Lectionaries: Old & New

This post in an excerpt from Notes on the Church Year by John Pless. Learn more about this book here.

I. Jewish Lectionaries at the Time of the New Testament

• The question of origins? Geographical divergence. Annual, biennial, or triennial cycle of readings?
• Jewish pericope books are extant only from the 10-12th centuries AD. These lectionaries are all post-Talmudic although they may represent earlier practices.
• It appears that there was a one-year Babylonian cycle of 54 readings from the Pentateuch and a three-year Palestinian cycle consisting of 153-167 lections.
• Some have claimed that Jewish lectionaries shaped Matthew, Mark, and John. See Reumann and Morris for description and evaluation of these claims.

II. Early Church

• Justin Martyr in his Apology (c.155 AD) describes the place of the reading of Scripture in the early church with no indication of a lectionary: “the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as there is time.”
• The Apostolic Constitutions (4th century) refers to five-fold pattern of readings: law, prophets, epistles, Acts, and the Gospels.
• The homilies of Augustine suggest that two readings were used in the Mass, with three read on festivals. Two pericopes were the norm until the 6th century.
• By the close of the 4th century when Egeria visited Jerusalem, the liturgical calendar had developed to such an extent that certain texts were being read as part of the observances of Epiphany through Pentecost. Easter Vigil lectionary is in place. Egeria notes that it is the same in Jerusalem as in Spain. It was a generation after Egeria’s visit that the first Jerusalem lectionary appears in the form of an Armenian translation listing feasts days, liturgical observances, listing of psalms, antiphons, and biblical texts. Several features of this lectionary stand out: (1) two major feasts- Epiphany and Easter (2) memorial days for saints and martyrs associated not with the “heavenly birthday” of the saint as in Rome but with churches built to house the relics of the saints or mark the spot where they met their martyrdom.
• Occasionally in manuscripts to help a lector pick out a lesson, the Greek words arche and telos would be inscribed, sometimes with a set of notes in red referring to the day in the liturgical calendar when the lection was to be read. Next came listings of readings (capitulare=from capitum, chapter) for each day of the liturgical calendar. These were copied in the front or conclusion of the manuscript. Eventually books with the full texts of the lectionary were produced first as comes (companion) subdivided into “evangelaries” (Gospel books) and “epistolaries” (Epistle books) and then as lectionaries, liturgical books containing both epistles and Gospels.
• Syriac lectionaries regularly contained at least four readings giving evidence of a strong use of the Old Testament. A number of readings from Genesis and Romans seem to be arranged to provide catechesis for converts from Judaism. These lectionaries would flow into the Byzantine lectionary tradition.

