The Character Of The Deaconate
Editorial from the FAITH Magazine May 1993 by Tim Finigan
During the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Dopfner, answering the objections of Cardinal Spellman, said that the restoration of the Permanent Diaconate was a question of "Sacramentalising functions that already exist". This expression showed a clear dependence on the theology of Rahner which was influential in the movement to restore the Diaconate as a Permanent order. The subsequent teaching of the Council in Lumen Gentium was not, of course, bound to this particular view and we are entitled to speculate whether there is a further understanding of the Diaconate to be had from the tradition of the Church as it may be developed to answer the needs of our own time.
"Anonymous Deacons"
Rahner pointed out that diaconal work was already being done in the Church. Therefore, he said, the office of diaconal service existed in fact. It was a form of anonymous diaconate and it would be possible to transmit this diaconate sacramentally in the Church through the sacrament of Holy Order. He then argued that it was opportune to transmit the diaconate sacramentally because then sacramental grace could be given, and a permanent consecration to this diaconal work. Even though grace can be given outside the sacraments, (as for example in the forgiveness of venial sins) that grace should be given sacramentally if the means exist, (as in a confession of devotion). The grace given to men to carry out diaconal functions in the Church was being given outside the sacrament of Holy Order. Rahner argued that the permanent diaconate should be restored so that this grace could be given sacramentally. [...] we are not really concerned with introducing any new office, but only with the restoration of the sacramental conferring of an office which basically already exists though in an anonymous way. (Rahner Theological Investigations Vol 5, p284)
Rahner made the important observation that the diaconate had not become obsolete in the whole of the Church. Some of the uniate Churches had always continued to foster the diaconate as a permanent state. His argument was that with the sacrament being available, the restoration of the permanent diaconate in the West was opportune and should be carried through. Nevertheless, it seems a pity to leave it at that. The layman (or particularly woman) will want to know why the functions traditionally carried out by the Deacon should be honoured with this sacramental grace and why other functions carried out by others who serve in the Church should not.
Historical link with the Liturgy
It is beyond the scope of this article to embark on a detailed discussion of the why the diaconate declined in the Western Church. As we do intend, however, to remark on the relationship of the Deacon to the Eucharist, it is worth drawing attention to a few coincidences.
The restoration of the Permanent Diaconate in the West coincides with a determined attempt to reform the liturgy of the Church. (There are of course various views on the effectiveness of that reform in practice but in FAITH, we have always supported liturgical reform in principle and given our wholehearted assent to the direction of the second Vatican Council in the matter.)
In the matter of liturgy, the council of Trent was also a reforming Council. Many abuses were corrected and the groundwork was laid, albeit remotely, for some of the later and more thorough reforms of Vatican II. It is noteworthy, then, that this more tentative reform also coincided also with the first suggestion for the restoration of the permanent Diaconate. (Session 23 chapter 17) The Council decreed that where revenues permitted, the functions of the diaconate and the minor orders should be restored to those who were constituted in those orders.
Further evidence of the link between the Diaconate and the liturgy can be seen if we consider that the decline of the Diaconate in the West as a permanent order also coincides with the decline of the liturgy whereas in the East, where the liturgy remained stable if undeveloped, the Diaconate also remained as a permanent order. We may therefore be justified in looking to the Eucharist for the full understanding of the character of the Diaconate.
Functional theology inadequate
We are familiar with the impoverishment of a purely functional view of the priesthood or the episcopacy. To look for an understanding of the character of the priesthood or episcopate solely in the day to day achievements and "work" of the priest of bishop is likely to lead to a secularised model based on human considerations and priorities. A richer understanding will see the bishop and priest primarily in terms of their sharing in the priesthood of Christ and the manner in which Christ makes his priestly work present through them. This will establish the teaching activity of the Magisterium and the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice as the essential "functions" of the priest and bishop regardless of what may be thought important or a priority at any particular time.
In the case of the deacon, a functional view will be even less successful. It is often pointed out that there is little or nothing that a deacon can do which cannot be done by the laity. In the minds of some, this is enough to cast doubt on the need for deacons. They cannot do anything special so why have them?
