THESE resemble the lessons read in the synagogues from the Old Testament. As early as the fifth century, Euthalius divided the Acts and Epistles into lessons to be read on various festivals, to which the Gospels were afterward added. Shorter divisions were subsequently adopted by the Greek church. To make these divisions easily accessible the copies of the New Testament were marked in red ink where the lessons begun, where they ended, and what portions were to be omitted.
This led to manuscripts being written especially for this purpose, which were called Lectionaries to distinguish them. These would contain some passages more than once, and be arranged according as the festivals fell; other parts would be omitted altogether. Some contained the Gospels only, and were called Evangelistaria; others had the Acts and Epistles; and others Paul's Epistles only.
Though these books were introduced among the Latins as early as the fifth century, it is believed they were not adopted among the Greeks until the eighth. Some are extant in uncial characters, though it is believed lectionaries were continued to be written in this style after the cursive writing came into use.
One copy is described as containing lessons for every day in the year, with services for "the holy week," the great festivals, and saints' days, with gospels set apart for special occasions.
To make the ordinary manuscripts available for use, a list of lessons was added to some copies. These were called Synaxaria and Menologia. Scholz published copies of such lists in his Greek Testament, taken from some Paris manuscripts.
As has been already intimated, the commencement of the lessons were often altered to make them more intelligent to the hearers (such as substituting "Jesus said" for "He said") yet some of the Lectionaries are of considerable value.
Of Codex z, Dr. Scrivener says, "Besides the gospels in full, several portions of which are always written more than once in an Evangelistarium, this copy is remarkable for containing among the services for the holy week, four passages from the Septuagint version (Isa. 3:9-13; 52:13—54:1; Jer. 11:18—12: 15; Zech. 11:10-14;) and four from the Pauline Epistles (Rom. 5:6-10; Gal. 6:14-18; 1 Tim. 6:11-16; Heb. 10:19-31.).... Few copies of the Gospels contain more numerous and interesting, yet minute variations from the printed text than Codex z ... .but in many places it stands almost, often quite alone. Thus the patient student will find it a document of singular importance, well meriting his best attention." The portions named above will give the reader some idea of what were selected as "Lessons" in those early days.
The Lectionaries are generally classed with the cursives, and referred to by small letters (Scrivener's x, y, and z, for instance, are lectionaries, though x is an uncial), or by figures: Lec. x., or Lec. 1, being quite sufficient to distinguish them from anything else.
The Lectionaries are also interesting as showing that at that early date the reading of the scripture in public was a constant thing. According to the Apostolic Constitutions two lessons out of the Old Testament and two out of the New were read every Sunday. And if a sermon followed it was nothing else but the exposition, says Cave, in his Primitive Christianity, "of some part of the scriptures which had been read before, and exhortations to the people to obey the doctrines contained in them, and commonly were upon the lesson which was last read, because of that being freshest in, the people's memory.”