The language of the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, was more specific. The Council forbade
deacons from administering communion to priests, or to receive communion before the bishop.
Deacons were not to even sit with the priests. “Let the deacons remain within their own bounds,
knowing that they are the ministers of the bishop and the inferiors of the presbyters. ” 22 Persistent
tensions between priests and deacons would lead to more and more of the functions of the
deacons exercised by the priests. By the fifth century, deacons will become, not the bishop’s
assistant but the priest’s. This subordination, and the emergence of “lesser” orders such as door
keeper, exorcist, and acolyte, would lead to the deterioration of their relationship with the
bishops leaving deacons with no specific function. 23
The diaconate, with all the other lesser ministries will become stepping stones to the
priesthood. This idea of cursus honorum or rising through the ranks more common in civil
organization became popular in the Church. The Church’s relationship with the State contributed
to Christian life mirroring public life. The diaconate would become part of the process by which
a man rises through the ranks to priestly ordination. 24 Deacons would still function in
administrative roles, especially the management of funds and the distribution of alms, but now
subject to the priest as well as the bishop.
By 451 and the Council of Chalcedon, even this role would be lost. Keeping in mind that
the diaconate had been separated from clergy, Canon 26 reads: “every church having a bishop
shall have also a steward from among its own clergy (emphasis mine) who shall manage the
22
Early church Texts. The Canons of the Council of Nicaea (325) - the original Greek text with English Translation
- and Latin. Accessed June 31, 2018 http://www.earlychurchtexts.com/public/nicaea_canons.htm. 18
23
International Theological Commission. From the Diakonia of Christ to the Diakonia of the Apostles, 2002, 15
24
Cf. William Ditewig. The Emerging Diaconate, 75-76
18