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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 the second-highest of the [[minor orders]] of the [[Orthodox Church]]. It is a sub-clerical order to which a man is [[tonsure]]d and [[ordain]]ed, setting him apart as blessed by the [[bishop]] to read 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.
===Terminology===
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.
==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]]. The office of a reader subsumes that of a ''[[taper-bearer]]'', and the service of ordaining a reader mentions both functions.
[[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.
==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. This is a separate act, making a layperson into a clergyman, and occurs immediately prior to his ordination as a reader. The ordination itself is, like that of the subdiaconate, through ''[[Cheirothesia]]'' - literally, "to place hands" - as opposed to Cheirotonia - "to stretch out the hands" - which is practised at the ordination of bishops, priests and deacons.
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.
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.
==Duties==
* Catechist
* Other leadership roles in the community.
==Allowances==