論祭司職分 第 3 章 第 1/3 段

That those who suspected we declined out of arrogance have injured their own reputation. Concerning the insult to those who honored us, then, and that we fled this honor not wishing to put them to shame, we can say what we have said;

but that it was not from being puffed up with any arrogance either, this too I shall now try, to the best of my ability, to make plain to you.

For if a choice of a generalship or of a kingdom had been set before us, and then I held this view, someone might reasonably have supposed this; and then no one would have judged us guilty of arrogance, but all of folly.

But when the priesthood is set before us—which stands as far above kingship as spirit stands above flesh—will anyone dare to charge us with disdain? And how is it not absurd to blame those who despise small things as

deranged, yet to exempt those who do this in regard to the most exalted things from charges of madness, and instead to subject them to accusations of pride? It would be as if someone, charging a man who despises a herd of oxen and is unwilling to be a herdsman not at all with pride but with derangement of mind, should then say of the man who refuses the kingship over the whole inhabited world and the lordship of all the armies everywhere that, instead of being mad, he is puffed up with pride.

But these things are not so, they are not; nor do those who say such things slander us rather than themselves;

for the mere thought that it is possible for human nature to despise that dignity is itself a proof against those who utter it, of the opinion they hold concerning the matter;

for if they did not reckon it to be among ordinary things of no great account, it would not even have occurred to them to suspect this.

For why has no one ever dared to suspect or to say anything of the sort concerning the dignity of the angels, that there is a human soul which out of arrogance would not choose to attain to the rank of that nature? For we imagine certain great things about those powers, and this does not permit us to believe that a man could think anything greater than that honor; so that one might more justly charge with arrogance those who accuse us of this;

for they would never have supposed this concerning others, had they not first themselves condemned the matter as being worth nothing.

That we did not flee out of vainglory either. But if they say that we did this with an eye to glory, they will be convicted of falling into contradiction with themselves and of being plainly at odds;

for I do not know what other arguments before these they could have sought, had they wished to clear us of the charges of vainglory.

That if we desired glory, we ought rather to have chosen the office. For if this passion had ever entered me, I ought rather to have accepted it than to have fled.

Why? Because this would have brought us much glory;

for that one of such an age, and only recently withdrawn from the cares of this life, should suddenly appear so admirable in the eyes of all as to be preferred above those who had spent their whole time in such labors, and to receive more votes than all of them, would have persuaded everyone to suspect great and wonderful things about us, and would have rendered us venerable and conspicuous.

But as it is, except for a few, the greater part of the Church does not even know us by name, so that it will not even be apparent to all that we declined, but only to a certain few, of whom I think not even all knew the truth clearly;

and it is likely that even many of these supposed either that we had not been chosen at all, or that we had been thrust aside after the election, having seemed unfit, and so did not flee voluntarily.

BASIL: But those who know the truth will admire you.

JOHN: And yet you said that it was these very people who slandered us as vainglorious and proud.

Whence then is the praise to be hoped for? From the many? But they do not know the truth.

Or from the few? But here too the matter has turned out for us to the opposite;

for it was for no other reason that you came in here just now, but to learn what we ought to say in our defense to those people.

And why am I being so precise about these matters now? Because, even if all knew the truth, not even so ought we to be judged guilty of arrogance or love of glory; wait a little, and you will know this too clearly;

and besides this, that not only those who dare such a daring deed—if indeed there be any such among men, for I myself am not persuaded there is—but also those who suspect it of others, will lie under no small danger.

That the priesthood is awesome, and the new worship far more awesome than the old. For the priesthood is performed on earth, yet it holds the rank of heavenly things;

for it was not a man, nor an angel, nor an archangel, nor

any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself who ordained this succession, and persuaded men, while still abiding in flesh, to represent the ministry of the angels.

Therefore the one consecrated ought to be as pure as if he were standing in the very heavens, in the midst of those powers.

