above all todeacons. They are described as being“boni viri et ecclesiasticae administrationisper omnia devoti” “good men devoted tothe administration of the Church’sresources in all circumstances.”43 Theword administratio is found in the expres-sion sancta administratio as applied to thedeacon Nicostratus in respect of hos careof the Church’s money. Thus deaconswould have been charged not only with the

exercise of charity towards the poor, butalso with the administration of thefinances belonging to the community.44

By way of summary, we can assert that,besides the fact that the diaconate existedin all the Churches from the beginning ofthe second century and that it had thecharacter of an ecclesiastical order, dea-cons performed basically the same roleeverywhere even though the different ele-ments of their commitment were empha-sised differently in different regions. A sta-


The Consolidation & Development of the Diaconate in the 3rd & 4th centuries – Tony Schmitz

40 Ep. 3,3: “Meminisse autem diaconi debent quoniam apostolos id est episcopos etpraepositos Dominus elegit, diaconos autem post ascensum Domini in caelos apostoli sibiconstituerunt episcopatus sui et ecclesiae ministros. Quod si nos aliquid audere contraDeum possumus qui episcopos facit, possunt et contra nos audere diaconi a quibus fiunt.”

41 Ep. 15,2; 16,3.42 Ep. 34,1; Ep. 5,2.43 Ep. 15,1; 43,1.44 Ep. 52,1.

Deacons should not forget thatthe Lord himself chose theApostles, that is the bishops andheads of the Church, whilst, inthe case of deacons, it was theApostles who instituted them tobe ministers of their episcopacyand of the Church, after theLord’s Ascension


bilisation of the diaconate was reached inthe course of the fourth century. In theSynodal and conciliar directives of theperiod the diaconate is regarded as anessential element of the hierarchy of thelocal Church. The Synod of Elvira (ca,306-309) emphasises above all the dia-conate’s predominant role in the adminis-trative sector of the Church. Paradoxically,at the same time as this synod imposes acertain restriction on deacons’ liturgicalinvolvement, it awards them the possibilityof granting absolution of sins in urgentcases. This tendency to invade the pres-byters’ territory of competence, manifest-ed also in the claim to preside at theEucharist (albeit only exceptionally), isthwarted by the Synod of Arles (314) andabove all by the Council of Nicaea (325,canon 18).

The Apostolic Constitutions (CA), whichare the most impressive of the juridicalcollections drawn up in the fourth century,reprise the different parts of the Didacheand of the Didascalia relating to deaconsin order to comment on them in a way thatreflects the points of view of the period.They also include what St Ignatius affirmsin his letters, thereby providing a consider-able amount of information. A certain ten-dency towards historicism characterisesthe text, especially since the author-editorsearches out for prefigurations in parallelpassages of the Old Testament. His dis-course is introduced with a solemn formu-la (cf. Dt 5,31 et 27,9): “Listen, O Holyand Catholic Church … For these are yourpontiffs; your priests are the presbyters,and your Levites are now your deacons,these are your lectors, cantors, door-keep-ers, these are your deaconesses, your wid-ows and your orphans … The deacon willattend him as Christ attends the Father …”45

His description of the relationshipbetween bishop and deacon is based onthe prefigurations of the Old Testamentand heavenly models: “For you now, Aaronis the deacon, and Moses the bishop ; iftherefore Moses was called a god by theLord, then amongst you the bishop shouldlikewise be honoured as a god and the dea-con as his prophet … and just as the Sonis the angel and prophet of the Father, sothe deacon is angel and prophet of thebishop.”46 The deacon represents the eye,the ear, the mouth of the bishop “so thatthe bishop does not have to busy himselfwith a multitude of affairs, but needs toconcern himself only with the most impor-

tant as Jethro established for Moses andhis counsel was well received.”47 Theprayer of ordination of a deacon by thebishop attests that the diaconate wasenvisaged as a transitional step towardsthe presbyterate: “Grant that he mayaccomplish satisfactorily the serviceentrusted to him, in a pleasing manner,and without deviation, without blame orreproach, that thereby he may be judged worthy to attain an higher rank(meizonos axiothenai bathmou), throughthe mediation of your Christ, your only-begotten Son … .”48

In the Euchologion of Serapion (towardsthe end of the fourth century) we find a



45 Const. of Apostles II 26,4.5.6; SCh 320, 239-241.46 Ibid. 30,1-2; 249-251.47 Ibid. 44,4; 285.48 Const. of Apostles VIII 18,3; SCh 336, 221.

