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Lector

Lector ("Reader"; Gk. Anagnostes): In the early Church, an ecclesiastic in minor orders appointed to read to the congregation from the Scriptures and other religious writings. From the very first the oral reading of the sacred Scriptures occupied a large place in religious services, and for a long time it was the sole, or at least the principal means of imparting Scriptural knowledge to the congregation. Since during the first two centuries Christianity diffused itself especially among the poorer classes, and the congregations were frequently small, it was not always easy to find a competent reader of the sacred books, written as they were without spacing between the words. The position of the lector in the congregation was consequently an important one. In addition to reading, he often expounded passages of Scripture, especially as the sermon was not yet an official duty.

Alphseus, lector and exorcist at Csosarea (d. 303), was "preacher and teacher of the word of God" at that place, "and had great fortitude before every one" (Eusebius, Demartyribus Palestine, i.). During the early centuries the lector appears to have been reckoned with the spiritual leaders of the congregations, with the prophets, evangelists, and teachers who were accustomed to conduct divine worship. Certain expressions in liturgies of the later time reflect the ancient estimate of the lector's office; thus the Statuta erclesicc antiqua (viii.) observe of the prospective lector, "he is to have a part with those who minister the word of God," consequently the lector occasionally took precedence of the deacon and subdeacon.

In ancient times the lectores (readers) were young men who were being brought up for the priesthood. They served as secretaries to bishops, and thus acquired instruction. The most studious youths were selected for this office, and generally proceeded in due course to the priesthood. But many lectores remained such all their lives. Most authorities hold that the establishment of this office as one of the orders dates from the third century, and that Tertullian is the first who speaks of it. Besides the duties indicated by the name, the lectores discharged that of keeping the sacred book, which was no light one in times of persecution. They acted also as couriers for the carrying of bishops' despatches.

Formerly in some churches, especially in that of Africa, the lector read the epistle. This is now done by the subdeacon. But the office of lector, though its duties have nearly become obsolete, still exists, and the lector still has the privilege of reading the lessons at matins. The fourth Council of Carthage prescribed the ceremony for the ordination of a lector. The bishop, in the presence of the congregation, places the Bible in the candidate's hand, and says, "Receive this book, and be a reader of the word of God. If thou exercisest thy ministry faithfully, thou wilt have part with those who administer God's word." Persons of high rank were in ancient times ambitious of filling this office. The Emperor Julian and his brother Galba were in their early youth ordained lectores in theChurch of Nicomedia. Justinian I, by his 'Novella,' 123, forbade the appointment of lectores under the age of eighteen. Before that time there had frequently been lectores of seven or eight years old.

The development of polity in the Church catholic from the second century downward was unfavorable to the dignity of the lector's office. The bishop or the presbyter was accustomed to appropriate the sermon, and sometimes the preacher included the Scriptural reading as a part of his functions, with the result that the lector became superfluous.

In the ceremonially ordered public worship from the fourth century onward, the reading of the Gospel was regularly reserved to the deacons or presbyters, and the lector came to be reckoned with the clerici minores, being of the next to the lowest rank in the order of ecclesiastical promotion (Siricius, Ad Himerium, xiii.). In many church districts, children and even catechumens were admitted to the lector's rank, an impropriety which Justinian sought to correct. The ritual for the installation of the lector was furnished by the liturgies. It usually consisted in the delivery of the codex of the sacred Scriptures. In the Roman Catholic Church the lector's ordo still exists, but in a merely formal sense.