If, on the other hand, we consider diaconate in terms of how the deacon shares in the priesthood of Christ, we may be likely to come up with a more hopeful view of an office that has never been entirely absent from the Church's ministry. If we simply make the office the sacramentalising of functions that already exist, we will end up with something like a sacramental Bene Merenti.
Icon of Christ the Servant
It may need to be made clear at this point that the expressions servant and to serve in English versions of the New Testament are normally translations of the words diakonos and its related verb diakonein. Two familiar examples would be the sayings of Christ The Son of man came not to be served but to serve (Matt 20.28) and he who is greatest among you shall be your servant (Matt 23.11). The word could also be rendered minister and occasionally is in some translations. Of course, diakonos came to have a special meaning as the office of deacon was established in the Church. To persist with a translation such as assistant or minister after the establishment of the office is disingenuous in the same way as using elder and overseer instead of priest and bishop. Nevertheless, the word deacon, as originally used, was not the name of an office but the ordinary word for minister or servant.
Therefore the second Vatican Council was able to quote St Polycarp saying that the deacons should be merciful and zealous, walking according to the truth of Jesus Christ who was made servant [diakonos] of all (LG 29). St Ignatius seems to go further in a celebrated passage from his letter to the Magnesians: Be ye zealous to do all things in godly concord, the bishop presiding after the likeness of God and the presbyters after the likeness of the council of the apostles, with the deacons who are most dear to me, having been entrusted with the diaconate of Jesus Christ who was with the Father before the worlds and appeared at the end of time. (ad Magnesios 6.1) This particular association of the deacon to Christ is confirmed in another place where he says: In like manner let all men respect the deacons as Jesus Christ even as they should respect the bishop as being a true type of the Father and the presbyters as the council of God and the college of the apostles. Apart from these, there is not even the name of a Church. (Ad Trallianos 2-3)
According to the tradition of the Church, then, the deacon is conformed to the image of Christ the servant (diakonos). The new Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks explicitly of the character of the sacrament which brings about this configuring to Christ who was made deacon or servant of all. (n.1570) We may, I think, speak of the deacon as the ikon of Christ the servant. This begins to make sense of the deacon as a member of the hierarchy of the Church constituted in Holy Orders and consecrated for divine service. This is very different from the purely functional view of the deacon which sees him as one who has received sacramental grace to carry out functions. We need to investigate further the relationship of the service of Christ to the Eucharist and to his priesthood as well as the manner in which this economy of God expresses in human history the life of the Trinity.
The character of Holy Order
From the point of view of the sanctification of the individual who receives the sacrament, we may legitimately suggest that the character of Holy Order is a further enhancement of the graces given in Baptism and Confirmation. The point has been developed by Fr Holloway in a footnote to the pamphlet Sexual Order and Holy Order (p.24) as well as in a recent article on The Theme of Priesthood (FAITH Nov/Dec 1992, p.8) The consequence of this view is that the sacrament of Holy Order does not give to the bishop, priest or deacon any greater holiness than the sacrament of baptism gives to every man and woman in the Church. There is no need to envy one another's gifts - the greatest status and sanctity ever given by God was given to Our Lady without the sacrament of Holy Order.
The nature of the sacramental character of Holy Order is that of a consecration for service of the whole Church. (To confer the sacrament as an honour in view of services rendered would indeed overturn the meaning of the sacramental character.) There is a vocation to holiness implicit in the very mission of the recipient. One who is sent to enflesh the ministry of Christ ought indeed to conform his life to the holiness of Christ and will be given the grace to do so but we may regard that personal aspect of the sacramental character as the perfection of the grace of Baptism not as something qualitatively different.
Participation in the priesthood of Christ
In his work Principles of Sacramental Theology, Bernard Leeming asserts "It is clear that there can be different participations in Christ's priesthood, especially if the character is held to be a power; for manifestly a power admits of degrees of participation." (p.239) He goes on to recall how it has always been of Catholic faith that Christ communicated this priestly power in a special way to the apostles and their successors and not indiscriminately to the whole community "Hence the character of the Christian priesthood does not derive from the Christian community but from Christ; and the powers it carries with it are not delegated by the community, but are received from God." (ibid) He makes the telling point that if the power of the priesthood derived from the community there would be no sense in the "common Christian feeling against reordinations" because if the community had conferred the power, the community could, presumably, withdraw it.
