This article is about religious acolytes. For other uses, see Acolyte (disambiguation). s.]]

In many Christian denominations, an acolyte is anyone who performs ceremonial duties such as lighting altar candles. In other Christian Churches, the term is more specifically used for one who wishes to attain clergyhood.

Etymology

The word acolyte is derived from the Greek word acolytos, meaning companion, attendant, or helper. The Acolyte ministry has its roots in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible, where the prophet Samuel is seen assisting Eli, the Levite priest, and Elisha is seen assisting Elijah the Prophet.

Eastern Christianity

In the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Churches, the nearest equivalent of acolyte is the altar server. At one time there was a rank of minor clergy called the taper-bearer responsible for bearing lights during processions and liturgical entrances. However, this rank has long ago been subsumed by that of the reader and the service for the tonsure of a reader begins with the setting-aside of a taper-bearer.

The functions of an acolyte or taper-bearer are therefore carried out by readers, subdeacons, or by non-tonsured men or boys who are sometimes called "acolytes" informally. Also, the term "altar-boys" is often used to refer to young altar servers. Subdeacons wear their normal vestments consisting of the sticharion and crossed orarion; readers and servers traditionally wear the sticharion alone.

In recent times, however, in many of the North American Greek Orthodox Churches, for the sake of uniformity, readers have been permitted to wear the orarion (The Bishop presents the reader, who is to serve on the altar, with the orarion). Readers do not cross the orarion while wearing it, the uncrossed orarion being intended to slightly distinguish a reader from a subdeacon.

In the Russian tradition, readers wear only the sticharion, and do not wear the orarion unless they have been specially blessed to by their bishop. (This might be done if a reader must occasionally serve in the role of a subdeacon, or for some other reason the bishop believes is fitting.) If a server has not been tonsured, he must remove the sticharion before he can receive Holy Communion.

In the early church, a taper-bearer was not permitted to enter the sanctuary, only a subdeacon or above was allowed to go in. Nowadays, however, servers are permitted to go in, but they are not permitted either to touch the Holy Table or the Table of Oblation.

Western Christianity

Roman Catholicism

Before August 15, 1972 (with the issuing of Pope Paul VI's motu proprio, suppressing the minor orders) the acolyte was the highest of the minor orders, having as duties the lighting of the altar-candles, carrying the candles in procession, assisting the subdeacon and deacon, and the ministering of water and wine to the priest at Mass. Their proper attire, as with all clerics, was the Roman cassock, and their liturgical vestment was the alb, amice and cinture. In the Latin Rite, they still do exist in communities dedicated to the traditional Mass.

Paul's change was intended to replace the antique titles with two which recognized and encouraged the laity in the work of the Church. The Pope's intention was to have laymen thus able to participate more fully in this. The current Code of Canon Law has incorporated this ministry as one open to all baptized laymen. The Pope expressed the wish that these ministries would not be limited to seminarians. At present, though, this is the usual situation.

In modern Catholic churches, the duties of the acolyte are similar to those described above. Similarly, the instituted ministry of acolyte is reserved to men (however, it is not reserved to those pursuing Holy Orders). Nonetheless, the duties of the acolyte may be filled, by temporary assignment, by any lay person (men and women). The term altar server is generally used to refer to these temporarily deputized individuals, to differentiate them from those in the instituted ministry (who are most commonly men who intend on entering Holy Orders).

The presence of female altar servers is a relatively new development, originating from an interpretation found in a responsio ad propositum dubium concerning can. 230, § 2 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law . In the interpretation, permission was allowed for bishops of each diocese to decide if they wanted to permit the use of altar girls. This permission is granted in a circular letter to the Presidents of Episcopal Conferences on March 15, 1994. This permission did not make their use mandatory, as any pastor could still decline to use them. Further, the letter reaffirmed that altar boys should be encouraged. Currently, one diocese in the United States (Lincoln, NE) does not permit the use of altar girls.

Anglicanism

In Anglican churches such as the Episcopal Church of the United States or the Church of England, altar servers are called acolytes and can be of either sex and any age (although usually no younger than ten).

An acolyte can assist in worship by carrying a processional cross, lighting candles, holding the Gospel book, holding candles or "torches", assisting a deacon or priest set up and clean up at the altar, swinging incense or carrying the incense boat, handing the offering plates to ushers, and many other tasks as seen fit by the priest or acolyte warden.

