Serbian deaconesses: How the SPC treats women

The role of women in public life Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) it is not determined by progressive values, but by a rather conservative approach. It has been irrefutably established that in the history of the Eastern Church, women served in the rank of deacon, that is, that there were deaconesses, but although there were voices that this should be restored, nothing concrete was done in that direction. There is no theological reason, apart from the argument of tradition, why women could not be ordained in the other two ranks of the priesthood, presbyters and bishops, the theologian told Vreme. Vukašin Milićević.

Deacon is the lowest level of priesthood in Christianity, an assistant to priests and bishops, in charge of administrative, charitable and auxiliary liturgical affairs. Deaconesses are women deacons. A presbyter is a priest, that is, a religious person who performs church services, including the sacraments, except for the sacrament of ordination (installation). The bishop is the highest level of priesthood, the successor of the apostles and has full power of teaching, worship and administration in his area (diocese), and he alone has the right to ordain new priests and deacons. The bishop must be from the ranks of monks, therefore unmarried, and must be distinguished by a high moral and theological education.

Milićević indicates that rapprochement with Russian Orthodox Church for the past ten years, it has gone hand-in-hand with the most conservative attitudes in terms of attitudes regarding deaconesses.

"The Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the Russian state, tries to present itself as the protector of so-called traditional values. Therefore, any movement towards a more active inclusion of women in the public life of the Church is opposed to such principles," says Milićević.

Danger to "traditional values"

It indicates that there are no women in the administrative structures of the SPC, even where lay people are expected to participate, such as diocesan administrative boards and parish councils. As far as he knows, no woman is a member of such a body.

When asked how women represent a danger to "traditional values", Milićević says that "it is wrong to look for logic where there is none".

"The whole story about traditional values ​​in an ideological sense is not a consequential, developed thing, but a manipulation emotions, like all similar, identity matters are often a manipulation of emotions. What does it logically mean when someone says that the national identity is threatened? Of course it doesn't mean anything," says Milićević.

He points out that the point is to have a strong slogan suitable for manipulating people and reminds that people are most easily manipulated by fear.

"That is why it is necessary to create an atmosphere that our safety and security are threatened, and that someone wants to rob us of who knows what not. Of course there is no logic there. It has been shown that it is much better where there were different tendencies and where they acted in accordance with them. The inclusion and participation of women in different types of public life not only does not endanger anyone, but generally contributes to the situation being better," says Milićević.

Photo: Tanjug/Vladimir Šporčić

The subordinate position of religious teachers

When it comes to serving in the Church, Milićević states that women certainly have the most in the field of religious education, but he emphasizes that religious teachers are placed in a position that "to put it mildly, is subordinated."

"They work in public schools, and their work practically depends on the signature of the competent bishop, which is contradictory and scandalous that the state allows such a thing to exist in a public institution," says Milićević.

Asked how he comments on the arguments of some of the clergy and believers of the Serbian Orthodox Church who, when mentioning the possibility of there being priestesses in the Serbian Orthodox Church, mention Scandinavian, Protestant churches that have priestesses, with the assessment that those churches have endangered the sacred secrets of the Church with such an approach, Milićević ironically says:

"It would be best to go back to the time when those Scandinavian churches burned women as witches and when 100 percent of the subjects, because they were not citizens, of those kingdoms were Christians."

He states that the situation is not like this only in the Orthodox Church and reminds that a woman was elected as head of the Anglican Church for the first time in 2025, but that there are those in that church who think that the ordination of women to presbyterial and episcopal ranks is not permissible and that the more conservative communities within that church do not accept female clergy.

The holy sacraments are baptism, anointing (which is received immediately after baptism; when the believer receives the gifts of the Holy Spirit for strengthening in spiritual life), communion, repentance or confession, ordination (the sacrament by which the elect are introduced to the rank of deacon, priest or bishop), marriage and consecration of the tree (a sacrament in which a sick person is anointed with holy oil with prayers for his healing and forgiveness of sins).

The argument of tradition

Milićević reminds that the clergy has three ranks: deacon, presbyter, that is, priest and bishop.

"When it comes to the rank of deacon, there is no doubt that in the Orthodox Church women were ordained to that rank. When it comes to the other two ranks, the majority is of the position that in the Eastern tradition there are no indications that women were ever ordained to those ranks. There are some interesting testimonies that could be against such a position, but we can say that that position stands. The only argument opponents of the ordination of women to the priestly and episcopal ranks have is tradition, which according to a serious argument to himself, but that is a matter for theological discussion," says Milićević.

