Frederick Edward Warren, 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 16… (1911)
“ From an early period men have been set apart, under the title of anagnostae, lectores, or readers, for the purpose of reading Holy Scripture in church. We do not know what the custom of the Church was in the first two centuries, the earliest reference to readers, as an order, occurring in the writings of Tertullian (De praescript. haeret. cap. 41) ; there are frequent allusions to them in the writings of St Cyprian and afterwards. Cornelius, bishop of Rome in A.D. 251–252, in a well-known letter mentions readers among the various church orders then existing at Rome. ”
