Psalomshchik

(psalm-reader, sexton) a lower-ranking minister in the Russian Orthodox Church; a layman who assisted the priest in church services and rituals, by reading from liturgical books and singing in the choir, for example. In Russia, the psalomshchik was in charge of all the church and parish records. Until the separation of the church from the state in 1918, the psalomshchik was also responsible for the registries in which births, deaths, and marriages were recorded.