Deacons handbook

PiOnkh

Hi all,

I am putting together a booklet for the deacons in my parish which will try to explain the roles and responsibilities of the deacons during the liturgy. I would like the booklet to have instructions on what the deacon should be doing during the liturgy as well as the reason behind it. Does anyone know of any good English sources that have some information that could be useful?

Thanks and God bless you

mabsoota

a few points (i am not a deacon though)-

deacon (i assume you mean reader / subdeacon) should focus on serving God and learning humility.

it is better to learn to obey the senior deacons than to try to educate them.

people do things a bit differently in different churches. despite what you may read on the internet, this is NOT the end of the world! chill out!

if you serve in different churches, you will end up learning slightly different ways of chanting.

once you have been doing it for 5 or 6 years, learn a bit more coptic and read some books, and then you can start educating people.

if the priest does not nod to you to start the singing, then keep studying until you learn the tune a bit better (follow the lead of someone who has been doing it for longer).

also, if you have a talent for languages, it really helps to learn arabic (at least reading, even if you don't know much vocabulary).

finally, be sure you have a coptic screen name for internet forums...

;)

i like your name, 'the life'.

i didn't find a good equivalent for 'mabsoota' yet, since i started studying coptic, the closest i got was 'ethvalheet' (`;balhyt)

PiOnkh

Hi mabsoota thanks for your response,

The book i'm putting together is more about the deacons duties during liturgical services based on ranks not so much about ways of singing. I would like to try reference them as well so sources would be great !

P.S ask Orphadece for a Coptic equavalent for mabsoota. He is a Coptic language guru! 

:)

mabsoota

thanks for the information. if i come across any good sources, i will let you know.

yes, i should ask ophadece, we are in the same country :)

`;balhyt really means 'baseeta' (simple) more than 'mabsoota' (happy), but it describes me quite well as i have opted out of owning a smartphone - i prefer a more simple life and sleep well at night!