RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Lebanon Leda Bible
He studied at the gymnasium at Blaubeuren 1825- 1829 and at the University of Tubingen 1829-34, and became repetent at Blaubeuren in 1835. He was transferred to Tubingen in the same capacity in 1838. He was appointed assistant pastor at Waiblingen in 1841 and dean at Knittlingen in 1853, whence he was called to Leipsic in 1858 as superintendent and pastor at St. Thomas' and professor of theology at the university. He lectured on ecclesiastical history, symbolics, canon law, and ecclesiastical polity, and also on certain books of the New Testament, especially Acts and the Epistle of James. Later he became a member of the Saxon diet, and in 1880 privy ecclesiastical councilor. In 1883 he resigned his superintendency and pastorate in order to devote his closing years entirely to his academic and literary work. Some of his more important books are : Geschichte des englischen Deismus (Stuttgart, 1841); Das apostolische und nachapostolische Zeitalter (Haarlem, 1851; Eng. transl., Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, 2 vols., Edinburgh, 1886); Geschichte der Presbyterial- und Synodalverfassung (Leyden, 1854); and Johannes von Wiclif und die Vorgeschichte der Reformation (2 vols., Leipsic, 1873; Eng. transl., John Wiclif and his English Precursors, 2 vols., London, 1878, new ed., 1884). In collaboration with K. Gerok he prepared the commentary on Acts for Lange's Bibelwerk (Bielefeld, 1862; Eng. transl., New York, 1869). Other works by Lechler are, De Thoma Bradwardino (Leipsic, 1862); Der Kirchenstaat und die Opposition gegen den pdpstlichen Absolutismus im Anfang des xiv. Jahrhunderts (1870); Urkundenfunde des christlichen Altertums (2 parts, 1885-86); and Johannes Hus (Halle, 1890). Theodor Ficker. Bibliography: C. Meusel, Kirchliches Handlexikon, iv. 201, Leipsic, 1894.
LECLERC, le-clarc', JEAN. See Clericus, Johannes.
LECOT, le-co', VICTOR LUCIEN SULPICE:
Cardinal; b. at Montescourt (40 m. n.w. of Reims), Jan. 8, 1831 ; d. at Chambery Dec. 19, 1908. He studied at the Petit Seminaire of Compiegne and at the Grand Seminaire of Beauvais, and was appointed professor at the Petit Seminaire of Noyon (Oise). During the Franco-German war, he was chaplain in the French army, and after being parish priest of St. Antoine de Compiegne 1872-86, was consecrated bishop of Dijon in the latter year. In 1890 he was enthroned archbishop of Bordeaux, and in 1893 was created cardinal priest of Santa Pudenziana.
Bibliography: Der Papst, die Regierung und die Verwaltung der heiligen Kirche in Rome, pp. 185, 187, 188, Munich, 1904.
LECTERN: Originally a high, sloping desk, either single or double, which stood in the middle of the choirs of churches, and was used as a rest for the antiphonarium and lectionarium from which the cantors sang the antiphons and lessons. In this shape it is retained in some Roman Catholic churches at the present day; but it occurs much more frequently, usually in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings and frequently of brass, in Anglican churches as a support for the Bible from which the lessons are read at morning and evening
prayer. In this latter use it stands as a rule either beneath or just outside the chancel arch.
LECTION, LECTIONARY. See Evangeliaritjm; Pericope.
LECTOR ("Reader"; Gk. Anagnostes): In the early Church, an ecclesiastic in minor orders appointed to read to the congregation from the Scriptures and other religious writings. From the very first the oral reading of the sacred Scriptures occupied a large place in religious services, and for a long time it was the sole, or at least the principal means of imparting Scriptural knowledge to the congregation. Since during the first two centuries Christianity diffused itself especially among the poorer classes, and the congregations were frequently small, it was not always easy to find a competent reader of the sacred books, written as they were without spacing between the words. The position of the lector in the congregation was consequently an important one. In addition to reading, he often expounded passages of Scripture, especially as the sermon was not yet an official duty. Alphseus, lector and exorcist at Csesarea (d. 303), was " preacher and teacher of the word of God " at that place, " and had great fortitude before every one" (Eusebius, De martyr ibus Palestince, i.). During the early centuries the lector appears to have been reckoned with the spiritual leaders of the congregations, with the prophets, evangelists, and teachers who were accustomed to conduct divine worship. Certain expressions in liturgies of the later time reflect the ancient estimate of the lector's office; thus the Statuta ecclesim antiqua (viii.) observe of the prospective lector, " he is to have a part with those who minister the word of God," consequently the lector occasionally took precedence of the deacon and subdeacon. The development of polity in the Church catholic from the second century downward was unfavorable to the dignity of the lector's office. The bishop or the presbyter was accustomed to appropriate the sermon, and sometimes the preacher included the Scriptural reading as a part of his functions, with the result that the lector became superfluous. In the ceremonially ordered public worship from the fourth century onward, the reading of the Gospel was regularly reserved to the deacons or presbyters, and the lector came to be reckoned with the clerici minores, being of the next to the lowest rank in the order of ecclesiastical promotion (Siricius, Ad Himerium, xiii.). In many church districts, children and even catechumens were admitted to the lector's rank, an impropriety which Justinian sought to correct. The ritual for the installation of the lector was furnished by the liturgies. It usually consisted in the delivery of the codex of the sacred Scriptures. In the Roman Catholic Church the lector's ordo still exists, but in a merely formal sense. See Orders, Holt. H. Achelis.
Bibliography: The earlier literature is given in A. Harnack, Ueber den Ursprung des Lektorats und der anderen niederen Weihen, in TV, ii. 5 (1886), 57 sqq. Consult: Bingham, Origines, III., v.; F. Wieland, Die genetische Entwickelung der ordines minores, Rome, 1892.
LEDA BIBLE. See Bible Versions, B, IV., § 9.
Lee Lefroy