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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, however in some regions and religions, altar servers are expected to be recognizable through behavior and relation to others.
Altar servers in the Roman Catholic Church
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. The phrase altar boy has in many cases been replaced with altar server because in the last decade of the 20th century girls began to be 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 who 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. Here the duties in detail:
Duties
In the Roman Catholic Church, altar servers are responsible for duties in general during the eucharistic part of masses. However, holding books in position for prayers and carrying the processional cross are also duties of altar servers.- Gathering: Altar servers carry the processional cross and candles (the so-called flambeaus) at the front of the gathering procession. Incense and thurible may be carried as well.
- Opening prayer: The missal is usually hold in place by an altar server, so that the priest has both hands free.
- Proclamation of the Gospel: If it is a regional habit, flambeaus and/or incense can be carried.
- Receiving the gifts from the parishioners: When the priest is receiving the gifts from the people, altar servers may be required to assist him carrying them.
- Preparation of the altar for the eucharist: It is the duty of the altar severs to prepare the altar with corporale, hosts and wine.
- Ceremony of the eucharist: Where it is a habit, altar servers ring bells at important situations during the High Prayer.
- Cleaning up the altar: During the distribution of the communion, the altar needs to be cleaned up by the altar servers.
- Ending prayer: As for the opening prayer, the missal is hold in place by an altar server.
- Ending procession: When the priest and the servers leave the altar, again the processional cross is carried, eventually together with flambeaus.
Vestments
Altar servers normally wear the alb or the surplice during a liturgy. If no vestments are available, the altar servers are usually gathering in other appropriate clothes. The decision over what exactly an altar server will wear during Mass is normally left up to individual dioceses and parishes. Sometimes, more than one set of vestments may be worn at certain Masses, meant to indicate the roles fulfilled by different altar servers (dedicated server to the Archbishop, assistant to baptism/confirmation, etc.).Female 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 have 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. Many altar servers see themselves usually not as priesthood candidates, even if the church sometimes tries to influence them in this direction.Eastern Orthodox Church
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, altar servers assist the higher clergy during services. 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 tasks so that the celebrant need not be distracted during the service. An altar server is vested in the sticharion only.
It is the custom in the Greek tradition to set aside altar servers by the tonsure. In many places Greek altar servers will also vest in the orarion, worn crossed over the back like that of a subdeacon but with the ends hanging parallel in front.
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.
Other Churches
In lower Anglican churches, all who serve in the above positions are called acolytes.
In Anglo-Catholic and some Episcopal Churches however, the vast majority of roles associated with an Altar server are the same as those in the Catholic Church, and the same titles for each individual role are retained from Catholic tradition - mostly restored during the Oxford Movement in the 19th century.
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"Altar server"