Altar server

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An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a religious service. Altar servers attend to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing a bell etc. An altar server usually has no formal training and holds no formal religious position.

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Roman Catholic Church

In the Roman Catholic Church, altar servers help the priest and deacon during the liturgy, especially the Mass. They have several supporting duties to carry out, such as carrying the processional cross and candles, carry the incense and thurible, holding the missal for the priest celebrant when he is not at the altar, assisting the priest when he receives the gifts from the people, washing the hands of the priest before the prayer over the gifts, removing items from the altar during communion, and assisting the priest celebrant and the deacon as necessary. Altar servers normally wear the alb or the surplice during a liturgy. Sometimes servers are given the option of wearing a business suit in place of the alb or surplice. The decision over what exactly an altar server will wear during Mass is normally left up to individual dioceses and parishes. Image:Romanian altar boys.JPG In most ordinary situations, one altar server is usually all that is required, however many parishes prefer to have two or more altar servers. In solemn services - especially ones where a higher ranking member of the clergy, such as a Bishop is present - there will often be more than two servers. In situations where a Bishop is present, there will often be two dedicated servers who will help him with his miter and crosier.

Altar boys are young male altar servers. Formerly, only young men, whom the Church wanted to recruit for the priesthood, and seminarians, who needed the training, were altar servers, and so altar boy was the term for all servers. Reasons why the phrase altar boy have ceased to be standard is that recently girls have been allowed to serve in this capacity and an increasing number of adults are serving at the altar, especially at solemn services in cathedrals or basilicas. In the Roman Catholic Church, altar servers that are studying to become priests or deacons might actually be acolytes, which is a necessary preparatory office before ordination. As part of their training, an acolyte might supervise children and other adults who are altar servers.

In the Roman Catholic Church, permitting females to function as altar servers has been a controversial decision. It has been approved by the church hierarchy, but many conservatives nonetheless have not liked it, and traditional Catholics reject the idea outright. Generally, whether or not to permit altar girls has been left up to individual dioceses and parishes. Some have allowed them, some have prohibited them, some have permitted them at particular Mass times but not others (as a means of compromising between liberals and conservatives). Even though the church hierarchy has permitted them, several members of it has criticized altar girls on the basis that altar servers were traditionally seen as potential candidates for the priesthood, whereas the ordination of women is prohibited.

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Eastern Orthodox Church

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, altar servers assist the higher clergy during services when insufficient numbers of ordained men are available. They might carry candles or fans in processions and entrances; maintain the censer, ensuring it has enough live charcoal, loading it with incense and giving it to the priest or deacon when required; preparing the hot water (zeon) in time for it to be added to the chalice at the Divine Liturgy; prepare the antidoron for the people to receive after Holy Communion; and any other necessary task so that the celebrant need not be distracted during the service.

It is the custom in the Greek tradition to ordain altar servers at least as readers and for them to wear the sticharion with an orarion crossed over the back similar to a subdeacon. In other traditions it is preferable that ordained men serve in the altar, but not a strict requirement. Even when laymen are serving they should be vested in the sticharion.

The minimum age varies by local circumstance, but boys must be mature enough to carry out their duties without disrupting the sanctity of the altar. Although it is common in the United States for boys to act as altar servers, in some place this practice is virtually unknown and these duties are always carried out by adult men.

Altar servers are subject to all the normal restrictions for those not ordained to higher clergy. They may not touch the altar table or anything on it under any circumstances, nor the prothesis without a blessing. They may not touch the sacred vessels, the chalice and diskos, even when these are not on the altar table. They may not stand directly in front of the altar table or pass between the front of it and the iconostasis, but must cross between the altar and the High Place if they need to move to the opposite side.

Women may not serve in the altar except in women's monasteries. In that case they do not vest in the sticharion, but wear their normal habit for attending services.

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