19. Взаимоотношения – начальствующие и подчиненные

“Peace be with you. Peace of the brethren" (7:268) The main thing in the correct relationship between superiors and subordinates is: peace with all its Christian properties. Word of Saint Philaret to the leaders: The main reason for election to church leadership ministry “must be spiritual. The one chosen must be able to serve the improvement of the Church and the salvation of souls with prudence, diligence, love and self-sacrifice” (14:636). Election itself is not a simple matter: the difficulty lies, firstly, in determining who has or has been given the right to elect; secondly, who may be eligible for election. “In my opinion,” argues the holy Hierarch, “it is difficult to resolve this issue. Sometimes the election of the brethren may not be correct. If you entrust the election to the elder brethren, how to determine its composition? The matter may fall into a few hands and into private arbitrariness. When elected by the whole brethren, votes that have little weight will be counted, “along with those worthy of respect” (10:260). The saint speaks at some length about the “chosen one.” “It is dangerous,” he writes, “to seek public service when we know our shortcomings that prevent us from completing it successfully” (19–1:107). Such shortcomings include: lust for power, unreasonableness, senselessness, ignorance of the matter. - “If a person has a strong tendency to seek his own si, then, not without worries, he would not seek this in his superiors” (9:187). “A person who is not reasonable and does not correct himself when leading, how will he be a decent and efficient boss? Those who receive leadership because of old age, without ability, are always of little use, and in demanding times, disaster will happen to them” (23:61). “It’s not good to be a foolish economist.” Even worse - “to a senseless builder. The foolish housekeeper will be corrected by the elder, who will correct the foolish builder. If the housekeeper needs to be fired, I agree. But it is a sin to make him a builder” (7:53). Kindness alone is not enough: “A good and faithful man, but hardly suitable for this position” (7:11). If they trust us with something in the hope that we will justify it, the power of attorney should be accepted and justified. “Follow,” the saint teaches, “the Providence that leads into narrowness: it will also lead you into wideness. Accept the difficult trust with good grace” (2:4). “I advise you to follow the instructions of God’s Providence and not choose your own path unless absolutely necessary” (2:26)... It is proper for a Christian to take office quietly and humbly (8:254). Having been appointed, by the grace of God, “an elder in society,” he must “guide others to the best, and not be enslaved by unfounded opinions” (14:8). If the place is not organized, where they are called to work, one must see the good in this - “building not on someone else’s foundation” (Rom. 15:20), the holy Apostle Paul “rejoiced greatly” (2:4)... “It is not bad to know that the governor must do what and as much as is entrusted from the local leader” (7:38). It is not appropriate to go beyond the limits of responsibilities, much less unnecessarily. “This way, the strength in action is preserved, and things go better than when they suddenly want to chase two birds with one stone” (23:55)... It is not useful for the abbess of the monastery to “frequently and for a long time be absent from the hostel. Sometimes travel can be replaced by written communication” (8:84). Violation of the established leads to the fact that they will say about her: “When she was a novice and a nun, she imagined monasticism more in herself than when she became an abbess. Now the old thought of boyarism is breaking through monasticism” (8:465). The boss should not lose his dignity - stand above insults, not lose balance, act calmly, peacefully and even with love - in any case: with good intentions, with the desire to benefit the subordinate, regardless of the fact that the latter may simply be an ignorant (the ignorant must be curbed): “The boss must be above the insults of his subordinates and stand up for truth, order, for the peace of others, and not for himself” (23:63). “Only calm and gentle reproofs admonish people; cruel ones irritate rather than benefit” (23:56)... “It is not necessary to work a lot out of passion, unnecessarily, but it is necessary to care about order with reasoning and peace” (23:57). It is not superfluous for the boss to pay attention to whether he is right, “in order to more easily act on the wrong with love and humility” (23:63). The ignorant - “foolish people” - must be curbed, but again “only with truth and moderation, and not with anger, for the anger of a man does not bring about the righteousness of God” (23:58–59)... “The misfortune of our time is that the number of errors and carelessness, accumulated over more than one century, almost exceeds the power and means of correction. Therefore, it is necessary to rebel not suddenly against all shortcomings, but especially against the more harmful ones, and to propose means of correction not suddenly that are universally needed, but first primarily those that are necessary and possible” (23:56). In order not to lose the boss’s dignity, his actions must