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The deacon will attend him asChrist attends the Father …and just as the Son is theangel and prophet of theFather, so the deacon is angeland prophet of the bishop


prayer of ordination of a deacon the temi-nology of which is related to that of theSahidic version of the Apostolic Tradition.The text of the prayer alludes to theChurch’s canons, to the three ranks of thehierarchy, to the Seven in Acts 6; it usesthe verb katisthanai to designate the ordi-nation of a deacon: “Pater unigeniti,qui filium misisti tuum et ordinasti ressuper terra atque ecclesiae canones etordines dedisti in utilitatem et salutemgregum, qui elegisti episcopos et pres-byteros et diaconos in ministerium catholi-cae tuae ecclesiae, qui elegisti per unigen-itum tuum septem diaconos eisque largi-tus es spiritum sanctum: constitue(katasteson) et hunc diaconum ecclesiaetuae catholicae et da in eo spiritum cogni-tionis ac discretionis, ut possit inter popu-lum sanctum pure et immaculate minis-trare in hoc ministerio per unigenitumtuum Iesum Christum, per quem tibi glo-riam et imperium in sancto spiritu et nuncet in omnia saecula saeculorum, amen.”49

“Father of the Sole-begotten, You sent yourSon and You order all things on earth; Yougave us canons and rules for the benefitand welfare of your flock; You chose bish-ops and presbyters and deacons for theministry of your Catholic Church; throughyour Only-begotten You chose seven dea-cons and bestowed on them the HolySpirit: Institute this man deacon of yourCatholic Church and grant him the spiritof knowledge and discernment that hemight serve your holy people in purity andwithout stain in this ministry through yourOnly-begotten Jesus Christ, throughwhom be all glory and power to You, in the

Holy Spirit, both now and for all ages.Amen.”

The prayer of consecration of a deacon inthe Sacramentarium Veronense speaks ofservice of the holy altar and, as in the textof Constitutions of the Apostles, the dia-conate is considered to be a transitionalstep: “Oremus… quos consecrationisindultae propitius dona conservet… quosad officium levitarum vocare dignaris,altaris sancti ministerium tribuas suffi-cienter implere… trinis gradibus ministro-rum nomini tuo militare constituens…dignisque successibus de inferiori graduper gratiam tuam capere potiora merean-tur.”50 “Let us pray that [God the almightyFather] may graciously preserve the gifts ofconsecration bestowed … may You grantthose whom You deem worthy to call to theoffice of Levites to fulfill adequately theministry of the holy altar …. making[them] to serve Your name in the threefoldgrades of ministers to serve Your name …and that they may they deserve by worthyadvances through Your grace to lay hold ofhigher things.” The SacramentariumGregorianum is similar in every point tothe text already cited. It also recalls thethree grades, and uses the word “con-stituere” to designate the ordination ofdeacons.51

Behind their apparent unanimity, the dec-laration of the Fathers of the Church, inthe fourth century, afford a glimpse of cer-tain dissensions which had been wellknown since the third century, as forinstance deacons’ pretentions to the



49 Sacramentarium Serapionis, in: Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum, ed. F. X. Funk,vol. II: Testimonia et Scripturae propinquae, Paderbornae 1905, 188. The citation isreproduced here in the Latin translation of the editor. We find the same use of the word(constituat) in Canon III (XXXIII) of the Constitutiones Ecclesiae Egyptiacae, Dediaconis, ibid. 103-104.

50 Sacramentarium Veronense, ed. L.C. Mohlberg, Roma 21966, 120-121.51 Le Sacramentaire Grégorien I, ed. J. Deshuesses, Fribourg (Suisse) 1992, 96-97.

[Translator’s note: my rendering of the Latin omits, as the current translation of theordination rite does, the ‘performing like a soldier’.]


places, rank and tasks that were proper topresbyters.52

The notion according to which the threegrades (bishop, presbyter, deacon) were likeelements of one and the same order alsoplayed a role. Ps.-Athanasius refers to this inhis work De Trinitate as being like a “con-substantiality”.53 Moreover, Christi-anity wasstarting to expand into provincial territory,with bishops or presbyters leaving townsagainst their wishes, and with deacons doingso more willingly, but these abusing the situ-ation insofar as they used to arrogate tothemselves certain of the rights belonging tothe presbyterate. The historical context alsocontributed to this development. In fact theArians had undermined the standing of

bishops. Alongside bishops and presbytersgreedy for power and money, the popularityof deacons grew greatly on account of theircloseness to monks and the layfolk. The gen-eral fourth century view held that deaconshad been instituted by the Apostles, and thatthe bishop ordained them in the same wayas presbyters. Deacons belong to the clergy,but only assist at the liturgy.54

