Lately I have been reading the life of St.Olympia (368-404) and role as a Deaconess and friend to John Chrysostom one of the great Church Fathers. There are seventeen letters extent between St. Olympia and John and that is a long way into their friendship after he was exiled and she fell into a deep depression in his absence. The fact that these letters were written in the fourth century and are important enough to still be held in the memory of the church are some indicator of the importance given to anything written by St. John. Unfortunately rather true to form for women of that period we do not have anything left written by St. Olympia. We do however have a a wonderful story of her life. St. Olympia was born to a wealthy and noble family and gifted with beauty and intellect. She was married young and widowed early. Such was her family status that the Emperor wanted to marry her a man of his selection and she refused. One does not refuse an Emperor without impunity and he moved to hold all her possessions until she was thirty if she did not comply. She replied from her desire to be a celibate woman dedicated to the Lord that he had saved her the trouble of having to dispose of all her goods and follow Christ. Eventually seeing the model of her life he returned her family wealth. She used this wealth liberally over her life to support monastics in distress, build a hospital, feed the poor,assist her convent for some 250 sisters and contribute to some of the similar causes favoured by St. John. The whole clergy of the church seemed to be in line for a portion of her generous donations and in one their letters St. John cautions her on the extend of her generosity as she is so free to give it all away and leave nothing for herself or her convent to support itself.
The role of a Deaconess in the early church had a very specific purpose for being. One of their primary reasons for being was to perform roles that would put men or women at moral risk. The first duty was that of the Baptism of women. Catechumens in the early church were baptized in the nude and had the sacred oil of baptism rubbed on their bodies.Then after baptism they were robbed in a white gown and presented to the church. Obviously rubbing oil all over the bodies of naked women was not the appropriate role for male clergy. So thus the deaconess. She also visited the houses of women who were alone, and an interesting note in orthodox church history mentioned the deaconess would preside at the doors of the church and keep out women of undesirable reputations. How some of the Harlots of the Desert" who gained entry into churches during festivals and special events and were converted by hearing the word preached got past some of these female door keepers is an additional mystery of the church. The role of the deaconess performing acts of mercy and assisting in the behind the scenes preparations of the liturgy, and the further training of female catechumens is rather universal across the descriptions of the deaconess role in the church. History has kept the memory of the deaconess in written record on tombstones in church literature and in the records of the liturgical ordination of a deaconess at the altar of the church.
Coming from a church tradition with southern states roots where deaconesses were licensed as preachers, prayed for the sick, founded churches, and performed major missionary endeavors the role of the deaconess of the early church was a further confirmation of their important role in the church. My surprise was finding the whole role of a female deacon greatly controversial in the Catholic church, not so popular an idea in some Orthodox churches and in broad dispute in others. It is only recently that the Catholic church had approved married permanent deacons. Male deacons. Apparently women can do all the roles assigned to a deaconess, care for the altar behind the scenes, become Eucharist ministers and take the Eucharist to the sick, perform deeds of charity and mercy, train the catechist, and raise large amounts of money for worthy causes but to be ordained to this as a calling is not on the list. Nuns are called to be consecrated to God and often fulfill these roles in the church but even they do not have the same ordination to the deaconess role that was present in the early church. However women have circumvented in some many ways the restrictions of some of the early women in the church as to jobs outside the church they could perform. We have become professionals in roles such as social workers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, teachers and managers of NGO's. These help meet the needs of the poor and women at risk in society as the early deaconess did but they lack in secular society the spiritual direction that would also come with this role.
The path to the altar to be ordained to perform these roles as a recognized vocation in the Church still seems to be barred by rules and regulations that mired in directives about "Jesus being male" and " all his apostles were male ". Other reasons are Tradition. I struggle with this as a woman with a brain. Tradition seems to reflect the opposite in women like St. Olympai. When found both in scripture and tradition we find women present in the group that helped support the apostles, at the cross , the tomb , the Resurrection and at the fall of Pentecostal fire. We find them present in letter of commendation by Paul as having churches meeting in their house and in their roles in the very infant church. Then again here they in the memory of the church , at the same time as the great councils of the church were being resolved, during the times we gained such essentials as the Nicene Creed, and the freedom of the Church in the Roman Empire to be a legal church we find the Deaconess. The Eastern Orthodox church has kept more of their names in the memories of the celebration of their liturgies and the life of St.Olympias is celebrated on Dec. 17. The Catholic Church has recognized her as one of the 140 Colonnade Saints surround St. Peter's square. Kudodos to Bernini.
Some good links for Olympia and the roles of the deaconess are listed below:
http://monasticmatrix.usc.edu/monasticon/?function=detail&id=4998
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