Lived Tradition: Women Deacons in the Syriac Orthodox Diaspora

The question of women deacons is a pressing issue in many Catholic and Orthodox churches. While recent scholarly investigations mainly discuss the theological arguments or the historical precedent, there are few if any studies which actually take living practices and real women deacons into account, as in this study of three Syriac Orthodox congregations in Sweden. From a lived religion perspective, interviews were analysed with three themes in mind, namely how traditions about the deacons are explained, embodied, and experienced. In this context, deacons are brokers between priest and parish, and between family and tradition. It is evident that the women deacons are part of a lived tradition in these parishes, while there remains at the same time an uncertainty about them and sometimes lack of recognition. There certainly are deaconesses in these parishes. The only question is what they are.