Other forms: deacons
A deacon is an assistant to a priest in some churches. Ordained a deacon, the parish deacon, a permanent deacon.
In the Catholic and Anglican churches it is the first of three orders — deacon, priest, bishop — and most pass through it in a year, though a permanent deacon stays. In other churches a deacon is a lay officer handling practical affairs. The Greek means a servant.
1noundeaconAn assistant to a priest in some churches.
“The deacon helped the priest give out communion during the service.”
deacon is a church office.
Greek diakonos means a servant or minister. The word came into English through Church Latin very early.
Ancient Greek
διᾱ́κονος — servant, minister
Ecclesiastical Latin
diāconus
Old English
diacon
Middle English
deken
English, today
deacon
Middle English deken, dekne, from Old English diacon, from Ecclesiastical Latin diāconus, from Ancient Greek διᾱ́κονος (“servant, minister”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA