JustinMiller is right, the deaconesses of old were lay charity workers, tonsured at most. They were never the female equivalent of liturgical deacons, apart from very rare instances in womens\' monasteries. St Olympiada, and other deaconess-saints, has been portrayed in icons with a deacon\'s omophorion and a censer, but this is incorrect.
Read the life of St Olympias, and it is quite clear she was a charity worker, not a \"female deacon\" with liturgical duties.
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