Deacon

A Christian minister whose duties commonly include service, assistance in worship, and care for a community. The role and authority of deacons vary across Christian traditions.

Ordination: A religious rite that formally appoints a person to a clerical or ministerial office. Ordination establishes deacons as ministers in traditions that confer the role sacramentally.
Priest: A Christian minister authorized to lead worship and perform rites such as the Eucharist in traditions with priesthood. Unlike priests, deacons generally cannot preside at the Eucharist in churches that distinguish the offices.
Acts 6: A passage in the Acts of the Apostles describing the appointment of seven men to address a dispute over daily food distribution. The passage is often treated as a scriptural precedent for the diaconate, though it does not call the seven deacons.
Deacon (Catholic Church): An ordained minister in the Catholic Church who serves in liturgy, preaching, and works of charity. Catholic practice distinguishes permanent deacons from men ordained as a step toward priesthood.
Stephen (deacon): A figure in Acts who is among the seven chosen to oversee food distribution and later becomes a Christian martyr. Stephen is traditionally remembered as the first Christian deacon and as a preacher and martyr.
Holy Orders: The Christian sacrament or clerical institution through which bishops, priests, and deacons are ordained. Deacon is one of the ordained offices within traditions that understand ministry through Holy Orders.
Elder (Christianity): A leader in a Christian congregation, especially in traditions governed by councils of elders. Some Protestant communities assign overlapping pastoral and service duties to elders rather than deacons.
Phoebe (biblical figure): A woman commended by Paul in Romans 16:1 as a servant or deacon of the church at Cenchreae. Paul's description of Phoebe is central to debates about women and the early diaconate.
Deacon (Eastern Orthodox Church): An ordained minister in the Eastern Orthodox Church who assists the bishop or priest, especially in liturgical worship. The Orthodox diaconate is particularly visible through its liturgical role.
Philip the Evangelist: One of the seven appointed in Acts 6 who later preaches in Samaria and baptizes an Ethiopian official. Philip's ministry illustrates that the early seven were associated with both service and evangelization.

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