One of the many blessings I enjoy in my present assignment (St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Woonsocket, RI) is that I have three deacons serving with me. It’s the sign of the health of our parish that we have grown three diaconal vocations within our parish over the last few years (note that one moved and serves elsewhere while one of our serving deacons moved here from elsewhere). Our deacons are more than liturgical con-celebabrants; each has his own gifts and ministries. I love supporting them and seeing God’s grace spread through their ministry.
Alas, not everyone’s experiences with deacons are so positive and most priests and deacons have a fair share of first and second-hand horror stories about diaconal service gone wrong.
I have talked with many deacons and priests about the diaconate and have attempted to distill their words of wisdom into these two sets of advice for new deacons. I encourage everyone to add their own advice in the comments section below!
Seven things that allow the deacon to be a blessing:
- Kenosis; Surrender your life to God (through Christ) and Holy Orthodoxy. The Word did not consider Himself so good that He wouldn’t empty Himself for our salvation; St. Paul imitated Christ by becoming what people needed so that some might be saved. It’s not about you – it’s about loving and serving God and His people. No matter how good your voice and vestments are, its all just noise if you don’t get this part right.
- Know the Services Cold (but know the ustav/preferred practices of your bishop, priest, and parish, too). Memorize the services and all its variations; mark all your books so that you’ll do the right thing even when your mind goes blank (it will). Communicate with your priest before and after the service to make sure you both get and stay on the same page. Defer to your priest and bishop on the services (and parish life) even when you disagree or your favorite book says something different.
- Love, Serve, and Support Your Priest. A big part of your calling is supporting your priest. Like a good First Sergeant, you should use your expertise to implement his plan for parish life and evangelization. His approach may be different that yours would be; you can and should give advice, but support him in his decisions and approach … especially in public. Every priest needs someone he can trust to guard his six.
- Serve, Serve, Serve, but Always Get a Blessing. From the time of its establishment, the diaconate has had its own role within the community; later, it developed its own liturgical role. Continually grow within those roles and live up to your calling. Your priest should help you with this. Remember that deacons are not independent operators; every deacon is assigned to serve directly under a specific priest (or bishop). Stay in regular contact with your priest about what you are doing and how it is going. Get his blessing for each task. You do this during the Liturgy; Liturgy is life.
- Stay Grounded and Balanced. The demands of kenosis and diaconal service do not abrogate your other responsibilities, including the responsibility to keep yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually grounded. Make sure that your service is sustainable. Again, communicate with your priest so that he does not expect too much (or too little) of your time. Daily prayer and frequent confession are critical!
Seven warnings to deacons:
- Don’t embarrass your priest, your bishop, your parish, or the Church. The most obvious example of this is making mistakes during services, but these are more easily overcome than others. Social media sets many clergy up for failure – be careful! When you do make a mistake, be quick to ask for forgiveness and help with damage control.
- Don’t act like you are still a lay leader of the parish. Lay leaders often have pet agendas that differ from those of their priest; that is part of parish life. One of the huge temptations of parish life is factionalism; the deacon must join the priest in being above and moderating factions. He should never set up his own faction, lobby, or gossip against his priest (even when his priest is messing up). If you have a problem with your priest, talk to him. If that doesn’t work, ask for a blessing to talk to your bishop.
- Don’t set yourself up as a second father within the parish. You are not going to agree with your priest on everything he does. You may not like the kind of culture he is fostering. If you advertise your disagreement or, worse yet, try to encourage a different kind of culture than your priest, you are going to split the parish. It’s a big temptation and you are sure to find allies who agree with you (or are willing to use you), but it’s a sin. If you can’t learn to support your priest, ask for a blessing to talk with the bishop; he may be willing to assign you somewhere else. Should you become a priest, you can consider fostering a different kind of culture and making different decisions, but see “kenosis” above. The worst example of this behavior is when a deacon manipulates the factions within a parish in hopes of taking the priest’s place.
- Don’t liturgize off-key. If the choir or chanters seem to stumble when you are liturgizing, odds are that that you are confusing them by singing off-key. This isn’t just hard on choirs and chanters, it is distracting to people who are trying to worship and pray. Just because you have a beautiful bass-proffundo voice doesn’t mean you can just sing whatever notes you want. When in doubt, stick to the tonic or the fifth. Similarly, you aren’t at the opera or at karaoke; stay within or close to the style of the choir/parish.
- Don’t fall victim to vainglory, apathy, or despondency. You serve at the altar and are a leader of the community and of the Church. This makes you a huge target for the Evil One and his servants. Be vigilant, pray, fast, live a life in the Sacraments, tithe, study scripture and the Fathers, keep yourself healthy, and do all those things you advise your priest to do so that he can remain effective in his ministry.
Offered with love and gratitude for all your service. I look forward to your comments!
– Fr. Anthony Perkins
Fr. Dcn. James Cairns says
Master Bless!
So Fr. Perkins, I will finally respond to one of your articles :-). LOL!
I really enjoyed the article and your comments, though as an acting Deacon I wish to offer the following comment/critic to your “don’t” list. While I wholly agree with your “Don’t liturgize off-key” comment, I just want to state for the record that the Deacon sets the key with his very first “Master Bless!”. The interactions between the Deacon, the Priest and the Choir should be a harmonious conversation praising God’s Glory. The key to every good conversation is listening, and it is the responsibility of all participants to listen. Of course that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to have those days where your ears are clogged, or your throat seems to be filled with phlegm, but on those days, let the others lead the conversation and play a supporting role.
