Women Deacons in the Orthodox Church: Called to Holiness and Ministry

The role of women in the Church has been hotly debated by all Christian Churches, especially as it relates to ordained ministry. In the Orthodox Church, this conversation has focused on the existence of women's ordination to the diaconate. This book traces the development and growth of this ordained expression of ministry in the Christian East. By examining scriptural, patristic, and liturgical evidence, as well as the lives of the women saints identified as deacons, the author demonstrates that women were ordained as deacons to dynamic and evangelical ministries of prayer, teaching, pastoral care and social concern.