Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/726

 DEACONS

648

DEACONS

was liked by all the multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost" (with six others who are named). These they placed "before the apostles; and they, praying, imposed hands upon them." Now, on the ground that the Seven are not expressly called deacons and that some of them [e. g. St. Stephen, and later Philip (.\cts, xxi, 8)] preached and ranked next to the Apostles, Protes- tant commentators have constantly raised objections against the identification of this choice of the Seven with the institution of the diaconate. But apart from the fact that the tradition among the Fathers is both unanimous and early — e. g., St. Irena?us (Adv. Hser., Ill, xii, 10 and IV, xv, 1) speaks of St. Stephen as the first deacon — the similarity between the functions of the Seven who "served the tables" and those of tlie early deacons is most striking. Compare, for example, both with the passage from the Acts and with I Tim., iii, 8 sq., quoted above, the following sentence from Hermas (Sim., IX, 26); "They that have spots are the deacons that exercised their office ill and plundered the livelihood of widows and orphans and made gains for themselves from the ministrations which they had received to perform." Or, again, St. Ignatius (Ep. ii to the Trallians): "Those who are deacons of the mysteries of Jesus Christ must please all men in all ways. For they are not deacons of meats and drinks [only] but servants of the church of God"; while St. Clement of Rome (about a. d. 95) clearly describes the institution of deacons along with that of bishops as being the work of the Apostles themselves (Ep. Clem., xlii). Further, it should be noted that ancient tradi- tion limited the number of deacons at Rome to seven (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., VI, xliii), and that a canon of the Council of Neo-Ceesarea (.325) prescribed the same restriction for all cities, however large, appealing di- rectly to the Acts of the Apostles as a precedent. We seem, therefore, thoroughly justified in identifying the functions of the Seven with those of the deacons of whom we hear so much in the Apostolic Fathers and the early councils. Established primarily to relieve the bishops and presbji-ers of their more secular and invidious duties, notably in distributing the alms of the faithful, we need not do more than recall the large place occupied by the agapre, or love-feasts, in the early worship of the Church, to imderstand how readily the duty of serving at tables may have passed into the privilege of serving at the altar. They became the natural intermediaries between the celebrant and the people. Inside the Church they made public an- nouncements, marshalled the congregation, preserved order, and the like. Outside of it they were the bishop's deputies in secular matters, and especially in the relief of the poor. Their subordination and gen- eral duties of service seem to have been indicated by their standing during the public assemblies of the Church, while the Ijishops and priests were seated. It should be noticed that along with these functions probably went a large share in the instruction of cate- chumens and the preparation of the altar services. Even in the Acts of the Apostles (viii, 38) the Sacra- ment of Baptism is administered by the deacon Philip. An attempt has recently been made, though re- garded by many as somewhat fanciful, to trace the origin of the diaconate to the organization of those primitive Hellenistic Christian communities, which in the earliest age of the Church had all things in com- mon, being supported by the alms of the faithful. For these it is contended tliat some steward (oeconoynus) must have been appointed to administer their temporal affairs. (See Leder, Die Diakonen der Bischofeund Presbyter, 1905.) The full presentment of the subject is somewhat too intricate and confused to find place here. We may content ourselves with noting that less difficulty attends the same writer's theory of the derivation of the judicial and adminis- trative functions of the archdeacon from the duties

imposed upon one selected member of the diaconal college, who was called the bishop's deacon (diaconus episcopi) because to him was committed the temporal administration of funds and cliaritics for which the bishop was primarily responsible. Tliis led in time to a certain judicial and legal position and to a surveil- lance of the subordinate clergy. But for all this see Archde.\con.

Duties of Deacons. — 1. That some, if not all, members of the diaconal college were everywhere stewards of the church funds and of the alms collected for widows and orphans is beyond dispute. We find St. Cyprian speaking of Nicostratus as having de- frauded widows and orphans as well as robbed the Church (Cypr., Ep. xlix, ad Cornelium). Such pecu- lation was all the easier because the offerings passed through their hands, at any rate to a large degree. Those gifts which the people brought and which were not made directly to the bishop were presented to him through them (.\post. Const., II, x.xvii), and on the other hand they were to distribute the oblations (evKoylai) which remained over after the Liturgj' had been celebrated among the different orders of the clergy according to certain fixed proportions. It was no doubt from such fimctions as these that St. Jerome calls the deacon mensarum et viduarum minister (Hieron. Ep. ad. Evang.). They sought out the sick and the poor, reporting to the bishop upon their needs and following his direction in all things (Apost. Const., Ill, xix, and x.xxi, xxxii). They were also to invite aged women, and probably others as w'ell, to the agapae. Then with regard to the bishop they were to relieve him of his more laborious and less import- ant functions, and in this way they came to exercise a certain measure of jurisdiction in the simpler cases which were submitted to his decision. Similarly they sought out and reproved offenders as his deputies. In fine, as the Apostolic Constitutions declare (II, xliv), they were to be his "ears and eyes and mouth and heart", or, as it is laid dowm elsewhere, "his soul and his senses" (^vxn "o-i a(a6ri<nt) (Apost., Const., Ill, xi.x).

2. Again, as the Apostolic Constitutions further ex- plain in some detail, the deacons were the guardians of order in the church. They saw that the faithful oc- cupied their proper places, that none gossiped or slept. They were to welcome the poor and aged and to take care that they were not at a disadvantage as regards their position in church. They were to stand at the men's gate as janitors to see that during the Liturgy none came in or went out, and St. Chrysostom says in general terms: "if anyone misbehave let the deacon be sununoned" (Hom. xxiv, in Act. Apost.). Besides this they were largely employed in the direct ministry of the altar, preparing the sacred vessels and bringing water for the ablutions, etc., though in later times many of these duties devolved upon clerics of an in- ferior grade. Most especially were, they conspicuous by their marshalling and directing the congregation during the service. Even to the present day, as will be remembered, such announcements as Ite missa est, Fledamus genua, Procedamus iti pace, are always made by the deacon; though this fvmction was more pro- nounced in the early ages. The following from the newly discovered " Testament of Our Lord ", a docu- ment of the end of the fourth century, may be quoted as an interesting example of a proclamation such as was made by the deacon just before the Anaphora: "Let us arise; let each know his own place. Let the cateclumiens depart. See that no imclean, no care- less person is here. Lift up the eyes of your hearts. Angels look upon us. See, let him who is without faith depart. Let no adulterer, no angry man be here. If anyone be a slave of sin let him depart. See. let us supplicate as children of the light. Let us supplicate our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

3. The special duty of the deacon to read the Gospel