What does deaconess mean?
A deaconess is a woman who serves in the office of deacon or in a comparable order of Christian ministry. The term arose because many churches historically restricted the title 'deacon' to men, so women called to similar work were set apart as deaconesses instead. The office has ancient roots: the New Testament commends Phoebe with language associated with the diaconate, and formal orders of deaconesses existed in the early church before fading in the medieval West. The office was revived in the nineteenth century, notably by Lutheran and Anglican bodies, whose deaconesses often devoted themselves to nursing, education, and care of the poor. In recent decades many denominations that once used the term now ordain women simply as deacons, so 'deaconess' carries a distinctly traditional, ecclesiastical flavour today.
nounA woman who is a deacon, especially one ordained or appointed to a distinct order of female ministry in certain Christian churches.
- A woman ordained or appointed to the office of deacon in some Christian churches.
- A woman belonging to an order of lay religious workers dedicated to charitable and pastoral service (as in Lutheran and Methodist traditions).
"The deaconess visited the sick members of the parish every week."
"She was consecrated as a deaconess after years of service in the parish."
"The Lutheran deaconess ran the hospital's nursing school in the late nineteenth century."
Standard plural; pronounced /ˈdiːkənəsɪz/.
"The order traces its founding to three deaconesses sent from Kaiserswerth in 1850."
The order of deaconesses is one of the oldest forms of women's ministry in Christianity — attested as far back as the letters of St. Paul, who commends Phoebe as 'a deacon of the church at Cenchreae'.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of deaconess
Deaconess derives from the Greek 'diakonos', meaning servant or minister, via 'diakonissa' and the Latin 'diaconissa', formed by adding a feminine ending to the word for deacon. It entered English through ecclesiastical Latin during the medieval period, though its modern currency dates largely from the nineteenth-century revival of female diaconal orders. Cognates include the related English terms 'deacon', 'diaconate', and 'diaconal', all from the same Greek root.
How deaconess is actually used
Formal and ecclesiastical in register. In many churches the term has declined since the later twentieth century as women have been admitted to the diaconate under the single title 'deacon'; 'deaconess' survives mainly in Orthodox, Anglican, and some Protestant contexts.
Easily confused with deaconess
A deacon is a member of the diaconate of either sex, while 'deaconess' specifically denotes a woman serving in that role or in a parallel female order.