The Modern Diaconate - Part three: The Deacon in Liturgy

Click here to read Part 2.

The deacon in the liturgy represents the bridge between the church and the world, acting as herald, servant, and one who bids and one who sends.  The deacon reads the gospel from the midst of the people, and bids the congregation to both the creed and the confession. It has been customary for the deacon to either introduce or pray the prayers of the people in most parishes. Alternately, the deacon bids the people to the prayers, a layperson reads the prayers, and the priest adds a concluding collect, and all three orders of ministry are heard. 

The deacon sets the table for the Eucharist, to the particular preference of whoever is celebrant, and makes sure that the altar book is open to the Eucharistic prayer form of the day, pointing to each line if necessary as the priest reads, and assists in the distribution of the sacrament, offering bread if there is only one priest, and wine otherwise. The deacon is sometimes referred to as the minister of the chalice. When all have received, the deacon either clears the table, or redresses the chalice and paten, depending on local tradition.

The deacon dismisses the people, sending them out into the world to make Christ’s love known in both word and action. 

Vestments seem strange to those unused to having a deacon serve in their parish. For the Offices, a deacon wears what a priest wears, cassock, surplice, and tippet. For Holy Eucharist, an alb is worn. The difference between orders is visually apparent in stole and dalmatic. The deacon’s stole is worn diagonally (from left shoulder to right hip), and as a servant was probably initially some kind of a towel. It has evolved to mean that one shoulder is kept “unyoked” to bear the burdens of the world. The dalmatic is essentially an apron for the one who waits on table. 

A deacon cannot pronounce absolution (unless using the pronoun “we” and “us” in the absence of a priest), bless anything or anyone, or consecrate the elements. A deacon can baptize, marry, anoint, bury, and officiate at any of the office liturgies. 

Deacons are licensed to preach, and you can expect their sermons to be some kind of a call to respond to the needs or to the pain, of the world, as  modeled by Jesus.

To be continued (Formation of Deacons) 

Katherine T. Gray

Chaplain, Riverside Hospice