DEACONESS, a woman set apart for special service in the Christian Church. The origin and early history of the office are obscure. The arguments for its existence in apostolic times, based on Rom. xvi. 1 (where Phoebe is called 8utKovos)and i Tim. iii. 1 r, and on Pliny's mention of two ancillae quae ministrae dice bantur, are hardly conclusive. But it is certain that before the middle of the 4th century there existed in the Eastern Church an order of deaconesses, of higher rank than the somewhat similar orders of "virgins" and "widows." The order is recognized in the canons of the councils of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451), and many of Chrysostom's letters are addressed to deaconesses at Constantinople. The ordination of deaconesses resembled that of deacons, but conveyed no sacerdotal powers or authority (for specimens of the ordination service see Cecilia Robinson, The Ministry of Deaconesses, end ed., pp. 219-229). Their mission was to perform certain offices in connection with the care of women. The functions of the deaconess, according to the apos tolical Constitutions, were as follows: (I) To assist at the bap tism of women; (2) to visit and minister to the needs of sick and afflicted women; (3) to act as door-keepers in the church, and conduct the women to their seats. In the Western church an attempt seems to have been made in the 4th century to introduce the order into Gaul. The movement, however, was strongly op posed, and was condemned by the councils of Orange (441) and Epaone (517). Despite the prohibition the institution made some headway, and traces of it are found later in Italy, but it never became popular in the West. In the middle ages the order fell into abeyance in both East and West.
In modern times several attempts have been made to revive the order. In 1833 Pastor Fliedner founded "an order of deaconesses for the Rhenish provinces of Westphalia" at Kaiserswerth. The original aim of the institution was to train nurses for hospital work, but afterwards it trained its members for teaching and par ish work as well. Kaiserswerth became the parent of many similar institutions. The revival of the order in the Church of England dates from 1862, when Miss Elizabeth Ferard was set apart by the Bishop of London. Other dioceses gradually adopted the innova tion. It has been sanctioned by Convocation, and the Lambeth Conference in 1897 "recognized with thankfulness the revival of the office of deaconess," but insisted that the name must be restricted to women set apart by the bishop and working under the control of the parochial clergy.
In addition to Miss Robinson's book cited above, see Church Quarterly Review, xlvii. 302 ff., art. "On the Early History and Modern Revival of Deaconesses" (London, 1899), and the works there referred to; D. Latas, X pLercavLK, 'ApxacoXoyia i. 163-171 (Athens, 1883) ; Testamentum Domini, ed. Rahmani (Mainz, 1899) ; L. Zscharnack, Der Dienst der Frau in den ersten Jahrhunderten der chr. Kirche (1902) .