The difference between the two kinds of participation, the priesthood of the laity and the ministerial priesthood, can be characterised in various ways. A helpful way of expressing it is to say that the priesthood of the laity takes us to the offertory of the Mass and then the ministerial priesthood takes the offering up into the Eucharistic sacrifice of Christ. Another important expression is that of St Thomas who places the essence of priesthood in the power over the body and blood of Christ.
Power over the body and blood of the Lord
This is where there may be some doubt over the place of the diaconate in the scheme of Holy Order. The Constitutions of the Egyptian Church, quoted by Lumen Gentium speak of the diaconate where hands are laid on "not for priesthood but for service". Where then, can we find a place for the diaconate in what is essentially a priestly sacrament?
The answer is to be found in the economy of God in which the ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant finds its place. In the exercise of the priesthood of Christ, we are all the time dealing with a constant and organic line of development in the communion of God with his people. The communion which God undertakes with us is always both individual and social. therefore in the Old Testament we find a line of priesthood as well as prophecy. However unworthy at times the occupants may have been in the sight of the Lord, the chair of Moses was to make available the divinely sanctioned authority among the people.
With the coming of Christ, the communion of God with mankind will find its fulfilment and consummation most especially through the offering of the Eucharist as the food and life more abundant of men. Only God can be this for us and he does not delegate or share this function. This is the summit of the priestly work of Christ and it is the focus of all ministerial priesthood in the Church. We must expect that it is the focus also of the diaconate as an ordained ministry of service.
At the service of the Body of the Lord
St Thomas makes the essence of the diaconate to be co-operation with the priest in the dispensation of the sacrament "not in respect of consecration for this the priest alone does". (Supp 37.2)He also alludes to the Sentences where Lombard spoke of the duty of the deacon "to minister in all things that are carried out in the sacraments of Christ".
Thomas also makes the point that the ministries of the minor orders were all originally contained in the diaconate implicitly but that they developed in the Church with the development of divine worship (ibid ad.2) Once again the development of ministry in the Church is related not to secular functions but to the liturgy itself as we suggested with the use or otherwise of the diaconal ministry.
It is noteworthy that when a distinguished author referred to the decline of the diaconate, he said "A deacon's functions are now practically reduced to the ministration at High Mass and to exposing the Blessed Sacrament at Benediction" (H Thurston "Deacons" in The Catholic Encyclopaedia 1908) When this dismissive sentiment is reproduced in modern times as a scorn for deacons "dressing up in their finery" or "prancing around the sanctuary", it is worth recalling that the liturgical function of the deacon is the single one that remained intact through the many centuries in the West during which all the other functions - social, administrative and charitable had fallen into a seemingly irrecoverable desuetude. It is the deacon's relationship to the priestly power over the body of the Lord that has always remained intact.
Relationship to the ministry of charity
In the rite of ordination, the deacon is spoken of as one who helps the bishop and priests in the ministry of the word, the altar and of charity. The Holy Father, drew out the manner in which these three ministries are related: "Depending on the circumstances, one or other of these may receive particular emphasis in an individual deacon's work, but these three ministries are inseparably joined together as one in the service of God's redemptive plan. This is so because the word of God inevitably leads us to the Eucharistic worship of God at the altar; this in turn leads us to a new way of living which expresses itself in acts of charity." (Pope John Paul II Address to Permanent Deacons and their Wives Michigan 19 September 1987)
The ministry of the Eucharist is always central to the life of the Church and to all ministry within the Church. The social, administrative and charitable functions of the Church which may be expressed in the ministry of the diaconate are there precisely because of the communion God wills to establish between himself and us through the Eucharistic offering of his Son. It is to draw all men to Christ in the bond of communion that the Church exists and it is the work of Christ himself carried out in the flesh through the sacraments which accomplishes this communion. There is no higher work possible for a deacon than to minister according to his own sacramental character, to the priest who offers the Eucharist in the person of Christ.
