23 April 2009

More Ministries

Doorkeepers and Subdeacons do not exhaust the list of ministries common in the earlier Christian centuries. And these diverse ministries could have profound theological and ecclesiological significances.

Take the Unity of the Universal Church. This could be expressed by the inclusion of names on the Diptychs; by the exchange of letter of Communion from one Church (or bishop) to another. But the commonest everyday expression of it was by the acceptance of Christians travelling to an unknown place by their fellow Christians there. They might show 'Commendatory letters', but the essential expression of their acceptance was the hospitality they were given. And, in down to earth terms, this was largely a matter of hospitality shown by the Widows of a Church.

And let's not forget that the Widows were not an ad hoc group; they were a formal body who sometimes sat in particular places in the Ekklesia. Admission to this Order had formality attached to it, just as did admission to Holy Order. And it appears that sometimes Widows might have been called presbytides.

I don't know how such riches might be restored to present-day Church life. But ... and this is the point of my posts on Monoliturgy and Vicepresbyters ... modern styles of liturgy (often more among Protestants than among Catholics) give little sense of the Church as a corporate body with a plurality of ministerial callings. And, to that extent, they might fairly be called 'corrupt'.

4 comments:

ex_fide said...

I'm in favour of the consecration of Deaconesses for the Church, although I do not believe that they receive Holy Orders. I heard that Patriarch Shenouda III consecrated several abbesses as deaconesses for a catechetical role within the church, focusing their work on strengenthing the Orthodox family and increasing the faith among women. I'd be up for that.

I also think an accurate sociological examination of the average parish would reveal that its corporate life depends on the participation of a group analogous to the "widows" you speak of, Father.

Gengulphus said...

ex fide: examination of the average parish would reveal that its corporate life depends on the participation of a group analogous to the "widows" you speak of…Quite. The distinctive badge of this group is a tight and lightly-coloured perm. The Ministry of Coffee is their particular quasi-sacramental responsibility. And anyone who has ever accidentally sat in the pew of a member of this group will entertain no doubt that they have the right to sit in particular places in the church.

This seems to be one area in which the present practice of the C of E is almost at one with that of the early church.

Nebuly said...

'The distinctive badge of this group is a tight and lightly-coloured perm. The Ministry of Coffee is
their particular quasi-sacramental responsibility.'


I love the idea of the conferring of the tight blue perm

and the traditio of the instant coffee?

Perhaps by the Right Reverend the Lady Ann Tottenham ( daughter of the late Marquess of Ely, in the peerage if Ireland ) Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Niagara

Gengulphus said...

Nebuly: instant coffee… perhaps by the Right Reverend the Lady Ann TottenhamThank you for drawing my attention to this particular star in the Anglican Firmament. The disconcerting lack of an 'e' hampered my initial google researches, but I find that she does more anglicano wear a mitre which is reassuringly like an inverted sponge-bag.

I am sure that she would favour the instant solution.