Fearful indeed and most awesome were even the things before grace—such as the bells, the pomegranates, the stones on the breast, those of the ephod, the mitre, the tiara, the long robe, the golden plate, the Holy of Holies, the deep stillness within;

but if one examines the things of grace, he will find those fearful and most awesome things to be small, and the saying about the law to be true here too, that 'even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.' For when you see the Lord sacrificed and lying there, and the priest standing over the sacrifice and praying, and all reddened with that precious blood, do you think you are still among men and standing on earth? Are you not rather at once translated to heaven, and, casting out every fleshly thought, do you not with naked soul and pure mind look around upon the things in heaven? O the wonder!

O the loving-kindness of God!

He who sits on high with the Father is at that hour held in the hands of all, and gives Himself to those who wish to embrace and to receive Him; and all do this then through their eyes.

Do these things seem to you worthy of contempt, or to be of such a kind that anyone could be exalted against them? Will you also behold the surpassing greatness of this sanctity through another wonder? Picture to me Elijah before your eyes, and the countless multitude standing around, and the sacrifice lying upon the stones, and all the rest in stillness and deep silence, and the prophet alone praying; then suddenly the flame cast down from heaven upon the offering—these things are wonderful and full of every astonishment.

Pass over, then, from there to the things now performed, and you will see things not only wonderful, but surpassing all astonishment;

for the priest stands, bringing down not fire, but the Holy Spirit, and makes his supplication at length, not that some torch sent from above may consume the offerings, but that grace, falling upon the sacrifice, may through it kindle the souls of all and show them brighter than refined silver.

Who, then, unless mad or beside himself, will be able to despise this most awesome rite? Or are you unaware that no human soul could ever have endured that fire of the sacrifice, but all would have been utterly destroyed, had not the help of God's grace been great? V

That great is the authority and honor of priests. For if one considers how great a thing it is for a man, while still bound up with flesh and blood, to be able to draw near to that blessed and incorruptible nature, then he will see clearly with how much honor the grace of the Spirit has dignified the priests.

for through them both these things are performed and others nowise inferior to these, both in respect of dignity and of our salvation.

For those who dwell on earth and have their abode upon it have been entrusted to administer the things in heaven, and have received an authority which God gave neither to angels nor to archangels;

for it was not said to them:

'Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.' For those who rule on earth do indeed have the authority to bind, but only of bodies;

but this bond touches the very soul and passes through the heavens; and whatever the priests do below, that God ratifies above, and the Master confirms the decision of His servants.

And what is this but that He has given them all the heavenly authority? For 'Whosesoever sins you forgive,' He says, 'they are forgiven, and whosesoever you retain, they are retained.' What authority could be greater than this? 'The Father has given all judgment

to the Son.' But I see all of it committed to these men by the Son;

for it is as though they had already been translated to the heavens, and had transcended human nature, and been freed from our passions, that they have been raised to so great a rule.

Again, if a king should impart this honor to one of his subjects, that he might cast into prison whom he will and release again, this man is envied and conspicuous in the eyes of all;

but he who has received from God an authority as much greater as heaven is more precious than earth and souls than bodies—has he seemed to some to have received so small an honor that they could even imagine that one of those entrusted with such things would despise the gift?

for it is conspicuous madness to despise so great an office, without which we can attain neither salvation nor the promised good things.

That they are ministers of God's greatest gifts. For if one cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless he be born again of water and the Spirit, and he who does not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink His blood is cast out of eternal life, and all these things are accomplished through none other but only through those holy hands, the hands of the priest, I mean—how could anyone without these either escape the fire of Gehenna or attain the crowns laid up? For these are they, these, who have been entrusted with the spiritual travail and committed with the birth that is through baptism;

through them we put on Christ and are buried together with the Son of God, and become members of that blessed Head; so that they might justly be to us not only more to be feared than rulers and kings, but even more honorable than fathers;

for the latter begot us of blood and of the will of the flesh, but the former are to us the cause of our birth from God, of that blessed regeneration, of the true freedom, and of the adoption according to grace.