A Trinitarian perspective
If we wish to gain a deeper insight into the relationship of the diaconate to the life of the Trinity, we can follow up the remarks of St Ignatius to the deacons in his letter to the Magnesians already quoted. He has spoken of the deacons as being entrusted with the diakonia of Jesus Christ. He says later "Therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father [being united with him], either by Himself or by the Apostles, so do not do anything yourselves without the bishop and the priests. [...] Hasten to come together all of you, as to one temple, even God; as to one altar, even to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from one Father and is with one and departed unto one." (Ad Magnesios 7)
This perspective is in the mainstream of the apostolic tradition. St Paul says Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father ... for "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says "All things are put in subjection under him," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. It was a later controversy over the heretical view which saw Christ as subordinate to the Father which is responsible for some of the most fruitful developments of this passage.
In opposition to the subordinationists, Origen (De principiis 3.5.6) relates this passage to Colossians 1.15-20 where St Paul says that all things hold together in Christ. The things of this world are subjected to Christ not for their damnation or loss but for their salvation. Through the victory of Christ, all things are subjected in him to the Father. As Origen puts it, " it is necessary that all things should be subjected to Christ so that then at last, when all things are fulfilled and perfected by their subjection, it should be said even of him that he is going to be subjected to the Father as one bringing the palm of his victory."
This magnificent vision which we try to vindicate anew for our time in FAITH, can provide for our understanding of the diaconate what the consideration of the eternal sacrifice of Christ does for our understanding of the priesthood. Just as the priesthood of Christ is the expression in the economy of God, of his eternal sacrifice in relationship to the Father and the Holy Spirit, so the ministry of Christ the servant is the temporal expression in the provision of salvation of the relationship of Christ as he subjects all things in himself to the Father. The Deacon participates in this ministry and it is shown most fully in the Eucharist as he ministers to the priest at the altar.
Editorial from the FAITH Magazine May 1993 by Tim Finigan
During the Second Vatican Council, Cardinal Dopfner, answering the objections of Cardinal Spellman, said that the restoration of the Permanent Diaconate was a question of "Sacramentalising functions that already exist". This expression showed a clear dependence on the theology of Rahner which was influential in the movement to restore the Diaconate as a Permanent order. The subsequent teaching of the Council in Lumen Gentium was not, of course, bound to this particular view and we are entitled to speculate whether there is a further understanding of the Diaconate to be had from the tradition of the Church as it may be developed to answer the needs of our own time.
"Anonymous Deacons"
Rahner pointed out that diaconal work was already being done in the Church. Therefore, he said, the office of diaconal service existed in fact. It was a form of anonymous diaconate and it would be possible to transmit this diaconate sacramentally in the Church through the sacrament of Holy Order. He then argued that it was opportune to transmit the diaconate sacramentally because then sacramental grace could be given, and a permanent consecration to this diaconal work. Even though grace can be given outside the sacraments, (as for example in the forgiveness of venial sins) that grace should be given sacramentally if the means exist, (as in a confession of devotion). The grace given to men to carry out diaconal functions in the Church was being given outside the sacrament of Holy Order. Rahner argued that the permanent diaconate should be restored so that this grace could be given sacramentally. [...] we are not really concerned with introducing any new office, but only with the restoration of the sacramental conferring of an office which basically already exists though in an anonymous way. (Rahner Theological Investigations Vol 5, p284)
Rahner made the important observation that the diaconate had not become obsolete in the whole of the Church. Some of the uniate Churches had always continued to foster the diaconate as a permanent state. His argument was that with the sacrament being available, the restoration of the permanent diaconate in the West was opportune and should be carried through. Nevertheless, it seems a pity to leave it at that. The layman (or particularly woman) will want to know why the functions traditionally carried out by the Deacon should be honoured with this sacramental grace and why other functions carried out by others who serve in the Church should not.
Historical link with the Liturgy
It is beyond the scope of this article to embark on a detailed discussion of the why the diaconate declined in the Western Church. As we do intend, however, to remark on the relationship of the Deacon to the Eucharist, it is worth drawing attention to a few coincidences.
