Protodeacon David Kennedy
[Originally published in Diaconia Christi, 42/2007, and later published in New Diaconal Review, Issue 3 2009 and Issue 4 2010.]
Part 1 of 4
Liturgical Foundations
Over the last fifty years there has been a substantial amount of inquiry concerning the nature of the diaconate and the specific role and identity of the deacon, primarily in the Western Christian world. [One source for an accumulated bibliography is Distinctive Diaconate Study Number 22. To order DDS cf. www.distinctive-diaconate.org.uk A sample of recent publications from Paulist Press includes: Owen F. Cummings, William T. Ditewig, Richard R. Gaillardetz, Theology of the Diaconate: The State of the Question, 2005; Kenan B. Osborne, The Permanent Diaconate: Its History and Place in the Sacrament of Orders, 2006; James Keating, editor, The Deacon Reader, 2006.] The literature reveals an ongoing search to articulate who and what the deacon is. The International Theological Commission of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in its 2003 study attempted to bring some clarity to the situation. [International Theological Commission, From the Diakonia of Christ to the Diakonia of the Apostles, Hillenbrand, 2004.] It seems that much of the question focuses on the meaning of diakonia and its cognates: what does the New Testament tell us about this word and how it was used in early Christian literature? [John N. Collins, Diakonia: Re-interpreting the Ancient Sources, Oxford,1990; Collins, Deacons and the Church: Making connections between old and new, Morehouse, 2002.] It should be noted that these questions and the overwhelming literature on the topic has almost been exclusively from the perspective of Western Christianity. This is not in itself a fault, but it certainly gives a particularly nuanced perspective.
This paper will look at the diaconate from a different point of view, namely, the liturgical tradition of the Byzantine or Constantinopolitan rite. It is the underlying premise of the author that liturgy is theologia prima. [Alexander Schmemann, Introduction to Liturgical Theology, Faith Press, 1975; Aidan Kavanagh, On Liturgical Theology, Pueblo, 1981; David W. Fagerber, Theological Prima: What Is Liturgical Theology, Hillenbrand, 2004.] Liturgy is not just a source of theology but it is theology in action. Sacrosanctum Concilium speaks of the liturgy as both the summit and the fount of the Church’s life or activity, “from which all her power flows.” [Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10.] And while it does not exhaust the “entire activity of the Church” [Sacrosanctum Concilium, 9.] no other activity “of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.” [Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7.] The liturgy manifests the Church, the sacrament of unity, for “the holy people are united and arrange under their bishops.” [Sacrosanctum Concilium, 26.] Liturgy is a complex action of Christ and the Church. Through signs and words, the liturgy makes real the paschal mystery of Christ and reveals the eschatological reality of the Kingdom.
“Do this in memory of Me; for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim My death and confess My Resurrection. Therefore, Master, as we too remember his saving passion, the life-giving Cross, the burial for three days, the resurrection from the dead, the ascension into heaven, the sitting at Your right hand, O God and Father, and His glorious and dread second coming; We offer to You, Yours of Your own, in behalf of all and for all. [While this is being said, the deacon, having crossed his hands, elevates the holy diskos (a paten with a foot) and the holy chalice.]” [From the anamnesis of the Byzantine anaphora or Eucharistic prayer of the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great.]
What Christians do, what the Church does, what is unique to them and therefore their unique claim in and for the world, is that they celebrate the paschal mystery of Christ. And their celebration is the action of Christ, for they are his Body and he is the head of the Body, [Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7.] without him they can do nothing and with him they can do all. From this perspective founded in the Church’s liturgical life, the life in Christ, there is simply no other place to begin a reflection on the diaconate for without the liturgy there is no Church.
Broadly speaking what does the deacon do liturgically? The answer is clear: the deacon does what the Church does and that is the celebration of the paschal mystery of Christ. The specific question is how does the deacon do it? This paper will explore some of the specifics of how the deacon does it. While a short paper cannot examine every textual and rubrical detail, a summary can be made of the textual and rubrical paradigms derived from the diaconal liturgical role. It should be remembered that the liturgy does not exhaust the life of the Church, so likewise the liturgy will not provide an exhaustive vision of the diaconate but it should, and will give us an essential vision of the diaconate in relationship to the paschal mystery of Christ. Without this essential liturgical vision, we are simply lost, for what we have lost is the paschal mystery, for the pre-eternal Word became incarnate to make present this mystery, which was hidden from before the ages.
The Constantinopolitan Tradition
The array of Churches in Eastern Christendom often appears complex and bewildering, especially to those who have had little contact with Eastern Christians. Mistakenly, all of these Churches are frequently put into the same category. An excellent guide through this maze is Ronald Roberson’s The Eastern Christian Churches. A Brief Survey. [ http://www.cnewa.org/home.aspx?ID=26&pagetypeID=12&sitecode=CA On the upper menu bar click “Eastern Churches”.]
