Section 4. About persons performing divine services

Contents Conversation No. 1. About clergy Conversation No. 2. About the fact that church services can be performed only by legitimate clergy, and about honoring them Conversation No. 1. About priests and clergy I. To perform the Divine Liturgy and other church services, we, in the Orthodox Church, have special clergy who can be chosen from all classes, and the power to officiate is received in the sacrament of the priesthood, from Jesus Christ Himself through episcopal ordination. II. a) Wonderful thing! An ordinary person, like other people, suddenly through the ordination of a bishop becomes spiritually extraordinary: he is honored with the grace of God, is sanctified by this grace and receives the right to be a sanctifier of others through the Holy Spirit. sacraments This is incomprehensible to us, just as it is incomprehensible that an ordinary steel plate, in contact with a magnet, itself receives the force of a magnet and can attract iron. We must remember that the communication of the grace of the priesthood through episcopal ordination is a mystery, and mysteries are comprehended by faith. If there are secrets in the visible world, then can they not be in the spiritual, invisible world?... And that the special grace of the Holy Spirit is really communicated to the clergy. Spirit through the episcopal ordination, this is evident from the following words of the Apostle Paul: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock; - he once said to the shepherds of the Ephesian Church, “in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of the Lord and God, which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28); “Do not neglect,” he wrote to Bishop Timothy, “the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the priesthood” (1 Tim. 4:14); “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Tim. 1:6). In addition, it is known that in the Orthodox Church, since the times of the apostles, there has been a prayer for the sending of the grace of the Holy Spirit on the clergy, which is read by bishops with the laying on of hands when consecrating a chosen person to a certain degree of priesthood; its reading is accompanied by the laying of bishop's hands on the dedicatee. About the importance of this ordination of St. John Chrysostom argues this way: “man lays on his hand, but God does everything, and His hand touches the head of the one being ordained” (Dogma. Theology of the Most Rev. Macarius, vol. 11, p. 376, ed. 1857). There were even cases where the descent of the grace of the Holy Spirit on the initiates was accomplished in a visible way. So, when St. John Chrysostom was being ordained a presbyter, and when Patriarch Flavian laid his hand on him, a white and bright dove suddenly appeared and flew over John’s head. The patriarch and all those who were with him saw this (Cheti Menaion, November 13). And about the Monk Simeon, the New Theologian, they say that when his ordination took place, the grace of God descended into his heart in the form of some kind of spiritual light that overshadowed and penetrated him. And this state was renewed for him every time he celebrated the liturgy, throughout the 48 years of his priesthood: at this time his face became angelic and was imbued with such light that it was impossible to look at him freely, just as one cannot freely look at the sun (“Soul Reader,” 1877, Feb., pp. 180–181). However, cases of the visible descent of the grace of the Holy Spirit on clergy during their initiation are very rare. For the most part, this descent took place and is taking place, according to the wise order of God, in an invisible way. Probably, the Lord arranged it this way, on the one hand, because we, due to our fearfulness, are not able to endure the visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit without harm to ourselves, and on the other, and mainly, because to give us the opportunity to accustom ourselves to comprehend the mysteries of God by humble faith, which is incomparably more valuable and useful for us than vision, since it is said that blessed are those who have not seen and have believed (John 20:29). b) The clergy have always been divided and are divided into three categories: bishops, presbyters and deacons. This division has been going on since apostolic times. aa) The first bishops were the apostles. They were promoted to this rank by Jesus Christ Himself at the time He appeared to them after the resurrection. It was then that the apostles were in the same Zion upper room in which the Last Supper was celebrated by Jesus Christ. The doors were locked for fear of the Jews. Suddenly Jesus Christ appears to them and, standing in the middle, says: “Peace be with you!” Having said this, He showed them His hands, and His feet, and His ribs. They were delighted. And Jesus said to them a second time: “Peace be with you! just as the Father sent Me, so I send you.” Then He breathed on them and continued: “Receive the Holy Spirit! Whose sins you forgive, they will be forgiven; on whomever you leave it, it will remain on him” (John 20:19–23). With these words and breath, Jesus Christ not only ordained the apostles to the rank of bishop, but also gave them the power to appoint ministers of the mysteries and successors to Himself with the right to forgive sins (see Dogma. Theology. Philaret Chernigov, part 2, p. 332, ed. 1864). In addition, Jesus Christ, before His ascension, repeatedly appeared to the apostles for forty days and taught them the secrets of the Kingdom of God (Acts 1:3). And upon His Ascension, He sent down the Holy Spirit to them in the form of tongues of fire, and with this finally completed their ordination to the rank of bishop, making them dispensers of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When Christian societies, or Churches, began to multiply, the apostles, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, found it necessary to appoint new bishops for new Churches (Acts 13:2-3). To these bishops, through ordination, they imparted the gifts of the Holy Spirit and transferred their sacred rights and authority, making them the main successors of their great ministry. At the same time, they ordained for different Churches, in addition to bishops and elders, that is, priests (Acts 14:23), and deacons (Acts 6:6). The bishops chosen by the apostles, taking advantage of the rights granted to them, in turn, when a need arose, installed new bishops, presbyters and deacons for the Christian Churches, imparting to them through ordination the gifts of the Holy Spirit, sacred rights and spiritual power; and they passed on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as spiritual rights and authority to their successors, and so on and so forth... Thus, the grace of the priesthood passed from one bishop to another (and through them to presbyters and deacons) and has been continuously preserved in the Church of God to this day. And from here it is clear that our modern bishops, presbyters and deacons are exactly the same legitimate clergy as the apostles themselves with their closest successors - bishops, presbyters and deacons, and that just as they were appointed to the work of their ministry by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, so these too accept ordination to the priesthood from the same Lord (Eph. 4:11-13). The sacred rights of bishops, presbyters and deacons are not the same. They can be divided into three types: higher, middle and lower; the highest belong to bishops, the middle to presbyters, and the lowest to deacons. The bishop in his diocese 1 is the main spiritual superior both over all the clergy and over all Orthodox Christians who are in it. All clergy and clergy are obliged to obey his decrees and not do anything in the Church without his permission. He has the right to subject them to various punishments for misdeeds. He primarily possesses the spiritual power to bind and decide, that is, to forgive and not forgive sins (Episode of the Eastern Patr. on the Orthodox Faith, Part 10). He is the first clergyman in his diocese and the celebrant of all saints. sacraments He (and he alone) has the right to ordain presbyters and deacons, to consecrate the chrism and antimensions (Poel, eastern patr. on the Orthodox faith, part 10). He is also a teacher in his diocese: he is obliged to teach not only all believers, but also the clergy themselves. During the priestly service, he has the right at a certain time to sit on a high place and bless the people with both hands. bb) Presbyters, or priests, receive through episcopal ordination the right to perform sacraments and sacred rites (except for the sacrament of the priesthood and the consecration of the world and antimensions). (Message from the Eastern Patriarch about rights, faith, part 10). But in the performance of their duties they are subject to the constant supervision, authority and judgment of their bishop. (Apostle rights. 39 et seq.). They also have the right to be teachers, but not otherwise than under the supervision of a bishop. They can also, like a bishop, knit and tie their spiritual children and be their leaders in spiritual life; but this power is given to them by the bishop through ordination; this power, at the discretion of the bishop, can be taken away from them. Finally, some of them may be admitted, by the will of the bishop, to church administration, but their actions in this administration must in all respects be subordinate to the authority of the bishop: they must not do anything without his consent. When performing divine services, they have the right to sit at a certain time, but not in a high place, but near it, and bless the people, but not with both hands, like a bishop, but with one. cc) Deacons have the right only to be ministers during the sacraments, that is, assistants to the bishop and presbyters, but they themselves cannot perform the sacraments. They are dependent not only on bishops, but also on priests. The more capable of them can also be preachers of the word of God, but not otherwise than with the permission of the bishop. In general, deacons themselves do not have any spiritual power over believers. c) We have adopted different names for clergy. So some of the bishops are called patriarchs, and some are called exarchs, metropolitans, archbishops, bishops or simply bishops. Some of the priests are called: archimandrites, abbots, protopresbyters, archpriests and hieromonks. And of the deacons, some are called protodeacons and archdeacons, and some are called hierodeacons. These names are taken from the Greek language and express some advantages of some individuals over others. Let's consider the meaning of these names. Patriarch in Russian means: first of the fathers; in other words, the first of the bishops. Exarch in Russian is a commander, or in other words, the main or first bishop in an entire region. Metropolitan means bishop of the main or capital city. Archbishop is the leading bishop in Russian. Bishop means: the head of the priests, that is, priests, and a bishop in Russian is an overseer. Archimandrite is in Russian the head or chief of the flock, or in other words: the chief of the monastery of monastics. Hegumen is the Russian word for leader or head of a monastery. Protopresbyter means: first among the elders, and presbyter in Russian means elder, elder. Priests are called presbyters, that is, elders, on the one hand, because the degree of priest is supposed to be determined by those who are older than others not in years, but in spiritual understanding, and on the other hand, because a person awarded the degree of priesthood has the right of seniority in his social position and occupies first place in his parish. Archpriest in Russian is the first among priests, and priest means priest. Hieromonk in Russian is a priest with the monastic rank. Protodeacon in Russian means the first among the deacons, and deacon in Russian means a minister. Protodeacons in the monastic rank are called archdeacons. d) Then we need to say more about the clergy. Our clergy, in the Orthodox Church, constitute the lower clergy and receive their title in a legal manner through the episcopal authority. These include: subdeacons, i.e. assistants to the deacon, readers, singers and priests, who are otherwise called psalm-readers, sextons and sextons 2. These clergy exist only to help bishops and priests in conducting church services, but they themselves, just like deacons, do not have the right to perform the Divine Liturgy. And if any of them, as well as any of the worldly people, decided, for whatever reasons, to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in the same way as bishops and priests celebrate it, he would subject himself to grave condemnation and the mystery of the Holy Eucharist would not be sanctified by him. (See the teacher’s message at the end of the service book). (See “Tamb. Ep. Ved.” 1883, No. 8). III. So, fellow Christians, knowing the high service of the clergy in the Church of God, let us lovingly show them obedience and all respect, so that they joyfully perform their arduous service, tending towards the salvation of the souls of the verbal flock of Christ entrusted to them, and not with sorrow and reluctantly, which is very unprofitable for you. Conversation No. 2. About the fact that church services can be performed only by legitimate clergy, and about honoring them I. Now let us talk, brother Christians, about the fact that church services can be performed, according to the rules of the Church, only by legitimate clergy and that clergy, as builders of the mysteries of God, shepherds of the verbal flock of Christ and spiritual mentors, deserve deep veneration. a) First of all, let us focus on the fact that the Divine Liturgy, as well as other church services, must be performed only by legitimate clergy. This means that persons who are not vested with the priestly rank should in no case assign to themselves the rights of the priesthood. “No one accepts this honor of his own accord,” says the Apostle Paul, “but he who is called of God, like Aaron” (Heb. 5:4). In no case should one use any illegal means in order to become a clergyman, and even more so one should not allow oneself to perform such sacred rites as are only permissible for clergymen. To decide to perform sacred acts without having the right to do so means to decide on the greatest impiety and a daring abuse of power. This kind of insolence, no doubt, will not go unpunished. I will tell you here one remarkable case, from which one can clearly see that a sacred act performed by persons who do not have the priestly rank is a terrible and ungodly thing. Once in Syria, in the town of Gonat, children were herding cattle. Here they decided to play and in the general council decided to choose the