DEACON

From Agepedia

DEACON (diaconus, froi KOVO$) ; a person who be! rior order of ministers church. Seven were fii the apostles (Acts, chap, ber was retained a long churches. Their duty Wi agap<R (q. v.), to distribute wine to the communicj pense alms. The office at first, merely concerned Soon after the apostolic sooner, the deacons wen sist in the inferior parti service.Deacon, in the church, is an inferior ecc ond of the sacred order the altar, in the celebra mysteries. He is also al solution. In this church. also, no person can be ordained deacon before he is 23 years old, except by dispensation from the archbishop of Canterbury.The office of deacons, in Presbyterian and Independent churches, is to distribute the bread and wine to communicants. In the latter, they are elected by the members of the church. In Scotland, this name is given to overseers of the poor and masters of incorporated companies. In German Protestant churches, the,assistant ministers are generally called deacons. If there are two assistant ministers, the first of them is called archdeacon. I DEACONESS. This name was given to women, in the early church, who consecrated themselves to the service of the church, and rendered those offices to females which could not be decently performed by men. They also had the care of the poor, the sick, &c.