Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Ministry

Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church is a patristic, historical, and liturgical study of the deaconess in the Church. It includes the stories of the women deacon saints, the decline of the order, and the attempts at its restoration by St. Nektarios of Aegina, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, and a close examination of the 1988 Consultation in Rhodes. An essential read regarding the role of women in the church and their ministry, it is "a significant and thought-provoking study which will contribute positively towards the future of our Church." (Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch) Contents Letters from His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew p. viii Preface p. xiii Prologue by Evangelos Theodorou p. xxi 1. Early Development p. 1 2. The Identity of Deaconess p. 18 3. The Witness of the Women Deacon Saints p. 28 4. The Charism of Women Deacons: The Apostolic Constitutions Rite p. 59 5. The Charism of Women Deacons: The Byzantin