www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Vespers, Matins & the Divine Liturgy Female Readers/Lectors in the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church

A few weeks ago my Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic parish was fortunate to offer a seminar for aspiring cantors and readers/lectors lead by a seminarian with a background in music. At the end of the session a few people attempted to chant some of the example Epistles.

A young woman did by far the best job. This caused a coercive individual of the parish to stand-up and exclaim "if we have female lectors I am going to stop tithing!" as he stomped out of the building. Coercive behavior for that person is nothing new but it started a debate about female readers/lectors in the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic.

My feeling is that if the church allows it (which I believe it does -- am I mistaken?) then that's the end of it. People can certainly makes comments like "I prefer all male readers due to the pitch of their voices" or "I prefer all male readers because I appreciate upholding the tradition of this parish" or possibly even "I prefer all male readers because serving as a reader is a great way to foster a possible priestly vocation."

On the other hand I personally find it highly offensive for some to suggest the church is wrong to allow female readers because until a certain historical point only males (ordained males at that) read the Epistles/OT readings in the Byzantine Ruthenian Catholic Church. To me they are suggesting they know more than the church does and I find that very distasteful.

Some suggest the church is now in error -- that it was forced to allow female readers and that in time things will be returned to their correct state. Some even try to sell the ludicrous notion that female readers are a step towards female priests ignoring the content of Ordinatio Sacerdotalis.

I would really appreciate hearing some outside voices on this subject. I think the "traddie Latin" mindset has had a terribly deleterious impact on my Byzantine parish. Thank you all.

I don't think there is anything in conflict with Orthodox tradition to have female lectors, with one important caveat: that the female lector does not do anything to suggest that she might be a tonsured reader (i.e. clergy).

It goes without saying that she should not wear a sticharion or get a blessing to read within the altar; reading position shows more variation.

In the more conservative Orthodox parishes (I am talking Russian use here) if a woman reads the epistle she will read it from the kliros or similar place, not from the centre of the church. This is because traditionally only tonsured readers read from this position; this however is rapidly changing, due in part to tonsured readers becoming rare. Additionally, women now routinely read the six psalms or Old Testament readings at all night vigil from the centre of the church so I expect this to become a non-issue even for the epistle reading.

I can't find it online, but somewhere there is a letter by St Tikhon on minor orders in the Orthodox Church, and he specifically says that he has no problem with women readers; I think this should be a non-issue, provided that reading is not confused with being a tonsured reader.

Abraham-

First of all, you are not mistaken, your cathedral parish has a few females who are readers. (I know, I serve there.) Continue to encourage yourself and others to become readers and cantors. There is no prohibition of female readers/cantors in the particular law of the Metropolia of Pittsburgh nor in the Pastoral Handbook promulgated by His Grace, Bishop Gerald. There is a prohibition against females serving in the altar at the Holy Table.

Thanks for the reply and for confirming that females may indeed be readers (is "reader" the preferred name for that function?) in the Byzantine Ruthenian Church. From my standpoint I simply want to hear the most gifted individuals chanting the readings -- be they male or female. After all their ability is God-given.

Candidly I am also disgusted at those who claim to be "super Catholic" until something the Church actually allows/encourages runs contrary to their personal preferences based on some sort of "1955 USA Latin Rite all is great" idealism

Thanks again.

Thank you for taking this so "deep." This is becoming more and more fascinating to me. There really is a great deal to it including the eventual (God willing!) reunification of the Church.

I wish some of the people in my parish would read this thread and ponder/pray on some of the information that is being presented. Thank you.

I (a female, by the way) would love to have attended the workshop. We were down there a couple of weeks ago and had a brief visit with Father James, who told us that you all were having the workshop. I wanted to stay for it. (-:

I think you hit it on the head. These people are really afraid of having women priests, which simply is not going to happen. It is the same attitude in the Latin church with female Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. "I won't accept Communion from a woman." If you object to a non-ordained person distributing communion, your objection should hold equally true, whether the person be male or female. It is reasonable to say that one is only comfortable receiving from a priest. If we are going to have non-ordained people filling roles that were previously reserved to the ordained, why does it matter if that person is a male or female? On the other hand, I wouldn't really want to see women serving at the altar, so I apparently have my limits as well. Maybe this person's line was just at a different place than mine.

Elizabeth

I just think that ultimately they're "cafeteria catholics" -- they ultimately pick and choose what they will accept no matter what the Church allows/disallows. Their gold standard appears to be their idealized, personal perception of what the Latin Rite was like in the USA in the 1950's.

Someone at my parish once told me "I would NEVER receive Holy Communion from a woman!" I said "Why? In some cases under specific conditions the Church allows just that." After some hemming and hawing he replied "because their hands are not consecrated!" To wit I replied "You had better not receive communion here today. As a Byzantine Catholic priest Father's hands aren't consecrated either." The guy looked as if his brain had just exploded...

Haha I will have to remember that one.

I belong to a parish which was once Byzantine Catholic and has since become an MP Eastern Orthodox parish. I chant the Old Testament and Menaion prayers during Vespers services, because most of the time, it is only between two and four people who come to the Vespers. Sometimes it is just the elderly choir director and me plus Father at the Vespers. So, whoever is not pleased with a woman chanting at services, should come to church himself and do the job for me - I will gladly yield. I also want to mention that I do not like the sound of a high-pitched female voice chanting; I always keep mine in my lower range.

Mariya,

Welcome to the forum! I hope you'll enjoy it here.

Many years,

Neil

Mariya,

was this originally a Ruthenian parish or another eastern Catholic church? I'm curious how you became MP instead of ROCOR as well; if you like, PM me as its off topic.

When I was at a Ruthenian parish, someone complained about the use of women as readers. The priest ended that argument by asking, "Are you volunteering to read, then?"

The parish was Ruthenian and became Russian Orthodox, it was 1902-1912 and ROCOR did not exist yet. There was a trend at the time of Uniate Ruthenian parishes becoming Russian Orthodox because they were not happy with certain things in their own church. However, they did preserve their own special ways of doing certain things, though. I am Russian but I learned the Ruthenian dialect a little because I sing Christmas carols at this parish with them every year. :-)

MariyaNJ:

Welcome to the forum!!

Bob
Moderator

Ah OK, it went back that far. I'm glad some unique traditions were preserved