The priests of the Jews had authority to cleanse bodily leprosy—or rather, not to cleanse it at all, but only to examine those who had been cleansed; and you know how greatly the priesthood was then contended for;

but these have received authority not to examine bodily leprosy cured, but spiritual uncleanness of soul—not to examine it once removed, but to remove it altogether; so that those who despise these men are far more accursed than those about Dathan, and deserving of greater punishment;

for the latter, even though they laid claim to an office not belonging to them, yet nevertheless held a wonderful opinion concerning it, and showed this by striving after it with much zeal;

but these, when the matter had been ordered for the better and had received so great an enhancement, then dared things contrary to those men, and much greater than theirs.

For it is not an equal thing, as regards the measure of contempt, to crave an honor that does not belong to one and to despise so great goods; rather, the latter is greater than the former by as much as is the difference between scorning and admiring.

Who, then, is so wretched a soul as to despise so great goods? I, for one, would never say there is such a one—unless someone were to suffer a demonic frenzy.

But indeed I return again to the point from which I digressed;

for not only in punishing, but also in doing good, God gave the priests greater power than natural parents, and the difference between the two is as great as that between the present and the future life;

for the latter beget for this life, the former for that.

And the latter could not even ward off bodily death from their children, nor repel a disease that had befallen them;

but the former have often saved the soul that was sick and about to perish, by making the chastisement milder for some, and by not even letting others fall into it from the outset—not only by teaching and admonishing, but also by helping through prayers.

For not only when they regenerate us, but also afterward, they have authority to forgive sins.

'Is anyone sick among you?' he says. 'Let him call for the elders of the Church,

and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

and the prayer of faith shall save the one who is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.' Again, natural parents, if their children offend any of those in high places and of great power, can in no way help them; but the priests have often reconciled to men not rulers nor kings, but God Himself, when He was angry with them.

Will anyone, then, after these things, still dare to judge us of arrogance? For my part, I think that from what has been said, so great a reverence will lay hold of the souls of the hearers that they will judge of arrogance and rashness no longer those who flee, but those who of their own accord come forward and strive to acquire this honor for themselves.

For if those entrusted with the rule of cities, when they happen not to be intelligent and very keen, have both overthrown the cities and destroyed themselves besides, how much power do you think he needs who has been allotted to adorn the bride of Christ—both power from Him and that which is from above—that he may not go astray? VII

That Paul too was full of fear, seeing the greatness of the office. No one loved Christ more than Paul, no one showed greater zeal than he, no one was counted worthy of more grace;

yet nevertheless, after so many advantages, he still fears and trembles concerning this office and those ruled by him.

'For I fear,' he says, 'lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is toward Christ.' And again:

'I was with you in fear and in much trembling.' A man caught up to the third heaven and made a partaker with God of things unutterable, and who endured as many deaths as the days he lived after believing—a man who would not even use the authority given him by Christ, lest any of the believers should be made to stumble.

If, then, he who went beyond God's commands and nowhere sought his own things but those of the ruled, was thus always afraid, ever looking to the greatness of the office, what shall we suffer—we who in many things seek our own, who not only do not surpass the commands of Christ but transgress them in greater measure? 'Who is weak,' he says, 'and I am not weak? who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?' Such ought the priest to be—or rather, not only such;

for these things are small and as nothing compared with what I am about to say.

And what is this? 'I could wish,' he says, 'that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.' If anyone can utter this saying, if anyone has a soul that reaches to this prayer, he would justly be accused for fleeing.

But if anyone falls as far short of that virtue as we do, then he deserves to be hated not when he flees, but when he accepts the office.

That one who comes into public life is led on to commit many sins, unless he is exceedingly noble. For if a choice of a military rank were set before us, and then those with authority to confer the honor dragged a coppersmith or a cobbler or some such craftsman into the midst and put the army into his hands, I would have praised that poor wretch for not fleeing and for doing everything so as not to cast himself into manifest evil.

For if it suffices simply to be called a shepherd and to handle the matter however it chances, and there is no danger, let whoever wishes accuse us of vainglory;

but if he who takes up this care must have much understanding, and before understanding much grace from God, and uprightness of character, and purity of life, and virtue greater than human, then do not deprive me of pardon, who am unwilling to perish in vain and to no purpose.

