The Character And Temptations Of A Bishop
[m.JO
THE CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS
OF A BISHOP
THERE ARE many other qualities, Basil, in addition to those I have mentioned, which a priest ought to have, and which I lack. And the first of all is that he must purify his soul entirely of ambition for the office. For if he is strongly attracted to this office, when he gets it he will add fuel to the fire and, being mastered by ambition, he will tolerate all kinds of evil to secure his hold upon it, even resorting to flattery, or submitting to mean and unworthy treatment, or spending lavishly. I pass over for the moment, for fear of seeming to say things beyond credit, the fact that some men, in contending for this office, have filled the churches with murder and split cities into factions.
The right course, I think, is to have so reverent an estimation of the office as to avoid its responsibility from the start; and, after being appointed to it, not to wait for the judgement of others, if you should happen to have committed a sin that calls for deposition, but to anticipate this and depose yourself from office. In this way a man will probably induce
God's mercy. But if he clings to a position for which he is not fit, he deprives himself of all pardon and provokes God's anger the more by adding a second and more serious offence.
But no one will ever be content to do so; for it is indeed a terrible temptation to covet this honour. And in saying this,
I do not contradict St Paul, but entirely agree with what he says. What are his words? "If a man seeketh the office of
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CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS OF A BISHOP
a bishop, he desireth a good work." I I meant it was terrible to desire, not the work, but the absolute authority and power.
I think a man must rid his mind of this ambition with all possible care, and not for a moment let it be governed by it, in order that he may always act with freedom. For if he does not want to achieve fame in this position of authority, he will not dread its loss either. And if he does not fear this, he can always act with the freedom which befits Christian men. But those who fear and dread deposition from this office endure a bitter slavery, full of all kinds of evil, and cannot help often offending man and God.
I But the soul ought not to be in this condition. As in war we see soldiers of fine spirit fighting eagerly and falling bravely, so those who have come to this administration should be ready either to be consecrated to the office or to be relieved of it, as befits Christian men, knowing that such deposition earns a crown no less than the office itself.
For when anyone has this done to him because he will not submit to anything which is unbecoming or unworthy of his position, he procures a greater punishment for those who wrongfully depose him, and a greater reward for himself.
"Blessed are ye," says our Lord, "when men shall reproach you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven.,,2 This is surely true even when anyone is expelled by men of his own order, either through envy or to please others or through enmity or any other wrong motive. But when he gets this treatment from his enemies, I do not think any argument is needed to prove how great a benefit they confer on him by their wickedness.
So we must be thoroughly on our guard against ambition and examine ourselves carefully to prevent a spark of it from I I Tim. 3. I.
2 Matt. S.II-U.
CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS OF A BISHOP
[m.1 I smouldering anywhere unseen. It is much to be desired that those who at first were free from this infection should be able to keep clear of it when they have entered office. But if anyone nurtures within himself this terrible, savage beast before attaining office, there is no telling what a furnace he will fling himself into, after he has attained it. For my own part (and do not think that I would ever lie to you out of self-depreciation), I possess this ambition in a high degree.
And this fact, quite as much as all the other reasons, alanned me and impelled me to run away as I did. For just as lovers of a human person enqure a terrible torment of passion as long as they can be neaf the objects of their love, but throw off their frenzy when they take themselves as far away as possible from those whom they desire; so also those who covet this office find the evil intolerable while they are near it, but quench the desire along with the expectation, as soon as they give up hope.
This, then, was one strong motive, and even if it had been all by itself, it would have been enough to debar me from this dignity. In fact, however, there is another motive quite as strong. What is it? A priest must be sober and clearsighted and possess a thousand eyes looking in every direction, for he lives, not for himself alone, but for a great multitude. But I am sluggish and remiss and scarcely sufficient for my own salvation, as even you should admit, though you are most of all eager to hide my faults for love's sake.
Do not speak to me now of fasting and vigils and sleeping on the ground and other bodily d~cipline. You know how far short I come even in these. But if these exercises had been most carefully regulated by me, they would have been unable to equip me at all for this responsibility, while my sluggishness remained. They would be a great help to some8~
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CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS OF A BISHOP
one shut up in a cell and concerned only about his own soul.
But when a man is distracted by such a huge multitude and inherits all the private cares of those who are under his rule, what appreciable help can these practices contribute towards their improvement, unless he has a healthy, robust soul?
