Послание Патриарха Тарасия Константинопольского к Папе Римскому Адриану

Saint Tarasius, coming from a noble family, occupied a high civil position. Having been elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 784, he convinced Empress Irene and Constantine Porphyrodius to convene the Seventh Ecumenical Council in 787. The saint was an outstanding administrator and, at the same time, a great beggar-loving benefactor. He died at a ripe old age in 806. His message, included in canonical collections, was published immediately after the 7th Overses. Council and annexed to the Council's definitions. To His Holiness and Most Blessed Brother and Concelebrant, Mr. Hadrian, Pope of Ancient Rome, Tarasius, by the grace of God, Bishop of Constantinople, new Rome, rejoice in the Lord. In many ways and in many ways, from the Evangelists, from the Apostles and Fathers, we learn to have a non-money-loving disposition during initiation into the priesthood and not to take silver or gold during the ordination of any sacred man, as we will show in the attached extracts from the Divine sayings of Scripture and the teachings of the Fathers. For those who lay hands are ministers of the Spirit, and not sellers of the Spirit. Those who received the grace of the Spirit freely were obliged to teach it freely to those who borrowed from them, who accepted this freedom from the word of the Lord. If anyone is exposed as having bought with gold, he is declared deposed from the sacred rank. Because, although he received the priesthood by name, the word does not agree with the deed. No one can work for God and mammon, as we learn from the Gospel (Matthew 6:24). And since we hear God crying through the Prophet; Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem (Isa. 40:2), and again threatening and saying: But if the watchman saw the sword coming and did not blow the trumpet, and the people were not warned, then when the sword comes and takes away the life of one of them, he will be captured for his sin, but his blood will I require at the hand of the guard. (Ezek. 33:6), then we, fearing condemnation for silence, proclaim to all the leaders of our Churches, so that with boldness, in the words of the Divine Apostle, we can say: we are clean from the blood (Acts 20:26) of those who transgress what is commanded by the rules, and especially of those who ordained or ordained for a bribe. The Divine Apostle Peter, whose throne was inherited by your brotherly shrine, rejected those like Simon the Magus. Therefore, we do not hesitate to proclaim the truth, preserving and maintaining what was taught to us in the rules of the holy Apostles and our glorious Fathers, and if some have violated any of these, we turn away from them. Your fraternal, sacred bishopric, correcting the position of priestly authority legally and according to the will of God, has gained great glory. For the great and first Bishop Christ our God said through the Prophet: I will glorify those who glorify Me (1 Sam. 2:30). You know, man of spiritual desires, that the wicked heresy of Macedonius and his followers, the Doukhobors, is less intolerable. For these talk idle talk, supposedly the Holy Spirit is the creation and servant of God and the Father, and they, as it seems, make Him their slave. Since every master, if he wants, sells everything he has, whether it be a slave or anything else from his acquisitions; in the same way, the buyer, wanting to be the master of what he is buying, acquires it at the price of silver. Thus, those who do this lawless deed humiliate the Holy Spirit, sinning equally with those who blasphemously said that Christ cast out demons about Beelzebub, or, more correctly, they are likened to Judas the traitor, who sold Christ to the deicide Jews for the price of silver. Since the Holy Spirit is consubstantial with Christ our God, it is obvious to everyone that these too will undergo the same fate, as has been proven. And if it is not for sale (for it is clear that it is not at all), then there is no doubt that the grace of the Holy Spirit is not in them, that is, the shrine of the priesthood, and they have not received it and do not have it (1 Cor. 9). For let them remember Saint Peter, who says this to the one who encroached on such a purchase: You have no part or lot in this word (Acts 8:21). For if the dignity of the priesthood is sold, then, of course, a pious lifestyle and a stay in purity and virtue are unnecessary for them. Paul, the Divine Apostle, is also superfluous for them, teaching that But a bishop must be blameless, the husband of one wife, sober, chaste, orderly, honest, hospitable, teaching, holding to the true word, consistent with teaching, so that he may be able to instruct in sound doctrine and reprove those who resist. (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9). All this becomes unnecessary if the priesthood is bought and sold. The following sacred passages show that he is completely alien to the priesthood who ever gives or takes bribes at any time, whether before or after ordination. For to take is to take. They also prohibit all church proceedings for giving money. 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