On the point of the Diaconate: Those in the Diaconate cannot say Mass or hear confessions. One could have 8 million members in the Diaconate, but it wouldnt change the fact that they cannot say Mass or hear confessions.
True. But deacons can do everything else. EVERYTHING ELSE!!
In terms of hours spent during the course of a week, celebrating nine Masses and two hours of confession amount to ten percent of a priest's waking hours. I thought we were also talking about workload.
Have you noticed how many activities formerly done by priests are now done by laymen? Counseling, business administration, liturgy planning, sacramental preparation, RCIA, marriage cases, hospital and nursing home visitation...all these are done by laymen and deacons in our parish.
We had a married Episcopalian priest convert here for three years, and he certainly wasn't breaking his back in terms of his workload.
In theory, and I suspect in practice, in Orthodoxy certain deacons could hear confessions. For us the office (offikion) of confessor is not automatically one held by reason of ordination. It is conferred by a bishop separate from Holy Orders. Thus it is quite common in Greece for non-ordained monks to hold that offikion and hear confessions.