What is the Byzantine rite? Very briefly, it is that liturgical tradition which was synthesized in the City of Constantinople between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. [Robert F. Taft, The Byzantine Rite: A Short History, Liturgical Press, 1992, p16.] It draws upon the cathedral uses of the Cities of Constantinople and Jerusalem along with the monastic practices of the same regions. Byzantine liturgy has its own ritual celebration, setting and interpretation: it is a complex of text, ceremonial, music, setting, architecture, iconography and various minor arts. [The Byzantine Rite, p17.] Robert Taft, S.J. describes the Symbolgestalt or symbolic matrix:
“The impact of this Symbolgestalt is forever enshrined in the legend of the delegation sent to Constantinople in 987 by Prince Vladimir of Kiev “to examine the Greek faith.” The emissaries were led to Hagia Sophia for the liturgy, “so that the Russes might behold the glory of the God of the Greeks.” On returning home they reported what they had experienced in terms that have become emblematic for the Erscheinungsbild, or unique impact created by the sensible splendours of the Byzantine Rite: “We knew not whether we were in heaven or on earth. For on earth there is no such splendour or such beauty, and we are at a loss how to describe it. We know only that God dwells there among men, and their service is fairer than the ceremonies of other nations for we cannot forget that beauty.” “Heaven on earth.” This classic phrase, repeated so often it has become a topos, actually derives from the opening chapter of the earlier liturgical commentary (ca 730) of Patriarch St. Germanus I of Constantionople: “The church is heaven on earth, where the God of heaven dwells and moves.”” [The Byzantine Rite, pp17-18.]
We should note here, that the deacons of the Hagia Sophia, played a significant liturgical role in the conversion of the Rus’, for we read in the Primary Chronicle from which Taft quotes above:
“…The emperor sent a message to the patriarch to inform him that a Rus’ delegation had arrived to examine the Greek faith, and directed him to prepare the church and the clergy, and to array himself in his sacerdotal robes, so that the Rus’ might behold the glory of the God of the Greeks. When the patriarch received these commands, he bade the clergy assemble, and they performed the customary rites. They burned incense, and the choirs sang hymns. The emperor accompanied the Rus’ to the church, and placed them in a wide space, calling their attention to the beauty of the edifice, the chanting, and the offices of the archpriest (i.e. the patriarch) and the ministry of the deacons, (italics are the author’s) while he explained to them the worship of his God.” [Serge A. Zenkovsky, Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles, and Tales, Dutton Paperback, 1974, p67.]
Because liturgy manifests the paschal mystery of Christ in the midst of the Church, which is hierarchically structured, it reveals who Christ is, it proclaims the good news of the Kingdom of God and thus can lead us to repentance, to a change of mind, to the putting on of the mind of Christ. [Sacrosanctum Concilium speaks to this experience in §26 “Liturgical services are not private functions but are celebrations of the Church which is “the sacrament of unity”, namely, “the holy people united and arranged under their bishops.” The diversity of ministries are also manifested in this experience of the envoys and again Sacrosanctum Concilium addresses this in §28 “In liturgical celebrations each person, minister, or layman who has an office to perform, should carry out all and only those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the norms of the liturgy.” When the envoys of Prince Vladimir experienced the liturgy as celebrated in the Hagia Sophia, the whole complex of liturgical elements worked on their hearts to bring them to conversion, to bring them into the Body of Christ. And we can see that the liturgical ministry of the deacons played no small part in this conversion. We should not underestimate the power of liturgy to change lives and bring us to Christ.
Taft “divides the history of Byzantine liturgical synthesis into five, sometimes overlapping phases:
- the paleo-Byzantine or pre-Constantinian era, about which we know little;
- the “Imperial phase” during the Late Antique or patristic period, especially from the reign of Justinian I (527-565) and his immediate successors, creating a system of cathedral liturgy that lasted until some time after the Latin conquest (1204-1261), thus overlapping with phases 3-4;
- the “Dark Ages” from 610 to ca. 850, and especially the struggle against Iconoclasm (726-843), culminating in the Studite reform;
- the Studite era itself, from ca. 800-1204;
- the final, neo-Sabaitic synthesis after the Latin conquest (1204-1261). [The Byzantine Rite, pp18-19.]
(The reader who wishes to explore the history of the Divine Liturgy of the Byzantine rite would do well to consider these texts: The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford, 1991; Juan Mateos, La célébration de la parole dans la liturgie Byzantine. Étude historique, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 191, Roma 1971; Robert F. Taft, The Great Entrance. A History of the Transfer of the Gifts and other Pre-anaphoral Rites, OCA 200, 1978; Robert F. Taft,The Diptychs, OCA 238, 1991; Robert F. Taft, The Precommunion Rites, OCA 261, 2000; Robert F. Taft, The Liturgy of the Hours in East and West. The Origins of the Divine Office and Its Meaning for Today, 2nd Revised Edition, Liturgical Press, 1993. Hans-Joachim Schulz, Die byzantinische Liturgie, Paulinus-Verlag, 1980. (All of these texts have extensive bibliographies.)
To be continued...