DEACON (di:len), (Gr. at6Kopos, dee-ak'on-os, ministrant).
This word in its more extended sense is used, both in Scripture and in ecclesiastical writers, to designate any person who ministers in God's Semi re'.
I. Officers In the Church. In 2 Cur. vi!.1, the Apostle says, 'But in all things approving our selves as the ministers (deacons) of God ' Again (Eph. iii:7), 'Whereof I was made a minister (deacon); and in Col. 1:2, 3, he employs the came epithet to express the character of his office. In Rom. xv :8, St. Paul calls our Lord deacon of the circumcision; and, in his Epistle to the Philip pians. he addresses himself to the bishops and dea cons (Phil, i :1).
But it is in its more confined sense, as it ex presses the third order or office of the ministry of the primitive Church, that we are to examine the meaning of the word Deacon.
(1) Origin. Some say that the office of deacon had an existence before the election of the seven persons of whom we read in Acts vi. That the duties of these seven deacons were not of an ex clusively secular character is clear from the fact that both Philip and Stephen preached, and that one of them also baptised. (Smith, Bib. Dirt.) Ignatius, a martyr-disciple of St. John, and bishop of Antioch (A. D. 68), styles them as once 'ministers of the mysteries of Christ,' adding that they are not ministers of meats and drinks, but of the Church of God (Tgnat. Ep. ad Trail, n.:2).
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage (A. D. 250), whilst referring their origin to Acts vi, styles them min isters of and of the Church (Cypr. EP. 65, al. 3, ad Rogat.) ; at the same time he as serts that they were called ad altaris nanisterium —to the ministry of the altar.
Tertullian, a celebrated father of the second century, classes them with bishops and presbyters as guides and leaders to the laity.
(2) Forbidden to Assume Priestly Func tions. The fourth Council of .Carthage expressly forbids the deacon to assume any one function peculiar to the priesthood by declaring, 'Diaconus non ad sacerdotium, sed ad ministerium conse cratus.' Ile is not ordained to the priest/wad but
for the purpose of ministering. (See also t8th Can. Con. Nic.) (3) Ordination of Deacons. His ordination, moreover, differed from that of presbyter both in its form and in the powers which it conferred. For in the ordination of a presbyter, the presbyters who were present were required to join in the imposition of hands with the bishop; but the ordination of a deacon might be performed by the bishop alone, because, as the 4th Can. of the 4th Council of Carthage declares, he was ordained not to the priesthood, but to the inferior services of the Church.
2. Duties. We now proceed to notice what these services specifically were.
(1) To Assist the Bishop. The deacon's more ordinary duty was to assist the bishop and presby ter in the service of the sanctuary; especially was he charged with the care of the utensils and orna ments appertaining to the holy table (Isidorus, lipistola ad Landefredum).
(2) At the Sacrament. In the administration of the Holy Sacrament, that it was theirs to hand the consecrated elements to the people is evident from Justin Martyr ii. p. 152) and from Cyprian (Senn. v. 'De Lapsis').
(3) Administer Baptism. Deacons had power to administer the sacrament of baptism (Tenni!. De Bapt. c. 17; also 1 lieron. Mal. contr. Lucif, c. 4, p. i39).
(4) Instructors. The office of the deacon was not to preach, so much as to instruct and cate chise the catechumens. llis part was, when the bishop or presbyter did not preach, to read a hom ily from one of the Fathers. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, A. D. 380, says expressly that deacons. in his time, did not preach. though he thinks that they were all originally evangelists, as were Philip and Stephen.
(5) Receive Offerings. It was the deacon's business to receive the offerings of the people; and, having presented them to the bishop or presbyter, to give expression in a loud voice to the names of the offerers (see Cypr. to, al.