www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Faith & Theology What is a "sub-deacon"?

Where might I find information on "sub-deacons"? Father Loya has asked if I would become one, at least for the pre-sanctified liturgies. I know that the category now is usually considered to be "altar boy". However, I understand that originally it was a ministry for adults.

If any of you snigger when I come out I will get you. Gggrrr...

Dan Lauffer

Dan,

Isn't it obvious? It's the deacon onn them underwater boat things...


Actually... we had a subdeacon at our parish some years back. Csaba had finished seminary, and was over in the U.S. doing Doctoral studies, or maybe Licentiate, (I don't remember). Anyway, he was a subdeacon then, because he was not yet married, and it left him free to do so before ordination to the diaconate and priesthood - which is exactly what happenned when he returned to Hungary. ("Abba" Csaba and his lovely wife Klara now have a beautiful little girl, too.)

I dont think the subdiaconate is utilized much in this country, but I've been wrong 30 or 40 times already today....

Cheers,

Sharon


Sharon Mech, SFO
Cantor & sinner
sharon@cmhc.com

Dan,

There are a number of practical duties and responsibilities for the sub deacon. below is a link to the Prosphora page for bakers of Prosphora. There is a further page on the responsibility of the sub deacon. Might be of interest to you.
http://www.prosphora.org/page5.html

Joe

Dan,
It is true that the subdeacon is not used much in the U.S. It is a minor order of the Eastern Churches accomplished by ordination.
Minor orders are given to deacon candidates during their formation, and to those studying for priesthood. The sequence normally is tonsure (which makes you a cleric of the church), then ordination to the lectorate (i.e., reader). Ordination to the subdiaconate is usually done at the same ceremony as ordination to the diaconate for a very good reason.
Clerical celibacy is professed prior to ordination as a sub deacon. If you are married, you may be ordained a sub deacon and a deacon. Priestly ordination for married candidates is our tradition, but still to be implemented as a normal course of events in the U.S. That is why diaconate ordinations have the ordination to the sub-diaconate in the same ceremony. In that way, if something were to prevent the ordination to the diaconate, you would not be �stuck� with the celibacy required of a sub deacon.
My word of caution is that at the ordination to sub deacon, you agree to never marry. If your wife passes on, or if you have an unfortunate divorce/annulment situation, you may not re-marry. If this stipulation will not be an impediment to your carrying on the ministry of Christ as a sub deacon, then you should pray, seek counseling and possibly consider going forward.
Have a blessed Great Fast.
Father Deacon Elmer

Fr Deacon Elmer:

I read that in some Churches, ordination to the subdiaconate is NOT an impdeiment to marriage. I was reading the argument on an Orthodox list a month or so ago. Does anyone know more about this?

anastasios

Dear Anastasios,

In the Syrian Church we have several ranks which are collectively called the diaconate. The first three of these (mzamrono, quroyo, and apodyaqno, which are in English cantor, reader, and subdeacon) do not require a committment to celibacy, and so one can get through the subdiaconate, and still get married later. But once you are ordained shamosho (full deacon, also called evangelical deacon, I don't know why), you must be married. If you're not, you are ordained celibate, and vow to live that way. My priest was ordained by his bishop as cantor, reader, and subdeacon within the course of a couple of months, but stayed a subdeacon till he got married, five years later. A couple of weeks after he got married, he was in short order ordained a deacon, and a few days later, a priest. Talk about express service.

O My, I've been married for almost 34 years. Hmmm....

I think Father Loya is looking for more ways to get me involved as I await permission to pursue the priesthood.

Now, what do I do with my wife?

Dan Lauffer

A deacon who proclaims the Gospel at Liturgy, i,e, evangelical

K.

Dear Kurt,

I thought of this possibility, but it didn't make sense to me. In none of the Syrian churches I've ever visited have I seen a full deacon ever proclaim the Evangelion. I've seen full deacons administer Communion on occasion, but never, ever, have I heard or seen one proclaim the Gospel. Maybe it's different for the Maronites, or for Syrian Catholics, but I've never heard of this among non-latinised Syrian Catholics or the Orthodox. Granted my experiences in the Middle East are limited, I can tell you for a fact that it doesn't happen in India, and in India people can get pretty obsessed with preserving authentic liturgical traditions, at least the Orthodox do. The current problems in the Syro-Malabar Church wouldn't indicate that about our people. But that's another problem. Thanks, Kurt.

Christ is in Our Midst!

Dear Brother C.D.

