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57-614: By the Medieval era the Jewish community had a standardized schedule of scripture readings from both the Torah and the prophets to be read in the synagogue . A sequential selection was read from the Torah , followed by the " haftarah " – a selection from the prophetic books or historical narratives (e.g. "Judges", "Kings", etc.) closely linked to the selection from the Torah. Jesus may have read

114-514: A Gospel Book ( Evangélion ), although in strict English terms the Greek ones are in the form of an Evangeliary , and an Epistle Book ( Apostól ). There are differences in the precise arrangement of these books between the various national churches. In the Byzantine practice, the readings are in the form of pericopes (selections from scripture containing only the portion actually chanted during

171-577: A deacon (when there is no deacon, a lector might process in with the Book of the Gospels). When the Book of the Gospels is used, the first two readings are read from the lectionary, while the Book of the Gospels is used for the final reading. The lectionary is not to be confused with a missal , gradual or sacramentary . While the lectionary contains scripture readings, the missal or sacramentary contains

228-438: A weekly Torah portion to be read during Jewish prayer services on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday. The full name, Parashat HaShavua ( Hebrew : פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ ), is popularly abbreviated to parashah (also parshah / p ɑː r ʃ ə / or parsha ), and is also known as a Sidra or Sedra / s ɛ d r ə / . The parashah is a section of the Torah (Five Books of Moses) used in Jewish liturgy during

285-483: A Sabbath, in the Diaspora a special 'out of cycle' Torah reading is inserted for that day. The final parashah , V'Zot HaBerachah , is always read on Simchat Torah. Apart from this "immovable" final portion, there can be up to 53 weeks available for the other 53 portions. In years with fewer than 53 available weeks, some readings are combined to fit into the needed number of weekly readings. The annual completion of

342-837: A deacon at a solemn High Mass. However, the Ambrosian Rite and the Mozarabic Rite has two Readings to be proclaimed, called Prophetia and Epistola . After the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965, the Holy See , even before producing an actual lectionary (in Latin ), promulgated the Ordo Lectionum Missae (Order of the Readings for Mass), giving indications of the revised structure and

399-499: A lectionary will go through the scriptures in a logical pattern, and also include selections which were chosen by the religious community for their appropriateness to particular occasions. The one-year Jewish lectionary reads the entirety of the Torah within the space of a year and may have begun in the Babylonian Jewish community; the three-year Jewish lectionary seems to trace its origin to the Jewish community in and around

456-455: A particular week. There are 54 parshas, or parashiyot in Hebrew , and the full cycle is read over the course of one Biblical year. Each Torah portion consists of two to six chapters to be read during the week. There are 54 weekly portions or parashot . Torah reading mostly follows an annual cycle beginning and ending on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah , with the divisions corresponding to

513-630: A providentially "random" reading when he read from Isaiah 61:1 - 2 , as recorded in Luke 4:16–21 , when he inaugurated his public ministry. The early Christians adopted the Jewish custom of reading extracts from the Old Testament on the Sabbath. They soon added extracts from the writings of the Apostles and Evangelists. Both Hebrew and Christian lectionaries developed over the centuries. Typically,

570-589: A reading from the Old Testament, Acts, Revelation, or the Epistles; a responsorial Psalm ; and a reading from one of the Gospels. These readings are generally shorter than those appointed for use on Sundays. The pericopes for the first reading along with the psalms are arranged in a two-year cycle. The Gospels are arranged so that portions of all four are read every year. This weekday lectionary has also been adapted by some denominations with congregations that celebrate daily Eucharistic services. It has been published in

627-650: A selection from the prophets , and three readings from the New Testament are prescribed for each Sunday and Feast day. The New Testament readings include a reading from Acts, another from the Catholic Epistles or the Pauline Epistles , and a third reading from one of the Gospels . During Christmas and Easter a fourth lesson is added for the evening service . The readings reach a climax with

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684-610: A special role in the clergy. Before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II , the Latin liturgical rite used a one-year lectionary consisting of a limited selection of sacred readings from the Scriptures. The reason to these limited selections is to maintain consistency, as is a true feature in the Roman Rite. There is one reading to be proclaimed before the Gospel, either taken from the Old Testament (referred to as Lesson) or from

741-586: Is followed by an often similarly themed reading ( Haftarah ) from the Book of Prophets ( Nevi'im ). The custom of dividing the Torah readings dates to the time of the Babylonian captivity (6th century BCE). The origin of the first public Torah readings is found in the Book of Nehemiah , where Ezra the scribe writes about wanting to find a way to ensure the Israelites would not go astray again. This led to

798-550: Is made for either being a Eucharist). Minimal changes to the "Principal Service" have been made in order to preserve its use as an ecumenical lectionary; the most significant of these is in Year B where in Epiphany for three Sundays readings from Revelation replace readings from 1 Corinthians. The Revised Common Lectionary is used in its original or an adapted form by churches around the world. The Ordo Lectionum Missae , on which it

855-537: Is made for the use of a responsorial psalm each Sunday. Lastly, there has been a certain amount of editing so that some verses of most books are omitted. Sometimes the omission is simply an introduction to a book; sometimes more substantial material has been excluded, but the overall intention, that of allowing, say, the substance of a biblical writer's thoughts to be read and heard in church, has arguably been achieved at least more substantially than before. There have been arguments over individual editorial judgements and

912-579: Is read by a designated reader ( ba'al koreh ) in Jewish prayer services, starting with a partial reading on the afternoon of Shabbat , the Jewish Sabbath, i.e. Saturday afternoon, again during the Monday and Thursday morning services, and ending with a full reading during the following Shabbat morning services (Saturday morning). The weekly reading is pre-empted by a special reading on major religious holidays . Each Saturday morning and holiday reading

969-518: Is read throughout Easter , and is used for other liturgical seasons including Advent , Christmas , and Lent where appropriate. In Year B, chapter 6 of John's Gospel is read on the 17th to the 21st Sundays of Ordinary Time (ninth to thirteenth Sundays after Trinity), during July and August. The Roman Catholic lectionary includes a two-year cycle for the weekday mass readings (called Cycle I and Cycle II). Odd-numbered years are Cycle I; even-numbered ones are Cycle II. The weekday lectionary includes

1026-684: The Apocrypha or deuterocanonical books ), or the Acts of the Apostles ; a passage from one of the Psalms ; another from either the Epistles or the Book of Revelation ; and finally a passage from one of the four Gospels . Also like its predecessors, it runs in three-year cycles; the gospel readings in the first year (Year A) are taken from the Gospel of Matthew , those in the second year (or Year B) from

1083-605: The Church of England , in its use of the RCL, has re-inserted verses, in brackets, which were felt by its Liturgical Commission to be more properly included. Such is the length of the Scriptural canon that no Sunday lectionary can cover the whole of Scripture without the necessity of very long readings on a Sunday or a longer cycle of years. Sometimes there has to be a choice between telling a long story or omitting it entirely. However,

1140-405: The Gospel of Mark , and in the third year (or Year C) come from the Gospel of Luke . Portions of the Gospel of John are read throughout Eastertide , and are also used for other liturgical seasons including Advent , Christmastide , and Lent where appropriate. It differs from its Latin predecessor, however, in that—as a result of feedback collected from the participating churches during

1197-529: The Old Testament provides a further qualification to the first principle. Because it is so much longer than the New, it is inevitable that a smaller proportion of the material will be included, unless readings are to be very long. Readings are much more selective both in terms of the books included: little appears from the books of Leviticus and Numbers and almost none from 1 and 2 Chronicles . Moreover, it

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1254-739: The Old Testament , called "parables" ( paroemia ), which are read at vespers on feast days. These parables are found in the Menaion , Triodion or Pentecostarion . During Great Lent, parables are read every day at vespers and at the Sixth Hour . These parables are found in the Triodion. In the Jacobite Syriac Churches , the lectionary begins with the liturgical calendar year on Qudosh `Idto (the Sanctification of

1311-654: The Parshyot divisions are fairly standardized, there are various communities with differing parsha divisions. For example, many Yemenites combine Korach with the first half of Chukat and the second half of Chukat ( "Vayis'u mi-kadesh" ) with Balak instead of combining Matot and Masei , and some Syrian communities combine Korach and Chukat instead of Matot and Masei . In Provence and Tunisia , Mishpatim and Im Kesef Talveh were occasionally divided so that Matot and Masei would always be read together. The division of parashiot found in

1368-615: The Rite of Constantinople , provide an epistle and Gospel reading for most days of the year, to be read at the Divine Liturgy ; however, during Great Lent there is no celebration of the liturgy on weekdays (Monday through Friday), so no epistle and Gospel are appointed for those days. As a historical note, the Greek lectionaries are a primary source for the Byzantine text-type used in the scholarly field of textual criticism . The Gospel readings are found in what Orthodoxy usually calls

1425-585: The canonical order in which they appear in the Bible . The annual cycle of the Gospels is composed of four series: The interruption of the reading of the Gospel of Matthew after the Elevation of the Holy Cross is known as the "Lukan Jump". The jump occurs only in the Gospel readings, there is no corresponding jump in the epistles. From this point on the epistle and Gospel readings do not exactly correspond,

1482-405: The lunisolar Hebrew calendar , which contains up to 55 weeks, the exact number varying between leap years and regular years. There are some deviations to the cyclic regularity noted above, all related to the week of Passover and the week of Sukkot . For both holidays, the first day of the holiday may fall on a Sabbath, in which case the Torah reading consists of a special portion relevant to

1539-692: The Bible and with readings for national celebrations added either as an appendix or, in some cases, incorporated into the main part of the lectionary. The Roman Catholic Mass Lectionary as revised after Vatican II is the basis for many Protestant lectionaries, most notably the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) and its derivatives, as organized by the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) organization located in Nashville, Tennessee . Like

1596-689: The Church), which falls on the eighth Sunday before Christmas. Both the Old and the New Testament books are read except the books of Revelation , Song of Solomon , and I and II Maccabees . Scripture readings are assigned for Sundays and feast days, for each day of Lent and Holy Week, for raising people to various offices of the Church, for the blessing of Holy Oil and various services such as baptisms and funerals. Generally, three Old Testament lections ,

1653-618: The Episcopal Church's Lesser Feasts and Fasts and in the Anglican Church of Canada 's Book of Alternative Services (among others). This eucharistic lectionary should not be confused with the various Daily Office lectionaries in use in various denominations. The Consultation on Common Texts has produced a three-year Daily Lectionary which is thematically tied into the Revised Common Lectionary, but

1710-622: The Holy Land. Within Christianity, the use of pre-assigned, scheduled readings from the scriptures can be traced back to the early church , and seems to have developed out of the practices of the second temple period. The earliest documentary record of a special book of readings is a reference by Gennadius of Massilia to a work produced by Musaeus of Marseilles at the request of Bishop Venerius of Marseilles , who died in 452, though there are 3rd-century references to liturgical readers as

1767-654: The Lukan Jump vanished; however, in recent decades, the Russian Church has begun the process of returning to the use of the Lukan Jump. Similarly to the Gospel Cycle, Epistle readings follow this plan although some exceptions vary: Other services have scriptural readings also. There is a Gospel lesson at Matins on Sundays and feast days. These are found in the Evangelion . There are also readings from

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1824-642: The Mass lectionary, they generally organize the readings for worship services on Sundays in a three-year cycle, with four elements on each Sunday, and three elements during daily Mass : The lectionaries (both Catholic and RCL versions) are organized into three-year cycles of readings. The years are designated A , B , or C . Each yearly cycle begins on the first Sunday of Advent (the Sunday between 27 November and 3 December inclusive). Year B follows year A, year C follows year B, then back again to A. The Gospel of John

1881-523: The RCL does not provide a daily Eucharistic lectionary as such. Various Anglican and Lutheran churches have their own daily lectionaries. Many of the Anglican daily lectionaries are adapted from the one provided in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. In some churches, the lectionary is carried in the entrance procession by a lector . In the Catholic Church, the Book of the Gospels is carried in by

1938-611: The Second Sunday before Lent . It then resumes after Pentecost until the Sunday before Advent which is kept as the Feast of Christ the King . Secondly, because the cycle is three years long, only three of the Gospel writers are given a year. St. John's Gospel , whose form and character is very different from the three synoptic gospels is treated differently and is inserted into all three years. Thus passages from St. John appear in