The sources show that even Chrysostom didnot manage to place the three degrees of theecclesial order in a clear historical continu-ity. There had been Jewish models for thepresbyterate; whereas the episcopacy andthe diaconate had been established by theApostles. It is not at all clear what we shouldmake here of these notions.55 Chrysostom



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52 Jerome, Ep. 146,1; PL 22,1192-95: “Audio quemdam in tantam erupisse vecordiam, utdiaconos, presbyteris, id est episcopis anteferret. Nam cum Apostolus perspicue doceateosdem esse presbyteros, quos episcopos, quid patitur mensarum et viduarum minister, utsuper eos se tumidus efferat, ad quorum preces Christi corpus sanguinisque conficitur?” “I am told that someone has been mad enough to put deacons before presbyters, that is,before bishops. For since the Apostle clearly taught that presbyters are the same as bishops,must not a mere server of tables and widows be insane to set himself up arrogantly overmen through whose prayers the body and blood of Christ are confected?” Id., Comm. inEz. VI, cap. 17,5-6; PL 25; 183B: “Quod multos facere conspicimus, clientes et pauperes, etagricolas, ut taceam de militantium et iudicum violentia, qui opprimunt per potentiam, velfurta committunt, ut de multis parva pauperibus tribuant, et in suis sceleribus glorientur,publiceque diaconus, in Ecclesiis recitet offerentium nomina. Tantum offert illa, tantum illepollicitus est, placentque sibi ad plausum populi, torquente eis conscientia.” “We observewhat many are up to: domineering over and oppressing their retainers, the impoverished,the peasants, not to speak of the violence of soldiers and the judges, and those who committheft, offering the poor such a pittance from all their abundance, and basking in theircrimes, whilst in public, in the churches, the deacon reads out their names as makers ofofferings. He offers no more than the little pledged. And they preen themselves at theapplause of the people, although their conscience torments them.”

53 De Trinitate 1,27; PG 28; 1157 B: “episkopos, presbyteros, diakonoi homoousioi eisin”“bishops, presbyters, deacons are consubstantial”.

54 Origen, Hom. in Jer. 11,3; Concilium Ancyranum can. 14.55 Hom. 14,3 in Act.; PG 60, 116: “Quam ergo dignitatem habuerunt illi (sc. deacons and

bishops)…Atqui haec in Ecclesiis non erat; sed presbyterorum erat oeconomia. Atqui nullusadhuc episcopus erat, praeterquam apostoli tantum. Unde puto nec diaconorum necpresbyterorum tunc fuisse nomen admissum nec manifestum...” “Therefore what sort ofoffice they (sc. deacons and bishops) received … . This did not yet obtain in the Churches.But administration pertained to the presbyters. For as yet there were no bishops, but onlyApostles. Whence I think that at that time the designation neither of deacons nor ofpresbyters was manifest and accepted … .”


traces back the diaconate to being institutedby the Holy Spirit.56 In the course of thissame century the Latins took up the Greekword “diaconus”, as attested by.57

The fourth century marked the end of aprocess which led to the recognition of thediaconate as a grade of the ecclesial hier-archy, with a well defined role, and posi-

tioned after the bishop and presbyters.Closely tied to the mission and person ofthe bishop, the deacon’s role encompassedthree tasks: the service of the liturgy, theservice of preaching the Gospel and teach-ing catechesis, as well as a wide-rangingsocial activity involving charitable worksand administrative action in accordancewith the bishop’s direction. �



56 “And rightly so, for it is not a man, nor an angel, nor an archangel, nor any other createdpower, but the Paraclete himself who has instituted this order, persuading men who are stillin the flesh to imitate the service of angels.” De sacerdotio III 4,1-8; SCh 272, 142.