III. The Medieval Period: The Shaping of the Roman Lectionary

• Leo I (440-461) was pope when the Christian calendar was relatively simple in Rome. Leo’s festal preaching if not engendered by a lectionary prepared the way for it. For the most part, seasons were marked by a lectio continua various books of the Bible (i.e. readings from Genesis, Jeremiah and Lamentation during Lent, readings from John and Acts during Easter Season etc). Both Sunday and daily lectionaries are developed taking into account midweek services on Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent. Both Christmas and Easter are preceded by times of fasting/penance as is Epiphany.
• While Pope Gelasius I (492-496) did not formulate a lectionary, the lectionary that developed in the 6th century bears his name. It was during the 6th century says Old that “The lectionary-not the preacher became the primary interpreter of Scripture, and the Word became known from being read in the liturgy rather than being preached from the pulpit” (Old III:154).The Epistolary of Burchard of Wurzburg (a manuscript that ends up in Germany but appears to have originated in Rome in the century between Gelasius and Gregory. This lectionary (at least as far as the Epistles are concerned) does operate with the lectio continua principle. Other impulses seem to shape this lectionary. For example, the four lections for Easter Monday through Thursday are texts from the Book of Acts in which four primitive preachers proclaim the Gospel of the resurrection (Monday- Peter preaches to Cornelius in Acts 10:37-42; Tuesday- Paul preaches at the synagogue in Antioch in Acts 13:16-33; Wednesday- Peter preaches in the courts of the Temple in Acts 3:12-19; Thursday- Philip preaches the Gospel to the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:26- 40). In a similar fashion, readings from the Book of Acts are used in the Week of Pentecost. The Gelasian lectionary offers readings for Advent/Christmas/Epiphany. Many of these texts have remained in the lectionary to this day. For example, in Advent there are readings from Romans 13:11- 14; Jeremiah 23:5-8; Romans 15:4-13; I Corinthians 4:1-5; and Philippians 4:4-7. The Gelasian lectionary assigned five Sundays to Advent which was then understood as the end rather than the beginning of the church year. The Gelasian lectionary leaves the Sundays after Pentecost unnamed but provides a listing of readings from the Pauline epistles in semi-lecto continua form (for a listing of these readings, see Old III:166-167).
• Pope Gregory I (590-604) played a pivotal part in organizing the Roman liturgy. It was Gregory who coordinated the temporal and sanctoral cycles of the church year as well as the evangelary and epistolary and then synchronized them with the antiphonary and the sacramentary. He codified the liturgical and lectionary practices of the church in such a way that the ordinary parish priest could use them. The Gregorian lectionary advances beyond the Gelasian lectionary in that it provides epistles and gospels for the entire year. Gregory’s lectionary structures the Time of the Church in the following manner:
  • Sundays after Pentecost
  • Day of Apostles Peter and Paul (June 29th)
  • First –Sixth Sundays after Apostles
  • Day of Saint Lawrence (August 10th) 
  • First-Sixth Sunday after Saint Lawrence 
  • Day of Saint Cyprian (September 14th)
  • First-Seventh Sundays after Saint Cyprian
• Gregory’s lectionary contains readings from John’s Gospel in the Easter Season. John 20:24-31 is read on the Sunday after Easter, the Second Sunday after Easter has as its Gospel John 10:11-16 (Good Shepherd Sunday) with the other Sundays in Easter having readings from the farewell discourse. Gregory reduces Advent from five to four Sundays and provides the following readings:
  • First Sunday in Advent: Romans 13:11-14 and Matthew 21:1-9
  • Second Sunday in Advent: Romans 15:4-13 and Luke 21:25-33 
  • Third Sunday in Advent: I Corinthians 4:1-5 and Matthew 11:2-10
  • Fourth Sunday in Advent: Philippians 4:4-7 and John 1:19-28
• The Old Testament disappears from the lectionary under Gregory.
• The next major phase of lectionary development comes under Charlemagne (ca. 742-814) who initiated efforts to forge a culture held together by a common Christian faith.
• The reform of preaching to the end that the laity might be catechized was one his goals. In 785 he decreed that everyone was to attend church on all Sundays and holy days to listen to the preaching of God’s Word. One of the critical steps that the emperor would take was to regularize the lectionary, requiring its use throughout the empire and providing a homilary (the forerunner of the Concordia Pulpit!) so that priests might be equipped to preach orthodox sermons.
• While the lectionaries of Rome and Jerusalem influenced many regions, strong local traditions introduced a variety of readings as did the ever expanding number of saints days and other feasts. The churches of Gaul, Spain, and Milan all that distinct lectionary traditions. Charlemagne desired the church throughout the empire use the Roman lectionary. The Emperor assigned the task of reforming the lectionary to Alcuin of York (ca. 735-804). It was this revision of the Gregorian (Roman) lectionary, adapting elements from the Gallican church that would become the foundation for the church’s usage down to the present day. Some changes would occur after Alcuin. For example, the Sunday after Pentecost is designated as the Festival of the Holy Trinity by Pope John XXII in 1334.

