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Alectionary (Latin:lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection ofscripture readings appointed forChristian orJewish worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" orevangeliary, and anepistolary with the readings from theNew TestamentEpistles.
By the Medieval era the Jewish community had astandardized schedule of scripture readings from both the Torah and the prophets to be read in thesynagogue. A sequential selection was read from theTorah, followed by the "haftarah" – a selection from the prophetic books or historical narratives (e.g. "Judges", "Kings", etc.) closely linked to the selection from the Torah. Jesus may have read a providentially "random" reading when he read fromIsaiah 61:1–2, as recorded in Luke 4:16–21,[2] when he inaugurated his public ministry. The early Christians adopted the Jewish custom of reading extracts from the Old Testament on the Sabbath. They soon added extracts from the writings of the Apostles and gospels.[3]
Both Hebrew and Christian lectionaries developed over the centuries. Typically, a lectionary will go through the scriptures in a logical pattern, and also include selections which were chosen by the religious community for their appropriateness to particular occasions. The one-year Jewish lectionary reads the entirety of the Torah within the space of a year and may have begun in the Babylonian Jewish community; the three-year Jewish lectionary seems to trace its origin to the Jewish community in and around the Holy Land.[4]
Within Christianity, the use of pre-assigned, scheduled readings from the scriptures can be traced back to theearly church, and seems to have developed out of the practices of the second temple period. The earliest documentary record of a special book of readings is a reference byGennadius of Massilia to a work produced byMusaeus of Marseilles at the request of BishopVenerius of Marseille, who died in 452, though there are 3rd-century references to liturgical readers as a special role in the clergy.[5][6]
Before the liturgical reforms ofVatican II, theLatin liturgical rite used a one-year lectionary consisting of a limited selection of sacred readings from the Scriptures. The reason for these limited selections was to maintain consistency,[citation needed] as was a true feature in the Roman Rite. There was one reading to be proclaimed before the Gospel, either taken from the Old Testament (referred to as Lesson) or from the letters of Saint Paul, Saint John, or Saint Peter (referred to as Epistle).[citation needed]
The Lesson (or Epistle) is contained in a book called theEpistolarium, aliturgical book containing the epistles that were to be said or sung by a subdeacon at a solemn High Mass. The Gospels are contained in a book calledEvangeliarium, or more recently called as "Book of the Gospels", that were to be said or sung by a deacon at a solemn High Mass.
However, the Ambrosian Rite and the Mozarabic Rite have two readings to be proclaimed, calledProphetia andEpistola.
After theSecond Vatican Council of 1962–1965, theHoly See, even before producing an actual lectionary (inLatin), promulgated theOrdo Lectionum Missae (Order of the Readings for Mass), giving indications of the revised structure and the references to the passages chosen for inclusion in the new official lectionary of theRoman Rite ofMass. It introduced an arrangement by which the readings on Sundays and on some principal feasts recur in a three-year cycle,[a] with four passages from Scripture (including one from thePsalms) being used in each celebration, while on weekdays only three passages (again including one from the Psalms) are used, with the first reading and the psalm recurring in a two-year cycle, while theGospel reading recurs after a single year. This revised Mass Lectionary, covering much more of the Bible than the readings in theTridentineRoman Missal, which recurred after a single year, has been translated into the many languages in which the Roman Rite Mass is now celebrated, incorporating existing or specially prepared translations of the Bible and with readings for national celebrations added either as an appendix or, in some cases, incorporated into the main part of the lectionary.
The Roman Catholic Mass Lectionary as revised after Vatican II is the basis for many Protestant lectionaries, most notably theRevised Common Lectionary (RCL) and its derivatives, as organized by theConsultation on Common Texts (CCT) organization located inNashville, Tennessee. Like the Mass lectionary, they generally organize the readings for worship services on Sundays in a three-year cycle, with four elements on each Sunday, and three elements during dailyMass:
The lectionaries (both Catholic and RCL versions) are organized into three-year cycles of readings. The years are designated A, B, or C. Each yearly cycle begins on the first Sunday ofAdvent (the Sunday between 27 November and 3 December inclusive). Year B follows year A, year C follows year B, then back again to A.
TheGospel of John is read throughoutEaster, and is used for other liturgical seasons includingAdvent,Christmas, andLent where appropriate. In Year B,chapter 6 of the Gospel of John is read on the 17th to the 21st Sundays ofOrdinary Time (ninth to thirteenth Sundays after Trinity), during July and August.
The Roman Catholic lectionary includes a two-year cycle for the weekday mass readings (called Cycle I and Cycle II).Odd-numbered years are Cycle I; even-numbered ones are Cycle II. The weekday lectionary includes a reading from the Old Testament, Acts, Revelation, or the Epistles; a responsorialPsalm; and a reading from one of the gospels. These readings are generally shorter than those appointed for use on Sundays. Thepericopes for the first reading along with the psalms are arranged in a two-year cycle. The gospels are arranged so that portions of all four are read every year. This weekday lectionary has also been adapted by some denominations with congregations that celebrate daily Eucharistic services. It has been published in the Episcopal Church'sLesser Feasts and Fasts and in theAnglican Church of Canada'sBook of Alternative Services (among others).
