Reader (liturgy)
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In some Christian denominations, a reader or lector is the person responsible for reading aloud excerpts of scripture at a liturgy. In early Christian times the reader was of particular value due to t
Reader in the Divine Liturgy
A lector does the first reading during the Mass of Easter Monday at Kungsholm Evangelical-Lutheran Church, part of the Diocese of Stockholm in Sweden (2026).
The reading of the Epistle during Mass at Saint Mary's Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Helsingborg, Sweden
The tonsuring of readers in a seminary by a Russian Orthodox bishop. The readers being ordained are wearing the short phelon (in white).
Ostiarius
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An ostiarius, a Latin word sometimes anglicized as ostiary but often literally translated as porter or doorman, originally was a slave or guard posted at the entrance of a building, similarly to a gat
Reader (liturgy)
…in Greek, Ἀναγνώστης Anagnostis; in Church Slavonic, чтец chtets) is the second highest of the minor orders of clergy. This order is higher than the doorkeeper (now largely obsolete) and lower than the subdeacon. Immediately before ordination as a reader, the candidate is tonsured as a sign of his submission…
Mosaic depicting a man in a tunic watching a street scene from the Villa del Cicerone in Pompeii, 1st century CE