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[[image:Readermike.jpg|thumb|right|A Reader in cassock.]]A '''reader''', also called a '''lector''' (in Greek, αναγνώστης, anagnostis or anagnostes; in Slavonic, Чтецъ, chtets) is one the second-highest of the [[minor orders]] of the [[Orthodox Church]], . It is a sub-clerical order to which a man is [[tonsure]]dand [[ordain]]ed, setting him apart as blessed by the [[bishop]] to read the [[apostolos|epistle]] readings in services and in the [[Divine Liturgy]]. He may also serve as a [[cantor]], [[catechism|catechist]], or in other leadership roles in the local [[parish]] community.
==Duties==
An ordained reader has the following duties:
* Read Old Testament readings during services
* Read the epistle during the Divine Liturgy and other services
* Chant psalms
* Chant the verses for prokeimenons, the alleluia, the antiphons
* Sing other hymns during the divine services
In addition to this, the reader will usually be trusted with constructing the services according to the typicon. In addition to this, as a member of minor clergy, a reader might be entrusted with the duties of cantor, catechist or other leadership roles in the community.
==Ordination==
Immediately before ordination as a reader, the candidate is [[tonsure]]d as a sign of his submission and obedience upon entry into the clerical state. It is a separate act from ordination. The tonsure is performed only once, immediately prior to the actual ordination of a reader, which the ordination rite refers to as "the first degree of priesthood". However, it is not the means whereby a person becomes a reader. Readers, like subdeacons, are ordained by ''[[Cheirothesia]]'' - literally, "to place hands" - whereas Cheirotonia - "to stretch out the hands" - is practised at the ordination of the higher clergy: bishops, priests and deacons. It is through ordination - not the tonsure - that one is made a reader or subdeacon; this is highlighted by the fact that the tonsure is performed only once and is not repeated before the ordination of a subdeacon. The confusion has arisen by the common reference to a man being "tonsured a reader" which, while widespread, is not technically correct. The office of a reader subsumes that of a ''[[taper-bearer]]'', and the service of ordaining a reader mentions both functions.
After being tonsured, the reader is [[vestment|vested]] in a short [[phelonion]], which he wears while reading the Epistle for the first time. This short phelon is then removed (and never worn thereafter) and replaced with a [[sticharion]], which the reader wears thereafter whenever he performs his liturgical duties. This practice is not universal, however, and many bishops and priests will allow a reader to perform his function dressed only in a [[cassock]] or (if a [[monk]]) outer cassock (riassa/exoraso). Often, a bishop will decree what vesting practice he wishes to be followed within his own [[diocese]]; for an example, see [http://www.holy-trinity.org/liturgics/tikhon.lit1.html here], section VIII.
In contemporary practice, any layman may receive the priest's blessing to read on a particular occasion.
==History==
In the Pre-Nikonian Russian Church, there existed an additional junior grade of reader called ''psalomshchik'' (in Slavonic, Ѱаломщикъ), whose sole function was to read the long [[Kathisma]] Psalms, thus permitting the reader and chanter to save their voices. This office survives in those churches that utilise the Pre-Nikonian Russian ritual: [[Old Believers]] (both [[popovtsy|priested]] and [[priestless]]), those parishes under [[ROCOR]] or the [[Moscow Patriarchate]]. The title of ''psalomshchik'' survives in the later reformed Nikonian Russian rite as an alternative, slightly archaic and quaint name for [[chanter]].
This order is higher than the [[doorkeeper]] (now largely obsolete) and lower than the [[subdeacon]]. [[Byzantine]] [[icon]]s often show readers and church singers wearing a stikhar-like garment (more loose and flowing than the modern stikhar) and a pointed hat with the brim pulled out to the sides (see [http://saints.oca.org/IconDirectory/LG/GreatLent/sundayorthodoxy.jpg here], lower left corner). This distinctive garb is now obsolete. ==Allowances==Readers are permitted to wear a [[cassock]], although many do so only when attending services; this is done as a sign of his suppression of his own tastes, will and desires, and his canonical obedience to God, his bishop and the liturgical and canonical norms of the Church. Readers will generally not wear a clergy shirt or vestments. While reading in church, the reader will generally wear a [[sticharion]]; and in some places, will do so when receiving communion.
A reader is usually tonsured by the bishop, though in some traditions, an [[archpriest]] or [[archimandrite]] may do the tonsure with the bishop's blessing if he is not available. In monastic communities, the ruling [[archimandrite]] may tonsure those monks over which he rules.
*[http://www.chrysostom.org/andrew/texts/Readers-and-Cantors.pdf Readers, Cantors, and Church Music in Early Eastern Christian Worship], by [[User:ASDamick|Andrew Stephen Damick]]
*[http://pages.prodigy.net/frjohnwhiteford/readers.htm Instructions . . . For the Church Reader]
*Some material retrieved from [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Reader_%28liturgy%29&oldid=417044762 Wikipedia article on 'Reader'], 4/Mar/2011 revision.
{{Clergy/wide}}