The Need For Purity
[VI.I
THE NEED FOR PURITY
SO MUCH, then, for this world. But how shall we fare in the world to come when we are made to account for every single one committed to our charge? Then the penalty will not be just disgrace; eternal punishment awaits us. I cannot help quoting here the passage I have already mentioned: "Obey them that have the rule over you and submit to them; for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account."l The fear of this threat continually disturbs my spirit. If it is better for a man who offends just one other person, and him the least of all, that a millstone should be hanged about his neck and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea;2 and if all who wound the conscience of the brethren, sin against Christ himself :3 what will be the fate and what the punishment of those who ruin, not one or two or three, but great multitudes? They cannot even plead inexperience, or take refuge in a plea of ignorance or make force and constraint their excuse. It would be more suitable for someone under authority to use this excuse for his own sins, if possible, than for their rulers to use it in the case of other people's sins. And why? Because the man whose responsibility it is to rectify the ignorance of the rest and to give warning when conflict with the devil is approaching will not be able to make ignorance his excuse or say, "I did not hear the clarion", or "I did not know the conflict was coming". For as Ezekiel says, he is appointed for this very purpose, to sound the alarm for the rest and give warning
1 Heb. 13.17.
3 1 Cor. 8.12.
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THE NEED FOR PURITY
of trouble ahead. 4 And so his punishment is inexorable, even if the casualties are no more than one. "For if the watchman see the sword come," says Ezekiel, "and blow not the trumpet nor warn the people, and the sword come and take any person; he indeed is taken away for his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand." 5
Stop pushing me, then, towards such inevitable punishment. For we are not discussing military command or kingship, but something that requires angelic virtue. For the priest's soul must be purer than the rays of the sun, in order that the Holy Spirit may never leave him desolate, and that he may be able to say, "I live; yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me".6
Even hermits living in the desert, far away from city and market-place and the distractions they cause, although they continually enjoy a haven and a calm sea, are unwilling to rely on the security of that way of life, but add innumerable other safeguards, and hedge themselves in all round. They take care to be very precise in all they say and do, on purpose to be able to approach God with frankness and with spotless purity, as far as a man can do so. How much ability, then, and how much strength do you suppose the priest needs to enable him to keep his soul from every contamination and preserve its spiritual beauty unimpaired? He needs far greater purity than they do. And since he has the greater need, he is a prey to more temptations, which can defile him unless he makes his soul inaccessible to them by the practice of unremitting self-denial and strict self-discipline. There is enough to upset his spirit~unless it is desiccated by the very exacting demands of self-control-in pretty faces, affected movements, a mincing walk, a silvery voice, eyes dark with shadow, painted cheeks, complicated hair styles,
6 Gal. 2.20.
5 Cf. Ezek. 33.6.
THE NEED FOR PURITY
[VI.2 tinted hair, expensive clothes, gold ornaments in plenty, fine jewellery, sweet perfumes, and all the other tricks of womankind.
It is not surprising that a man should be distracted by things like these. What is thoroughly strange and bewildering is that the devil should be able to hit and shoot down the souls of men by the very opposites of these, too! Before now some men who have escaped these traps, have been caught in others quite different. Even a neglected appearance, unkempt hair, slovenly clothing, absence of make-up, simple behaviour, artless language, an unstudied gait, a natural voice, a life of poverty, and a despised, unprotected, and lonely existence, have led the beholder first to compassion and then to utter downfall. Many who have escaped the first kind of snare, consisting of gold ornaments, perfume, and clothing, and the other things I mentioned, have been easily trapped by these very different things, and have gone to perdition.
Both by penury and wealth, both by the use of make-up and a neglected look, both by affected and by natural manners, in short, by all the means I have enumerated, turmoil is aroused in the mind of the beholder and the engines of war beset him all round. So where will he get a respite, with so many snares encircling him? What hiding-place can he find, I do not say just to avoid being forcibly captured (for that is not so very difficult), but to keep his own mind untroubled by defiling thoughts?
I pass over honours, which give rise to a host of evils.
Those bestowed by women damage the sinews of seIfrestraint and often destroy them altogether, when a man does not know how to keep continual watch against such insidious temptations. As for the honours bestowed by men, unless anyone receives them with great dignity, he is trapped
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THE NEED FOR PURITY
by two contrary feelings, by the servile spirit of toadyism and by the insanity of boastfulness. He is forced to be subservient to those who patronize him and he behaves conceitedly towards humbler brethren because of honours bestowed by his patrons, and is thrust into the pit of arrogance.
