EVAN'GELISTA'RION (ML.. from MGk. eitaryeXtardplov, book of selections from the Gos pels, from Gk. era?' gelion , gospel) . A lectionary or service book of the Greek Church, containing the lessons taken from the Gospels for each day in the year. The custom of assigning to each day some portion or portions of Scrip ture as its appropriate reading was in vogue very early in the Eastern Church. In process of time usage in this respect became quite uniform, each day of the year having its special lesson from the Gospels and another from the Epistles or Acts. In addition to these regular daily readings, holy and saints' days had their own appropriate read ings assigned. It was customary to mark, in red ink, in the text of New Testament manuscripts. where the appointed lessons began or ended, by the words or abbreviations apxn or apx (=be ginning) rind -rant or TEX (=end). while on the margin or at the bottom of the page the day to which the lesson belonged was indicated. But more
convenient for use were the hooks containing col lections of the readings arranged in chronological order. If such a book included only Gospel les sons, it was called an Evangelistarion; if the lessons were those from the Acts and Epistles, the book was called a Praxapostolos. if the book included both, it was a Euchologia, or Book of Offices. Lists or tables of such readings were also in circulation, called Synaxaria. If a table was of the daily readings only, it was called an Eclogadion; if of the readings for saints' days only, it was called a penology. Hundreds of manuscripts of Evangelistaria are in existence, some of them quite sumptuous. They date from the sixth century onward, and many are of con siderable value for the textual criticism of the New Testament. Consult Scrivener, Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the Neat Testament (4th ed., London, 1894). See LECTIONARY.