For if someone, taking command of a vast merchant ship full of rowers and laden with costly cargo, and then sitting at the helm, were to bid me cross the Aegean or the Tyrrhenian

sea, I would have leaped away at the first word;

and if anyone asked, 'Why?'—'That I might not sink the ship,' I would have said.

Then, where the loss is in money and the bodily danger reaches even to death, no one will blame those who use great forethought;

but where for those who suffer shipwreck it is reserved to fall, not into this sea, but into the abyss of fire, and a death awaits them which does not separate the soul from the body, but consigns it together with the body to eternal punishment—here, because we did not rashly cast ourselves into so great an evil, will you be angry and hate us? Do not, I beseech and entreat you.

I know my own soul, this weak and small soul;

I know the greatness of that ministry and the great difficulty of the matter.

That the priest is caught by vainglory and its terrors. For more waves than the winds that trouble the sea storm the soul of the consecrated man.

And first of all is that most dreadful reef of vainglory, more terrible than the one the mythmakers tell their marvels about.

For many indeed have had the strength to sail past it and escape unharmed;

but for me this is so difficult that, even now, when no necessity at all thrusts me toward that pit, I cannot keep myself clean of the peril.

But if one were to entrust this oversight to me, it would be all but binding my hands behind me and handing me over to the beasts that dwell on that reef, to tear me to pieces every day.

And what are these beasts? Wrath, despondency, envy, strife, slanders, accusations, lying, hypocrisy, plots, angers against those who have done no wrong, pleasures at the disgraces of fellow ministers, grief at their prosperity, love of praise, longing for honor—this last being the very thing that most of all hurls the human soul headlong—teachings aimed at pleasing, servile flatteries, ignoble fawnings, contempt of the poor, courtings of the rich, senseless honors and harmful favors that bring danger both to those who give and those who receive them, slavish fear befitting only the basest of slaves, abolition of frankness, much show of humility but the truth of it nowhere, while rebukes and reproofs are done away with—or rather, against the lowly they go beyond measure, but against those clothed with power no one dares even to part his lips.

For all these and more than these does that reef breed as its beasts; and those once caught by them are of necessity dragged down into such slavery that often, even to please women, they do many things which it is not even seemly to mention.

For the divine law has thrust them out from this ministry, but they force their way in;

and since they can do nothing by themselves, they do everything through others, and have clothed themselves with such power that they both admit and expel whatever priests they please;

and one may see things turned upside down—as the proverb says—the rulers led by the ruled, and would that they were men, but they are women, to whom it is not even permitted to teach.

Why do I say teach? The blessed Paul did not even allow them so much as to speak in church.

But I have heard someone say that they have even imparted to themselves such freedom of speech as to rebuke the presiders of the Churches and to upbraid them more bitterly than masters do their own servants.

And let no one think that I subject all to the aforesaid charges;

for there are, there are many who have been carried beyond these nets, and they are more than those who have been caught.

That the priesthood is not the cause of these evils, but our own slothfulness. But neither would I charge the priesthood with these evils—may I never go so mad—for neither do all who have understanding charge the iron with murders, nor wine with drunkenness, nor strength with insolence, nor courage with senseless rashness, but rather those who use amiss the gifts given by God;

all who have understanding declare them to be guilty, and punish them.

Since the priesthood, at any rate, might justly accuse us who do not handle it rightly;

for it is not itself the cause of the evils we have spoken of, but we have defiled it with so many pollutions—as far as it lies in us—by entrusting it to ordinary men.

And these men, having neither first examined their own souls nor considered the weight of the matter, eagerly accept what is offered; but when they come to act, blinded by inexperience, they fill with countless evils the people who have been entrusted to them.

This very thing, this, is what was very nearly going to happen in our own case too, had not God quickly drawn us out of those dangers, sparing both His own Church and our soul.

For whence, tell me, do you think arise so great tumults in the Churches? For I, for my part, think from no other source than from the choices and elections of those who preside being made carelessly and at random.

For the head ought to be strongest, that it might be able to govern the evil vapors sent up from the rest of the body below and to set them in due order; but when it happens to be of itself weak, unable to repel those disease-producing assaults, it both becomes weaker than it really is and besides destroys along with itself the rest of the body.

