In the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, it is customary for someone — a server or other layman — to assist the priest as he chants the Gospel. The server stands in front of the celebrant and bows his head, and the priest rests the Gospel book open upon it.
This does not work very well when the server is about 4 inches taller than the celebrant, even after bowing his head.
It’s a good thing this maladroit arrangement happened at a liturgy on Saturday morning, and only nine people were present. I can’t really tell what it looked like, because my head was underneath a book at the time. Anyway, Bishop John was very nice about it later.
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Four inches including the steps, eh?
(Would those be the “holy steps”?)
At my parish the priest can’t read at head-distance, even for a short guy like me. So I just hold it at chest level.
No steps. This was in the little chapel at the chancery.
That’s amusing.