The young Christian community in Jerusalem grew by leaps and bounds during the first few years after Pentecost. People were attracted by the teachings of Jesus which were shared by the disciples. They were attracted by the warm and supportive community of believers who tried to bring Jesus’ teachings to life. They were moved by the miracles that seemed to flow through the disciples, bringing healing, courage and meaning to the lives of many. Not only were the Palestinian Jews being attracted to the Christian community but so were the Greek speaking Diaspora Jews and even some Gentiles.
Before long the disciples, especially the Twelve apostles, found themselves spread too thin. They were being asked to teach, to lead prayer in the community, to proclaim the Good News to the broader community, to visit other communities in the region, to see that everyone who depended upon the Christian community for assistance received what they needed, to visit the sick and elderly, to encourage the young people in the community and to deal with the Romans, the Jewish community leaders and everyone else who didn’t trust the Christians. If they didn’t do something very soon they would fall over from exhaustion.
The Christian leadership gathered and tried to wrestle with the problem. Their primary concern was with the well-being of the community members who depended upon support from the Christian community. Those Christians who were Palestinian Jews were not a problem because they had family and a broad network of support upon whom they could rely, even if they had made enemies of some relatives by joining the Christian community.
However, the Greek speaking Jews presented a more difficult problem. They were Jews from outside of Palestine (Diaspora) who didn’t have a local support network. When they became Christian, many lost what support they might be able to obtain from the Jewish community. The Christian leaders figured that the Palestinian Jewish Christians could take care of themselves reasonably well. What they needed was help is supporting the Diaspora Christians. So, they decided on appointing seven men from among the Diaspora members of the Christian community to lead and take care of the practical needs of that community. Traditionally, this development is seen as the beginning of the diaconate. The deacons could free up the apostles to focus on the teaching, preaching and leading in prayer aspects of their ministry.
This approach to the problem seemed to work well. As the Christian community expanded beyond Jerusalem, so did the ministries that were started in the Jerusalem community. There were no more apostles to lead the community, but the bishops took over the role of the apostles. Deacons focused on the practical needs of the Christians in their community. There was more variation in the roles filled by the presbyters but generally they helped the bishop with his responsibilities and served as advisers to the bishop.
By the early years of the second century, Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, was able to say that any community that called itself Christian was recognizable by the presence of a bishop, presbyters and deacons. All three ministries were seen by this Church Father as necessary leadership roles in the Christian community.
The Didache was a collection of Christian teachings and moral instruction that was used by the early Christian community. It was written around 120AD and widely circulated. It also includes a section on the responsibility and necessary moral character of those who hold leadership positions in the Church.
A good deal of space is devoted to the role of the deacon in the Christian community. Not only is he responsible for seeing to the material needs of the Christians, especially the most vulnerable, but he is also to be the eyes and ears of the bishop. When he sees a need that should be addressed, he is to bring that need to the broader community so that help can be provided.
While their primary focus was the practical needs of the Christian communities, deacons helped in whatever ministries they were needed. For example, Deacon Philip, one of the first group of Jerusalem deacons, proclaimed the Good News in Samaria and brought many people into the Christian community.
Deacon Lawrence was a deacon of Rome during a time of persecution. The bishop had been arrested by Roman authorities and Lawrence had been instructed by the magistrate to bring the treasures of the Church to court on a certain date. When the designated day arrived, Lawrence appeared in court with a group of ragged orphans who were under his care. When questioned by the magistrate, Lawrence announced that the poor and the orphans are the treasure of the Church. The magistrate was not amused and sentenced Deacon Lawrence to death. There is a legend that he was executed by fire, tied to a grill. According to the legend, at one-point Lawrence instructed his executioner to turn him over, as he was already done on the one side.
Deacon Ephrem was the director of religious education for the Diocese of Nisibis, a small diocese in what is now Eastern Turkey. He was a scripture scholar and a hymn writer of great renown. Indeed, some of his hymns are still used in the Eastern Church. His hymns not only added beauty to the celebration of the liturgy, but they were theologically rich. Deacon Ephrem was eventually named a saint and a Doctor of the Church.
In the early church it was just as common for a deacon to become a bishop as it was for a presbyter, as both roles afforded the persons in those roles with plenty of experience in administering the Christian community.
Deacon Athanasius was a young scholar and secretary to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, Egypt. In addition to serving his bishop, he was a respected theologian and author. A theological disagreement between the bishop and a priest of the diocese, who was also a recognized scholar, caused a fracturing of the Christian community in that city, which spilled out into other parts of the Christian world at the time. Athanasius defended the position of his bishop and even represented the bishop at the Council of Nicaea, where he played an instrumental role in developing the first draft of the Nicaean Creed. When Bishop Alexander died, Athanasius was selected to succeed him as bishop of Alexandria.
