Subdeacon
Subdeacon is a title used in various branches of
Christianity. It is sometimes spelled with a hyphen: sub-deacon.
A subdeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the
Eastern Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the
reader 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 etc.) 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. Another common occurrence is when former seminarians who have discerned not to have a calling and are married are ordained subdeacons as a sign on investment, faith, and to award their service.
The subdeacon is vested in a
sticharion with an
orarion tied around his waist, up over his shoulders (forming a cross in back), and with the ends hanging down in front, tucked under the section around the waist. [
1] Often, ordained subdeacons will wear their orarion crossing in front and in back (forming a cross on either side) to separate themselves from acolytes (servers) who wear theirs as in the former case. Like readers, subdeacons are permitted to wear a
cassock, although many only do so when attending services. In the United States a clergy-shirt will sometimes be worn instead, and is commonly worn buttoned but with no collar or collar-tab to indicate a rank lower than deacon.
When there is no bishop present, a subdeacon will take the role of
acolyte, assisting the priest during religious services in the
sanctuary, the area around the altar in a church.
Subdeacons have a similar role and function in the Oriental Churches (
Armenian,
Coptic, etc.)
Until abolished by
Pope Paul VI's apostolic letter
Ministeria quædam of
15 August 1972, the
subdiaconate was one of the
major orders of the
Latin Rite of the
Roman Catholic Church.
The other major orders — those of
deacon,
priest, and
bishop — are considered of divine institution and part of the sacrament of
Holy Orders, whereas the subdiaconate and the
minor orders were considered of ecclesiastical institution, created by the Church. Thus, a subdeacon did not receive the
laying on of hands at his
ordination. Instead, the bishop handed to him an empty
chalice and
paten, his
vestments,
cruets of
wine and
water, and the Book of the
Epistles. But, as the recipient of a major order, a subdeacon could not contract marriage, and any breach by him of the obligation to observe
celibacy was classified as a sacrilege (cf. canon 132 of the
1917 Code of Canon Law). Canon 135 of the same Code of Canon Law obliged him to say all the canonical hours of the
Divine Office (
Liturgy of the Hours or
Breviary).
The rôles of a subdeacon at
Solemn High Mass included those of
crucifer, singing the Epistle, carrying the Book of Gospels in the Gospel procession and holding it while the deacon sang the Gospel, and assisting the priest or deacon in setting the altar. The subdeacon's specific vestment was the
tunicle, in practice almost indistinguishable in form from the deacon's
dalmatic (the tunicle was sometimes somewhat smaller than the dalmatic, or had slightly less elaborate decoration, but this was often unnoticebale by the average lay churchgoer). He wore a
maniple, until this was no longer required by
Pope Paul VI with the instruction
Tres annos abhinc. Unlike the deacon, priest and bishop, the subdeacon never wore a stole. He also wore a
humeral veil while holding the paten during a large part of Solemn High Mass, from the offertory to the
Our Father; and, if the chalice and paten with host were not already on the altar, he also used the humeral veil when bringing these to the altar at the offertory.
The apostolic letter
Ministeria quædam, which abolished the Latin-Rite subdiaconate, also decreed that what had previously been called
minor orders should be known as "ministries". It retained for the Latin Church as a whole the ministries of
lector and
acolyte, and allowed bishops' conferences to use for acolytes the term "subdeacon", if they considered it opportune to do so. This permission has been availed of by the Latin Church in
Greece, in harmony with
Eastern Orthodox Church usage, but almost nowehere else.
Institutes such as the
Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter and the
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, as well as the
Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney, have been allowed to retain the subdiaconate, as well as the pre-1970 forms of all liturgical rites (
Tridentine liturgy). Likewise has done the
Society of St. Pius X.
Thus, within the Latin-Rite Catholic Church, the term "subdeacon" now applies to the recipient of either a major order abolished, except for these institutes, in 1972, or to the holder of a ministry that is more commonly denominated as that of acolyte.
While the office of subdeacon was abolished in the
Anglican Church at the time of the
Reformation, certain churches and communities in the
Anglican Communion assign a
layperson to act as subdeacon in the celebration of the liturgy of the mass or Holy Eucharist; however, this is considered a liturgical function one fills, not an order to which one is ordained. In practice, an Anglican subdeacon performs similar roles to those performed in the Roman Catholic Church.
*
Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter*
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest*
History of Subdeacons*
Ministeria quaedam, Apostolic Letter on First Tonsure, Minor Orders, and the Subdiaconate
