Everything about Subdeacon totally explained
Subdeacon is a title used in various branches of
Christianity. It is sometimes spelled with a hyphen: sub-deacon.
Eastern Orthodoxy
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
dikirion and
trikirion, placing
eagle rugs, and other tasks peculiar to hierarchical rubrics. 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 (for example 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 isn't 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.
(External Link
) 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's 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 rôle and function in the Oriental Churches (
Armenian,
Coptic, etc.), and in the
Eastern Catholic Churches.
Latin-Rite Catholicism
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
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 didn't 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 couldn't 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 roles of a subdeacon at
Solemn High Mass included those of
crucifer (only on certain occasions such as Palm Sunday, requiems and Holy Saturday), singing the Epistle, carrying the Book of Gospels back to the celebrant after the deacon has sung the gospel (the deacon carries the book in the Gospel procession to the place where the gospel is proclaimed) 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 unnoticeable by the average lay churchgoer). He wore a
maniple, until this vestment was made optional 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.
With effect from
1 January 1973, the apostolic letter
Ministeria quaedam of
15 August 1972 decreed that the functions that in the
Latin Church had been assigned to the subdeacon should from then on be carried out by the instituted ministers (not members of the clergy) known as
lectors and
acolytes:
» 3. Ministries may be assigned to lay Christians; hence they're no longer to be considered as reserved to candidates for the sacrament of orders.
4. Two ministries, adapted to present-day needs, are to be preserved in the whole Latin Church, namely, those of reader and acolyte. The functions heretofore assigned to the subdeacon are entrusted to the reader and the acolyte; consequently, the major order of subdiaconate no longer exists in the Latin Church. There is, however, no reason why the acolyte can't be called a subdeacon in some places, at the discretion of the conference of bishops.
Traditionalist Catholic organizations such as the
Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the
Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest and the
Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney have been permitted to retain the subdiaconate, as well as other
pre-1970 forms of the
Roman Rite liturgy. The controversial
Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and other traditionalist Catholic bodies in dispute with the Holy See, such as
sedevacantists, have also retained the subdiaconate, without seeking authorization to do so.
Thus, within the Latin-Rite Catholic Church, the term "subdeacon" now applies only to those ordained to that rank within one of these groups and to acolytes in countries where the
Episcopal Conference has chosen to give them the name of subdeacon. Otherwise, it's a historical reference to persons and events of the pre-1973 period.
The entrusting to readers and acolytes of all the functions that in the Latin Rite once belonged to subdeacons doesn't affect the
Eastern Catholic Churches.
Anglicanism
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 and within the
Anglican Continuing Churches assign a
layperson to act as subdeacon in the celebration of the liturgy of the mass or Holy Eucharist (especially
Solemn High Mass); however, this is considered a liturgical function one fills, not an order to which one is ordained. In some
dioceses and
provinces, laypersons who act as subdeacons in this manner may be required to be specifically authorized by the respective
bishop or
archbishop. In practice, an Anglican subdeacon performs similar roles to those performed in the Roman Catholic Church. The proper garment of the subdeacon, as in the Roman Catholic tradition, is the
tunicle.
Further Information
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