About two hundred years after Deacon Lawrence of Rome, we encounter Deacon Gregory. He was the son of a deacon and entered the service of the Church at a young age. By this time Christianity was the state religion and Gregory represented the Bishop of Rome in the court of the Emperor in the city of Constantinople. The experience sharpened his diplomatic skills and taught him how to deal with high ranking officials. When he was in his thirties he returned to Rome where he was given responsibility for seeing to the welfare of the poor. This involved the management of vast church owned farms. The farms provided employment for the poor and grew much of the food that kept the poor of the city from starving, as they didn’t have food stamps back in those days.
Upon the death of the bishop, Deacon Gregory was selected to serve as Bishop of Rome. This was not a role he wanted and tried to escape the appointment but was eventually convinced to take on the role. Gregory produced several respected theological works, as well as carefully negotiated peace with the barbarian war lords who wanted to ravage Rome. Deacon Gregory eventually became known as Pope Saint Gregory the Great.
Around the year 800 Deacon Alcuin was headmaster of the Cathedral School in York, England. The school had a fine reputation and Alcuin was a respected scholar and educator. This was around the time that Charlemagne became Emperor on the European mainland. Among the things that we wanted to accomplish was to establish the Empire as an educational and cultural center in the West. He invited Deacon Alcuin to Aachen, the capital of his Empire, (in what is modern Germany), to establish a university center. The deacon accepted this offer and moved to Aachen, where he spent the rest of his life laboring on the task given him by the Emperor. While Charlemagne’s empire did not last very long after his death, the legacy of education and culture that he established with the help of Deacon Alcuin was influential throughout the Middle Ages and exists even to this day.
Whenever someone mentions the name of St. Francis of Assisi, images of Franciscan Friars in brown robes comes to mind. Yet, we often forget that Francis was a permanent deacon as well. Several bishops wanted to ordain Francis as a priest, which was an honor that he consistently refused. However, as his fame grew, there was an increasing demand for Francis to preach and teach in church. Since this ability was limited to the clergy by canon law, Francis was eventually convinced to be ordained as a permanent deacon. This met a practical need for his ministry, as well as reflected the servant role that he felt was essential to his Franciscan ministry.
I have mentioned a few of the more famous deacons during the first thousand years of the Church. It was during this period that the diaconate was very active and an integral part of the life of the church. Not only were deacons among the great theologians, educators and saints of the era, but they played much more down to earth roles as well. Deacons were administrative assistants to the bishops in many dioceses. Deacons served in their traditional roles of charity and care for the poor in many dioceses. In some dioceses, deacons administered small rural parishes, while they were unable to say Mass, they could see to the other ministerial needs of the people.
By the end of the first millennium, the church had undergone a variety of significant structural changes. Religious orders were thriving and much of the charitable and scholarly work of the deacons was being assumed by the monks and nuns. The role of the deacon was reduced primarily to liturgical ministry and as a semi-final stage on the way to the priesthood. While there were notable exceptions, this tended to be the norm for most of the second millennium.
The idea of a revived permanent diaconate was never entirely abandoned but sprang up again and again. Discipline related to the clergy was a major focus at the Council of Trent, and there was extensive discussion about reviving the permanent diaconate. The discussion never reached the point of actual resolutions, but it was given serious consideration. The topic came up again among theologians in the 19th century. While there was interesting debate on the topic and advocacy by some groups, nothing came of the discussion. During World War II the need for ministry to the poor and the persecuted became a hot topic and a revived diaconate was frequently suggested as an appropriate response to that need. Indeed, it is said that after the war Pope Pius XII was considering a revival of the permanent diaconate by means of a Papal decree, though he died before that plan could be implemented. When his successor Pope Saint John XXIII called for the Second Vatican Council, the diaconate was one of the topics that was placed on the agenda.
Sixteen documents were produced over the four years of the Second Vatican Council. Four of these documents were described as “constitutions”. Such documents present authoritative teaching and are the most “heavy weight” documents that can be promulgated by the Church. Lumen gentium (Light of the People) is the constitution that deals with the structure of the Church. About halfway through the constitution the Council Fathers provide for the restoration of the permanent diaconate. It took another six years to actually implement the decision of the Council Fathers but in the early 1970’s formation programs were starting up following recently promulgated Vatican norms and, in a few years, the first groups of permanent deacons were being ordained and assigned to ministry.