Western Washington University
01/15/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 01/15/2025 12:23
Global Humanities and Religions' Carrie Frederick Frost to deliver guest lecture at SFU and online on Jan. 24
WWU News
Global Humanities and Religions' Carrie Frederick Frost to deliver guest lecture at SFU and online on Jan. 24
January 15, 2025
A Byzantine Order for Today? Renewing the Orthodox Christian Office of Deaconess for the Twenty-First Century
Carrie Frederick Frost, WWU assistant professor of Religion and Culture in the Department of Global Humanities and Religions, will present a guest lecture at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24 at Bennett Library room 7200, SFU Burnaby, or online.
This event is free and open to the public, and is hosted by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Centre for Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University.
The first Orthodox Christian deaconess of the twenty-first century was ordained in 2024 in Zimbabwe in answer to decades of calls from around the world to renew the ancient order of deaconess and in response to local needs in the African setting. The ordination of Deaconess Angelic Molen and her current liturgical and pastoral roles overlap but also depart from the rites and roles of a Byzantine deaconess.
Why might the roles of a deaconess be different today compared to her Byzantine predecessors? What might this ordination mean for the rest of the Orthodox world? In this public lecture, Orthodox scholar Carrie Frederick Frost of Western Washington University will describe and frame the recent ordination, which she witnessed, within the larger context of the conversation about women's roles and deaconesses in the Orthodox Church and will address the complexities and significance of renewing a Byzantine order for today.
Registration and event information
Eventbrite (registration): https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/1155289274319
SFU Event's page: https://events.sfu.ca/event/43039-1