Changes

Traditionally, women have been [[ordination|ordained]] to the diaconate but not to the priesthood or episcopacy in the Orthodox Church. The order of [[deaconess]] existed in the Church, in some areas surviving through the eleventh-century. There is dispute over whether the deaconesses were considered female [[deacon]]s, or if they were a separate order fulfilling separate duties. Contemporary scholarship, while not settling the full-range of functions of the female deacon, believes the female deacon to have been ordained in the altar immediately after the male deacons, and receiving communion in the altar with the rest of the clergy. It is also clear they provided services to women in situations inappropriate for male clergy.