SG Heritage Dictionary

Deacon [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. A person in the lowest degree of holy orders. The office of deacon was instituted by the apostles, Acts 6:1 , and seven persons were chosen at first, to serve at the feasts of christians and distribute bread and wine to the communicants, and to minister to the wants of the poor.

2. In the Romish Church, the office of the deacons is to incense the officiating priest; to lay the corporal on the altar; to receive the cup from the subdeacon and present it to the person officiating; to incense the choir; to receive the pax from the officiating prelate, and carry it to the subdeacon; and at the pontifical mass, to put the miter on the bishop's head.

3. In the church of England, the office of deacons is declared to be to assist the priest in administering the holy communion; and their office in presbyterian and independent churches is to distribute the bread and wine to the communicants. In the latter, they are elected by the members of the church.

4. In Scotland, an overseer of the poor, and the master of an incorporated company.

Deacon [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. An officer in Christian churches appointed to perform certain subordinate duties varying in different communions. In the Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches, a person admitted to the lowest order in the ministry, subordinate to the bishops and priests. In Presbyterian churches, he is subordinate to the minister and elders, and has charge of certain duties connected with the communion service and the care of the poor. In Congregational churches, he is subordinate to the pastor, and has duties as in the Presbyterian church.

2. The chairman of an incorporated company.

Deacon [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To read aloud each line of (a psalm or hymn) before singing it, -- usually with off.

Deacon Encyclopedia Britannica

DEACON (δι<iκovoς, minister, servant), the name given to the lowest order of minister in the Christian church. From the appointment of the seven Hellenic deacons (Acts vi.) we learn that their duty under the apostles was simply to distribute alms from the public fund. In the early church, however, they soon came to discharge higher functions. They assisted the bishop and presbyter in the service of the sanctuary; in the administration of the Eucharist they handed the elements to the people; they instructed the catechumens, and in some cases baptized; and the archdeacons came to exercise in the 6th century the judicial power of the bishop over the inferior clergy....

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 7, p. 1
[445 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]

Deacon Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

from the Greek word διάκονος, in its proper and primitive sense, denotes a _servant_ who attends his master, waits on him at table, and is always near his person to obey his orders, which was accounted a more creditable kind of service than that which is imported by the word δοῦλος _a slave_; but this distinction is not usually observed in the New Testament. Our Lord makes use of both terms in Matt. xx, 26, 27, though they are not distinctly marked in our translation: “Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your _deacon_; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your _servant_.” The appointment of deacons in the first Christian church is distinctly recorded, Acts vi, 1–16. The number of disciples having greatly increased in Jerusalem, the Greeks, or Hellenistic Jews, began to murmur against the Hebrews, complaining that their widows were neglected in the daily distribution of the church’s bounty. The twelve Apostles, who hitherto had discharged the different offices of Apostle, presbyter, and deacon, upon the principle that the greater office always includes the less, now convened the church, and said unto them, “It is not reasonable that we should leave the ministration of the word of God, and serve tables: look ye out, therefore, among yourselves, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Ghost, and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they (the multitude) chose Stephen, and six others, whom they set before the Apostles, &c. The qualifications of deacons are stated by the Apostle Paul, 1 Tim. iii, 8–12. There were also, in the primitive churches females invested with this office, ...

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
[388 words — estimated reading time: 3 minutes]

Deaconess [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A female deacon in the primitive church.

Deaconess [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. A female deacon

2. One of an order of women whose duties resembled those of deacons.

3. A woman set apart for church work by a bishop.

4. A woman chosen as a helper in church work, as among the Congregationalists.

Deaconhood [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

The state of being a deacon; office of a deacon; deaconship.

Deaconry [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

The office, dignity or ministry of a deacon or deaconess.

Deaconry [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

See Deaconship.

Deaconship [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

The office or ministry of a deacon or deaconess.