I have simply mentioned these matters; but no one could properly learn how much harm they do, without actual experience. For not only these temptations but others too, far more numerous and far more perilous than these, inevitably attack men who lead their Jives in the thick of things. Anyone who loves solitude has immunity from all this; or if ever a depraved imagination suggests some such idea to hi.m, the mental picture is faint and easily suppressed, because there is no extra fuel for the flame supplied by sight from the external world. And then the monk fears for himself alone; or if he is compelled to take responsibility for others, they are very few; or if they are many, still they are fewer than those in the churches and cause their superintendent far lighter worries about them, not only because their numbers are small, but also because they are all free from worldly business and have no need to concern themselves about children or anything else of the kind. This makes them very obedient to their rulers and leads them to share a common dwelling, so that someone can carefully watch and correct their failings; and this fact-the constant supervision of a master--<:ontributes considerably to their virtue. But most of those who are subject to the priest are shackled with worldly cares, and this makes them more sluggish in the discharge of spiritual duties. Therefore the master must sow his seed practically every day, so that through sheer repetition the word of teaching may be held fast by those who hear. For excessive wealth, great power,
THE NEED FOR PURITY
[VI.4 indolence arising from luxury, and many other things choke the seeds that are sown. Often the thick growth of thorns does not allow what is sown to fall even as far as the surface of the soil. And again, often the very opposite of these-too much distress, the pinch of poverty, continual insults, and other troubles of that sort-abate men's concern for the things of God. And not even a fraction of their sins can be known to the priests. How could it be otherwise, when they do not know the majority even by sight?
Such are the difficulties of their duties towards the people.
But if you go into their duty to God, you will find these difficulties as nothing, since so much greater and more painstaking care is required for this. What sort of man ought someone to be, who is an ambassador for a whole city
-no, not just a city: the whole world-and begs God to be merciful to the sins of all men, not only the living, but the departed too? I do not think that even the confidence of a Moses or Elijah is adequate for this great intercession. He approaches God as if he were responsible for the whole world, and himself the father of all men, praying that wars everywhere may end and tumults cease, supplicating for peace and prosperity, and a speedy release from all ills, private or public, that threaten any man. He must so far surpass all those for whom he intercedes in all qualities as one in authority ought properly to surpass those under his charge. But when he invokes the Holy Spirit and offers that awful sacrifice and keeps on touching the common Master of us all, tell me, where shall we rank him? What purity and what piety shall we demand of him? Consider how spotless should the hands be that administer these things, how holy the tongue that utters these words. Ought anyone to have a purer and holier soul than one who is to welcome this great
Spirit? At that moment angels attend the priest, and the 14 0
THE NEED FOR PURITY
whole dais and the sanctuary are thronged with heavenly powers in honour of Him who lies there.
The actual rites which are performed at that moment are enough to demonstrate this. But I have also heard someone relate the following story. An old, venerable man, who was accustomed to see visions, told him that he had been privileged actually to see it. At that very moment he had suddenly seen, to the extent of his ability, a host of angels clad in bright robes, encircling the altar and bowing their heads, as you would see soldiers bow, when standing in the presence of their king. Personally, I believe the story. And someone else told me, not from hearsay but as one who had been permitted to see and hear it, that when men are about to pass away, if they happen to have received the Mysteries with a pure conscience just before they breathe their last, a bodyguard of angels escorts them away for the sake of what they have received.
I .
Are you not yet frightened at bringing a spirit like mine to such solemn consecration and promoting to the priestly dignity the man wearing dirty clothes whom Christ himself expelled from the general company of guests?' The soul of the priest ought to blaze like a light illuminating the world; but my soul has such darkness enveloping it, through my evil conscience, that it is always hiding itself and cannot frankly gaze upon its Master. Priests are the salt of the earth. But who could readily tolerate my folly and my complete inexperience, except you with your usual excessive regard for me? A priest must not only be blameless, as befits one chosen for so high a ministry, but also very discreet and widely experienced. He ought to be as much aware of mundane matters as any who live in the midst of them, and yet 7 Matt. !l!l.IJ • . 1
THE NEED FOR PURITY
[vI.4. be more detached from them than the monks who have taken to the mountains.
Since he must mix with men who have married and are bringing up children, keep servants, own great possessions, take part in public life, and hold high office, he must be many-sided. I say many-sided-not a charlatan, a flatterer, or a hypocrite; but absolutely open and frank of speech, able to condescend to good purpose, when the situation requires, and to be alike kindly or severe. It is impossible to treat all his people in one way, any more than it would be right for the doctors to deal with all their patients alike or a helmsman to know only one way of battling with the winds. This ship of ours is beset with continual storms; and these storms not only attack from outside, but are engendered within.
Great condescension and great strictness are both needed.
And all these different methods look to one object: the glory of God and the edification of the Church.