celebration of the Divine Liturgy as the subject of their game. They appointed a priest and two deacons from among themselves. They approach one flat stone, place bread on this stone, as on an altar, and pour wine into an earthen vessel. Then the service began. The elected priest and deacons, having taken their places, tried to do everything that real priests and deacons do in the church: the boy, called the priest, read prayers that he knew by heart, and the boy deacons, standing on the sides, breathed something like a ripid. But what? When everything was done, according to church custom, before the bread was crushed, fire suddenly came down from heaven and in an instant destroyed everything on the stone, and turned the stone itself into ashes. The children were horrified, fell unconscious to the ground, so that they could neither scream nor get up from the ground, and barely survived. They spent the whole day in this insensitive and unconscious state. (Meadow spiritual. John Mosha). b) Then we must remember that the priestly office in the Christian Church was established by Jesus Christ Himself, and this office is extremely high, so that those invested with it, with the help of the grace of God received by them in the Sacrament of the priesthood, become a light for the world (Matt. 5:14), an example for the flock of Christ (1 Pet. 5:3), primates before God, teachers of piety and performers of the mysteries God's And remembering this, we must make it a constant rule for ourselves to show them at all times all possible attention, sincere love and complete respect. The example of the ancient Christians is very instructive in this regard. “They, having true love and respect for the shepherds of the Church, showed them the most perfect submission and obedience in everything; respectfully accepted their pastoral instructions; turned to them for advice in all their most important perplexities; they readily tried to serve them in everything; meeting them, they bowed their heads to receive their blessing and were completely devoted to them in everything, as to their spiritual fathers” (Zap. according to morality. Bogos. Solar. vol. III, p. 397. Ed. 1864) This is how we need to honor the clergy: we need to love them, we need to obey them and listen to their advice, we need to help them in their needs and, as far as possible, take care of providing them with the means for a comfortable existence; we must pray to God for them and refrain from judging them and slander, we must, where necessary, give them due respect and ask for their blessings, in a word, we must in all things and sincerely express our love and respect for them, as spiritual fathers. The very word of God requires this of us. So the Apostle Paul writes: “We ask you, brethren, to respect those who labor among you, and those who preside over you in the Lord, and those who admonish you, and to honor them especially with love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:12-13); “obey your leaders and be submissive” (Heb. 13:17); “If you are taught by the word, share every good thing with those who teach” (Gal.6:6); “Pray” for the shepherds, “that God will open” for them “a door for the word, to proclaim the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3). And the Savior, sending His disciples to preach, admonished them with the following speech (I will present this speech briefly, in my own words): go into the world, preach the Gospel and perform holy services; you will be hated, persecuted and persecuted, but do not be embarrassed: you will have a reward in heaven; whoever listens to you will listen to Me, and whoever does not listen to you will not listen to Me; whoever accepts you will accept Me, and whoever does not accept you will not accept Me, and it will be worse for him than it was for Sodom and Gomorrah (Matthew 10). These words apply to all clergy. And would it be fair if anyone decided to deny the need for respect for clergy? It is customary for us to show all kinds of signs of respect to all high-ranking officials, and especially to those who are closer to the Sovereign and vested with high power from him. To fail to show these persons due respect is to show oneself to be a rude ignoramus; this is not enough: it means making an insult, firstly, to the Sovereign whom they serve, and, secondly, to God Himself, from whom they are invested with power (Rom. 13:1,2). What are clergy? These are high-ranking persons from the Lord, these are servants of God, messengers of the King of Heaven, intercessors between God and people; The priest, when he celebrates the Liturgy, is then more honest than the tsar,” writes Moscow’s Saint Peter (Dush. Thur. 1876, November, p. 287). And therefore, is it possible not to respect them? Is it possible not to give them attention and is it possible to insult them? Doesn't this mean the same thing as insulting the Lord and not honoring Him?... And that insulting the clergy is also