Could women serve as deacons at the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic church? (#1)

Picture:  Codex Barberini gr. 336 (780 AD) with the opening of the ordination rite for women deacons

Let us set aside the question of the priesthood for the moment – I will return to it later. Today, I want to focus instead on the office and function of the diaconate within the Church’s three‑fold clerical order of deacon, priest, and bishop.

The diaconate has clear biblical roots, and this Sunday’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles contains the earliest account of what is widely understood to be the origin of this ministry. In Acts 6, seven men are appointed to address the material needs of Hellenist widows in the early Christian community, so that the apostles might devote themselves more fully to prayer and the ministry of the word. Although St Luke – the traditionally accepted author of Acts—does not explicitly use the term diakonos (‘deacon’) in this passage, the Church has long recognised this episode as foundational for the diaconal ministry.

The term diakonos does, however, appear explicitly in several of the Letters of St Paul. Most notably, in his Letter to the Romans (16:1), Paul refers to a woman named Phoebe as ‘a deacon of the church at Cenchreae’, a port city near the ancient city of Corinth in present‑day Greece. He writes:

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.

Biblical scholars differ over how this passage is to be interpreted. Some argue that the roles performed by women referred to as diakonoi in the early Church varied by time, place, and community, and that these roles were not uniform or directly equivalent to the later, more clearly defined diaconate within the three‑fold clerical order. Others emphasise that, whatever the precise nature of Phoebe’s ministry, Paul clearly regarded her as a trusted collaborator who possessed sufficient authority to carry his letter to the Christian community in Rome. Whether this constituted a formal ecclesial office in the later technical sense remains a matter of scholarly debate.

A further, and much‑discussed, passage occurs in 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Here Paul outlines qualifications for deacons, following immediately after his instructions concerning bishops. The text includes a reference to ‘women likewise’, which some interpret as referring to women deacons, while others understand it to mean the wives of deacons. The passage reads:

Deacons likewise must be serious, not double-tongued, not indulging in much wine, not greedy for money; they must hold fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them first be tested; then, if they prove themselves blameless, let them serve as deacons. Women likewise must be serious, not slanderers, but temperate, faithful in all things. Let deacons be married only once, and let them manage their children and their households well; for those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

It is important to remember that, in the earliest decades of Christianity, the offices of deacon, priest (elder), and bishop (overseer) were not yet formally or universally defined. Patterns of ministry developed gradually and were shaped by local needs, cultural contexts, and pastoral circumstances.

There are indeed several references to women exercising diaconal functions in the early Church. One key source is the Didascalia Apostolorum a church order composed in Syria in the first half of the third century. This text assigns women known as deaconesses specific responsibilities, particularly in ministry to other women – such as assisting at the baptism of women, providing instruction, and offering pastoral care. At the same time, the Didascalia is clear that such women did not preside at the altar or impart liturgical blessings, functions that were reserved to priests and bishops.

Historical scholarship indicates that resistance to women deacons developed more sharply in the Western Church. John Wijngaards and other writers suggest that this resistance was influenced both by Roman legal assumptions, which generally excluded women from positions of public authority, and by concerns regarding ritual purity. In contrast, the Eastern (Byzantine) Church appears to have been more receptive to women serving as deaconesses during the first millennium.

Wijngaards points to an early Irish sources that may suggest the existence of women exercising diaconal ministry in Ireland, including a gloss in an eighth‑century manuscript from Würzburg that uses the Gaelic term bandechuin (‘female deacon’), and the Liber Angeli in the Book of Armagh, which refers to women “serving the church in a legitimate marriage.” However, such evidence is limited and disputed, and I have not been able to confirm these claims from other independent sources.

What is more firmly established is that, in Eastern Christianity, women deacons were, in some periods and regions, ordained by the laying on of hands, and that this practice is attested in conciliar legislation and canonical church documents. This historical evidence has been carefully examined in modern times, including in studies commissioned by the Holy See.

It must also be noted that the understanding of the diaconate has developed significantly over time. The ministry has not carried an identical scope or function in every era. In the early Church, the diaconate was closely associated with service to the poor and vulnerable; later, it took on a more defined liturgical character, assisting priests and bishops in various rites, but never assuming a presidency at the Eucharist.

In recent years, particularly through the Synod on Synodality initiated by Pope Francis, the question of women’s admission to the diaconate – as distinct from the priesthood – has been examined once again. For the present, the Church’s authoritative discernment has concluded that women cannot be admitted to the diaconate as a degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders, though this judgment has been expressed as strong but not definitive.  I will look at this in more detail tomorrow.

What is clear, however, is that—unlike the question of priestly ordination—the historical record shows that women exercised recognised ministries of service in the early Church under the title diaconos or diaconissa (from the 4^th Century). In that sense, the existence of women associated with diaconal ministry in the first millennium is beyond dispute, even though the precise theological and sacramental character of that ministry remains a point of careful discernment within the Church today.