Subdeacon

Subdeacon is a minor order of ministry for men or women in various branches of Christianity. The subdeacon has a specific liturgical role and is placed below the deacon and above the acolyte in the order of precedence.

A subdeacon, also called hypodeacon, is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Eastern Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the reader and lower than the deacon.

Like the reader, the clerical street-dress of the subdeacon is the cassock, which is usually black but only need be so if he is a monk. This is symbolic of their suppression of their own tastes, will, and desires, and their canonical obedience to God, their bishop, and the liturgical and canonical norms of the Church. As a concession in countries where Eastern Orthodoxy is little known, many only wear the cassock when attending liturgies or when moving about the faithful on church business. In some jurisdictions in the United States, a clergy-shirt will sometimes be worn instead of a cassock, and is commonly worn buttoned but with no collar or collar-tab to indicate a rank lower than deacon.

There is a special liturgy for the tonsuring of a subdeacon, although in contemporary practice an acolyte or a reader may receive the bishop's blessing to vest and act as a subdeacon generally or for a particular occasion if there is no subdeacon available. This situation often arises if there is a need for a subdeacon and a likely candidate has stated an intention to marry but has not yet done so, causing a delay in their ordination. The reason for this lies in the fact that the canons prohibit subdeacons to marry after their ordination (just like deacons and priests). This latter stipulation has led, in some places, to the reservation of the formal ordination liturgy as a stepping-stone for candidates for the priesthood, although this is by no means universal. It also means that, while teenagers who show particular fervour may be ordained as acolytes and readers, the subdiaconate is usually reserved for those of more mature years; the canonical minimum age for subdiaconal ordination is twenty years.

A custom in some jurisdictions is that former seminarians who have discerned not to have a calling to the priesthood or diaconate, are, if they wish (and provided that they are married, or being unmarried, do not intend to marry), ordained subdeacons as a sign of investment, faith, and to award their service.

In the Byzantine Rite (followed by the majority of Eastern Orthodox churches) the subdeacon's liturgical role is primarily that of servant to the bishop. They assist the bishop during hierarchical liturgies, (at which a hierarch/bishop is present and presiding) by vesting them, by looking after and presenting the trikiri and dikiri, placing the aëtos, operating the veil and Royal Doors, and handing the bishop and relieving them of all that they need so as to enable them to perform their role of prayer undistracted. Outside of hierarchical liturgies, the subdeacon serves in the altar as any other server but, as highest-ranking of the minor clergy, is responsible for co-ordinating and leading the serving team. In addition to the above duties, the subdeacon may read the reading from the Epistle at the Divine Liturgy if there is only one deacon. The subdeacon also has practical responsibilities in the care of the altar, by cleaning it, looking after the clergy vestments and the cloths of the Holy Table, cleaning and mending them, and changing them according to the feasts, fasts, and seasons. For this reason, they have a general blessing to touch the Holy Table and the Table of Oblation, which Readers and other servers may not do. They are also responsible for the training of new servers.

The clerical street-wear of a subdeacon is the inner-cassock (podryasnik) and outer cassock (ryasa). Many wear the cassock only when present among the church community or attending to church business.

For liturgies, the subdeacon is vested in a sticharion with an orarion tied around their waist, up over their shoulders (forming a cross in back), and with the ends crossed over, and tucked under the section around the waist. This distinguishes them from acolytes in those jurisdictions where acolytes are ordained and blessed to wear the orarion, as the latter do not wear the orarion crossed in front but simply hanging straight down.