I am a Subdeacon, ordained originally under ROCOR but now serving in the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese. I am married, but was advised at the time of my ordination, I could not remarry if my wife preceded me in death. Officially, I was taught that my official Liturgical duties are performed at Hierarchal Liturgies as I assuring the Bishop vestments are cleaned and ready for him at all times, I assist in the formal robing of the Bishop for the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy. Subdeacons presentthe Bishop's Candlesticks for blessings, assist the Bishop up and down stairs, and generally do The Bidding of the Bishop during the Hierarchal Liturgy.
In services that are done in the absence of the Bishop such as Liturgies presided over by the presbyter, I frequently provide additional direction to the Candle Bearers and Readers, I may be asked to read the Epistle. In processions,I stand in front of the Deacon who has the censor, I usually am found carrying the Crucifix or the Festal Icon. In a Lay service sans Bishop and Deacon, I read the Gospel and preside over the service.
The calling of Subdeacon can be either permanent or transient , enroute to further callings in the diaconate, priesthood, etc. I am currently preparing to enter the St. Stephen's Course and hope to be deemed worthy to continue to pursue a calling as a Deacon some day.
One finds the ordination to the Subdiaconate active in ROCOR, Antiochian Archdiocese, OCA, Moscow Patriarchate, Serbian Orthodox Church, and some of the Old Calendar Traditional Jurisdictions. It is not found for the most part in the Greek Archdiocese here in the US. It would be nice to see it restoreed to its full stance in the Byzantine Catholic Churches.

Your brother in Christ,
Thomas

Thomas - thanks for a very good post! May God grace you in his service.

MUSINGS ON THE SUBDIACONATE


In our present conception of the sacred ministry, it is not uncommon to make a distinction between the major orders of bishop, presbyter, and deacon, and the minor orders of subdeacon, lector-cantor, and taper-bearer. It has also been customary to think of an individual progressing through these orders at least to the presbyterate. Within this paradigm of a cursus honorum, that is the succeeding from one order to the next as if climbing a ladder, it is very easy to conclude that the presbyterate is a function or rank that by its very nature is omnivorous. (H. B.Porter, "A Traditional Reflection on Deaconate in Relation to 'Omnivorous Priesthood'", Living Worship, Vol. 12, no. 9. 1976.) The fathers of Vatican II, by restoring the diaconate as a permanent rank, did much to remedy this erroneous notion of the ordained ministry that leads to a deficient understanding of the nature of the Church. (Lumen gentium, no. 29, Orientalium Eccelsiarum, no. 17.) But so far, this has only been a beginning, for the minor orders have as yet to receive serious consideration and remain little more than stepping-stones to the major orders. This is certainly true in practice if not in theory in the Byzantine rite.

In these notes, we specifically wish to give some reflection on the order of the subdeacon or hypodeacon. The earliest reference to this order is given in a letter of Cornelius, Bishop of Rome to Fabius, Bishop of Antioch in the middle of the third century. (H. Leclerq, Dictionnaire d'Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie, XV, cols. 1619-26, 1953.) This order developed as an offshoot of the diaconate. According to the Roman practice, a number of subdeacons were grouped together according to diocesan regions under the supervision of a regional deacon. As the deacons, they cared for the poor, the sick and the imprisoned; showed hospitality to strangers; and assisted in administrative tasks. Their liturgical functions were as assistants to the deacons, especially in Episcopal services. It is to be noted that as the liturgy developed through the fourth to the ninth centuries, it borrowed much from Byzantine court ceremonial. The result was a more elaborate form of episcopal liturgy, and thus the subdeacons acquired many liturgical functions during this period.

In present day practice, at a liturgy served by a presbyter, the lay server has generally supplanted the subdeacon's role. The foremost factor to have brought this about was the principle of the cursus honorum, since very few men ever remained subdeacons for any considerable period of time. Therefore, non-ordained altar servers fulfilled the liturgical function of the subdeacon, so very necessary for an ordered and dignified celebration of the liturgy. Because this pattern of service is so usual, we take it as being the norm. But to fulfill a liturgical function without being set aside or ordained for the function is really the abnormal, at least in the patristic context. Consider that we would not think of someone presiding at the Divine Liturgy who had not been ordained as bishop or priest, so why then do we think of other orders being fulfilled by those who have not been set aside for them? It may be as H. B. Potter suggests we think of the priesthood as omnivorous, and therefore, all the other orders as somewhat insignificant. A further effect is that the subdiaconate has been reduced to a solely liturgical role and has been separated from charitable and administrative duties. It is also unfortunate that the number of well-trained subdeacons is so few, for it makes it very difficult to carry out the hierarchical divine services adequately without at least 7 subdeacons.

