I'm supposed to start reading soon at church. I think I might want to be tonsured, so I can get one of those cool Matrix robes. I told Chey that's probably a rotten reason to want to be tonsured, and she said, "Nah, God finds ways to pull you in certain directions." That makes sense... I mean, look at my life now. Still, I want one of those robes. I can see the upcoming action pic - me in the Matrix Robe with Matrix shades, wielding the Gospels with a kung fu grip.
No time to do it now, I have to get my daily dose of http://www.wimp.com/hyperkitten/
Maybe after work.
Tonsured?! I had no idea this still went on! Please explain!
ReplyDeleteIn the Eastern Orthodox Church, the reader 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. The reader's essential role is to read the Old Testament lessons ("parables") and the Epistle lessons during the Divine Liturgy, Vespers and other services, as well as to chant the Psalms and the verses of the Prokimen, Alleluia and certain antiphons and other hymns during the divine services. There is a special service for the ordination of a reader, although in contemporary practice a layman may receive the priest's blessing to read on a particular occasion.
ReplyDeleteImmediately before ordination as a reader, the candidate is tonsured as a sign of his submission and obedience upon entry into the clerical state. It is a separate act from ordination, which is done through prayer and the laying on of hands. 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 practiced at the ordination of the higher clergy: bishops, priests and deacons.
Readers wear a cassock 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, although many do so only when attending services (again in accordance with particular church practices). Readers will generally not wear a clergy shirt, and may not perform any of the duties reserved for a deacon, priest or bishop.