The restoration of the Permanent Diaconate in the West coincides with a determined attempt to reform the liturgy of the Church. (There are of course various views on the effectiveness of that reform in practice but in FAITH, we have always supported liturgical reform in principle and given our wholehearted assent to the direction of the second Vatican Council in the matter.)
In the matter of liturgy, the council of Trent was also a reforming Council. Many abuses were corrected and the groundwork was laid, albeit remotely, for some of the later and more thorough reforms of Vatican II. It is noteworthy, then, that this more tentative reform also coincided also with the first suggestion for the restoration of the permanent Diaconate. (Session 23 chapter 17) The Council decreed that where revenues permitted, the functions of the diaconate and the minor orders should be restored to those who were constituted in those orders.
Further evidence of the link between the Diaconate and the liturgy can be seen if we consider that the decline of the Diaconate in the West as a permanent order also coincides with the decline of the liturgy whereas in the East, where the liturgy remained stable if undeveloped, the Diaconate also remained as a permanent order. We may therefore be justified in looking to the Eucharist for the full understanding of the character of the Diaconate.
Functional theology inadequate
We are familiar with the impoverishment of a purely functional view of the priesthood or the episcopacy. To look for an understanding of the character of the priesthood or episcopate solely in the day to day achievements and "work" of the priest of bishop is likely to lead to a secularised model based on human considerations and priorities. A richer understanding will see the bishop and priest primarily in terms of their sharing in the priesthood of Christ and the manner in which Christ makes his priestly work present through them. This will establish the teaching activity of the Magisterium and the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice as the essential "functions" of the priest and bishop regardless of what may be thought important or a priority at any particular time.
In the case of the deacon, a functional view will be even less successful. It is often pointed out that there is little or nothing that a deacon can do which cannot be done by the laity. In the minds of some, this is enough to cast doubt on the need for deacons. They cannot do anything special so why have them?
If, on the other hand, we consider diaconate in terms of how the deacon shares in the priesthood of Christ, we may be likely to come up with a more hopeful view of an office that has never been entirely absent from the Church's ministry. If we simply make the office the sacramentalising of functions that already exist, we will end up with something like a sacramental Bene Merenti.
Icon of Christ the Servant
It may need to be made clear at this point that the expressions servant and to serve in English versions of the New Testament are normally translations of the words diakonos and its related verb diakonein. Two familiar examples would be the sayings of Christ The Son of man came not to be served but to serve (Matt 20.28) and he who is greatest among you shall be your servant (Matt 23.11). The word could also be rendered minister and occasionally is in some translations. Of course, diakonos came to have a special meaning as the office of deacon was established in the Church. To persist with a translation such as assistant or minister after the establishment of the office is disingenuous in the same way as using elder and overseer instead of priest and bishop. Nevertheless, the word deacon, as originally used, was not the name of an office but the ordinary word for minister or servant.
Therefore the second Vatican Council was able to quote St Polycarp saying that the deacons should be merciful and zealous, walking according to the truth of Jesus Christ who was made servant [diakonos] of all (LG 29). St Ignatius seems to go further in a celebrated passage from his letter to the Magnesians: Be ye zealous to do all things in godly concord, the bishop presiding after the likeness of God and the presbyters after the likeness of the council of the apostles, with the deacons who are most dear to me, having been entrusted with the diaconate of Jesus Christ who was with the Father before the worlds and appeared at the end of time. (ad Magnesios 6.1) This particular association of the deacon to Christ is confirmed in another place where he says: In like manner let all men respect the deacons as Jesus Christ even as they should respect the bishop as being a true type of the Father and the presbyters as the council of God and the college of the apostles. Apart from these, there is not even the name of a Church. (Ad Trallianos 2-3)
According to the tradition of the Church, then, the deacon is conformed to the image of Christ the servant (diakonos). The new Catechism of the Catholic Church speaks explicitly of the character of the sacrament which brings about this configuring to Christ who was made deacon or servant of all. (n.1570) We may, I think, speak of the deacon as the ikon of Christ the servant. This begins to make sense of the deacon as a member of the hierarchy of the Church constituted in Holy Orders and consecrated for divine service. This is very different from the purely functional view of the deacon which sees him as one who has received sacramental grace to carry out functions. We need to investigate further the relationship of the service of Christ to the Eucharist and to his priesthood as well as the manner in which this economy of God expresses in human history the life of the Trinity.