This eucharistic lectionary should not be confused with the various Daily Office lectionaries in use in various denominations. The Consultation on Common Texts has produced a three-year Daily Lectionary which is thematically tied into the Revised Common Lectionary, but the RCL does not provide a daily Eucharistic lectionary as such. Various Anglican and Lutheran churches have their own daily lectionaries. Many of the Anglican daily lectionaries are adapted from the one provided in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer.
In some churches, the lectionary is carried in the entrance procession by alector. In the Catholic Church, theBook of the Gospels is carried in by adeacon (when there is no deacon, a lector might process in with the Book of the Gospels). When the Book of the Gospels is used, the first two readings are read from the lectionary, while the Book of the Gospels is used for the final reading.
The lectionary is not to be confused with amissal,gradual orsacramentary. While the lectionary contains scripture readings, the missal or sacramentary contains the appropriate prayers for the service, and the gradual containschants for use on any particular day. In particular, the gradual contains aresponsory which may be used in place of the responsorial psalm.
Present day Church of EnglandCommon Worship Lectionaries were derived from theRevised Common Lectionary and published between 2000 and 2010.
In theEastern Churches (Eastern Orthodox,Oriental Orthodox,Eastern Catholic, theAssyrian Church of the East,Ancient Church of the East, and those bodies not in communion with any of them but still practicing Eastern liturgical customs) tend to retain the use of a one-year lectionary in their liturgy. Different churches follow different liturgical calendars (to an extent). Most Eastern lectionaries provide for an epistle and a Gospel to be read on each day. Other known witnesses of the Christian Jerusalem-Rite Lectionary are those preserved inGeorgian,Caucasian Albanian language, andArmenian translations (6th to 8th centuries CE).
Those churches (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic) which follow theRite of Constantinople, provide an epistle and Gospel reading for most days of the year, to be read at theDivine Liturgy; however, duringGreat Lent there is no celebration of the liturgy on weekdays (Monday through Friday), so no epistle and Gospel are appointed for those days. As a historical note, the Greek lectionaries are a primary source for theByzantine text-type used in the scholarly field oftextual criticism.
The Gospel readings are found in what Orthodoxy usually calls aGospel Book (Evangélion), although in strict English terms the Greek ones are in the form of anEvangeliary, and anEpistle Book (Apostól). There are differences in the precise arrangement of these books between the various national churches. In theByzantine practice, the readings are in the form ofpericopes (selections from scripture containing only the portion actually chanted during the service), and are arranged according to the order in which they occur in the church year, beginning with the Sunday ofPascha (Easter), and continuing throughout the entire year, concluding withHoly Week. Then follows a section of readings for the commemorations ofsaints and readings for special occasions (baptisms,funerals, etc.). In theSlavic practice, the biblical books are reproduced in their entirety and arranged in thecanonical order in which they appear in theBible.
The annual cycle of the Gospels is composed of four series:
The interruption of the reading of the Gospel of Matthew after the Elevation of the Holy Cross is known as the "Lukan Jump".[8] The jump occurs only in the Gospel readings, there is no corresponding jump in the epistles. From this point on the epistle and Gospel readings do not exactly correspond, the epistles continuing to be determined according to the moveablePaschal cycle and the Gospels being influenced by the fixed cycle.
The Lukan Jump is related to the chronological proximity of the Elevation of the Cross to the Conception of the Forerunner (St.John the Baptist), celebrated on 23 September. Inlate Antiquity, this feast marked the beginning of the ecclesiastical New Year. Thus, beginning the reading of the Lukan Gospel toward the middle of September can be understood. The reasoning is theological and is based on a vision of Salvation History: the Conception of the Forerunner constitutes the first step of the New Economy, as mentioned in thestikhera of the matins of this feast. TheEvangelist Luke is the only one to mention this Conception (Luke 1:5–24).
In Russia, the use of the Lukan Jump vanished; however, in recent decades, the Russian Church has begun the process of returning to the use of the Lukan Jump.
Similarly to the Gospel Cycle, Epistle readings follow this plan although some exceptions vary:
Other services have scriptural readings also. There is a Gospel lesson atMatins on Sundays and feast days. These are found in theEvangelion. There are also readings from theOld Testament, called "parables" (paroemia), which are read atvespers on feast days. These parables are found in theMenaion,Triodion orPentecostarion. During Great Lent, parables are read every day at vespers and at theSixth Hour. These parables are found in the Triodion.
In theJacobiteSyriac Churches, the lectionary begins with the liturgical calendar year onQudosh `Idto (the Sanctification of the Church), which falls on the eighth Sunday before Christmas. Both theOld and theNew Testament books are read except the books ofRevelation,Song of Solomon, andI andII Maccabees. Scripture readings are assigned for Sundays and feast days, for each day of Lent and Holy Week, for raising people to various offices of the Church, for the blessing of Holy Oil and various services such as baptisms and funerals.
Generally, three Old Testamentlections, a selection from theprophets, and three readings from the New Testament are prescribed for each Sunday and Feast day. The New Testament readings include a reading from Acts, another from theCatholic Epistles or thePauline Epistles, and a third reading from one of theGospels. During Christmas and Easter a fourth lesson is added for theevening service. The readings reach a climax with the approach of the week of the Crucifixion. ThroughLent lessons are recited twice a day except Saturdays. During thePassion Week readings are assigned for each of the majorcanonical hours.
If there is a weekday Liturgy celebrated on a non-feast day, the custom is to read the Pauline epistle only, followed by the Gospel.
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