Subdeacon

Subdeacon is a title used in various branches of Christianity. It is sometimes spelled with a hyphen: sub-deacon.

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A subdeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Eastern Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the anagnostis and lower than the deacon. The subdeacon's essential role is to assist the bishop during a hierarchical Divine Liturgy (a Divine Liturgy at which a bishop is present and presiding) by vesting him, holding his service book, carrying his staff, presenting him with the dikiri and trikiri, etc. There is a special service for the ordination of a subdeacon, although in contemporary practice an acolyte or a reader may receive the bishop's blessing to vest and act as a subdeacon, either for a particular occasion or permanently. The main reason for this practice lies in the fact that the canons (e.g. Apostolic canon 26 et al.) prohibit subdeacons to marry after their ordination (just like deacons and priests). This latter stipulation has sometimes led to the reservation of the formal ordination service to candidates for the priesthood, although this is not universal.

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Anagnostis: REDIRECT Reader (liturgy)...