Do not be surprised if, in addition to such endurance, I apply another touchstone of spiritual strength. We can see that contempt for food and drink and soft bedding comes easily to many, especially to more uncouth natures brought up in that way from early childhood, but to many others as well. For bodily constitution and practice mitigate the severity of those exercises. But there are not many, indeed only one or two here and there, who can bear insult and abuse and vulgar language and taunts from inferiors, spoken casually or deliberately, and complaints made at random by the rulers and the ruled. You see men who are valiant in ascetic practices so far losing their heads at these that they become wilder than savage beasts. We must debar such men in particular from the precincts of the priesthood. For it would not harm the common life of the Church if a prelate should neither starve himself of food, nor go barefoot. But a furious temper causes great disasters both to its possessor and I to his neighbours. There is no threat from God against those who omit these ascetic practices, but those who are angry without a cause are threatened with hell and hell fire. 3 As, then, the lover of vainglory adds fresh fuel to the fire when he assumes the government of numpers, so a man who cannot control his temper while alone or in the company of a few others, but is easily thrown into a passion, is like a wild beast baited by crowds all round, when he is entrusted with the rule of an entire congregation. He cannot live at peace
3 Cf. Matt. 5.22 .
CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS OF A BISHOP
[111.13 himself and spreads evils galore among the people committed to his charge.
Nothing muddies the purity of the mind and the perspicacity of the wits as much as an ungovernable temper that fluctuates violently. Scripture says, "This destroys even the prudent."4 For the soul's eye is darkened, as in a night battle, and cannot distinguish friend from foe or worthless from worthy. It treats all in turn alike (even though some evil consequence ensues), carelessly accepting every consequence to gratify the soul's pleasure, even if it means a crop of trouble. For a blazing temper is a kind of pleasure, and it tyrannizes over the soul more harshly than pleasure, thoroughly upsetting all its healthy condition. It easily excites men to insolence, to ill-timed enmities and unreasonable hatred, and is for ever making them give wilful offence and forcing them to say and do many other things just as bad.
For the soul is swept along with the strong rush of passion and has no base on which to rest its own strength and resist so strong an attack.
Basil: I will not put up with your humbug any longer.
Who knows better than I how free you are from this disease?
John: Why, then, my dear fellow, do you want to drag me near the pyre and bait tbe sleeping beast? Do you not know that my freedom from this fault is due, not to my innate goodnCss, but to my love of retirement? It is good for anyone in this condition (not to mention anyone who has fallen into the very abyss of heavy anxieties) to remain by himself or keep company with one or two friends, and so manage to avoid being set on fire with this passion. For otherwise he drags, not himself only, but many others with him, to the brink of ruin, and makes them more careless
4 Provo 15.1 (LXX).
84-
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about the cultivation of a gentle character. For the mass of people under government are, for the most part, prone to regard the character of their rulers as a kind of archetype, and to assimilate themselves to it. And how can anyone stop their outbursts, if he is excitable himself? What ordinary man would naturally want to learn self-control when he sees his ruler is hot-tempered?
The priest's shortcomings simply cannot be concealed. On the contrary, even the most trivial soon get known. The weakest athlete can keep his weakness secret as long as he remains at home and pits himself against nobody; but when he strips for the contest, he is soon shown up. So with other men: those who lead a retired and inactive life have their solitude as a cloak for their private faults; but when they are brought into public life, they are compelled to strip off their retirement like a garment and to show everyone their naked souls by their outward movements. As, then, their right actions benefit many and challenge them to equal efforts, so their faults make other men careless in the quest of virtue, and encourage them to shirk hard work for the things that matter. Therefore the beauty of his soul must shine out brightly all round, to be able to gladden and enlighten the souls of those who see.
The sins of ordinary men are committed in the dark, so to speak, and ruin only those who commit them. But when a man becomes famous and is known to many, his misdeeds inflict a common injury on all. They make backsliders even more supine in their efforts for what is good, and drive to despair those who want to improve. Apart from this, the offences of the insignificant, even if made public, harm no one seriously. But those who are set upon the pinnacle of this honour not only catch every eye; more than that, however trifling their offences, these little things seem great to
CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS OF A BISHOP
[111.14 others, since everyone measures sin, not by the size of the offence, but by the standing of the sinner.
