On the Dignity of the Priesthood

—All these things, brethren, you must know that we have set forth beforehand for this reason, that we might show that there is nothing more excellent in this world than priests, nothing found more sublime than bishops; so that when we display the dignity of the episcopate to the eyes of bishops, we may also worthily know what we are, and show what we are by profession rather by action than by name; that the name may agree with the action, the action correspond to the name; lest the name be empty, and the crime immense; lest the honor be sublime, and the life deformed; lest the profession be god-like, and the action unlawful; lest the garment be religious, and the advancement irreligious; lest the rank be lofty, and the excess deformed; lest a loftier seat be held in the Church, and the priest's conscience be found lowlier; lest we feign the speech of the dove, and have the mind of a dog; lest we display the profession of a sheep, and have the ferocity of a wolf; that it may fittingly be answered to us by the Lord through the prophet: This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Therefore, brethren, as the chlamys adorns the senator, as agriculture the rustic, as arms the barbarian, as skill in navigation the sailor, and as the quality of his work shows each and every craftsman to be its author: so nothing but episcopal action designates the bishop; that from good work rather than from profession he may be known to be a bishop more by merits than by being so called by name; because, as we have said that nothing is more excellent than a bishop, so nothing is more wretched, if a bishop be endangered as to his holy life; if a priest be held in crime, and a prelate be polluted with the stains of vices. And as it is a lighter thing to fall from level ground, so it becomes a graver thing for him who has fallen from a lofty dignity; because a ruin that comes from on high is dashed with a heavier fall. The episcopal honor indeed is illustrious before men; but if it sustains a fall, the grief is great.

For by as much as the episcopal rank is higher than others, by so much, if through negligence it slips, the ruin is graver. Great sublimity ought to have great caution: great honor ought to be encompassed with greater solicitude. From him to whom more is entrusted, more is required, as it is written: For always the worst things are mingled with the best; and elsewhere: The mighty shall be mightily tormented; and: To him that knoweth the law and doeth it not, it is a great sin; and: The servant who knew his lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes. For God requires one thing of a bishop, and another of a priest, and another of a deacon, and another of a cleric, and another of a layman, or of each and every man severally.

And although God examines the works of all men in his judgment, yet more is required of him to whom more is committed; for he pays ampler penalties, to whom a more numerous care of peoples to be ruled has been entrusted.

—And that we may specially depict for all priests the manner and pattern of the episcopate itself, the apostolic rule must be unrolled for us, which depicts episcopal acts for them point by point. Thus the blessed Apostle says to all bishops: Faithful is the saying; as if he were saying: Concerning that of which I am about to speak, I speak truly; lest anyone think that I have lied. He added: If any man desires the episcopate, he desires a good work, that is, if you desire to be a bishop, great is what you long to be; but only if you embrace at the same time a good work also. For if you desire to be otherwise, you cannot be a bishop, because there follows: For a bishop must be blameless. Blameless, he says; for if a bishop is reproved, he is shamefully subjected to blame. And assuredly blame draws to guilt, guilt to punishment, punishment leads on even to death. Behold to what the episcopal dignity turns.

And a little after he says: The husband of one wife. If we look only to the surface of the letter, he forbids a bigamist to be ordained bishop; but if we ascend to the deeper sense, he forbids a bishop to usurp two Churches; and if you search still further within, he warns lest, after the catholic dogma, a bishop be found to have a heretical understanding, but that he should associate to himself only the Christian, orthodox, and catholic faith; so that the bishop may be called the husband of but one wife, that is, of the catholic Church. There follows next, and he says: Sober; that is, sparing not only of wine but also of vices; so that he neither indulge in wine more than is fitting, and is found always sober in mind. And he added what follows, saying: Prudent.

Not, indeed, worldly prudence, of which it is said that it is foolishness with God, but spiritual prudence, that is, one that is circumspect in deed and skilled in word; so that he be wise as a serpent and simple as a dove. And again he adds: Adorned. But if we look only according to the sense of the letter, we priests would seek nothing else than a more splendid garment; for example, we would seek beaver-skin and silken vestments; and he would believe himself to be higher among the bishops who has put on a more splendid garment. But the holy Apostle does not wish to be understood in this way, because he teaches that a bishop is adorned not in flesh but in mind; so that that priest may be pleasing to God who has an orderly soul before God.