1995-477: The Torah readings on Simchat Torah, translating to "Rejoicing of the Torah", is marked by Jewish communities around the world. Each weekly Torah portion takes its name from the first distinctive word or two in the Hebrew text of the portion in question, often from the first verse. "[God] said to Abram , 'Go forth from your native land...'" The appropriate parashah is chanted publicly. In most communities, it

2052-577: The annual cycle, but the entire Torah is completed over three years. Orthodox Judaism does not follow this practice. Due to different lengths of holidays in Israel and the Diaspora , the portion that is read on a particular week will sometimes not be the same inside and outside Israel. This only occurs when a Diaspora holiday—which are one day longer than those in Israel—extends into Shabbat. While

2109-595: The approach of the week of the Crucifixion. Through Lent lessons are recited twice a day except Saturdays. During the Passion Week readings are assigned for each of the major canonical hours . If there is a weekday Liturgy celebrated on a non-feast day, the custom is to read the Pauline epistle only, followed by the Gospel. Weekly Torah portion It is a custom among religious Jewish communities for

2166-693: The appropriate prayers for the service, and the gradual contains chants for use on any particular day. In particular, the gradual contains a responsory which may be used in place of the responsorial psalm. See: Book of Common Prayer . In the Eastern Churches ( Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox , Eastern Catholic , the Assyrian Church of the East , Ancient Church of the East , and those bodies not in communion with any of them but still practicing eastern liturgical customs) tend to retain

2223-461: The changing number of weeks in the lunisolar year, is marked with an asterisk. The following chart will show the weekly readings. Revised Common Lectionary The Revised Common Lectionary ( RCL ) is a lectionary of readings or pericopes from the Bible for use in Christian worship , making provision for the liturgical year with its pattern of observances of festivals and seasons. It

2280-520: The creation of a weekly system to read the portions of the Torah at synagogues . In ancient times some Jewish communities practiced a triennial cycle of readings. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many congregations in the Reform and Conservative Jewish movements implemented an alternative triennial cycle in which only one-third of each weekly parashah was read in a given year; and this pattern continues. The parashot read are still consistent with

2337-590: The daily lectionary, devised by the Roman Catholic Church and adopted by the Church of England (among others), provides more material. The CCT has also produced a volume of daily readings. The Church of England has augmented the RCL by the provision of readings for second and third services. Thus the RCL lectionary is used for the "Principal Service", which often takes the form of a Eucharist, while allowing for additional material at other services which may be Morning and Evening Prayer (though provision

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2394-641: The epistles continuing to be determined according to the moveable Paschal cycle and the Gospels being influenced by the fixed cycle. The Lukan Jump is related to the chronological proximity of the Elevation of the Cross to the Conception of the Forerunner (St. John the Baptist ), celebrated on 23 September. In late Antiquity , this feast marked the beginning of the ecclesiastical New Year. Thus, beginning

2451-422: The first reading and the psalm recurring in a two-year cycle, while the Gospel reading recurs after a single year. This revised Mass Lectionary, covering much more of the Bible than the readings in the Tridentine Roman Missal , which recurred after a single year, has been translated into the many languages in which the Roman Rite Mass is now celebrated, incorporating existing or specially prepared translations of

2508-447: The holiday rather than a portion in the normal cyclical sequence. When either holiday does not begin on a Sabbath, yet a different 'out of cycle' portion is read on the Sabbath within the holiday week. Immediately following Sukkot is the holiday of Shemini Atzeret . In Israel, this holiday coincides with Simchat Torah; in the Jewish Diaspora , Simchat Torah is celebrated on the day following Shemini Atzeret. If Shemini Atzeret falls on

2565-412: The letters of Saint Paul, Saint John, or Saint Peter (referred to as Epistle). The Lesson (or Epistle) is contained in a book called the Epistolarium , a liturgical book containing the epistles that were to be said or sung by a subdeacon at a solemn High Mass. The Gospels are contained in a book called Evangeliarium , or more recently called as "Book of the Gospels", that were to be said or sung by