The priest must be armed with weapons of steel-intense earnestness and constant sobriety of life-and he must keep watch in every direction, in case anyone should find a naked and unguarded spot and strike him a mortal blow. For everyone stands round him ready to wound him and strike him down, not only his enemies and foes, but many of those who pretend to love him. We must, therefore, choose souls as hardy as God's grace once proved the bodies of the saints in the Babylonian furnace.s The fuel of this fire is not brushwood, pitch, and tow, but something far worse than that. It is no material fire to which they are exposed, but the alldevouring flame of malice envelops them, rising up all round, and attacking them and searching their life more thoroughly than the fire did the bodies of those young men.
When it finds the slightest trace of stubble, it quickly lays hold of it and burns up the rotten part, while all the rest of the building, even though brighter than rays of sunshine, is scorched and blackened completely by the smoke.
For as long as the priest's life is well regulated in every particular point, their intrigues cannot hurt him. But if he should overlook some small detail, as is likely for a human being on his journey across the devious ocean of this life, all the rest of his good deeds are of no avail to enable him to escape the words of his accusers. That small offence casts a shadow over all the rest of his life. Everyone wants to judge the priest, not as one clothed in flesh, not as one possessing a human nature, but as an angel, exempt from the frailty of others.
Everyone fears and flatters a tyrant as long as his power lasts, because they cannot depose him. But when they see his
5 Dan. 3.27.
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CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS OF A BISHOP
power decline, those who were just now his friends throw off their hypocritical esteem and suddenly become his foes and enemies. When they have discovered all his weaknesses, they set upon him and depose him from power. So it is with priests. Those who but now flattered and courted him when he was in power, once they have found the least handle, eagerly make plans to depose him, not merely as a tyrant, but as something far worse than that. Again, as a tyrant fears his bodyguard, so he dreads above all his neighbours and fellow ministers. For other people do not covet a tyrant's power as much, nor, above all, know his business as well, as these men know his. Being close to him, they learn before others of any faults that may occur. If they slander him, they can easily gain credence, and if they exaggerate trifles, they can convict the victim of their pettifogging. For the well-known saying of the Apostle has been inverted : "And if one member suffereth, all the members rejoice; and if one member is honoured, all the members suffer," 6 unless by great discretion SOlpeone can survive it all.
Are you, then, sending me forth to such a terrible war?
Did you judge my spirit adequate for 50 complex and intricate a battle? Where did you get the information? And from whom? If it was God who revealed it, show me the oracle, and I will obey. But if you cannot do so and are making a judgement from human opinion, then deceive yourself no longer. For you should believe me rather than others about myself, since "no man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man which is in him".'
With these arguments I think I must have persuaded you now, if not before, that I should have made both myself and those who chose me ridiculous by accepting this office, and that I should have returned again to the path of life in 6 Contrast I Cor. 12.26.
'Cf. I Cor. 2.11.
CHARACTER AND TEMPTATIONS OF A BISHOP
[III. 14 which I now am, but at great cost. For it is not only malice, but something far worse than malice-ambition for officethat usually arms the majority of men against the one who possesses it. And as covetous sons begrudge their fathers a long life, so when some of these men see the priestly office held by anyone for a prolonged period, they are anxious to depose him, as it would hardly be right to murder him ! For they are all ambitious to succeed him and everyone expects that the office will fall to himself.
PAR TICULAR DUTIES AND PROBLEMS
I. Promotions WOULD YOU like me to show you one more aspect of this contest which is full of innumerable dangers? Come and take a peep at the public festivals, at which it is the custom for most appointments to ecclesiastical office to be made.
You will see the priest assailed with as many accusations as there are persons under his rule. For all who are qualified to bestow the honour are then split into many factions and the synod of presbyters can be seen agreeing neither among themselves nor with the one who has received the episcopal office. Each man stands alone. One chooses this candidate and another that. The reason is that they do not all concentrate on the one thing they should-spiritual worth.
There are other considerations which influence appointment to office. For example, one man says, "Let this man be chosen, because he belongs to a distinguished family"; another says, "Because he possesses a large fortune and would not need supporting out of the Church's revenues"; another, "Because he is a convert from the other side". One man is anxious to promote above the rest a friend, another a relative, another someone who flatters him. No one will look for the best qualified man or apply any spiritual test.
I myself, so far from thinking these are worthy grounds for approving priests, should not dare to select a man quickly, even if he showed great piety (though to me it is no small qualification for that office), unless he combined with piety considerable intelligence as well. For I know many