About what knowledge someone who has some grace should impart to someone in need, and about the presbyter.

God, a lover of mankind, pitying our race, does not leave a single person without His grace. He gives grace not only to the righteous, but also to sinners, since He is generous and impartial, commands His sun to rise on the righteous and the unrighteous, and desires all people to be saved. He does not neglect the sinner, and He gives him moderate grace, so that, having received the gift, he will honor the giver and repent out of gratitude to Him, turning from the vicious path. If, having received grace, he remains with his wickedness, then He will finally take away from him the grace that he received and condemn him to fiery hell, since he did not know honor and honor; and on it is fulfilled what is written: “But man will not remain in honor; he will become like the animals that perish” (“a man who is ignorant of honor, is likened to foolish cattle, and becomes like them”) (Ps. 48:13). I know sinful people, and they laid hands on the sick and healed them. But this happens in two ways, and not only in relation to the giver, but also to the receiver. If the recipient does not believe, then he does not receive grace either from the righteous or from the sinner; the believer receives the grace of healing even from a sinner. By faith, everyone is given grace. And the Lord said to those who came to Him: “According to your faith, be it done to you” (Matthew 9:29). You believe in the name of the Lord, to Whom you come, and do not doubt in any way, and you will receive grace, because the finisher is God. Many elders, being sinners, bring gifts, and God does not turn away from them, but sanctifies the gifts that are presented with the Holy Spirit - and the bread becomes the Body of the Lord, and the cup becomes the precious Blood of the Lord. Some believe that they are doing something reasonable when they do not receive communion from some elders, because they know something bad about the elder. And they don’t know that they sin more out of a desire to do something good. Who are you, judge of your boss? Haven’t you heard the words of the Apostle: “Do not speak evil of the ruler of your people” (“Do not speak evil to the ruler of your people”) (Acts 23:5)? And again: “Who are you, judging another man’s slave? Before his Lord he stands, or he falls. And he will be raised up, for God is able to raise him up" ("Are you a judge of a stranger's servant? Stands for his own Lord, or falls. It will become: for God is able to raise him up" (Rom. 14:4)? You do not have the power to judge and rebuke him, since you study and are guided by him, as the Apostle Paul said: “Judge not anything before the time, until the Lord comes, who will illuminate the hidden things in darkness and reveal the intentions of the heart, and then everyone will have praise from God” (“judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will bring the secrets of darkness into light, and will announce the counsels heart, and then everyone’s praise will come from God” (1 Cor. 4:5). He has the power to judge you, and his judge is the Lord. And again the Lord (says): “Judge not, lest ye be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Fulfill the due honor of the rule, do not refuse to give the firstfruits of your birthrights needed for the church. Don't be curious about what they were spent on; and if you intend to judge him in this too, then look first into your vessel and test yourself, whether there is anything bad in your conscience, whether your thought condemns you. And I don’t say: “investigate the affairs of entire years”; but only for one day; Investigate carefully how you spent your day: have you judged anyone, have your eyes been tempted by anything, have you despised the poor, have you laughed at your neighbor, have you hit someone? Look: have you not damaged your soul by this? If you are pure in all this, then your purity remains with you, and it is not good to blame an elder or another. “But he,” you say, committed fornication, but I did not.” And you robbed your neighbor and stole from the poor. Let everyone know the bad in their deeds; Do not neglect what is yours when you examine what is your neighbor’s. If anyone disobeys what has been said and turns his tongue to accuse the elder or someone else, he should expect to suffer the same retribution. If you do what you demand from your neighbor, the Lord will say to you: “You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (“you hypocrite, first remove the plank from your side, and then you will see to take the speck out of your brother’s side”) (Matthew 7:5). Take care of your sins, and do not judge (those) to whom you are not assigned for judgment. In addition, the elder is obliged to treat the people this way. First of all, pray with all your heart for the people, stand to death for those suffering injustice, and must lay down your soul for the flock, help in need, console in sorrow, and above all do not hold grudges. A vindictive elder sins daily; the soul of a vindictive presbyter never brings pure prayer to God, since malice is in his heart. If you do not reconcile with your neighbor, and do not stop your malice, then do not approach the throne; remember what the Lord commanded you: “If you bring your gift to the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23–24). Do not violate the commands of the Lord, so as not to be condemned, do not think about deceit, do not elevate one, do not humiliate another; Do not honor the rich man with the first place at the table, and do not despise the poor man who cannot bring you gifts; but we will maintain equality towards everyone. Do not rush to accuse, do not make empty speeches, never judge by hearsay: many accuse out of envy and enmity. If you find a sinner with great care, do not expose him now in front of everyone, so as not to give him a special opportunity to not be ashamed of anyone. Reproach in front of everyone is doubly bad. Those who are exposed, unable to bear the shame, unable to bear the reproach, turn to someone else, something even worse; and when they are accused at the wrong time, they resort to death by hanging. This is Satan: he inspires a person to do evil, he inspires him to do something else, and, after doing it, he mocks. He prepares denunciations, arranges accusers to accuse of misfortune, becomes a friend-accuser; (a person) during reproof is driven to even greater madness; and when he is brought to another greater disgrace, Satan irritates him with a river or a noose. As a result of such experiences, he who is entrusted with the verbal flock of Christ must be meek, and examine those who sin with great caution; and when he finds someone who has sinned, do not immediately cast him out of the church, lest Satan, having grabbed hold of him, make the person his own. When a person is excommunicated by a bishop, Satan takes him into his arms and does not leave him until he surrenders to him. A priest should not often excommunicate or curse. In view of this, you, the shepherd, should not indiscriminately reject the sheep, nor separate them from the flock; but when you find him sinning, call him in private, and reproach him for one thing, and encourage him to give up evil on another - once, twice, and thrice; and if he listens to your admonitions, you have gained your brother, as the Scripture says: “Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20). First of all, condescend to him: he who releases will be released. And again the Lord, who loves mankind, says: “If your brother sins against you seventy times seven times, forgive him” (Matthew 18:22). And do not revile anything hidden, and do not be angry that speaks to you; if after three suggestions he corrects himself through repentance, then let him be accepted. The priest must know all this, and how he needs to behave with the people so as not to be condemned forever. Finally, I will offer a word about deacons: how they should behave. The deacon must do everything with the permission of the presbyter, both in relation to the canon and in relation to church duties; not to be autocratic in anything in relation to the people, but to arrange everything according to the command of the presbyter, not to have the power to excommunicate anyone, or to do anything else. When there is no presbyter, the deacon has authority in everything, like the presbyter, besides the divine mysteries. If the presbyter intends to leave, he must call another presbyter from another village to offer prayers for the people; if there is a need and there is no presbyter, then the presbyter must bless the bread and order the deacon to give it to the people. If there is a need, and an unbaptized child is dying, you can baptize the deacon; and if the child died, then this is counted towards his baptism; If a child dies unbaptized due to the carelessness of the presbyter, then woe to that presbyter! If, due to the carelessness of his parents, he dies unbaptized, then woe to the parents of the child! Therefore, parents should not leave their child unbaptized for many years: an unsealed sheep is part of a wolf. The seal of Christ preserves the one who has the seal. To Christ himself belongs glory and honor and power, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. Creations attributed to St. John Chrysostom and in the Patrology of Min, classified as Spuria. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith”