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Patheos
July 6 2013
The Women Deacons of the Armenian Church
July 6, 2013 By Deacon Greg Kandra
Hours after this story broke, about the head of the CDF's remarks on
women deacons, the item below popped up in my Google newsfeed. I think
it opens a window to a part of the Christian world many of us in the
Latin church don't know about.
The story recounts a talk given last month in Illinois by the
historian Knarik O. Meneshian, who gave some of the background behind
women deacons in the Armenian Apostolic Church:
`Women deacons, an ordained ministry, have served the Armenian Church
for centuries. In the Haykazian Dictionary, based on evidence from the
5th-century Armenian translations, the word deaconess is defined as a
`female worshipper or virgin servant active in the church and superior
or head of a nunnery.' Other pertinent references to women deacons in
the Armenian Church are included in the `Mashdots Matenadarn
collection of manuscripts from the period between the fall of the
Cilician kingdom (1375) and the end of the 16th century, which contain
the ordination rite for women deacons.'
`The diaconate is one of the major orders in the Armenian Church. The
word deacon means to serve `with humility' and to assist. The Armenian
deaconesses historically have been called sargavak or deacon. They
were also referred to as deaconess sister or deaconess nun. The other
major orders of the church are bishop and priest. The deaconesses,
like the bishops and monks, are celibate. Their convents are usually
described as anabad, meaning, in this case, not a `desert' as the word
implies, but rather `an isolated location where monastics live away
from populated areas.' Anabads differ from monasteries in their
totally secluded life style. In convents and monasteries, Armenian
women have served as nuns, scribes, subdeacons, deacons, and
archdeacons (`first among equals'), as a result not only giving of
themselves, but enriching and contributing much to our nation and
church. In the 17th century, for example, the scribe and deaconess
known as Hustianeh had written `a devotional collection of prayers and
lives of the fathers, and a manuscript titled Book of Hours, dated
1653.'
...To appreciate more fully the role of the deaconess in the church,
Father Abel Oghlukian's book, The Deaconess In The Armenian Church,
refers to Fr. Hagop Tashian's bookVardapetutiun Arakelots... (Teachings
of the Apostles...), Vienna, 1896, and Kanonagirk Hayots(Book of Canons)
edited by V. Hakobyan, Yerevan, 1964, in which a most striking thought
is expressed:
If the bishop represents God the Father and the priest Christ, then
the deaconess, by her calling, symbolizes the presence of the Holy
Spirit, in consequence of which one should accord her fitting respect.
`Over the centuries, in some instances, the mission of the Armenian
deaconesses was educating, caring for orphans and the elderly,
assisting the indigent, comforting the bereaved, and addressing
women's issues. They served in convents and cathedrals, and the
general population...
`Mkhitar Gosh (l130-1213), who was a priest, public figure, scholar,
thinker, and writer, `defended the practice of ordaining women to the
diaconate,' Ervine writes, and she adds that in his law book titled,
On Clerical Orders and the Royal Family, Gosh described women deacons
and their specific usefulness in the following words:
There are also women ordained as deacons, called deaconesses for the
sake of preaching to women and reading the Gospel. This makes it
unnecessary for a man to enter the convent or for a nun to leave it.
When priests perform baptism on mature women, the deaconesses approach
the font to wash the women with the water of atonement behind the
curtain.
Their vestments are exactly like those of nuns or sisters, except that
on their forehead they have a cross; their stole hangs from over the
right shoulder.
Do not consider this new and unprecedented as we learn it from the
tradition of the holy apostles: For Paul says, `I entrust to you our
sister Phoebe, who is a deacon of the church.'
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/07/the-women-deacons-of-the-armenian-church/
July 6 2013
The Women Deacons of the Armenian Church
July 6, 2013 By Deacon Greg Kandra
Hours after this story broke, about the head of the CDF's remarks on
women deacons, the item below popped up in my Google newsfeed. I think
it opens a window to a part of the Christian world many of us in the
Latin church don't know about.
The story recounts a talk given last month in Illinois by the
historian Knarik O. Meneshian, who gave some of the background behind
women deacons in the Armenian Apostolic Church:
`Women deacons, an ordained ministry, have served the Armenian Church
for centuries. In the Haykazian Dictionary, based on evidence from the
5th-century Armenian translations, the word deaconess is defined as a
`female worshipper or virgin servant active in the church and superior
or head of a nunnery.' Other pertinent references to women deacons in
the Armenian Church are included in the `Mashdots Matenadarn
collection of manuscripts from the period between the fall of the
Cilician kingdom (1375) and the end of the 16th century, which contain
the ordination rite for women deacons.'
`The diaconate is one of the major orders in the Armenian Church. The
word deacon means to serve `with humility' and to assist. The Armenian
deaconesses historically have been called sargavak or deacon. They
were also referred to as deaconess sister or deaconess nun. The other
major orders of the church are bishop and priest. The deaconesses,
like the bishops and monks, are celibate. Their convents are usually
described as anabad, meaning, in this case, not a `desert' as the word
implies, but rather `an isolated location where monastics live away
from populated areas.' Anabads differ from monasteries in their
totally secluded life style. In convents and monasteries, Armenian
women have served as nuns, scribes, subdeacons, deacons, and
archdeacons (`first among equals'), as a result not only giving of
themselves, but enriching and contributing much to our nation and
church. In the 17th century, for example, the scribe and deaconess
known as Hustianeh had written `a devotional collection of prayers and
lives of the fathers, and a manuscript titled Book of Hours, dated
1653.'
...To appreciate more fully the role of the deaconess in the church,
Father Abel Oghlukian's book, The Deaconess In The Armenian Church,
refers to Fr. Hagop Tashian's bookVardapetutiun Arakelots... (Teachings
of the Apostles...), Vienna, 1896, and Kanonagirk Hayots(Book of Canons)
edited by V. Hakobyan, Yerevan, 1964, in which a most striking thought
is expressed:
If the bishop represents God the Father and the priest Christ, then
the deaconess, by her calling, symbolizes the presence of the Holy
Spirit, in consequence of which one should accord her fitting respect.
`Over the centuries, in some instances, the mission of the Armenian
deaconesses was educating, caring for orphans and the elderly,
assisting the indigent, comforting the bereaved, and addressing
women's issues. They served in convents and cathedrals, and the
general population...
`Mkhitar Gosh (l130-1213), who was a priest, public figure, scholar,
thinker, and writer, `defended the practice of ordaining women to the
diaconate,' Ervine writes, and she adds that in his law book titled,
On Clerical Orders and the Royal Family, Gosh described women deacons
and their specific usefulness in the following words:
There are also women ordained as deacons, called deaconesses for the
sake of preaching to women and reading the Gospel. This makes it
unnecessary for a man to enter the convent or for a nun to leave it.
When priests perform baptism on mature women, the deaconesses approach
the font to wash the women with the water of atonement behind the
curtain.
Their vestments are exactly like those of nuns or sisters, except that
on their forehead they have a cross; their stole hangs from over the
right shoulder.
Do not consider this new and unprecedented as we learn it from the
tradition of the holy apostles: For Paul says, `I entrust to you our
sister Phoebe, who is a deacon of the church.'
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/07/the-women-deacons-of-the-armenian-church/