And after this he added: Hospitable; that out of regard for humanity he may receive into hospitality those who have no lodging, and bring the needy who have no roof into his own house, nor devour alone the gifts of Christ which the goodness of Christ has bestowed upon him; and because God loves a cheerful giver, let him contribute without murmuring to the poor of Christ. There follows next, and he says: Apt to teach, that is, let the bishop be so strong in wisdom that he not only sufficiently teach the people entrusted to him, but also be able to repel from the catholic Church the contradictions of all heresies, lest by his own ignorance he fail to teach the ignorant, and lest, overtaken by such a mishap, there befall him what is written: One blind man leading another, both fall into the pit.

But he who knows himself not to be such as we have said, let him by no means aspire to the priesthood, nor presume to usurp the place of another, especially of one who by the splendor of his wisdom can enlighten the hearts of the peoples. He added and said: Not given to wine, that is, not devoted to much wine; so that whether the bishop be believed or seen to have drunk or not may be uncertain; lest after copious drinking of wine he take delight in the allurement of women, nor let all excess, as the Apostle says, be nourished through wine. Then finally follows, saying: No striker, but gentle, that is, let him not have hands prone to violence, and let him by no means strike the consciences of others with wicked suspicions; lest, while found petulant unto violence, he be judged rather an athlete than a bishop.

But rather, on the contrary, let him bear patiently the injuries inflicted by others; that he may show a tranquil gentleness of mind to all men, and display firm patience to all. Again he added, saying: Not quarrelsome, that is, let the bishop not loosen his tongue to reviling, lest through that same tongue by which he offers praises to God and pours out divine sacrifices, he utter the poisons of strife; because it is not fitting that blessing and cursing proceed together from the mouth of a bishop, lest through the same tongue by which God is praised, man be cursed; because from one fountain it cannot produce sweet and bitter water. Thereafter followed, saying: Not covetous, that is, not covetous of base gain; lest the bishop be held bound by covetousness of gain, and nourish avarice, which is the root of all evils.

Let him be content only with the stipends of his church, and by no means seek after what he understands to be superfluous; but rather let him gladly bestow from the very poverty of his church upon the poor of Christ, as it is written: God loves a cheerful giver; and elsewhere: He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains forever and ever; his horn shall be exalted in glory. And he joined what follows, saying: One that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all chastity. He can rule well his own house who has kept the chastity of his own body. His house, he says, that is, let him rule by an imperial right over his own body, lest he himself be subjected to his own body, and given over to the desire of luxury, be plunged into a precipice; but rather let him teach his children by the example of chastity to the rule of modesty.

For if any man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he apply diligence to the Church of God? For this is what we said above: he who is not able to cultivate the house of his own heart, how shall he apply diligence to very many? And he who cannot pluck the beam of sin out of his own eye, how shall he be able to remove the mote from another's eye? The same follows, and he says: Not a novice, that is, one who has recently come to the faith out of paganism, or certainly has been joined to the clerical office from secular military service. Let these, therefore, not so readily seize the priestly rank, lest, being lifted up into pride, they fall into judgment and into the snare of the devil; because what men do not learn in a long time, they cannot keep in a short time.

And concluding the rule and the episcopal pattern, at the end he added, saying: Moreover he must have a good testimony from those who are outside, that is, from heretics and schismatics, who set up profane conventicles for themselves outside the holy catholic Church; whom nevertheless the Apostle says must, as witnesses, give good testimony concerning the unblemished life and holy conduct of the bishop; lest perchance the enemies find occasion to slander the bishop, and begin to defame the catholic dogma.

—These things having thus been touched upon, I think, in this work we have felt ourselves freed as it were from a great debt, since we have set against bishops not our own but the holy Apostle's testimonies; lest they should mock our work as though it were common tales. But since the authority of the holy Apostle Paul has smiled upon us in every particular, let them, if they have dared, rebuke the Apostle himself rather than us.

