Extraordinary ministers and witnesses

ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY THEN AND NOW: Saint Tarcisius the Acolyte

In my late childhood I was an altar server, as were a great many boys of my age at that time. "Serving Mass" was considered a great honour and required careful attention to the duties, gestures, rules and etiquette of the role. There was to be no whispering, fidgeting or staring out at the congregation. At that time, shortly after the introduction of the vernacular into the liturgy, the paten was still used as communicants received Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling. One of the altar server's responsibilities was to hold a small metal paten beneath the chin of each communicant.

A decade later, after returning to the practice of my faith, I was commissioned as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, a role often referred to more informally as a Eucharistic Minister. The preparation involved attending a series of talks, obtaining the necessary liturgical booklets for bringing Holy Communion to the sick at home and, as far as I can remember, participating in a simple commissioning rite during Mass.

The practice of bringing the Eucharist to those unable to attend the celebration of Mass is as old as the Church itself. According to ancient Christian tradition, when no deacon was available, a young acolyte named Tarcisius was entrusted with carrying the Holy Mysteries to Christians imprisoned for their faith. Later tradition identified Tarcisius as an acolyte, a ministry that would eventually become one of the minor orders on the path to priestly ordination.

When I served at the altar, only boys were permitted to undertake this role. In the early 1990s that changed when provision was made for girls to serve at the altar, much to the annoyance of a small but vocal minority who opposed the change. Nowadays, most Extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist are women and in those parishes where altar servers are still used (a declining percentage, now, in Ireland) It is my impression that a majority are female. The use of lay persons to administer holy communion is common place in Anglican churches and is often for the purposes of giving the shared cup of consecrated or blessed wine.

Ancient tradition associates the martyr Tarcisius, who lived during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian in the third century, with acolytes and altar servers. What we know of him comes from a combination of early tradition, later legend and an inscription composed in his honour by Pope Damasus I in the 4^th Century:

‘You who read, whoever you are, recognize the equal merit of the two
to whom Damasus the bishop has dedicated this inscription after their rewards.
The Jewish people stoned Stephen when he was instructing them
on a better course, he who carried off the trophy from the enemy:
the faithful deacon first laid hold of martyrdom.
When a raving gang was pressing holy Tarcisius to reveal to the uninitiated
the sacraments of Christ that he was carrying,
he wished rather to release his spirit, struck down,
than to betray the heavenly limbs to mad dogs.’

His feast day is celebrated on 15 August.

Whatever the exact details of his life and death may have been, Tarcisius was an early Christian martyr of the third century and therefore belongs to the undivided Church that existed before both the Great Schism and the Reformation. His witness continues to inspire altar servers, acolytes and those entrusted with bringing Holy Communion to the sick and housebound.