Deacon

Ordination to the diaconate is, in the great majority of Anglican provinces, the first stage of ordained ministry, conferred by a bishop and typically followed, after roughly a year of diaconal service, by priestly ordination for those on the standard path toward parish leadership, a transitional pattern broadly similar to the Roman Catholic transitional diaconate though without the same parallel tradition of a distinct, non-transitional permanent diaconate that Roman Catholicism restored after the Second Vatican Council; some Anglican provinces have nonetheless developed their own forms of permanent or vocational diaconate for those called specifically to diaconal rather than priestly ministry.

An Anglican deacon may preach, baptize, and assist at the Eucharist, but, in most provinces' canon law, may not preside at or consecrate the Eucharist independently, a restriction reserved to priests and bishops; deacons are also traditionally associated within Anglican theology and liturgy with a particular emphasis on service to the poor and marginalized, an emphasis the ordination rite's own language typically underscores directly, reflecting the diaconate's continuity with the New Testament account of the office's origin in organized charitable service to a community's most vulnerable members.

Most Anglican provinces today treat the diaconate primarily as a transitional stage, a year or so of service that every candidate for the priesthood passes through before being ordained priest, but a minority of dioceses and provinces also ordain some candidates as permanent, or vocational, deacons who are not seeking priesthood and who remain in the diaconal order for the whole of their ministry. This distinct vocational diaconate, with its emphasis on service to the poor, the sick, and the marginalized rather than on sacramental presidency, has been the subject of ongoing debate within Anglicanism about whether the diaconate should be more consistently restored as a permanent order in its own right, a debate that echoes similar discussions in the Roman Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council restored a permanent diaconate there.

Supporters argue a strengthened permanent diaconate would give the church a distinct order focused on outward facing service rather than treating the diaconate merely as an apprenticeship for priesthood; critics note that in practice most Anglican deacons, transitional or permanent, end up performing broadly similar liturgical functions, and that the office's practical shape varies considerably from diocese to diocese regardless of the formal distinction.