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Acolyte
An acolyte is an assistant or follower assisting the celebrant in a religious service or procession. In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone performing ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In others, the term is used for one who has been inducted into a particular liturgical ministry, even when not performing those duties. Etymology The word ''Wikt:acolyte, acolyte'' is derived from the Greek language, Greek word ἀκόλουθος (''akolouthos''), meaning an attendant, via Late Latin ''acolythus''. Eastern Christianity In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches, the nearest equivalent of acolyte is the altar server. At one time there was a rank of minor clergy called the ''taper-bearer'' (κηροφόρος) responsible for bearing lights during processions and liturgical Entrance (Liturgical), entrances. However, this rank has long ago been subsumed by that of the Reader (liturgy), reader and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altar Server
An altar server is a laity, lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helping bring up the gifts, and bringing up the liturgical books, among other things. If young, the server is commonly called an altar boy or altar girl. In some Christian denominations, altar servers are known as acolytes. Latin Church The Second Vatican Council's ''Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy'' confirmed that altar servers featured among those who "exercise a genuine liturgical function" within services such as the Mass. According to the ''General Instruction of the Roman Missal'', "Mass should not be celebrated without a minister, or at least one of the faithful, except for a just and reasonable cause." While the function of altar server is commonly associated with children, it can be and is carried out by people of any age or dignity. The term "acolyte" As ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minor Orders
In Christianity, minor orders are ranks of church ministry. In the Catholic Church, the predominating Latin Church formerly distinguished between the major orders—priest (including bishop), deacon and subdeacon—and four minor orders— acolyte, exorcist, lector, and porter (in descending order of seniority). In 1972, the Vatican re-titled the minor orders as "ministries", with those of lector and acolyte being kept throughout the Latin Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the three minor orders in use are those of subdeacon, reader and chanter. The rites by which all four minor orders were conferred, but not the actual conferral of the order, are still employed for members of some Catholic religious institutes and societies of apostolic life authorized to observe the 1962 form of the Roman Rite. Some traditionalist Catholics continue to use minor orders, as do Old Catholics, the Polish National Catholic Church and the Liberal Catholic Church. Western Catholicism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subdeacon
Subdeacon is a minor orders, minor order of ministry for men or women in various branches of Christianity. The subdeacon has a specific liturgical role and is placed below the deacon and above the acolyte in the order of precedence. Subdeacons in the Eastern Orthodox Church A subdeacon, also called hypodeacon, is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Eastern Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the Reader (liturgy), reader and lower than the deacon. Canonical discipline Like the reader, the clerical street-dress of the subdeacon is the cassock, which is usually black but only need be so if he is a monk. This is symbolic of their suppression of their own tastes, will, and desires, and their canonical obedience to God, their bishop, and the liturgical and canonical norms of the Church. As a concession in countries where Eastern Orthodoxy is little known, many only wear the cassock when attending liturgies or when moving about the faithful on church business. In so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Pope Gregory III, Gregory III. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a family of Italian Argentines, Italian origin, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from a severe illness. He was Ordination#Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican churches, ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. Following resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the 2013 pa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thurible
A thurible (via Old French from -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... from incense burner suspended from chains, in which incense">Medieval Latin ) is a metal censer">incense burner suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. It is used in Christian churches, including those of the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran and Old Catholic denominations, as well as in some Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, Methodist and Anglican churches (with its use almost universal amongst Anglican churches of Anglo Catholic churchmanship). The acolyte or altar server who carries the thurible is called the ''thurifer''. The practice is rooted in the earlier traditions of Judaism dating from the time of the Second Jewish Temple, and is still ceremoniously utilized in some Renewal communities. In C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reader (liturgy)
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 the rarity of literacy. Catholic Church In the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church, the term '' lector'' or ''reader'' means someone who in a particular liturgy is assigned to read a Biblical text other than the Gospel (reading the Gospel at Mass is reserved specifically to the deacon or, in his absence, to the priest). But it also has the more specific meaning of a person who has been "instituted" as a lector or reader, and is such even when not assigned to read in a specific liturgy. The Second Vatican Council's '' Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy'' confirmed that lectors featured among those who "exercise a genuine liturgical function" within services such as the Mass. The office was formerly classed as one of the four minor orders in the Latin Church. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tonsure
Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in medieval Catholicism, abandoned by papal order in 1972. Tonsure, in its earliest Greek and Roman origin, was used as a sign or signifier for slavery. Tonsure can also refer to the secular practice of shaving all or part of the scalp to show support or sympathy, or to designate mourning. Current usage more generally refers to cutting or shaving for monks, devotees, or mystics of any religion as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem. Tonsure is still a traditional practice in Catholicism by specific religious orders (with papal permission). It is also commonly used in the Eastern Orthodox Church for newly baptised members and is frequently used for Buddhist novices, Bhikkhu, monks, and Bhikkhunī, nuns. The complete sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tarcisius
Tarsicius or Tarcisius was a martyr of the early Christian church who lived in the 3rd century. The little that is known about him comes from a metrical inscription by Pope Damasus I, who was pope in the second half of the 4th century. History The only positive information concerning this Roman martyr is found in a poem composed in his honour by Pope Damasus (366–384), who compares him to the deacon Saint Stephen and says that, as Stephen was stoned by a crowd, so Tarcisius, carrying the Blessed Sacrament, was attacked by a group and beaten to death. Nothing else definite is known concerning Tarcisius. Since Damasus compares him to Stephen, he may have been a deacon; however, a 6th-century account makes him an acolyte. According to one version of the detailed legend that developed later, Tarcisius was a young boy during one of the fierce 3rd-century Roman persecutions, probably during the reign of Emperor Valerian (253–259). One day, he was entrusted with the task of bringi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Altar Candle
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and modern paganism. Many historical-medieval faiths also made use of them, including the Roman, Greek, and Norse religions. Etymology The modern English word ''altar'' was derived from Middle English ''altar'', from Old English ''alter'', taken from Latin ''altare'' ("altar"), probably related to '' adolere'' ("burn"); thus "burning place", influenced by ''altus'' ("high"). It displaced the native Old English word '' wēofod''. Altars in antiquity In antiquity, altars were used for making sacrifices to deities; this could include both libations and animal sacrifice. In Ancient Roman religion, altars were often inscribed with the donor's name and the deity to whom the altar was dedicated. One of the most imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Diaconate
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, and Anglicanism, view the diaconate as an order of ministry. Permanent deacons (or distinctive deacons) are those who do not later transition to another form of ministry, in contrast to those continuing their formation who are then often called transitional deacons. Origin and development The word ''deacon'' is derived from the Greek word (), which is a standard ancient Greek word meaning "servant", "waiter", "minister", or "messenger". Recent research has highlighted the role of the deacon "as a co-operator" and "go-between," emphasizing their intermediary position in early Christian communities. It is generally assumed t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Procession
A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious and triumphal processions are abundantly illustrated by ancient monuments, e.g. the religious processions of Egypt, those illustrated by the rock-carvings of Boghaz-Keui, the many representations of processions in Greek art, culminating in the great Panathenaic procession of the Parthenon Frieze, and Roman triumphal reliefs, such as those of the arch of Titus. Greco-Roman practice Processions played a prominent part in the great festivals of Greece, where they were always religious in character. The games were either opened or accompanied by more or less elaborate processions and sacrifices, while processions from the earliest times formed part of the worship of the old nature gods, as those connected with the cult of Dionysus and the P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