However, he points out that the question can be asked in a different way.

"Is there anything in tradition, and especially in what Christian doctrine is based on, on the basis of which it could be said that such a thing is impossible and inadmissible? My unequivocal answer is that it does not exist. There is no theological reason why women could not be ordained to presbyterial and episcopal ranks, apart from the argument of tradition," says Milićević.

He adds that there could even be arguments for the ordination of women to presbyterial and episcopal ranks, "if we develop the doctrine consistently."

"Ultimately, what the Apostle Paul says in the Epistle to the Galatians is enough, that 'in Christ Jesus there is not only Jews or Greek, slave or free, but neither male nor female'. Therefore, all those differences are abolished, and if the source of all those charisms and services in the Church is Jesus Christ, then there is no male and female in him. Then why should they be unavailable to women", Milićević asks.

The most famous examples of the ordination of women as deaconesses are the contemporary ordination in Zimbabwe in May 2024 and the historical one mentioned in the New Testament. Metropolitan Seraphim of Zimbabwe, of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, ordained Angelique Molen as a deaconess in May 2024, marking the first time in modern history that a woman received full ordination (ordination at the altar during the liturgy) in an autocephalous Orthodox church. Two days later, she received the rank of archdeaconess. Deaconesses were common in the early church. The most famous biblical example is Saint Thebes, which the apostle Paul mentions in the Epistle to the Romans. The role of the deaconess then was mainly related to the baptism of adult women, due to the customs of decency at the time, teaching women and the sick.

Photo: Tanjug/Jadranka Ilić

The biggest crisis in the history of the Orthodox Church

He assesses that the Orthodox Church today is "probably in the biggest crisis in its history, that is, since the great schism."

"Orthodox churches are practically mutually divided into two or more large camps, and the cause of these divisions is completely political. Orthodox churches are absolutely resistant to the political influences of the society and states in which they exist, especially from the 19th century onwards, when they are tied to national projects based on the foundations of those states. Brutally speaking, they are often just a kind of mystical, religious and metaphysical guarantor of those nationalist ideas and representations, some mystical source of nationalism - that is what the Orthodox churches serve in the majority Orthodox countries," says Milićević.

As exceptions, he cites the Patriarchate of Antioch and, to some extent, Alexandria, which have "a different, more original paradigm of belonging to the church community."

"Therefore, the position of women in the Orthodox Church will change only when the social context in which the Orthodox Churches operate changes. I don't think that there is any strength in the Orthodox Churches for a sui generis renewal or reform, but I believe that there are many people who believe that the paradigm change that is being lived now is necessary. In fact, changes are necessary on a global level, to get rid of this insanity, which is largely caused by ultra-conservative and neo-conservative tendencies, and on that wave, changes could also occur in Orthodox churches," says Milićević.

He states that in the Patriarchate of Alexandria, a woman was ordained as a deacon in 2024 and emphasizes that this is "of enormous importance".

"We are talking about a patriarchate that has a great missionary activity in sub-Saharan Africa, where the Church is freed from those nationalistic madnesses that we, when it comes to the Orthodox, live in Evropi. Her ordination arose as a result of the authentic needs of the community in which this woman serves. It brought a lot of good. It is about a young woman, who is a mother and who is practically the leader of the missionary community in which she lives," explains Milićević.

The fight against gender-sensitive language

Asked how he observes the influence of the SPC on the generally poor position of women in Serbian society, he assesses that the church "goes down the path of the most conservative tendencies and worldviews that have been destroying this society for 40 years."

"In this sense, the role of the SPC is very negative. A whole hysteria has been launched against the members of the law regarding gender-sensitive language. Now when you read SPC announcements or news related to it, you will see the frenzy in the fight against gender-sensitive language, so some terms that used to be written in the feminine gender such as professor, artist or teacher are often deliberately put in the grammatical masculine gender when referring to women. When you look at the church press before one "You can see that the language in that press was closer to gender-sensitive language than the current language. This is just one example of the role of the SPC in our society today when it comes to the position of women. In this society, women suffer every day due to this incredible aggression that we have been living with for decades," concludes Milićević.

Nešković: Different roles in the Church

In one blog, religious teacher Vladan Nešković writes differently. He states that the ban on a woman being a priest does not speak of a lesser value of a woman, but of different roles, even in the liturgy:

"A man is a father, the one who rules, the elder, the one who is first, because first God created man, and then from man he created woman. (...) The bishop is an icon of Christ, and Christ was the First Priest, therefore a man."