The character of Holy Order
From the point of view of the sanctification of the individual who receives the sacrament, we may legitimately suggest that the character of Holy Order is a further enhancement of the graces given in Baptism and Confirmation. The point has been developed by Fr Holloway in a footnote to the pamphlet Sexual Order and Holy Order (p.24) as well as in a recent article on The Theme of Priesthood (FAITH Nov/Dec 1992, p.8) The consequence of this view is that the sacrament of Holy Order does not give to the bishop, priest or deacon any greater holiness than the sacrament of baptism gives to every man and woman in the Church. There is no need to envy one another's gifts - the greatest status and sanctity ever given by God was given to Our Lady without the sacrament of Holy Order.
The nature of the sacramental character of Holy Order is that of a consecration for service of the whole Church. (To confer the sacrament as an honour in view of services rendered would indeed overturn the meaning of the sacramental character.) There is a vocation to holiness implicit in the very mission of the recipient. One who is sent to enflesh the ministry of Christ ought indeed to conform his life to the holiness of Christ and will be given the grace to do so but we may regard that personal aspect of the sacramental character as the perfection of the grace of Baptism not as something qualitatively different.
Participation in the priesthood of Christ
In his work Principles of Sacramental Theology, Bernard Leeming asserts "It is clear that there can be different participations in Christ's priesthood, especially if the character is held to be a power; for manifestly a power admits of degrees of participation." (p.239) He goes on to recall how it has always been of Catholic faith that Christ communicated this priestly power in a special way to the apostles and their successors and not indiscriminately to the whole community "Hence the character of the Christian priesthood does not derive from the Christian community but from Christ; and the powers it carries with it are not delegated by the community, but are received from God." (ibid) He makes the telling point that if the power of the priesthood derived from the community there would be no sense in the "common Christian feeling against reordinations" because if the community had conferred the power, the community could, presumably, withdraw it.
The difference between the two kinds of participation, the priesthood of the laity and the ministerial priesthood, can be characterised in various ways. A helpful way of expressing it is to say that the priesthood of the laity takes us to the offertory of the Mass and then the ministerial priesthood takes the offering up into the Eucharistic sacrifice of Christ. Another important expression is that of St Thomas who places the essence of priesthood in the power over the body and blood of Christ.
Power over the body and blood of the Lord
This is where there may be some doubt over the place of the diaconate in the scheme of Holy Order. The Constitutions of the Egyptian Church, quoted by Lumen Gentium speak of the diaconate where hands are laid on "not for priesthood but for service". Where then, can we find a place for the diaconate in what is essentially a priestly sacrament?
The answer is to be found in the economy of God in which the ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant finds its place. In the exercise of the priesthood of Christ, we are all the time dealing with a constant and organic line of development in the communion of God with his people. The communion which God undertakes with us is always both individual and social. therefore in the Old Testament we find a line of priesthood as well as prophecy. However unworthy at times the occupants may have been in the sight of the Lord, the chair of Moses was to make available the divinely sanctioned authority among the people.
With the coming of Christ, the communion of God with mankind will find its fulfilment and consummation most especially through the offering of the Eucharist as the food and life more abundant of men. Only God can be this for us and he does not delegate or share this function. This is the summit of the priestly work of Christ and it is the focus of all ministerial priesthood in the Church. We must expect that it is the focus also of the diaconate as an ordained ministry of service.
At the service of the Body of the Lord
St Thomas makes the essence of the diaconate to be co-operation with the priest in the dispensation of the sacrament "not in respect of consecration for this the priest alone does". (Supp 37.2)He also alludes to the Sentences where Lombard spoke of the duty of the deacon "to minister in all things that are carried out in the sacraments of Christ".