And that this might not happen now too, God kept us in the rank of the feet, which we obtained from the beginning.

For there are many things, O Basil, besides those already mentioned—many other things which the consecrated man must have, and which we do not have; and before all the others, this.

His soul must be wholly pure from desire of the matter; for if he chances to be passionately disposed toward this office, once he attains it he kindles a stronger flame, and being completely captured, in order to hold it securely he endures countless terrible things—even if he must flatter, even if he must submit to something ignoble and unworthy, even if he must spend much money.

For that some have even filled the churches with murders and laid cities waste while contending for this office, I pass over now, lest I should seem to some to be saying incredible things.

But one ought, I think, to have such reverence for the matter as both to flee the burden of the office at the outset, and, after having entered into it, not to wait for the judgments of others—if ever a sin sufficient to cause deposition should occur—but, anticipating them, to cast oneself out of the office;

for thus it was likely that one would also draw down mercy from God.

But to cling to it contrary to what befits the dignity is to deprive oneself of all pardon, and the more to kindle God's wrath, adding a second and more grievous offense.

But no one will ever endure to do this;

for it is a dreadful thing in truth, dreadful, to be greedy for this honor.

And I say this not in conflict with the blessed Paul, but indeed in full accord with his words.

For what does he say? 'If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a good work.' But I said that it is a dreadful thing to desire, not the work, but the authority and the power.

And this longing, I think, one must thrust out of the soul with all earnestness, and not allow it to take hold of one at the very outset, so that one may be free to do everything with liberty.

For he who does not desire to be displayed in this authority does not even fear deposition from it; and not fearing it, he would be able to do everything with the freedom befitting Christians.

For those who are afraid and tremble at being cast down from there endure a bitter slavery full of many evils, and are often compelled to offend both men and God.

But the soul ought not to be so disposed; rather, just as in wars we see the noble soldiers both fighting eagerly and falling bravely, so also those who come to this stewardship ought both to exercise the priesthood and to be released from the office in the manner befitting Christian men,

knowing that such a deposition brings no smaller a crown than the office itself.

For whenever anyone suffers something of this kind for the sake of enduring nothing unseemly or unworthy of that dignity, he both procures punishment for those who unjustly deposed him, and a greater reward for himself.

'For blessed are you,' He says, 'when they reproach and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake;

rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.' And these things hold true when one is cast out by those of his own rank, whether through envy, or to gratify others, or out of enmity, or for some other improper motive; but when one happens to suffer this even at the hands of his adversaries, I think there is no need of argument to show how great a gain they gather for him by their own wickedness.

This, then, one must scan on every side and search out exactly, lest some spark of that desire smolder unnoticed.

For it is a welcome thing if even those pure of the passion from the beginning are able, when they fall into the office, to escape it;

but if anyone, even before attaining the honor, nurtures this dreadful and savage beast within himself, there is no telling into what furnace he will cast himself after attaining it.

But we—and do not for a moment suppose that we, in our self-deprecation, would ever wish to lie to you—we possess this desire in great measure, and along with all the rest, this too no less frightened us and turned us to this flight.

For just as those who love bodies, so long as it is possible to be near the beloved, have a more grievous torment of the passion, but when they remove themselves as far as possible from the objects of their longing, they also drive away the madness;

so too with those who desire this office: when they are near it, the evil becomes unbearable, but when they give up hope, they quench the desire along with the expectation.

This, then, is one pretext, and no small one;

but even were it standing alone by itself, it would be enough to keep us away from this dignity.

But as it is, yet another has been added, no less than this.

And what is this? The priest must be sober and clear-sighted, and possess countless eyes on every side, as one who lives not for himself alone but for so great a multitude.

But that we are sluggish and slack, and scarcely sufficient even for our own salvation, you yourself would acknowledge—you who, most of all, out of love, are eager to hide our faults.

For do not speak to me of fasting, nor of keeping vigil, nor of sleeping on the ground, and the rest of the body's austerity;