subdeacon (subde kn)

[ Subdeacons are first mentioned in the third century. They a isted the deacons, and kept order at the doors of the church. In the Western Church the duty of the subdeacon is to prepare the holy ve els and the bread, wine, and water for the eucharist, to pour the water into the chalice, and, since the seventh or eighth century, to read the epistle - a duty previously, as still in the East, a igned to the reader. In the Greek Church the subdeacon pre the holy ve els, and guards the gates of the bema during liturgy. In the Greek Church the subdiaconate has always been one of the minor orders. In the Western Church it became one of the major or holy orders in the twelfth century. The bishop, priest, or other cleric who acts as second or subordinate a istant at the eucharist is called the subdeacon, and the term is used in this sense in the Anglican Church also, although that church has no longer an order of subdeacons. See epistler. subdeaconry (sub'dē"kn-ri), n. [ IMG:content-2348.png:[blocks in formation]