And although the length of this little book already constrains us, and time presses us to come to the end of this work, yet the solicitude of brotherly love holds us back, especially concerning those priests who, dulled by torpor of mind, defame the priestly honor; and who are lamented to have prodigiously brought forth in this our age a new rule, and following Gehazi and the sentence of Simon, have bought the grace of the holy episcopate with money, in no way fearing that, since they have bought priestly honor with money, they have been condemned along with Simon by the blessed Apostle Peter, as he says: Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of the holy Spirit may be purchased with money. And let them believe that they have received leprosy along with Gehazi from holy Elisha, those who reckon that they purchase the priestly rank with money. To whom, when we have said these things, it ought to suffice that they possess leprosy in exchange.

For just as, when the head is corrupted by more virulent diseases, the rest of the body is necessarily drenched lethally with the overflow of the higher disease, so also those who seem to be the head of the Church corrupt the fraternal body with a pestiferous disease, so that nothing in the whole framework of the body can escape unwounded, which the deadly poison of the vice of negligent priests has infected; so that you may see everywhere in the Church those whom not merits but money has advanced to the rank of the episcopate: a frivolous and unlearned people, who have taken to themselves such a priest for themselves.

Whom, if you should wish faithfully to question, who made them priests, they answer at once and say: I have been recently ordained bishop by the archbishop, and I gave him a hundred solidi, that I might have deserved to obtain episcopal grace, which if I had by no means given, today I would not be a bishop; wherefore it is better for me to bring gold out of my strongbox than to lose so great a priesthood. I gave gold, and I purchased the episcopate; which solidi nevertheless, if I live, I do not doubt that I shall recover there. I ordain presbyters, I consecrate deacons, and I receive gold; for I trust also to drive a profit of money from the other orders as well. Behold, the gold which I gave I have recovered into my own strongbox: I have received the episcopate, therefore, for free. Indeed this is what I grieve over, that the archbishop made a bishop in the flesh. For on account of money he ordained a leper in spirit.

Thy money, he says, perish with thee, because thou hast purchased the gift of the grace of the holy Spirit with a price, and thou hast conducted a miserable commerce unto the destruction of souls. And ignorant and unlearned men at their ordinations cry out and say: Thou art worthy, and thou art just; while the wretched conscience says: Thou art unworthy, and thou art unjust. For a bishop of this sort pronounces to the people, saying: Peace be with you. To carnal eyes indeed he seems as it were a great bishop, but by divine sight he is beheld as a great leper. Through money he has acquired an undue order, and before God he has lost the inner man. The flesh has received dignity, and the soul has lost honesty. The flesh, the handmaid, has become mistress of the soul, and the soul, which was mistress, has become the maidservant of the flesh. The flesh rules over peoples, and the soul serves the demon. He has purchased priesthood for the flesh, and prepared harm for the soul.

And what does it profit a man of this sort if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul? Or what exchange shall a man give for his soul? What he gave when he was ordained bishop was gold; and what he lost was his soul. When he ordained another, what he received was money; and what he gave was leprosy. These are the merchandisings of the wicked unto their own perdition.

Yet I ask a brother and fellow-bishop of ours, since I too am a bishop, and speak with a bishop. Tell me then a little, brother bishop: when you gave money, what did you receive? I received episcopal grace. I ask you then: why is this grace called by such a name? He answers: Why, you ask? I suppose, because it is given for free, therefore it is called grace. Therefore, if grace is given for free, and is not valued at gold, why is grace purchased by you with money? He answers: It would not have been given to me, he says, if it had not been bought with money; nor would I have been ordained bishop, if I had not given money. Therefore, as appears from your answers, you did not receive grace when you were ordained; because you did not merit it gratuitously. And therefore, brother, if you did not receive grace, how could you have become a bishop? For the Lord also says to his disciples: Freely you have received, freely give.