In traditional catholic churches acolytes commonly wear cassock and cotta, and in less catholic churches commonly cassock-alb with girdle. A girdle is usually a twisted rope with knots on the ends which is secured round the waist; it may be white or of the liturgical colour. Wearing crosses or other special pins or symbols is the prerogative of the individual church.

In some more traditional parishes, the acolytes are ranked as they develop their abilities to serve: Trainees, Junior Acolytes, Senior Acolytes, and Acolytes of Merit. In others, the functions of acolytes are performed without vestments, and without significant formal training by persons available in the parish.

In other parishes, Acolytes are referred to according to the roles they perform. E. g. Master of Ceremonies, Crucifer and Thurifer, together with the 1st and 2nd Acolytes.

Methodism and Lutheranism

In the Methodist and Lutheran traditions, acolytes participate in the worship service (or Mass) by carrying a processional cross or crucifix (these acolytes are called crucifers), lighting and extinguishing the altar candles, and ringing the church bell to call the congregation to worship. In these traditions, the lighting of the altar candles in the worship service is a symbol of Jesus’ coming into the presence of the worshiping community. Before lighting the candles the acolyte is supposed to bow at the altar. Before the extinguishing of the last altar candles, the acolytes relight their "candle lighter" and then process out into the narthex. This symbolizes that Jesus Christ is for all people everywhere. It also symbolizes the light of Jesus Christ going out into the world where believers are called to serve. Similar to those in the Anglican tradition, acolytes in these traditions wear robes called albs with a cincture. It is also common for Methodist acolytes to wear the traditional cassock and cotta.

References

John N. Wall. A Dictionary for Episcopalians. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 2000.

External links

Category:Christian liturgy, rites, and worship services Category:Minor orders Category:Ecclesiastical titles Category:Catholic liturgy Category:Catholic Mass Category:Roman Catholic Church offices

Name	Mark Salzman
Birthplace	Greenwich, Connecticut
Birthdate	December 03, 1959
Occupation	Writer, Actor
Years	2003 - present
Spouse	Jessica Yu

Mark Salzman (born December 3, 1959 in Greenwich, Connecticut) is an American writer. Salzman is best known for his 1986 memoir Iron & Silk, which describes his experiences living in China as an English teacher in the early 1980s.

Salzman studied Chinese Language and Literature at Yale University. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude in 1982 and spent the next two years in Changsha, Hunan teaching English at Hunan Medical College (湖南医学院) and studying martial arts with Pan Qingfu, a Chinese martial arts teacher and kung fu movie actor. His experiences in China are recounted in his first book, Iron & Silk: A young American encounters swordsmen, bureaucrats and other citizens of contemporary China, published in 1986. Salzman received several literary awards for Iron & Silk. The book was made into a 1990 film of the same title. Salzman wrote the screenplay and starred as himself in the film. Though the real venue of the story was in Changsha, the film was shot in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.

Salzman's other publications include several works of fiction, a memoir dealing with growing up in suburbia, more specifically Ridgefield, Connecticut, and a report on his work as a creative writing instructor for juvenile delinquents.

Salzman plays the cello. In high school, he played the cello for the Norwalk Youth Symphony.

In the mid-1990s, Salzman appeared in magazine advertisements for Dewar's Scotch Whisky.

In 2007, Mark Salzman, along with three other men, starred inThe Protagonist, directed by his wife, Jessica Yu.

Salzman was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 2000. He, his wife Jessica Yu, an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, and their daughter Ava live in Los Angeles.

Works by Salzman

Iron & Silk (1986), ISBN 0-394-55156-7

The Laughing Sutra (1991)

The Soloist (1994), nominated for a Pulitzer prize

Lost in Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia (1995)

Lying Awake (2000)

True Notebooks (2003), a book about his experience as a writing teacher in Central Juvenile Hall, as well as the inmates and their writing

References

Steven Barclay Agency

St. Charles Public Library

Pasadena Public Library

Santa Barbara Book and Authors Festival: Ross MacDonald Award

Edward Morris, Teaching young toughs: Juvenile offenders find release in a creative writing class, Book Page, September 2003

External links

Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:American memoirists Category:American novelists Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:American wushu practitioners Category:People from Greenwich, Connecticut Category:People from Ridgefield, Connecticut Category:Yale University alumni

Theobald Mathew (1790–1856), an Irish teetotalist reformer, popularly known as Father Mathew was born at Thomastown, near Golden, County Tipperary, on October 10, 1790.

