Old Testament

Following the collect, the celebrant turns to give the blessing to the subdeacon, who kneels outside the rail and says, “Sir, give a blessing.” The celebrant gives his blessing by making the sign of the cross toward the subdeacon and saying, “The Lord be in your heart and on your lips" (this is an abridgment of a longer formula). [If, however, there is no subdeacon, the celebrant will read these readings himself].

He who reads the Old Testament does so with hands joined palm to palm. He introduces it with the words, The Old Testament reading appointed for ______ is written in [the prophet] ______, the _____ chapter. Following the Old Testament reading, he pauses, lifts his eyes and says, The word of the Lord, whereupon the congregation will respond, Amen.

The Old Testament is better referred to as a "reading" than as a "lesson."

The reader should never lift his eyes from the page, thus giving a clear indication that he is in fact reading directly off the page.

I believe that the Old Testament is historically an optional reading, so I include it only on Sundays and at Christmas.

Piepkorn declares that if the lesson read as the Epistle is taken from the Old Testament, nevertheless "you have no authority to vary" the formula by which it is called "the Epistle." But this seems odd and confusing.