IV. The Reformation

• Luther retained the lectionary while recognizing the need for improvement. In his Formula Missae of 1523, he wrote: “Certainly the time has not yet come to attempt a revision here as nothing unevangelical is read, except that those parts from the Epistles of Paul in which faith is taught are only rarely read. The Epistles seem to have been chosen by a singularly unlearned and superstitious advocate of works. But for the service those sections in which faith  is taught should have been given preference. The latter were certainly considered more often in the Gospels by whoever it was that chose those lessons. In the meantime, the sermon in the vernacular will have to supply what is lacking” (AE 53:23-24).
• Luther deleted saints days and feast days that had no biblical basis or contradicted evangelical doctrine. Luther and Veit Dietrich provided new pericopes for the last two Sundays of the church year stressing eschatology. 
• The Apology confirms the Lutheran commitment to continued use of the lectionary: “Among us the Mass is celebrated every Lord’s day and on other festivals, when the sacrament is made available to those who wish to partake of it, after they have been examined and absolved. We also keep traditional liturgical forms such as the order of readings, prayers, vestments, and other similar things” (AP XXIV:1, Kolb/Wengert, 258). That did not mean that the inherited lectionary was set in stone. As noted above modifications were made.
• Zwingli did away with the lectionary completely. Calvin created a lectio continua system that fit with his emphasis on expository preaching.

V. Post-Reformation

• The Pietists had little use for the lectionary. Spener conplained that the lectionary provided the church with a limited exposure to Scripture: “How I wish with all my heart, that our Church had never adopted the use of Pericopes, but had allowed a free choice, or else had made the Epistles instead of the Gospels the chief texts” (Pia Desideria, 88). Gottfried Arnold would conclude the pericopal system to be “a vicious and abominable mutilation of the Bible.”
• Revisions or alternatives to the traditional lectionary emerged in 19th century Germany (Eisenach, Thomasius etc). These can be found in Nesper.

VI. Vatican II and Beyond

• Vatican II called for a new lectionary that would give Scripture a more prominent place in the liturgy: “The treasures of the Bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God’s Word. In this way a more representative portion of the holy Scriptures will be read to the people over a cycle of years” (Documents of Vatican II, 155). In 1964, a working group of 18 members was appointed to develop principles for lectionary reform. Some thirty biblical scholars were asked to list texts which ought to be included. In 1967, a draft was circulated and after some revisions it was approved in 1968. The new order was decreed to begin on the First Sunday in Advent, 1969. The new Roman Ordo embraced a three-cycle of readings with the three synoptic gospels in each of the years (A-Mattthew, B-Mark, C-Luke) with John being used at certain points in the festival half of the church year and to fill out Year B. The OT readings were selected to reinforce, give background, or provide contrast to the gospel pericope. The second lessons were drawn from the Epistles in semi-continuous sequence and the Book of Acts (Easter Season).
• Several North American denominations adopted and modified the Roman Ordo. The Lutheran adaptation appeared in 1973 and has since found its way into Lutheran Book of Worship, Lutheran Worship, Christian Worship, and Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary. The rationale for usage is found in The Church Year: Calendar and Lectionary issued by the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW).
• The Revised Common Lectionary is yet another adaptation of the Roman Ordo published by the Consultation on Common Texts in 1992. The framers of this lectionary sought to revise the 1969 lectionary so as to address several issues while working toward a more universally accepted basic calendar
  • (1) Provide for inclusion of more narratives from OT that would allow for a semi-continuous reading of some portions of the OT rather than using only prophetic or typological texts 
  • (2) Sensitivity to the place of women in the Scriptures
  • (3) Pay “attention to the tragic history of the abuse of biblical materials to support Christian anti-Semitism. The need to avoid such abuse is one of the basic principles of this lectionary” (The Revised Common Lectionary, 78-79).
• Lutheran Service Book contains a modified form of the RCL and the One-Year Lectionary.

VII. Issues in Evaluating Lectionary Reforms

• What are the hermeneutical presuppositions?
• How are the Old Testament and Epistle related to the Holy Gospel?
• How is catholicity (both vertically and horizontally) conceived?
• How does the lectionary serve preaching?

For Further Reading: Finch, R.G. The Synagogue Lectionary and the New Testament (SPCK); Guilding, Aileen. The Fourth Gospel and Jewish Worship (Oxford);Morris, Leon. The New Testament and the Jewish Lectionaries (Tyndale Press); Nesper, Paul. Biblical Texts (Augsburg)