be visible to his subordinates “as coming from himself, and not controlled by the influence of intermediaries. It may happen that the secretary is paid to obscure an important circumstance in the case; and the consistory will not follow through - but when the bishop, not listening to a report, but considering the real matter, reveals the truth and gives his decision, people will see that there is nothing to pay the secretary for, and the consistory will learn to keep its ear more alert” (23:119). The same judgments lead to the conclusion that it is unpleasant for the boss, and even for subordinates, not to trust, but trust should not be rushed. “Do not grieve too much,” continues the wise Saint, “but take advantage of the instructions to protect deeds from untruth and people from temptation. It is unpleasant not to trust, but it is also dangerous to trust without caution” (2:84)... Another case of excessive trust caused confusion in the holy Hierarch: “Is it true that in Optina Hermitage three seminarian brothers are engaged in compiling spiritual books? Did they allow themselves, and the elders, to fulfill the proverb: eggs teach a chicken? – The monastery did not publish any books written by seminarian brothers. They printed and are printing translations of Elder Paisius; They published the book of Nilus of Sora and some of the lives of the elders, ... and from the works of their brethren only the work of the late John against the schismatics” (4: 373–374). It is not good for business for a boss to have relatives in his department - his subordination. “Many experiences show that for a bishop to take a brother to himself means to take on temptation for himself. Even secular bosses know this and send close relatives to serve other bosses. Nominate a brother for a reward - the Synod will ask: according to merit or according to brotherhood?” (2:13). “One must think that assignments to service based on patronage harm the dignity and upset the service, and especially the learned one” (4:452). Leniency is necessary, but within appropriate limits. We must “beware that the leniency we show to others does not turn into defeat for us” (4:551). But it will turn if it is not united with justice: “It is necessary to have condescension towards those who stumble and fall, but condescension towards those who are negligent and stubborn in their fall has an unfavorable effect in society, cooling jealousy and spreading negligence. We must protect everyone, but even more so, we must protect the spirit of every society” (23:62). “We must get to the truth in order to give justice to what is right. Injustice often turns out to be a cover for the wrong for the right, and mutual trust suffers, without which the right is difficult” (23:58). “Think also about whether you need to have a gift in order to forgive, otherwise you will indulge. Eli thought that he acted meekly with his children, but it was not for the mercy of anyone, but for the destruction of everyone. Ammon covered his brother with the spirit of love and the spirit of grace, saying to him: take heed to yourself; therefore the consequence was in this repentance, in others edification. The gift of forgiveness is higher than correction by punishment. He who takes up the work of his own measure succeeds” (23:62). “Do not leave those brought to correction without correction, do not use mercy alone, where justice is needed, although not strict, but lenient. You will present me with examples of Saints who forgave grave sins without rebuke, but there, I think, there were circumstances that cannot be applied to everyone, namely: insight into the action of this mercy and the power of prayer, with which the forgiver lifts up the sinner and makes the help of penance unnecessary” (7:388). “By forgiving the offender, you fulfilled what is in accordance with the commandment, your title and dignity. Nothing better could have been done” (2:94). It is good to show condescension and mercy openly, and even better secretly, but again - with prudence: “Showing mercy and secretly healing is undoubtedly good when healing is accepted in this way. But when a transgression is obvious and there is clear disobedience to correction, and a person strives further to follow the obstinate path, I don’t know whether it is enough to say: go in peace. Some caution is needed so that self-will and bad example do not become victorious and triumphant” (7:391; 23:61-62). “For rudeness against an elder, you can either be deprived of the table or made to bow down” (7:5). But even when punishing, one should remember: “You must be careful in severity, lest the broken reed be broken” (23:63). The Saint also indicates how a calm and modest person should be treated - he must be promoted “for further use” (9:191). At the beginning of this chapter, it was noted that it is dangerous to seek public service if there are no appropriate talents for this, but we must also be careful “so as not to leave the service to which we have been called and into which we have allowed ourselves to be led... We must... test ourselves before we leave our place. If we only see that our abilities and strengths do not allow us to fulfill what our service requires, we can decide to leave it, so as not to be guilty of damage to the common good, and at this point