It is not possible here to give an exhaustive list of the liturgical functions of the hypodeacon, yet it will be helpful to mention the most important ones. As already stated, at the presbyteral liturgy the subdeacon acts as a server: there should be at least two. They assists the deacons and the priest; carry the tapers and the ripidia (if there is not a sufficient number of deacons - four deacons carry the ripidia during the Great Entrance at the bishop's liturgy) in the entrance processions; prepare and tend to the censers; attends to the doors of the iconostasis; prepare the antidoron and zeon; and they perform all those tasks that are now performed by the lay server. At the Episcopal liturgy, the subdeacon, like the deacon, is the special attendant of the bishop. The subdeacons accompany the bishop as he approached the vestibule of the temple where they clothe him in the mandyas. The subdeacons carry the trikerion and dikerion, and the pastoral staff presenting these to the hierarch when needed. While the protodeacon sings the vesting prayers, the subdeacons vest the bishop. They wash the bishop's hands after the vesting and again at the cherubic hymn and following the liturgy. At the Episcopal liturgy, they also do all that they would usually do at a presbyteral liturgy.(For the hypodeacon's functions in the Episcopal Divine Liturgy, it is necessary to refer the Archieratikon ili Sluzhebnik Svjatityelsky, Rim: v Tipografyiy Kriptoferratskiia Obityeli, 1973.) It should be noted, however, that the subdeacons do not assume any of the usually functions of the deacon; they do not incense, sing the synaptes, read the Gospel, preach, receive communion at the Holy Table, or perform the ablutions of chalice and diskos.(Ordo Celebrationis, no. 26. "It is unlawful for clerics who have not been ordained to the diaconate to function in the office of deacon.) Communion is received with the laity in the nave: the subdeacons receiving first.

The Byzantine liturgical tradition makes a distinction between ordinations which take place at the Holy Table, that is cheirotonia of bishops, priests and deacons and cheirothesia which takes place in the nave - at the bishop's cathedra: that of taper-bearer, lector-cantor, subdeacon, archdeacon/protodeacon, archpriest, hegumen and archimandrite. Cheirotonia must be given by a bishop, and is equivalent to what the Latin rite would call a sacrament. Cheirothesia would be considered by the West as a "sacramental blessing" e.g. the Blessing of an Abbot. It is given with the intention of permanency. It is a permanent blessing and is given so that a liturgical function might be fulfilled. While these functions may not be constitutive, they are very necessary for a dignified and fitting celebration of the liturgy.(Instruction for Applying the Liturgical Prescriptions of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, no. 75. 1996.)

The candidate for the subdiaconate (a lector-cantor) usually receives the cheirothesia from the bishop following the vesting of the hierarch but before the hierarch washes his hands. The bishop blesses the orarion and the candidate is girded with it over the sticharion in the manner of a subdeacon; i.e. across the waist, under the arms, across the back, drawn over the shoulders, across the chest, and the ends finally passed through the band at the front. The bishop blesses the candidate thrice and lays his hand on the ordinand's head and recites the prayer:

"O Lord our God, who through one and the same Holy Spirit, distributes gifts to each of those whom you have chose, bestowing various orders in your Church, and appointing degrees of ministry for the service of your holy and undefiled Mysteries; who, in your ineffable foreknowledge, do also appoint this your servant to be worthy to serve in your Holy Church; do you yourself, O Master, preserve him undefiled in all things, and grant unto him to love the beauty of your house, to stand at the door of your holy temple, and to kindle the lamp of the tabernacle of your glory. And plant him in your holy Church as a fruitful olive-tree that bears the fruit of righteousness; and, at the time of your advent, show your servant perfected that he may receive the reward of them that have been acceptable to you. For yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory: of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen."(Archieratikon, pp231-34.) This prayer which is addressed to the Father, makes special mention of the diversity of gifts given by the Holy Spirit for service, which should make us reflect that all ministry must have as its foundation unconditional love of God and neighbour. The prayer also mentions some of the functions of the subdeacon: watching over the doors of the church and lighting the lamps. The subdeacon is also charged with the studying of the Acts and Epistles. When the prayer is finished, the newly ordained subdeacon washes the hands of the bishop, immediately putting into practice the reason for his cheirothesia.

It is to be hoped that the revival of this ministry as a permanent rank will take place in order that the many functions of the subdiaconate, liturgical, charitable, and administrative which are so very necessary for the fully life of the Church can be fulfilled.