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Armenian Apostolic Church Introduces "Female Deacons"

Last September the anesthesiologist Ani-Kristi Manvelian, 24, was "ordained as deaconess" of the Armenian apostolic Archdiocese of Tehran, Iran. According to Fides (January 15), the "ordination" in …More
Last September the anesthesiologist Ani-Kristi Manvelian, 24, was "ordained as deaconess" of the Armenian apostolic Archdiocese of Tehran, Iran.
According to Fides (January 15), the "ordination" in the Cathedral of Tehran was performed by Archbishop Sebouh Sarkissian.
Manvelian does not belong to any female monastic congregation. The "ordination" took place although the Armenian Apostolic Church has not formally introduced an office of "female diaconate". Another Eastern Church, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, Egypt, has also "ordained" a "deaconess" in 2017.
In both cases, no real ordination took place but only a simple blessing.
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BrTomFordeOFMCap left this great comment regarding the "ordination" in 2017 (Deaconesses in the Eastern Orthodox Churches):
Any serious research I have ever read on deaconesses has concluded that they were not the female equivalents of deacons but were more like our modern active sisters. They were there to assist in the catechising of women and children, in the baptism of women (usually by immersion …More
BrTomFordeOFMCap left this great comment regarding the "ordination" in 2017 (Deaconesses in the Eastern Orthodox Churches):

Any serious research I have ever read on deaconesses has concluded that they were not the female equivalents of deacons but were more like our modern active sisters. They were there to assist in the catechising of women and children, in the baptism of women (usually by immersion back then) and in caring for those who were sick, elderly etc and had no one else to care for them. If women could be admitted to the actual diaconate then there would be no theological reason to exclude them from the presbyterate and episcopate since they form one single Sacrament in three degrees or orders. Calling these women deaconesses is unfair to them and unfair to the people of God. It sows confusion and fosters division. Acknowledge the good they do and give it a place in the Church but do not let them be confused with clergy. There was enough of that in the past with 'choir sisters' and 'lay sisters.' It did no lasting good.