present to our superiors what ability or strength of ours, according to our note, does not correspond to the need, and wait with obedience whether it will still decide to tolerate our shortcomings, or recognizes it as necessary to take our place differently” (19-1:107; 23:67). You cannot rush and allow arbitrariness. “If you do not change your place of your own accord, so much the better, for it is all the more certain according to God’s dispensation. And where God leads is a good path!” (23:67). “The guard does not replace himself and does not move the guard to another place. This is lawful according to military law; the same is even more lawful according to spiritual law” (19-2:213). Placed on guard - and stand still. “But circumstances may arise in which it is desirable to give way to someone stronger and more skillful. Let the Lord do His will” (8:402). The Word of God also allows one to withdraw when “when they are persecuting, and when they are not yet persecuting, one must stand and, despite the controversy, testify to the truth” (23:68). – Proclaim the truth courageously and do not rush to resign. “It seems to me,” writes the Holy Hierarch to His Eminence Gabriel, “to ask for your resignation. You never know how many of us are unhealthy” (2:25). Conclusion to the word about bosses: “The true duty of the boss and his assistant is not to walk blindfolded among his subordinates, but to, having recognized the stumbles of his brother, not to think that we are better than him, and to act towards him as without anger as before this information. If there is anything to mourn, it is not that we learned and said out of duty, but perhaps that we did not have enough vigilance and insight to earlier notice the one who was wavering or going astray and to hold him back before he strayed far and fell deeply” (8:183; 23:63). It is reasonable not to “carry the entire monastery on the abbot’s shoulders alone and, in the event of an accident with the abbot, leave things in such a situation that there is no one to demand an account from” (9:219). – And Saint Philaret talks about his subordinates. Instructions of the Moscow Saint to his subordinates: The saint commands to respect those in authority and not to be self-willed. - “Until the rank of Patriarch is respected and established firmly, there will be no peace of the Church - this is the truth... which the true sons of the Church must take to action” (4:575-576). “I advise you not to conduct any significant affairs, especially secret ones, without asking the direction of the Right Reverend... My vicars are not ashamed, having received a paper of any significance, not to do anything on it themselves, but to present it to me, either with an opinion on what they are planning to do, or simply for consideration - and I give direction to the matter, and there is no room for either misunderstanding or disagreement” (36:16). The consistory must be offered “only what is not contrary to the direction that the local bishop gives to affairs - if you are not sure about this, it is better to present it to him. In this case, you can present to him a thought that does not agree with his thoughts, when you are convinced of it, and it can be accepted: but is it possible and decent to do this through consistory” (36:15). It is bad when subordinates overestimate themselves and begin to think that they deserve a better position in society. “The fathers teach us not to stop our thoughts on those people who occupy a better position than us, although apparently they have no more or no less rights to this, but it is better to look at those who have no less, or more than us, rights to a pleasant position, but are in a more unpleasant position than we. The former leads to grumbling or envy, and the latter encourages us to be pleased with our situation” (14:225-226). It is no better if subordinates are not peaceful towards their superiors, are impatient and cunning by nature: “I, too, am afraid of a person who is seen to be unpeaceful towards his boss,” writes the Saint. “Although the reason for this may sometimes be in the boss, the sons of peace even with an unpeaceful boss know how to maintain their peace in patience” (7:10; 23:61)... “People do not know that the impatient blames the place for his justification” (9:201)... “If one case of disorder is hidden from the authorities, how can they be calm and not be afraid, is it not hidden by ten?” (23:69). It is useful to listen to the advice of the wise, who “says something like the following: out of respect and love for the superiors, do not move too far from them, but do not get too close to them, so that you do not become a burden to them” (14:276). And again: “According to the ancient philosopher, one should not be alarmed by a blow from a donkey” (2:93). So: “An excess of trust is better than an excess of suspicion. For excess trust is my mistake, and excess suspicion is an offense to my neighbor” (23:56). “We must believe in the good as much as possible and the bad as little as possible. However, experiments show that a look of caution is also needed” (23:57). – To both superiors and subordinates: look “at the will and dispensation of God, and where they are placed by the Providence of God, there, if possible, work and act” (23:68). You might be interested in: