OrthodoxChristianity.net
March 11, 2014, 04:01:34 AM *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: The Rules page has been updated.  Please familiarize yourself with its contents!
 
   Home   Help Calendar Contact Treasury Tags Login Register  
OrthodoxChristianity.net > Moderated Forums > Liturgy (Moderator: arimethea) > Topic: Deaconate
Pages: 1   Go Down
« previous next »
  Print  
Author Topic: Deaconate  (Read 1041 times) Average Rating: 0
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Justinianus
Elder
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 255
« on: October 21, 2003, 09:37:29 AM »
I have seen mentioned different levels of Deaconate: subdeacon, deacon, protodeacon.  Are these different levels?  How are they different.  Are there more?

I know for priests there are priests, arch priests, and mitred archpriests, and these are titles of honor I believe, is it the same for deacons?
Logged
"If we truly think of Christ as our source of holiness, we shall refrain from anything wicked or impure in thought or act and thus show ourselves to be worthy bearers of his name.  For the quality of holiness is shown not by what we say but by what w
Hypo-Ortho
Guest
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2003, 11:34:20 AM »
In the Eastern Orthodox Church at least, Justinianus, subdeacons are in the order immediately below that of deacon.   IOW, subdeacons are *not* deacons, but they function almost like acolytes.  At Pontifical Liturgies, they are specifically charged with assisting the presiding hierarch in vesting in the middle of the church.

That being said, the diaconate does have a hierarchy of its own, so to speak.

First, there are the simple married deacons who wear a single diaconal orarion (diaconal stole).  Then:  

"Hierodeacons" are deacons who are also monks.

"Protodeacon" is an honorific title given to married deacons after a certain term of honorable service.  In the Russian tradition at least, it comes with the privilege of wearing the double-orarion.

"Archdeacon" is the title given to the principal deacon of a monastery or one attached to a bishop.  If the latter, he is usually celibate, but this is not an absolute requirement.  In the Russian traditon, an archdeacon, in addition to the privilege of wearing a double-orarion, is also invested with a purple kamilavka (cylindrical head-covering) if attached to a bishop.  A metropolitan's archdeacon wears a blue kamilavka, and the Patriarch of Moscow's archdeacon(s) wears a green kamilavka.

I believe that among the Greeks all deacons wear the double-orarion.

Hypo-Ortho
Logged
ania
Life according to Abe Simpson:
OC.net guru
*******
Offline Offline

Posts: 1,097
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2003, 02:01:54 PM »
A protodeacon also can have a purple kamilavka.
Logged
Now where were we? Oh yeah - the important thing was I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time. They didn’t have white onions because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones...
NDHoosier
Member
***
Offline Offline

Faith: Eastern Orthodox
Jurisdiction: Bulgarian Patriarchate
Posts: 75


Exiled from God's Country (North Dakota)
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2003, 02:08:58 PM »
In our parish, the subdeacons also open and close the Royal Doors and handle the ripidia.  They also handle the distribution of the wine and bread consumed immediately after Holy Communion.  I believe these are typical duties of subdeacons.
Logged
There ain't a horse that can't be rode, and there ain't a rider that can't be throwed.
Tags: deacons 
Pages: 1   Go Up
  Print  
OrthodoxChristianity.net > Moderated Forums > Liturgy (Moderator: arimethea) > Topic: Deaconate
 « previous next »
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.18 | SMF © 2013, Simple Machines Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
Page created in 0.044 seconds with 30 queries.