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about the saints si^ed by God and the great crowd
around his throne m Apoc., vii. Most of Our Lady's
feasts have lessons from the Sons of Solomon or Eo-
clesiasticus applied mystically toner, as in her Office.
The commons of saints have fairly obvious Epistles
too. It will be seen, then, that a great proportion of
our pericopes are chosen because of their appro-
priateness to the occasion. With n^ard to the oth-
ers, in the Proprium de tempore, notably those for the
Sundays after Epiphany and Pentecost, it is not possi-
ble to find any dennite scheme for their selection. We
can only conjecture some underlying idea of reading
the most important passages of St. Paul's Epistles.
The fact that every Sunday except Whitsunday has a
pericope from an Epistle, that m nearly all cases it
IS from St. Paul (the Sundays after Easter, 1st, 2nd,
3rd, and 5th after Pentecost have Epistles of other
Apostles) still shows that this is the normal text for
the lesson before the Gospel; other lessons are excep-
tions admitted because of their special appropriate-
ness. Of the old principle of continuous readings it
is not now possible to nnd a trace. Our pericopes
represent a combination oT various comitea and leo-
tionaries, between which that principle has become
completely overlaid.
The epistle is announced as lectio, "Lectio epistoke beati Pauli ad Romanos", "Lectio libri Esther", and 80 on. No further reference is given; when there are several Epistles (e. g., those of St. Peter, St. John) the title read out does not say which it is: "Lectio epis- tolse beati Petri apostoli". It should also be noted that all the five hooka attributed to Solomon and known as the "Libri Sapient iales " (namely, Pro v., EccL, Cant., Wis., Ecclus.) are announced as: "Lectio libri Sapienti®'*.
The Epistles read in Eastern Churches are arranged in a way m which there is also no longer any trace of a system. Here, too, the present arrangement is the re- sult of a long series of Lectionaries between which various compromises have been made. The Byzan- tine Church reads from the Epistles, Acts, and Apoc- alypse for the first lesson, called the Apostle (6 dT&rro- Nof). These lessons are contained with their Prokei- mena in a book also called 'Ax6<rroNof or IIpa|oT6<rroNo?. The last part of this book contains a selection of les- sons from the Old Testament for use on special occa- sions (see the exact description in Leo Aliatius, "De libris ecclesiasticis Graeconun^j Paris, 1645, 1, xv, 4). We have noted that the Armenians stUl have the older arrangement of three lessons in evenr liturgy, a Prophecy from the Old Testament, an Epistle, and a Gospel. The Copts have no Prophecy, but four New- Testament lessons, one of St. Paul read from the "Apostle", one from an Epistle by another Apostle, read from another book called the " Katholikon ", then one from the Acts and finally the Gospel (Brightman, "Eastern Liturgies", 152^); the Abyssinian Church follows the use of Egypt in this as in most liturgical matters (ibid., 212-219). The Svrian Jacobites read firet several lessons from the Old Testament, then one from the Acts, an Epistle, and a Gospel (ibid., 77-80). The Nestorians have an Old-Testament lesson, one from the Acts, an Epistle and a Gospel (ibid., 256-60). Between the lessons in all these rites are various frag- ments of psalms, corresponding to our Gradual. The reading ot the Apostle or other lessons before the Gos- pel is a very simple affair in the East. A reader, who is generally any layman, simply takes the book, stands in the middle of the choir, and sings the text in his usual nasal chant with a few enharmonic cadences which are handed down by tradition and, as a matter of fact, very considerably modified according to the taste and skill of the singer. Meanwhile the celebrant turns towards him and listens. lie does not also read the text himself in any Eastern Rite. The Byzantine reader first chants the Prokeimenon (UpoKtifupoy roO iiro^6Nov— ^'placed before", understand W^ixoi-)
facing the altar. This is a short verse of a pealm cor-
responding to our Gradual (which once preceded the
Epistle: see Gradual). He then turns to the people
and chants the Apoatolos. Meanwhile the deacon is
incensing the altar (Fortescue, " Liturgy of St. John
Chiysostom", London, 1908, p. 75).
I V. Ritual of the Epistle in the Roman Rite. — We have noted that for many centuries the reading of the Epistle is a privilege of the subdeacon. While the celebrant chants the last Collect^ the master of ceremonies brings the book containing the Epistle (a lectionarium containing the Epistles and Gospels, verv often simply another Missal) from the credence table to the subdeacon at his place behind the deacon. The subdeacon turns towards him and receives it, both making a slight inclination. He then goes to the mid- dle and genuflects (even if the Blessed Sacrament is not on the altar) and comes back to a place in pkmo at some distance behind the celebrant. Standing there, facing the altar, and holding the book with both hands, he chants the title " Lectio •••, etc., and goes on at once with the text, to the end. He bows at the Holy Name and genufiects, if the rubric directs it, at his place towards the altar in front. The normal tone for the Epistle is entirely on one note (do) without any infiection, except that where a question occurs it sinks half a tone (to si) four or five syllables before, and for the last three syllables has the inflection la, si and a podcUus si-do. The revised Vatican Missal gives a rather more elaborate chant for use ad libitum in the appendix (no. III). While the Epistle is read the members of the choir sit with covered heads. Mean- while the celebrant reads it (and the Gradual) in a low voice from the Missal at the altar; the deacon stands at his side, turns over the page, if necessary, and ans- wers, " Deo gratias ", when the celebrant has ended the Epistle, To the Epistle chanted by the subdeacon there is no answer. The last three or four syllables of the Epistle are chanted more slowly, ritardando at the end. The subdeacon, having finished, shuts the book, goes to the middle and genuflects; then, still holding the closed book in both hands, he goes round to where the celebrant stands; here he kneels facing sideways (north) on the step. The celebrant turns to him and rests the right hand on the book. The subdeacon kisses the hand and waits with bowed head while the celebrant mJakes the sign of the cross over him in si- lence. He hands the book back to the master of cere- monies and then carries the Missal round to the other side for the celebrant's Gospel.
A^.a sung Mass we have seen that the Epistle majr be chanted oy a lector in a surplice (Ritus celebr., yi, 8; the text even says that this should be done: " Epis- tolam cantet in loco consueto aliquis lector super- peUiceo indutus). In this case he does not go to KISS the celebrant's hand afterwards (ibid.). C^er- ally, however, the celebrant chants the Epistle him- self at the comer of the altar, using the same tone as would a subdeacon. "Deo gratias" should not bo answered in this case either. At low Mass the Epis- tle is read by the celebrant in its place after the last Collect. The server answers, " Deogratias ".
V. Other Lessons at Mass. — There are a good many occasions in the year on which one or more les- sons still precede the Epistle, according to the older custom. They are all days of a penitential nature, conspicuously the embeivdays. The lessons are al- wavs separated by Graduals or Tracts, generally by Collects too. On the Advent ember Wednesday, after the first Collect a lesson from Isaias, ii, is read, then comes a Gradual, the Collect of the day followed by the other two that are said in Advent (or by commemora- tions), and a second lesson (the Epistle) from Is., vii, and lastly a second Gradual before the Gospel. The Advent ember Saturday has four lessons from Isaias, each preceded by a Collect and followed by a Graduali th^ a lesson from Dan., iii (with its Otmet