Thomas also makes the point that the ministries of the minor orders were all originally contained in the diaconate implicitly but that they developed in the Church with the development of divine worship (ibid ad.2) Once again the development of ministry in the Church is related not to secular functions but to the liturgy itself as we suggested with the use or otherwise of the diaconal ministry.
It is noteworthy that when a distinguished author referred to the decline of the diaconate, he said "A deacon's functions are now practically reduced to the ministration at High Mass and to exposing the Blessed Sacrament at Benediction" (H Thurston "Deacons" in The Catholic Encyclopaedia 1908) When this dismissive sentiment is reproduced in modern times as a scorn for deacons "dressing up in their finery" or "prancing around the sanctuary", it is worth recalling that the liturgical function of the deacon is the single one that remained intact through the many centuries in the West during which all the other functions - social, administrative and charitable had fallen into a seemingly irrecoverable desuetude. It is the deacon's relationship to the priestly power over the body of the Lord that has always remained intact.
Relationship to the ministry of charity
In the rite of ordination, the deacon is spoken of as one who helps the bishop and priests in the ministry of the word, the altar and of charity. The Holy Father, drew out the manner in which these three ministries are related: "Depending on the circumstances, one or other of these may receive particular emphasis in an individual deacon's work, but these three ministries are inseparably joined together as one in the service of God's redemptive plan. This is so because the word of God inevitably leads us to the Eucharistic worship of God at the altar; this in turn leads us to a new way of living which expresses itself in acts of charity." (Pope John Paul II Address to Permanent Deacons and their Wives Michigan 19 September 1987)
The ministry of the Eucharist is always central to the life of the Church and to all ministry within the Church. The social, administrative and charitable functions of the Church which may be expressed in the ministry of the diaconate are there precisely because of the communion God wills to establish between himself and us through the Eucharistic offering of his Son. It is to draw all men to Christ in the bond of communion that the Church exists and it is the work of Christ himself carried out in the flesh through the sacraments which accomplishes this communion. There is no higher work possible for a deacon than to minister according to his own sacramental character, to the priest who offers the Eucharist in the person of Christ.
A Trinitarian perspective
If we wish to gain a deeper insight into the relationship of the diaconate to the life of the Trinity, we can follow up the remarks of St Ignatius to the deacons in his letter to the Magnesians already quoted. He has spoken of the deacons as being entrusted with the diakonia of Jesus Christ. He says later "Therefore as the Lord did nothing without the Father [being united with him], either by Himself or by the Apostles, so do not do anything yourselves without the bishop and the priests. [...] Hasten to come together all of you, as to one temple, even God; as to one altar, even to one Jesus Christ, who came forth from one Father and is with one and departed unto one." (Ad Magnesios 7)
This perspective is in the mainstream of the apostolic tradition. St Paul says Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father ... for "God has put all things in subjection under his feet." But when it says "All things are put in subjection under him," it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be all in all. It was a later controversy over the heretical view which saw Christ as subordinate to the Father which is responsible for some of the most fruitful developments of this passage.
In opposition to the subordinationists, Origen (De principiis 3.5.6) relates this passage to Colossians 1.15-20 where St Paul says that all things hold together in Christ. The things of this world are subjected to Christ not for their damnation or loss but for their salvation. Through the victory of Christ, all things are subjected in him to the Father. As Origen puts it, " it is necessary that all things should be subjected to Christ so that then at last, when all things are fulfilled and perfected by their subjection, it should be said even of him that he is going to be subjected to the Father as one bringing the palm of his victory."
This magnificent vision which we try to vindicate anew for our time in FAITH, can provide for our understanding of the diaconate what the consideration of the eternal sacrifice of Christ does for our understanding of the priesthood. Just as the priesthood of Christ is the expression in the economy of God, of his eternal sacrifice in relationship to the Father and the Holy Spirit, so the ministry of Christ the servant is the temporal expression in the provision of salvation of the relationship of Christ as he subjects all things in himself to the Father. The Deacon participates in this ministry and it is shown most fully in the Eucharist as he ministers to the priest at the altar.