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 This is a separate act from ordination. The tonsure is performed only once, making a layperson into a clergyman, and occurs immediately prior to the actual his ordination of as a reader, which the . The ordination rite refers to as "the first degree of priesthood". However, it itself is not the means whereby a person becomes a reader. Readers, like subdeaconsthat of the subdiaconate, are ordained by through ''[[Cheirothesia]]'' - literally, "to place hands" - whereas as opposed to Cheirotonia - "to stretch out the hands" - which 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 generally wears thereafter whenever he performs his liturgical duties. This practice is not universal What a reader wears while conducting his duties can vary, 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. The office of a reader subsumes that of a ''[[taper-bearer]]'', and the service of ordaining a reader mentions both functions.