I would also recommend that every new Deacon look to find a ministry, with their Priest’s blessing of course, that will assist the priest and the parish. There are never enough people it seems to take care of the needs of the faithful. The Deacon is an important extension of the Priest’s office and should be utilized to maximize his potential. Some ministries that always need help: visitation to the sick, home bound, and those in hospitals is often difficult for a pastor to complete on his own, especially in parishes with aging populations; there is a need and call to minister to those in prison that is often overlooked in our parishes; there is also a ministry to be found in assisting with the upkeep and maintenance of the church, while there is often a senior citizen who has taken this task upon themselves out of love for God, but everyone always appreciates a helping hand; finally, there is my favorite ministry, which is dealing with the youth of the parish. In my opinion, there is nothing more important to the life of the Church, than imparting to the younger generation that sense of connection to God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and showing them that His Love is endless. Kids will be kids and will make mistakes, but that is part of the growing experience. If someone shows them the path to God, then the mistakes they make and the trouble they get into may be mitigated to some extent and they will know that there is always someone they can turn to.
Finally, I will impart this last piece of advise. Go to Confession! All too often, as a Deacon, we get wrapped up in the minutiae of our position. Getting there early to say prayers with the priest, preparing for Proskomedia, censing, getting the Gospel ready, and the thousand other things that we do. These items overwhelm your time and you forget that you need to take care of yourselves spiritually as well. The next thing you know, you will find yourself saying, “It’s Pascha already??? I haven’t gone to confession in forever.” Trust me, it happens. It is important that you sometimes step back and remember that although God has called you to this important position, you are still but an unworthy sinner, and in need of his forgiveness and assistance.
Your loving servant,
Fr. Dcn. James
St. Demetrius UOC
Carteret, NJ
Fr. Anthony Perkins says
Amen and Amen!
Deacon Nicholas Dujmovic says
I appreciate the wisdom both in the column and in the comment. As a new deacon (six months), I’m still learning. Thank you, Fr. Anthony and Fr. Dcn James!
Fr. Anthony Perkins says
God bless you and your service, Deacon Nicholas, for many blessed years! FWIW, we’re all still learning. :-)
Fr. Robert Holet says
Thanks Fr. Anthony and Fr. Dcn James for sharing these wonderful thoughts about the holy diaconate. I think that this sacred office exemplifies the essence of the Church and hence, what is often unrealized in Her life. I would simply encourage what Dcn James says of the service dimension of the office – particularly as in Acts, care of the widows, the orphans, the under-served. The deacon (in a supreme way) is to be the icon of this sacred dimension of the sacred work of the Church. When people see the deacon in the liturgy, they should be reminded that they saw him serving in the practical ways in the community – not just ‘doing stuff’ in church, but serving people in humility and love. This makes him a special, personal connection to what takes place behind the iconostasis. He takes them, and their needs, to the altar. The ancient role of the deacon in preparation of the gifts and the Great Entrance was a liturgical example. When there is no such ministry, there is no such connection.
A deacon, by his example in service, directly encourages others in this service-of-people ministry, and men so inspired may become subdeacons, and then deacons themselves. In my opinion, a subdeacon who is not serving in a preliminary, practical ‘diakonia’ really doesn’t understand the nature of the diaconal office, and should not aspire to it until he gets his hands dirty so to speak. Not just from cleaning out the kadilo.
It’s interesting that the Apostles found the deacon ‘Necessary!’ not just some sort of disposable adjunct to the liturgy. They were being inhibited in their unique ministry because of the practical (and important) ministry needs of the community. They responded by the ordination of the seven to expand the whole realm of spiritual/practical care of the flock. Without the presence of a deacon, the practical needs will often overwhelm the spiritual ministries (prayer and preaching of the gospel). How do we think we can do this without a viable diaconate today? Answer – we can’t. If we wonder why we have so few charitable ministries taking place in our communities, and priest pastors going in a hundred directions, maybe this is part of the answer. The loss of a true ordained ‘diakonia’ and turning the diaconate merely into a ‘stepping stone’ to the priesthood, has cause harm in the perception of these things.
I would reply to Fr. Dcn’s comment about ‘setting the tone’ for the liturgy, is that it is really important to realize that, when a deacon serves, the energy and spiritual quality of his prayer will lift the congregation (or not), moreso by it’s inner quality than by its tonal quality. Probably the worst of situations is the deacon-virtuoso whose prayer-less singing turns the liturgy into a performance, worthy of applause, but with no spiritual quality. Regarding the pitch, even here the deacon (or priest) must be attuned to the need of the people. If the people are to participate (not just listen passively to a choir) then his pitch and that of the priest must be something that the chant leader/director can work with. From that, if need be, he does well to take a cue from the congregation, and adjust accordingly. ir’s especially true for those parishes that emphasize congregational singing. The goal is that glorious sym-phony that you mention, that is true liturgy.
thanks for sharing these words
pr robert
Fr. Anthony Perkins says
Beautifully said, Fr. Robert. One of the challenges for deacons is that not all priests are comfortable serving with them (and don’t just mean liturgically; that is the easy part – it’s all in the book!). I thank God that I was able to serve under a priest who was not only comfortable, but challenged us to step up and serve 24/7 (and supported us in doing so, guiding and healing and even cleaning up after us on occasion). Those years serving as a deacon under your tutelage at St. Nicholas in Charlottesville were and remain such a blessing. To the extent I have served and mentored the deacons at St. Michael’s well, I am following the example that you set for us then (glory to God!). It is also one, as you point out, that is far older (and greater, if I may be so bold) than either of us!
Michael L. says
Thank you from a Roman Catholic deacon candidate! So much of your advice speaks directly to us, as well!