DEACON, an ecclesiastical term of' Greek origin, from niciscorot (Diaconus, literally, a servant), introduced into the Saxon vocabulary, and continued in use to the present time.
It designates one of the orders in the Christian priesthood, the lowest of the three—bishops, priests, and deacons.
The first institution of the order is par ticularly set forth in the sixth chapter of the Book of Acts. The administration of charities in the Church of Jerusalem was complained of as partial by the Grecian converts. The apostles, in whom the ad ministration had been vested, thought it expedient to divest themselves of this duty, and to devolve it on other persons, that they might devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Seven persons were selected for the office, and by prayer and the imposition of hands ordained deacons.
It appears by the First Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, that there were deacons in other Christian churches, and pro bably in all where such an officer was needed. He gives instructions (chap. iii. 8-13) respecting the character which be came persons who should be admitted into the office. See also Phil. i. 1. There were also deaconesses in the primitive church, one of whom, Phoebe, is men tioned, Rom. xvi. I. This female officer may be traced to the eleventh or twelfth century.
The peculiar office of both deacons and deaconesses was to attend to works of mercy, to be the administrators of the alms of the more opulent members of the church.
In the English church the name con tinues, and the peculiar form of ordina tion, but the peculiar duties of the office seem to be lost sight of. In fact the Poor Laws, by creating certain civil offi cers whose duty it is to attend to the poor, have perhaps rendered the services of the deacon in this his characteristic capacity less necessary.
In some dissenting communities there are deacons who still discharge the duties for which the office was instituted : they collect the alms of the people at the sacra ment, and distribute them among the poor. But they are always laymen, or persons who have not gone through the forms, generally few and slight, of or dination as practised among the dis senters.
There is a form for the ordination of deacons in the English church : some clergymen never take priests' orders. It appears by the Rubric that a person in deacon's orders is empowered to read publicly the Scriptures and homilies, to catechise, to preach when licensed to do so by the bishop, and to assist a priest in divine service, and especially in the com munion. When contemplated in the light in which this form places him, he appears as an assistant to a priest, for he is to seek out the sick and poor, and report them to the priest, and in the absence of the priest to baptize. This latter per mission has led to the introduction of the performance of other ecclesiastical duties, namely, the celebration of matrimony and the burial of the dead. In fact the dea con performs all the ordinary offices of the Christian priesthood, except conse crating the elements at the administration of the Lord's Supper and pronouncing the absolution.
A person may be ordained deacon at twenty-three. He may then become a chaplain in a private family ; he may be a curate to a beneficed clergyman, or lecturer in a parish church, but he cannot hold any benefice, or take any ecclesias tical promotion. For this it is requisite that he take priest's orders.