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Information
All boys in the parish over the age of 10 may serve as an Altar Boy. Altar Boys must be on time each Sunday, be appropriately dressed, and participate at the special services throughout the year. A young boy who wishes to be an acolyte serves a training period and then is assigned to one of 4 Teams. At present we have 45 Acolytes.
Altar Boy News:
The 22 beautiful new gold robes (stichira) and three seasonal sashes (orarion) for our acolytes have arrived. They will be worn on the Sunday we celebrate our Nameday and the dedication of the Alex D. Krassas Event Center.
The sticharion (long robe) that is similar to that of the Deacon, is a reminder of the role the Altar Boy has in the service in the Altar. It symbolizes the cleanliness of mind and heart that the server brings each time he enters the Altar.
The orarion (sash) is also similar to that of the Deacon, but is worn differently. It is shaped in a cross at the back with two parts hanging down the front. Sometimes the orarion could be of a different design with one part hanging in back and a similar one in the front with a wide opening for the head. In both instances it denoted the calling of the Altar Boy to be a server much as the angels of God serve Him attentively and willingly. It is sometimes the custom of tradition to give a small cross to the boy who has been tonsured as reader and an Altar Boy. If you received one, you are to wear it each time you are to serve in the Altar.
Thank you once again for you generous donations.
What is an Altar Boy or Acolyte?
The word acolyte is derived from the Greek word akolouthos, 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.[1]
In the Eastern Orthodox Church 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.