Lectionary

A lectionary is a book or list that gathers scripture readings set for Christian or Jewish worship on a specific day or event. Types include a gospel lectionary, also called an evangeliary, and an epistolary, which contains readings from the New Testament Epistles. The practice of scheduling sacred readings traces back to Jewish and early Christian traditions.

During the Medieval period, the Jewish community had a fixed schedule of readings from the Torah and the prophets for synagogue worship. A sequential Torah portion was read, followed by the haftarah—a selection from the prophetic books or historical narratives like Judges or Kings, tied closely to the Torah reading. Early Christians adopted this Jewish custom of reading Old Testament extracts on the Sabbath, soon adding extracts from the apostles’ writings and the gospels.

Hebrew and Christian lectionaries evolved over centuries. Typically, a lectionary follows a logical pattern through the scriptures and includes selections chosen for their suitability to particular occasions. The one-year Jewish lectionary reads the entire Torah within a year and may have originated in the Babylonian Jewish community; the three-year Jewish lectionary appears to trace back to the Jewish community in and around the Holy Land.

In Christianity, the use of pre-assigned scripture readings can be traced to the early church, likely developing from Second Temple period practices. The earliest documentary record of a special book of readings is a reference by Gennadius of Massilia to a work by Musaeus of Marseilles, requested by Bishop Venerius of Marseille, who died in 452. However, 3rd-century references mention liturgical readers as a distinct clerical role.

Before the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, the Latin liturgical rite used a one-year lectionary with a limited selection of scripture readings. This limited selection aimed to maintain consistency, a feature of the Roman Rite. One reading was proclaimed before the Gospel, either from the Old Testament (called a Lesson) or from the letters of Paul, John, or Peter (called an Epistle). The Lesson or Epistle was contained in a book called the epistolary, used by a subdeacon at a solemn High Mass. The Gospels were in a book called the evangeliary, or more recently the Book of the Gospels, used by a deacon at a solemn High Mass.