Towards the end of the period of the early church the minor-order of reader fell in importance. The office became a stepping stone towards the higher orders which had to be held for at least seven days before ordination to a sub-deacon. As the Church moved on the order became insignificant.

2.5 The lectionary and the reading of scripture.

It is all to easy when looking at the ecclesiological issues surrounding the ministry of Readers to miss the underlying issue of the reading of the scriptures themselves. Old has made an extensive study of this area and raised a number of interesting questions relating to the ministry of the lector.

It seems that the reading of scripture was from the earliest times an act of the community in which the reader had a role to facilitate the worship of the congregation. By the time of Justin the lectors would have had the talents or gifts needed to perform their ministry and would have contributed to the choice and length of readings because chapter and verse references were unknown. It is uncertain how the readers and interpreters or preachers interacted in the choice of readings, as the process was informal and lectionary readings were unknown.