2622-507: The majority of American and Canadian Christians and has been widely adopted in Great Britain and in other countries such as Australia. Various churches, however, have made some changes to the form of the RCL that they use. It has been further adapted for Sunday school and children's church use. As in its predecessors, readings are prescribed for each Sunday: a passage typically from the Old Testament (including in Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican churches those books sometimes referred to as

2679-434: The modern-day Torah scrolls of all Ashkenazic , Sephardic , and Yemenite communities is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah , Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls , Chapter 8 . Maimonides based his division of the parashot for the Torah on the Masoretic text of the Aleppo Codex . In the table, a portion that may be combined with the following portion to compensate for

2736-403: The reading of the Lukan Gospel toward the middle of September can be understood. The reasoning is theological and is based on a vision of Salvation History: the Conception of the Forerunner constitutes the first step of the New Economy, as mentioned in the stikhera of the matins of this feast. The Evangelist Luke is the only one to mention this Conception ( Luke 1:5–24 ). In Russia, the use of

2793-424: The references to the passages chosen for inclusion in the new official lectionary of the Roman Rite of Mass . It introduced an arrangement by which the readings on Sundays and on some principal feasts recur in a three-year cycle, with four passages from Scripture (including one from the Psalms ) being used in each celebration, while on weekdays only three passages (again including one from the Psalms) are used, with

2850-438: The rest of the New Testament is heard, in some cases, virtually in total, in others in large part. This principle is subject to a number of exceptions. Firstly, different principles apply during the special seasons of the year: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. Here appropriate lections relevant to the season are chosen. The rest of the year, called Ordinary Time , begins in February (after Candlemas ) and runs until

2907-442: The service), and are arranged according to the order in which they occur in the church year, beginning with the Sunday of Pascha (Easter), and continuing throughout the entire year, concluding with Holy Week . Then follows a section of readings for the commemorations of saints and readings for special occasions ( baptism , funeral , etc.). In the Slavic practice, the biblical books are reproduced in their entirety and arranged in

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2964-408: The special seasons of Advent and Lent, on Passion (Palm) Sunday in all three years, throughout Holy Week, including Good Friday, on Easter Day as the first alternative Gospel, during most of the Easter season, on Pentecost and during the year in which St. Mark's gospel is in use. A practical reason for this is that Mark is considerably shorter than either St. Matthew or St. Luke. The treatment given to

3021-428: The trial period—a greater emphasis is given to Old Testament passages and to Wisdom literature . The major principle behind the lectionary is that on a Sunday members of congregations should be able to hear the voice of each writer week by week, rather than readings being selected according to a theme. Thus, in any given year the writer of one of the first three gospels will be heard from beginning to end. Likewise

3078-468: The use of a one-year lectionary in their liturgy. Different churches follow different liturgical calendars (to an extent). Most Eastern lectionaries provide for an epistle and a Gospel to be read on each day. Other known witnesses of the Christian Jerusalem-Rite Lectionary are those preserved in Georgian , Caucasian Albanian language , and Armenian translations (6th to 8th centuries CE). Those churches (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic) which follow

3135-403: Was decided that churches could choose between two tracks in their use of the Old Testament. "Track 1" adheres to the principle of giving the Biblical writer their own voice, thus following week by week from a portion of a book, or, in the case of some books, the whole. "Track 2", on the other hand, designated the "Related Track", is intended to relate in some way to the Gospel for the day. Provision

3192-448: Was preceded by the Common Lectionary , assembled in 1983, itself preceded by the COCU Lectionary , published in 1974 by the Consultation on Church Union (COCU). This lectionary was derived from Protestant lectionaries in use, which in turn were based on the 1969 Ordo Lectionum Missae , a three-year lectionary produced by the Roman Catholic Church following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council . The Revised Common Lectionary

3249-577: Was the product of a collaboration between the North American Consultation on Common Texts (CCT) and the International English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC). After a nine-year trial period, it was publicly released in 1994. The CCT membership includes the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as many traditionally liturgical American and Canadian Protestant churches, including Lutheran , Episcopal and Anglican , Presbyterian , and (more loosely) Methodist . The CCT thereby represents

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