an insult to the Lord, proof of this can be various misfortunes sent by the Lord for insulting the clergy. Here are examples of this. One day, one of God’s servants, namely the prophet Elisha, passed through a Jewish village. At this time, children were playing games on the streets of this village. The prophet seemed funny to the children because he was bald, and they, accompanying him, shouted: “Go, bald man! Go, bald man! But what? Two she-bears immediately ran into the village, rushed at the children and tore them to pieces. Another example. Remember from the biography of St. Basil the Great, as Emperor Valens insulted him. By inflicting various insults and oppressions on him, he finally orders him to be sent into captivity. But as soon as this order was carried out, Valens fell ill in the family. The son, Galatius, became so ill that no medical benefits were able to restore his health. Another example. Remember from the biography of St. John Chrysostom, what a terrible misfortune God visited Constantinople for the insults that St. John from his ill-wishers. As soon as he was expelled from Constantinople, unrest immediately broke out among the people, and at night there was an earthquake with its destructive consequences. These examples are enough to clarify the truth. But perhaps they will say that the clergy we just talked about were righteous people, but among our clergy there are those who cannot be called righteous, and therefore why not change your attitude towards them? In response to this question, I can say the following: gold remains gold even in dirt; expensive diamonds, even if found in things made of low metal, still remain expensive; precious myrrh can be preserved in gold vessels, and in silver and, finally, in glass and clay: its preciousness does not depend on the dignity of the vessels, but on the dignity of the substances from which it is composed; clay vessels may contain exactly the same ointment as gold ones, and then these vessels are handled with special care, fearing that they might break and spill the ointment contained in them. We must think in a similar way about clergy. Whatever they may be, it is certain that the special grace of the Holy Spirit always dwells in them. “Remember,” our Russian saint once said, “the wicked Balaam: he was an apostate, a traitor and a bribe-taker. But the Spirit of God and his lips, sold to lies, predicted the coming coming of the Messiah. Remember the high priest Caiaphas: he was an unrighteous judge; but the Spirit of God and through him did not disdain to express the great truth” (See Explanation of the Divine Liturgy of Metropolitan Arseny, pp. 305–306). And here are some more examples: “one day a demoniac comes to Abba Mark and begins to shout: your presbyter is a sinner - don’t let him come to you anymore! But Abba was not at all tempted by these words and did not condemn the presbyter... Meanwhile, the presbyter also came. When this presbyter was about to begin the holy meal, Abba Mark saw that an angel of God descended from heaven, put his hand on the presbyter’s head, and the presbyter became immaculate, standing at the holy offering like a pillar of fire. When Abba began to be surprised at this vision, the voice of God said to him: “What is surprising here? If the earthly king does not allow his nobles to stand before him in dirty clothes, but demands from them magnificent clothes, much less will Divine power allow the servants of the Holy Mysteries to stand vile before the Heavenly glory" (Ancient Pat., ed. "Soulful Readers", 1874, pp. 178-179). Another hermit, on the contrary, was tempted when he was told that the presbyter who brought him the Holy Mysteries was a sinner, and stopped accepting him. But this hermit hears the voice of God: “People have taken My judgment!” At this, he seemed to go into a frenzy and sees a golden well with a golden bucket and a golden rope, and in the well - very good water; He also sees one patient with leprosy, who drew water from this well and poured it into a vessel. The hermit was thirsty, but did not want to drink water, because it was drawn by a leper. And then again he hears the voice of God: “Why don’t you drink this water? What guilt does the drawer have? He just scoops and pours.” After these words, the hermit came to his senses and, reflecting on the meaning of the vision, called the presbyter to him and asked him to continue to offer the Holy Mysteries for him (Ancient Pater., ed. “Dushep. Read.”, 1874, pp. 182–183. See “Tamb. Eparch. Ved.,” for 1883, No. 8). A diocese (Greek word) is a region or district in which Christians, in spiritual and ecclesiastical terms, are under the authority of a bishop. Sexton, or more correctly paramonar (Greek word), in Russian - doorkeeper. In ancient times, these members of the clergy, who were called sextons, stood at the doors to monitor so that any of the infidels did not enter the church, which is why they were given such a name.