Ryökäs, Esko and Tahvanainen, Juha. “Diaconia as a building – the concept of ‘diaconia’ in the Middle Ages and by Luther”
Luther himself did not use the word “diaconia” though he wrote a lot about a Christian helping one’s neighbor. The article seeks to demonstrate using some examples that this is due to the usage of this Latin word during Luther’s time. In the explanatory book of the Catholic Mass (1561) “diaconia” was a hospital for the poor with a chapel. The calendar of the year 1586 says that “diaconia” were sacred buildings. A similar statement can be found in the Hierolexicon (1677), and also in Medieval Latin dictionaries. From Rome it is known that at the time there were 24 buildings with the name “diaconia”. Luther visited the city at the turn of 1510-1511 and said that he had visited “all” the churches. The names of only some of these are known. None of them was called “diaconia”. It is probable that Luther knew “diaconia” to mean a building. That is why Luther did not talk about a “diaconia”.
Diakonian tutkimus – Journal for Study of Diaconia, 2011 (2), 145-163.
http://dts.fi/files/2009/10/DT2_2011.pdf