Why then did you reckon that you could possess grace by a price? For, as I see, in giving gold you have lost it, and you have not acquired holy grace.

Yet once more I add and inquire of my brother the bishop, lest we seem to have passed over any of the truthful proofs. Who gives, brother, episcopal grace? God, or man? You answer without doubt: God. But yet God gives through man: man imposes hands, God bestows grace; the priest imposes a suppliant right hand, and God blesses with his mighty right hand; the bishop initiates the order, and God bestows the dignity. O justice, O equity! If money is given to a man, who works nothing further in the order except only the service which is entrusted to him, why is everything denied to God, who bestows upon you the order itself? Does it seem just to you that the servant be honored, and the Lord suffer injury; and that the priest unjustly receive money, and God suffer injury from man? But since God expects nothing from you for the order granted, why does the priest shamelessly expect money from you?

God wished to grant to man freely, and the rapacious bishop demands money from man freely given; God, as being surely kind, gave freely to man, and has the malicious priest plundered him without cause? For what have you that you have not received? But if you have received it, why do you glory as if you had not received it?

—Behold to what evils the god-making order is being rolled down: behold to what disgraces priests have fallen, who deserved to hear from the Judge of the world: You are the light of the world. Behold to whom the nations are subjected, to whom it was said by the Lord: You are the salt of the earth. Therefore if the bishop is the light of the Church, ordained by the Lord, so that with the glowing eloquence of his preaching he might illuminate the hidden places of consciences darkened by ignorance, why is he himself held bound by palpable darkness? And not only because, while acting badly, he himself perishes deservedly, but he also unworthily drags others down with him. For if you deserved to possess the savor of salt, so that you might season the fields of the unwise, why, made foolish by such a vice, have you offered yourself to be trampled by the unclean feet of swine, so that you can season neither others nor yourself?

You also willingly sought the office of the eyes in the body, that is, in the Church, so that the rest of the body might have through you the guidance of light: and now, darkened by a certain bleariness and gloom of vices, you neither present yourself fit for light, nor do you take away light from others. Of which eyes it is said in the Gospel: If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lucid, that is, if the bishop, who deserved to preside as the light in the body, is adorned with holy simplicity and innocence, the whole Church is irradiated with the splendor of light: But if thy eye be evil, thy whole body shall be dark; that is, if the bishop, who seemed to furnish light to the subject body, is clouded over by the blindness of wickedness, what will the other members do, from whom the light of the eyes has been taken away?

That is, what will the secular multitude become, when the bishop has provoked the multitude of the people, by illicit pleasures and forbidden actions, to a like gulf of crimes; so that nothing any longer seems unlawful to anyone, which is perpetrated by the bishop as though it were lawful? But rather men believe that to be praiseworthy which the bishop has found delightful: nor does anyone say he does doubtfully what the pontiff does not hesitate to do; for you are called bishop by all without hesitation, especially since you are reckoned by that very name—if indeed the action agrees with the name, and the name is joined to the action. For what else is “bishop” interpreted to mean but “overseer,” especially since he sits on a more elevated throne in the Church, and so looks upon all, that the eyes of all also look upon him. Therefore, since this is so, why do you show yourself to the eyes of all like a foul mirror, so that they cannot adorn themselves more becomingly by your obscurity?

—Let it suffice thus far to have extended our discourse a little now for our fellow priests, in which we have shown their excellence together with their fall; lest, trusting in the sublimity of their honors, they should least seek perfection of morals, and believe themselves to glory more in the name of priest alone than in works. And although I know that on account of this little book very many priests, who do not wish to do these things which we speak of, will disparage me unfaithfully; yet I believe that very many, who do these things, or strive to do them, will pray faithfully for us. But just as we are not at all weighed down by the lacerations of detractors, so in the end we are aided by the prayers of approved and holy men.

Come now, sanctifying Spirit, who have aided us in this work by divine inspirations, aid all priests, and grant that they may do what you yourself inspired to be spoken in this little work; that you may grant to them together with me the kingdoms of heaven, which you promised to give to the saints at the end of the ages, everlasting, amen.