57 “Graecum codicem legite, et diaconum invenietis. Quod enim interpretatus est latinus,Minister; graecus habet, Diaconus; quia vere diaconus graece, minister latine; quomodomartyr graece, testis latine; apostolus graece, missus latine. Sed iam consuevimusnominibus graecis uti pro latinis. Nam multi codices Evangeliorum sic habent: ‘Ubi sumego, illic et diaconus meus’.” “Read the Greek codex, and you will find ‘diaconus’ (sic).What is translated into Latin as ‘minster’ is ‘diaconus’ in Greek, just as we have ‘martyr’ inGreek and ‘testis’ in Latin, or ‘apostolus’ (sic) in Greek and ‘missus’ in Latin. But we arealready accustomed to keeping Greek words for Latin ones. Many Gospel codices read:‘Where I am, there will my deacon be also.’ Sermo CCCXXIX, De Stephano martyre VI, cap.III; PL 38; 144.

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Philosophy and CatholicTheology A Primer

Author: Philip A. Egan ISBN: 978-0-8146-5661-7 Price: £15.99 Publisher: Collegeville, Minnesota,Liturgical Press, 2009

This excellent book is based on materialFather Egan has produced for the distancelearning BPhil degree in philosophyoffered by Maryvale Institute inBirmingham. It aims to provide an acces-sible introduction for students to the rela-tionship between philoso-phy and theology in theCatholic tradition. The firstsection is a historical sur-vey of theology down theages, focussing on the rela-tionship between faith andreason. So it begins with adiscussion of Vatican I’sconstitution Dei Filius:‘The council envisagedfaith and reason as com-plementary, that is, mutu-ally and intrinsically inter-related. Human reasonwas damaged by originalsin but not destroyed. Themirror had been cracked,but it was still serviceable.’(p. 5) This quotation setsthe tone for the whole work. One of themost helpful things about the book is theexcellent diagrams which illustrate differ-ent developments – in the first chapterthere is a very clear schematic presenta-tion of the four ‘differentiations of theolo-gy’ (experiential, doctrinal, systematic andhistorical). This chapter is followed by athorough appraisal of recent theologicalmovements, again with helpful figures.Egan gives a clear picture of twentiethcentury movements leading up to VaticanII and gives a good appraisal of the Councilitself. One very welcome feature of thissection, and of the book as a whole, is thatthe author avoids polemic and partisan-

ship. Widely differing movements are fair-ly and accurately described without nega-tive or positive value judgements – this isleft to the reader. At a time when many areconcerned at growing theological polarisa-tion within the Church this is helpful.Chapter 3 looks at the different philoso-phies which relate to theology – it is goodthat continental movements such as phe-nomenology, so influential on the thoughtof John Paul II and not well known in theEnglish speaking world, are properlydescribed. The polarisation to which I

referred above is a con-cern to Egan. Here hereflects on the influenceof Marxism, which hasresulted in ‘the portrayalof theological argumentsin political terms, that is,as a dialectical powerstruggle between left-wingmodernisers or progres-sives and right-wing con-servatives or traditional-ists. The outcome of suchstruggles is not deter-mined by rational argu-ment (truth) but by theimposition of the will ofone party over the other(power).’ (p. 101) Thefinal chapter is a detailed

discussion of theological method. This isuseful because one of the main influenceson Egan is the Canadian Jesuit BernardLonergan whose writings on theological‘method’ were very important. Studentsand others often find Lonergan rather dif-ficult – this is the best introduction to histhought that I have seen. Figure 15 (p.162) gives a lucid picture of Lonergan’stheory of ‘functional specialisation’, histwo phases of ‘retrieving the tradition’ and‘engaging with culture.’ Fr Egan has per-formed a great service to those teachingand studying theology and this outstandingprimer should be on reading lists for dia-conate formation programmes. �


Review – Ashley Beck

Rev

iew


The International Diaconate Centre –North Europe Circle have announced thatthe Joint National Assembly of Deacons inEngland and Wales & InternationalConference is to be held from Friday 24th June – Sunday 26th June in 2011, at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham.

IDC have confirmed visitors and speakersso far include ... Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop Vincent Nichols and ProfessorWilliam Cavanaugh.

Prices will probably be: approx. £150 /C=160 with discounts for married couples.

More details will be published in theNovember issue of New Diaconal Review,or can be requested directly from AshleyBeck, e-mail: [email protected]


News

Joint National Assembly of Deaconsto be at Twickenham in 2011

Inviting AuthorsNew Diaconal Review welcomes readers tosubmit articles with a view to publication

� They should be in keeping with the journal's aims, andmindful of pastoral implications. Ideas or topics for articlescan be emailed to the editors...

Tony [email protected]

or Ashley [email protected] are happy to commenton their suitability andadvise about word length.

� Guidelines for house-style can be found at The PastoralReview website, www.thepastoralreview.org under'Contact us'.

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