Thursday, October 5, 2017

Upcoming lecture on "deaconesses" at Jordanville

(HTS) - Scheduled to be held on Monday, October 23, 5:00 pm, Seminary Hall.

Some Orthodox Christians today are trying to re-institute the ancient Church order of “deaconesses,” despite the uneven history of that female office in the Church, as well as that of the male diaconate. Protodeacon Patrick Mitchell surveys the Church’s early experience of both male and female “deacons” and concludes that they were never the same order, that the female order was inherently problematic for the Church because it appeared to elevate women over men, and that the “ordination” of women as deaconesses made less and less sense as the Church’s understanding of holy orders evolved. That explains why much of the Orthodox Church never had deaconesses, and why even those segments of the Church in antiquity and in the Byzantine era where they did serve eventually abandoned the order.

Protodeacon Patrick Mitchell is a former Washington Bureau Chief of Investor’s Business Daily, the author of four books on politics and religion, and a contributor of chapters to four other books on foreign policy, international banking, and American history. He has also appeared on many radio and television shows including ABC’s Nightline and Face the Nation, CBS’s Evening News, NBC’s Today, and CNN’s Crossfire and Larry King Live.

Protodeacon Patrick served seven years in the United States Army as an infantry and counterintelligence officer. He was received into the Orthodox Church with his family in 1990 by our own Dean, Archpriest Alexander F.C. Webster, at the Protection of the Holy Mother of God OCA parish in Falls Church, VA, and was ordained to the diaconate by the OCA’s Metropolitan Herman in 2007. He was released to ROCOR in 2013 and is now attached to St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC, where he has served since 2012.

Protodeacon Patrick recently earned the degree of Master of Theology in Orthodox Studies with Distinction from the University of Winchester in England, where he is currently a doctoral student under Fr. Andreas Andreopoulos. His master’s thesis was titled “The Disappearing Deaconess: How the Hierarchical Ordering of Church Offices Doomed the Female Diaconate.” He spoke on that subject at a conference in California earlier this month sponsored by the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess.

22 comments:

  1. Does Deacon Patrick still deny the Entry of the Theotokos into the Holy of Holies?

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    1. Did he ever do that? I heard from a friend years ago that in a classroom, Fr. Thomas Hopko denied the Virgin's Entry into the Holy of Holies.
      Yes, it's a great feast of the church. Is that somehow a justification for female deacons?

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  2. Why are they even entertaining this?

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    1. To push back against the fantasyland deaconess talk going on in other places.

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    2. Ah, I misread the article and thought they were advocating for it

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  3. There are some vocal pockets within Orthodoxy that are pushing very hard for the female diaconate....mostly within the GOA and the people at Fordham. There is a conference going on today in California at this place:
    https://orthodoxdeaconess.org/

    This is a very slippery slope and it has been in the works for many years. Thank God that there are a number of jurisdictions who will never adopt such a thing. Good work Protodeacon Patrick!

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  4. "His master’s thesis was titled “The Disappearing Deaconess: How the Hierarchical Ordering of Church Offices Doomed the Female Diaconate.” He spoke on that subject at a conference in California earlier this month sponsored by the St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess."

    Oh my, I wonder how that went. Is there a recording of this presentation anywhere?

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  5. I hope this does not become a "dialog".

    Such "dialog" gives those wanting change or "restoration" a level of authenticity they do not deserve.

    They are wrong. They will always be wrong because....

    Once the reasons are clearly stated that is the end.

    The problem with an academic approach to such things, as in a Master's Thesis, is that often no such approach is allowed. Each "opinion" must be give equal weight

    That false notion of egalitarianism already cedes too much to those who wish to over turn Tradition.

    The answer is No.

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  6. I was asked to give another contrary view at the St. Phoebe Center conference, but declined to accept their kind invitation for a number of reasons, one of which was my advancing age and crowded schedule. Another man much more qualified than I happily took up the task. He told me he was allotted 10 or 15 minutes to give his talk, if memory serves. God bless him! I cannot help thinking though that the tiny time allotted for a contrary opinion is significant, and that they are not really open to any other voices. It is good to see the work done at Jordanville.

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    1. Fr. Lawrence, I think your own work Feminism and Tradition is definitive on this subject; I highly recommend it to others.

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    2. What name does Fr. Lawrence publish this work under?

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    3. Jake: The book "Feminism and Tradition" was published by SVS Press in 2012 under my own name, viz. Lawrence R. Farley. (And Deacon Nicholas: thank you for your very kind words!)

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  7. Do you consider yourself a "priest" as well?

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    1. Fr. Farley is a priest of the Orthodox Church. What he considers himself is irrelevant and immaterial.

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    2. Is he a priest or a "priest"?

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  8. It was recorded it will be made public. I recorded it. It will need to be edited, audio enhanced and broken up into segments so it will take some time. I can send links when it is available.

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  9. While this topic was being debated no one was paying attention to the fact Rome is burning. http://amp.dailycaller.com/2017/10/06/california-can-now-jail-people-for-misusing-gender-pronouns/

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    1. Sadly, no surprise there. Has anyone wondered how a white person can be penalized and perhaps fined thousands or more for having used the "N" word in the past? Whereas a rapper can make millions using that same word in a song.
      The link you provided didn't open, but I wonder, you can be jailed for refer to a burly, male looking female by the wrong gender? What about the male who feels like he's a woman so that he may use the ladies room? There's no knowing where this insanity will stop.

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  10. Yes, Mike, I do consider myself a priest. The question I answered was "What name does Fr. Lawrence publish this work under?" and the usual custom is to use the author's name without the honourific title "Father". Thus (e.g.) Fr. John Anthony McGuckin's book "The Orthodox Church" was published simply under the name "John Anthony McGuckin". I think the publisher's idea is that the clerical status of the author is irrelevant to what he has to say.

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    1. My question was directed to the blog's author.

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  11. Fr. Lawrence, thank you for your gracious response to Mike's "question", but Mike is a troll. Most of us just ignore him.

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