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The office of lector (Lat. “reader”) is necessitated by the public reading of Scripture, an essential element in both Jewish and Christian worship. The development of the role of lector in these two religious traditions exhibits striking similarities. 1. Jewish Setting By the fourth century b.c. the Israelites knew the public reading of the law (§1; Neh. 7:73b–8:12). The worship of the synagogue, however, provides the first evidence for lectors as a regular feature of Jewish prayer life. Both the Torah and the haftarah were read in the liturgy of the…

Readings taken from the Bible are a constituent element of worship services in the Christian church. This article treats readings for Sunday worship and feasts, touching only in passing upon those for weekdays, the sanctoral cycle (i.e., the cycle of saints days celebrated over the course of a calendar year; Saints, Veneration of), and monastic communities. It has as its primary focus readings in the liturgical traditions of the West. 1. Background 1.1. Terminology Synonyms remind us that “readings” refers in the church to passages selected for the purpose of being re…