He received his schooling in Kilkenny, then moved for a short time to Maynooth. From 1808 to 1814 he studied in Dublin, where in the latter year he was ordained to the priesthood. Having entered the Capuchin order, after a brief period of service at Kilkenny, he joined the mission in Cork.

Statues of Mathew stand on St. Patrick's Street, Cork by JH Foley (1864), and on O'Connell Street, Dublin by Mary Redmond (1893). __NOTOC__

Total Abstinence Society

The movement with which his name is associated began on 10 April 1838 with the establishment of the "Cork Total Abstinence Society" which relied on one enduring act of will to keep a person sober for life. It was called simply The Pledge. It could be made by anybody, either with or without an alcohol problem.

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Father Mathew did not believe in gradual approaches or temporary commitments. He advocated a promise that meant complete commitment. It did not bind like the vows of marriage, but the principle of permanent commitment was the same. Fr. Mathew understood that as long as the act of will continued, it could overcome all difficulties.

One simple commitment, encased in the words of the Total Abstinence Pledge, supposedly did the trick. The surroundings did not make much difference. One could take the pledge as a single individual or as one of a waiting line coming up in a parish, mobilized and brimming with enthusiasm for the occasion. However, Father Mathew arrived at this conclusion only after much prayer for guidance and after urging by others who proposed total abstinence over moderation.

In less than nine months no fewer than 150,000 names were enrolled as taking the Pledge. It rapidly spread to Limerick and elsewhere, and some idea of its popularity may be formed from the fact that at Nenagh 20,000 persons are said to have taken the pledge in one day, 100,000 at Galway in two days, and 70,000 in Dublin in five days. At its height, just before the Great Famine of 1845-48, his movement enrolled some 3 million people, or more than half of the adult population of Ireland. In 1844 he visited Liverpool, Manchester and London with almost equal success.

However, his campaign did have the unforeseen consequence of an increase in diethyl ether consumption, much more dangerous than alcohol, by those seeking intoxication without breaking their pledge.

Father Mathew in the United States

On July 2, 1849, New York welcomed Fr. Mathew. Mayor Woodhull, a non-Catholic, placed City Hall at his disposal. For two weeks the crowds besieging its chambers practically eliminated all city business. Vice-President Millard Fillmore was one of the callers. In Washington, President Zachary Taylor invited Fr. Mathew to dine at the White House. Congress gave the humble Capuchin friar its highest honors. The House unanimously admitted him to a seat on the floor of the House. The Senate admitted him within the bar of the Senate, an honor given previously only to Lafayette.

For two years, despite grave illness, Father Mathew blazed a trail of success across the United States. Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Little Rock, New Orleans, and many places in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Delaware and other areas heard his exhortations and were won to the practice of total abstinence. Everywhere there were crowds and enthusiastic receptions. When he left the USA in 1851, strong temperance societies carried on the work. “I thank heaven I have been instrumental in adding to the ranks of temperance over 600,000 in the United States,” he wrote. Mathew has a statue dedicated to him in Salem, Massachusetts.

Mathew, a high-profile visitor to the USA, found himself at the center of the Abolitionist debate. Many of his hosts were pro-slavery, and wanted assurances that their influential guest would not stray outside his remit of battling alcohol consumption. But Mathew had signed a petition against human bondage in 1842 when he had hosted former slave Frederick Douglass in his Cork home. Now however, in order to avoid upsetting his powerful American friends, he snubbed an invitation to publicly endorse Abolition, sacrificing his friendship with that movement.

Death

Fr. Mathew died on 8 December 1856 in Cobh (then known as Queenstown), County Cork after suffering a stroke. He is buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery, Cork city which he had himself established.

See also

Temperance organizations

References

J. F. Maguire, M.P., Father Mathew, a Biography, (1863).

External links

Irish Capuchins

Frederick Douglass and the White Negro Fr Mathew is featured in this film on the relationship between Frederick Douglass and Ireland.

References

Category:Irish temperance activists Category:1790 births Category:1856 deaths Category:Capuchins Category:Irish Roman Catholic priests Category:People from County Tipperary