Particular Duties And Problems
PARTICULAR DUTIES AND PROBLEMS
[m.I5 who have kept themselves under discipline all their life and exhausted their bodies with fasting, and who, as long as they were allowed to live alone and attend to their own needs, were acceptable to God and every day made great progress in this philosophy. Yet when they returned to normal society and had to correct the follies of the common people, they either did not begin to cope with so great a responsibility, or else, when compelled to remain at their post, abandoned their former high standards, brought a heavy penalty on themselves and were not of the least use to others.
Again, if a man has spent all his lif in the lowe$t order of the ministry and has reached ex.treme ltl ag • w will not, simply out of respect for his age, promote him to the next order. What if he should still be unsuitable, even after a lifetime? I do not say this out of disrespect for grey hairs, nor am I laying down a rule that we should entirely exclude from such responsibility those who come from the monastic fraternity. It has turned out that many even from that body have shed lustre upon this office. But I am anxious to show that, if neither piety by itself nor old age alone are sufficient to prove a man worthy of the priesthood, the reasons I have mentioned are hardly likely to do so.
Other people go on to give reasons which are stranger still. Some are enlisted in the ranks of the clergy to prevent their siding with the enemy, and others because of their bad character, to stop them causing a lot of trouble if they are overlooked! Could any worse violation of the right take place than that corrupt men, replete with vices, should be courted for the very things for which they ought to be punished, and promoted to priestly dignity for the very things for which they ought to be forbidden to cross the threshold of the Church? Tell me, do we need to look any go
III. 15]
PARTICULAR DUTIES AND PROBLEMS
further for the cause of God's anger, when we expose the most sacred and awe-inspiring things to defilement by wicked or worthless men? When some men are entrusted with things unsuited to them and others with things quite beyond their powers, they make the Church as unstable as the Euripus.
I once used to deride secular rulers because they distributed honours, not on grounds of inherent merit, but of wealth or seniority or worldly rank. But when I heard that this stupidity had swaggered into our own affairs too, I no longer reckoned their action so strange. For why should we be surprised that worldly people, who love the praise of the mob and do everything for money, should make this mistake, when those who claim to have renounced all these desires are no better? For although they are contending for heavenly rewards, they act as though they had to decide merely about acres of land or something else of the kind.
They simply take commonplace men and put them in charge of those things for which the only-begotten Son of God did not disdain to empty himself of his own glory and to be made man and to receive the form of a servant and to be spitted upon and buffeted and to die the most shameful death.
And they do not stop at this, but go on to other actions stranger still. They not merely choose the unworthy; they reject those who are suitable. As though it were necessary to undermine the safety of the Church in both ways, or as though the first reason were not enough to kindle the wrath of God, they have added another reason no less serious.
For I think it is as bad to keep out the capable as to bring in the useless. And this is done to prevent the flock of Christ from finding comfort or a breathing-space anywhere. Does not this deserve a hail of thunder-bolts? Does it not deserve
PARTICULAR DUTIES AND PROBLEMS
[m.I5 some special hell and not just the one we are threatened with? Yet all these evils are suffered and borne patiently by the one who does not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted and live. How can we marvel enough at his love for man, or wonder at his mercy? Christians damage Christ's cause more than his enemies and foes.
But the good Lord still shows his kindness and calls us to repentance.
Glory be to thee, 0 Lord! Glory be to thee! What an abyss of love is in thee! How great are the riches of thy forbearance! Men who through thy Name have come to be worthy and respected instead of mean and worthless use that honour against thee who gavest it, and dare what is forbidden, and insult what is holy, rejecting and excluding the earnest, in order that evil men may have perfect freedom and full security to subvert whatever they desire.
If you want to know the reasons for this scandal, you will find they are like those I mentioned before. They have one root and, so to speak, one mother: malice. Yet they are not all of one kind, but different. One man says, "Reject him, because he is young"; another says, "Because he has not learnt how to flatter"; another, "Because he has offended so-and-so". Or again, someone says, "Reject him in case soand-so should be hurt to see his own nominee rejected and this man appointed"; another says, "Reject him because he is good and just"; another, "Because sinners fear him"; and another gives some other such reason. They have ready to hand all the pretexts they require. Even the number of existing clergy is sufficient argument, when they have no better. Or they argue that it is advisable not to promote a man to this honour suddenly, but gently and by degrees.
And they can find as many other reasons as they want.
But I should like to ask you now what a bishop ought 9~
III.IS]
PARTICULAR DUTIES AND PROBLEMS
to do when he has to contend with so many winds. How can he stand firm against such great breakers? How can he repel all these attacks? If he settles the question by honest assessment, all men become enemies and foes to him and to those whom he has chosen. Everything they do is meant to create hostility to him. They stir up feuds daily and heap endless ridicule on those he has chosen, until they either depose them or get their own men in. It is like a captain having pirates sailing with him on board ship and continually plotting hour by hour against him and the sailors and crew.
If, on the other hand, he prefers popularity with them to his own safety and so chooses unsuitable men, he will incur
God's enmity in place of theirs. And what could be worse than that? And his relations with them will be more difficult than before, since they will all conspire together and become so much the stronger. When fierce winds meet from contrary quarters, the sea which before was quiet suddenly rages and towers, and destroys those who sail on it; so the calm sea of the Church, when evil men are accepted, is filled with surf and wreckage.
Consider, then, what qualities a man needs if he is to withstand such a tempest and deal successfully with these obstacles to the common good. He must be dignified yet modest, impressive yet kindly, masterful yet approachable, impartial yet courteous, humble but not servile, vehement yet gentle, in order that he may be able calmly to resist all these dangers and to promote a suitable man with full authority, even though everyone opposes him, and reject an unsuitable man with equal authority, even though everyone favours him. One thing alone he must consider: the edification of the Church. He must do nothing out of hostility or favour.
Well, then, do you think it was unreasonable to excuse
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