• Carrie Frederick Frost

    Carrie Frederick Frost

    Professor of theology and religion, Chair of St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess

    Carrie Frederick Frost is a professor of theology and religion, Chair of St. Phoebe Center for the Deaconess, author of Church of Our Granddaughters, mother of five, and grandmother of one. 
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Women in the Church

Let’s Make History: Ordain Deaconesses in the Orthodox Church Today

March is Women’s History Month, when we particularly witness women’s vital roles in our past, including in the Orthodox Church. These stories deserve our attention and appreciation, but let’s not just look to the past, let’s also look to the future. Let’s make history.  Let’s make history by ordaining women as deaconesses in the Orthodox...
Also available in: Русский | Ελληνικά

More posts by the author

Inter-Orthodox Relations

Making Church History in Romania

by Carrie Frederick Frost When I introduced Metropolitan Kallistos Ware at the International Orthodox Theological Association’s (IOTA) inaugural conference Opening Ceremony in Iaşi, Romania earlier this month, I told a story about my father—the son of Russian immigrants to West Virginia in the ... Read more.
Women in the Church

Women’s Gifts and the Diaconate

The reinstitution of the ordained female diaconate in the Orthodox Church today would result in a much-needed and transformative outpouring of women’s gifts into the Church and into the world. In order to appreciate the positive potential of the female diaconate, we must understand the absolute pa... Read more.
Also available in: Ελληνικά
Orthodoxy and Modernity, Public Life

Orthodox Christianity: Offering Material Piety to Twenty-first Century America

by Carrie Frederick Frost Material piety was central to the early Church and it flourishes to this day within Orthodox Christianity. That Christians would love the material, created world makes perfect sense—their God took on matter in order to appear in the world of His creation. And early Christ... Read more.
Women in the Church

Childbirth is a Blessing, Not an Occasion of Impurity

Multiple petitions are offered for the fruitfulness of a couple’s union during an Orthodox marriage service, so many that a college friend characterized my wedding as a fertility rite. One such example: “That He will grant unto them the enjoyment of the blessing of children…let us pray to ... Read more.
Also available in: Русский
Women in the Church

Women Deacons in Africa; Not in America

History was made on February 17, 2017 when five women were consecrated deaconesses in the Orthodox Church. For many of us, this is a welcome but shocking development. Speaking for myself, I expected the reintroduction of a female diaconate to occur in Greece, or elsewhere in Europe, or, even more li... Read more.
Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, Global Orthodoxy, Holy and Great Council

In the Hope of Restoration of Communion between the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches

We wish to bring attention to one of the items not specifically included on the Great and Holy Council’s agenda or in its preconciliar documents: the restoration of communion between the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Our group is comprised of three Orthodox Christians and one... Read more.
Holy and Great Council, Women in the Church

Women and the Great and Holy Orthodox Council

As preparations continue for the Great and Holy Council set for Pentecost 2016, we eagerly look for the inclusion of women in the Council proceedings. Voting delegations of the Great and Holy Council are exclusively comprised of hierarchs from each of the fourteen local autocephalous Orthodox Church... Read more.