On the Ordination of Father Spiridon Ashe to the Diaconate

Over the weekend, the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sitka and Alaska held its annual Clergy Retreat.  Visiting was Bishop LUKE of Syracuse, the Abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery.  In the midst of this joyful gathering of the clergy of our diocese and with a visiting Hierarch present, Bishop ALEXEI ordained Subdeacon Spiridon Ashe to the holy Diaconate at Saint Innocent of Irkusk Cathedral.


The Cathedral was filled with priests, family and faithful.  With both bishops and ranks of priests arrayed in golden vestments, subdeacon Spiridon stood out in white vestments trimmed with bright red poppies and golden wheat.  For the one ordained, this is a Paschal event translating him from death to light, which is why he wears white. One who is to be ordained, to serve the Church, is called by God and offered by the faithful.  The final act of a subdeacon is to carry the basin for the handwashing of the bishop.  After this, the subdeacon is veiled over the head in a state of humility and he is led with the basin to stand be for the icon of Christ to pray, repeatedly saying Psalm 50, and to wait.  In Holy Orthodoxy, we veil the holy.  We veil the altar, we veil the Gifts (the very Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ), we put veils on the stands that bear the icons, we veil our monastic brothers and sisters, pious Orthodox women wear veils, and we veil one who is to be ordained.


To pray and wait before the feet of the Icon of Christ is an important beginning for a life of serving at the altar.  The life of the deacon is a life of humble service.  He is to be a servant of Christ and the Church.  Deacons are called to serve the divine services of the Church by leading the prayers of the people.  They teach the faithful what the prayers are.  They teach and hold to the traditions of the faith in humility and piety as an example for all to see and to follow in kind.  Deacons serve as heralds by reading the scriptures within services and the letters of our Bishops and holy fathers to the faithful.

The ordination begins just before the Lord’s prayer within the liturgy.  The subdeacon is escorted from his place, veiled before the icon of Christ, to the cathedra in the midst of the people.  He is escorted by two subdeacons who help him prostrate to the people he will serve in humility and prayer.

He is escorted to the steps before the Holy Doors and bows to the Altar.  Finally, the subdeacons bring him up the steps to the holy doors and pass his hands from theirs to the hands of other deacons who pull him into the altar through the Holy Doors for the first time.  We see that the man does nothing on his own, but that it is God who lifts him up and escorts him into the Holy Altar through the help of His deacons.

His third prostration is before the bishop in whose hands he will place his life even as the disciples put their lives in Christ's hands.  The man is led in the Dance of Isaiah around the altar by the deacons as the faithful and the choir sing, “O holy martyrs, who fought the good fight and have received your crowns:  Pray to the Lord that He will be merciful to our souls!”  The man venerates four corners of the altar, makes a prostration before the bishop, and kisses the hand and knee of the bishop who blesses him.

Again, the man is led around the four corners of the altar as the choir and the people sing, “Glory to Thee, O Christ God, the Apostles’ boast, the Martyrs’ joy, whose preaching was the Consubstantial Trinity!”  The man makes a prostration before the bishop, kisses the palitza or diamond at the side of the bishop and his hand.

The third time the man is led around to the hymn, “Rejoice, O Isaiah!  The Virgin is with child, and shall bear a Son, Emmanuel, both God and man; and Orient is His name; magnifying Him, we call the Virgin blessed!”

The bishop himself then lifts him up and with him they say three times, God be merciful to me a sinner, Bozhe ychisti mya Greshnago, and then leads the man to be ordained to the corner of the altar and lays hands upon him.  The prayer given reminds all—the faithful, the clergy, and especially the man to be ordained—that it is not by the power of the man that he is ordained.  “The divine grace, which always heals that which is infirm, and supplies that which is lacking…” 


Subdeacon Spiridon was offered, by the faithful of the diocese of Alaska, up to God to be ordained and to serve the Church.  He was escorted and taught the way he should walk before all and for all around the altar of God.  His Grace Bishop ALEXEI accepted his offering and laid hands upon him.  But it is God who heals that which is infirm and supplies that which is lacking.  It is only the humble who can receive the gifts of the Grace of God.  And it is God who elevates the man and sets him apart for service.  Just as Aaron and his sons were set apart to intercede for the people before God, Deacon Spiridon is set apart to pray for and lead the people before God.

Finally, having been offered by the faithful, accepted by the Church, and ordained by God Deacon Spiridon was vested by his Grace. Even as the subdeacons put on the bishop's cuffs when he is vested, so the bishop puts on the cuffs of the deacon the first time he is blessed to wear them. And then, he is presented to the people to the proclamation and joyful shouts of “AXIOS!” which means “he is worthy!”  And this is so because God makes it so. 

The deacon is a guardian of the faith, and his first task as a deacon is to fan the body of Christ upon the altar.  And this is what deacons do:  they guard the faith.  They serve the Church, teach the faithful, and guard the faith.  And this is why we must all pray for the newly ordained Deacon Spiridon!  It is no simple task to guard the faith, lead the prayers, and teach the faithful.  The Apostle James warns us, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgement” (3:1).  This is why we must all pray for newly ordained Deacon Spiridon!  His task is great, his role is a blessing to us all, and the enemy of our souls does not like deacons.  We must pray that God will protect our new deacon, so that our new deacon may pray for, teach, and lead us!  Amen.

To our beloved new Deacon Spiridon Ashe:  AXIOS!