Letter 852: The priesthood is a sacred trust, not a career.

To Zosimos. A certain man, who was not only superior to shameful gains but also distributed his own goods to those in need, having learned that someone had taken a few fish from a man who had committed perjury and had thereby, so far as it lay with him, presumed to absolve him of the sin, groaned aloud and uttered that Demosthenic supplication, as it seems to me. For though what I am about to say may appear rather coarse, I will speak it and not conceal it: on this very account the man deserves to be punished with death, so that he might lay down this law for the impious in Hades. This indeed that man said, being deeply pained; and it seemed to me, and to all who were present, that he had said nothing unfitting. For it is not the man who placates [the priest] who is absolved of the charge, but the one who restores his own goods to the one wronged by the perjury. Do not therefore, for the sake of shameful gain, either destroy or misinterpret the divine oracles. For they do not command [the priests] to do wrong, while making offerings to the consecrated, but rather they ordain, through the realities themselves, that satisfaction be made to those who have been wronged. For the saying, "If you bind," was spoken concerning those who sin; and the saying, "If you loose," concerning those who repent and contend against their own [former errors]. And he is absolved of the charge, not the one who appeases the priest, but the one who conciliates the man he wronged. For if you suppose that such authority has been given to the consecrated, while the offenders make no effort to wipe away their faults, will not the oracle seem tyrannical? And [will it not seem] to look only to priestly gain, taking no account of those who have been wronged? And [will not] those who are crowned with the ministry of the priesthood [seem] most savage and most inhuman, in not absolving everyone of their charges? But these things are not so; they are not so. Do not deceive yourself, or rather, do not thrust yourself and those who listen to you into the pit; and do not renew the evils of the Scribes and Pharisees, who devised certain consolations for perjurers for the sake of shameful gain, and armed the children against their parents, and misinterpreted the divine commandments and overturned them. But follow purely and sincerely the things ordained through the oracles, in accordance with which the holy Apostle also said: "For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth." Or, if the perjurer is rich and makes an offering to the priest, is he absolved; but if he is poor and makes no offering, is he held to account? But these things I say one must not do, nor is it even lawful to conceive of them. For the Judge will say to you: "Did you suppose that I will be like you?" And how could that be? For he who commanded his subjects not to accept gifts against the innocent would surely not have commanded the consecrated to be defiled with these shameful gains. Rather he said this, so that after satisfaction has been made to those who were defrauded, [the priests], by praying together and fasting together with those who have stumbled, might procure for them release from heaven; not taking even into their minds that saying: "Come, let us take for ourselves the altar of God as our inheritance." For they are ministers, not partners; ambassadors, not judges; mediators, not kings. For those who, even concerning their own sins, as the Apostle said, offer sacrifices, could surely not, by their own authority, remit the sins even of the unrepentant, even if they were rich. For that he did not permit the consecrated to traffic in these matters, nor decree that they should look to their own gain, but legislated all things for the benefit of those under their charge, he who [is the source] of all chastity and purity, wishing them to be a sanctuary, has made known both through the hierophant Moses and through himself: through the lawgiver by saying that "If anyone has tampered with a deposit entrusted to him, let him first restore what he took away, and then let him come into the temple" - [to propitiate] not the priest, but the Judge; and through himself: "Receive the Holy Spirit; if you remit anyone's sins, they are remitted; and if you retain anyone's, they are retained." If, then, they have received this authority through the divine Spirit, those who drive away the [Spirit] by the very things in which they sin clearly do not possess this authority, but rather those do who know through the Holy Spirit which men are worthy of remission and which of condemnation. For since this surpasses the human mind, the Paraclete, who shares the divine essence and glory, became the teacher of those worthy to receive him, [in matters] which the human mind does not attain.

Ἀνήρ τις οὐ μόνον αἰσχρῶν λημμάτων κρείττων, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ οἰκεῖα τοῖς δεομένοις διανέμων, πυθόμενος ὅτι ἰχθὺς ὀλίγους εἰληφὼς παρά τινος ἐπιορ-κήσαντος, ἀπολύσαι αὐτὸν, τόγε ἐπὶ σοὶ, τοῦ ἁμαρτήματος ἐτόλμησας, στέναξας μέγα, τὸ δημοσθενικὸν ἱκέτινο ἀπεφθέγξατο, ὡς ἔμοιγε δοκεῖ· καὶ γὰρ εἰ φορτικώτερον εἶναι τὸ ῥηθησόμενον δόξει, λέξω, καὶ οὐκ ἀποκρύψομαι· κατὰ τοῦτό γε αὐτὸ ἄξιον αὐτὸν εἶναι θανάτῳ ζημιῶσαι, ἵνα ἂν ᾅδου θῇ τοῖς ἀσεβέσι τοῦτον τὸν νόμον. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ἐκεῖνος περιαλγὴς γενόμενος ἔφη· ἐμοὶ δ' ἔδοξε καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς παροῦσι μηδὲν ἀπεικὸς εἰρηκέναι. Οὐ γὰρ τὸ ἀεδέτωρ ἐξευμενισθήσεται, ἀπολύει ἐκεῖνον τοῦ ἐγκλήματος, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀπολαβεῖν τὰ οἰκεῖα τὸν τῆς ἐπιορκίας ἀδικηθέντα. Μή τοίνυν κέρδους ἕνεκεν αἰσχροῦ ἢ παραπολεῖ ἢ παρερμήνευε τοὺς θείους χρησμούς. Οὐ γὰρ ἀδικεῖν μὲν, προσφέρειν δὲ τοῖς ἱερωμένοις προστάττουσιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἀδικηθεῖσιν ἀπολογεῖσθαι (48) διὰ τῶν πραγμάτων θεσπίζουσι. Τὸ γὰρ, « Ἐὰν δήσητε, » περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων εἴρηται· καὶ τὸ, « Ἐὰν λύσητε, » περὶ τῶν γνωσιμαχούντων. Ἀπολύεται δὲ τοῦ ἐγκλήματος, οὐχ ὁ τὸν ἱερέα ἐκμειλισσόμενος, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ τὸν ἀδικηθέντα ἐξευμενιζόμενος. Εἰ γὰρ τοῖς ἱερωμένοις νομίζεις δεδόσθαι τὴν τοιαύτην ἐξουσίαν, τῶν πλημμελούντων μὴ σπουδαζόντων ἀποτρίψασθαι τὰ πταίσματα, τυ- ραννικὸς οὐκ εἶναι δόξει ὁ χρησμός; καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἱερατικὸν κέρδος μόνον ὁρᾷν (49)· τῶν δὲ ἀδικη- θέντων οὐδένα ποιούμενος λόγον· ὠμότατοι δὲ ἀπαν- θρωπότατα οἱ τῆς ἱερωσύνης ἐστεμμένοι λει- τουργίαν, μὴ πάντας ἀπολύοντες τῶν ἐγκλημάτων. Ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἔστι ταῦτα, οὐκ ἔστι. Μὴ σαυτὸν παρα- λογίσῃ, μᾶλλον δὲ μὴ σαυτὸν καὶ τοὺς ἀκούοντας σου (50), εἰς βάραθρον ὥσῃς, μηδὲ τὰ τῶν Γραμ- ματέων καὶ Φαρισαίων κακὰ ἀνανεώσῃς, τῶν παρα- μυθίας τινὰς τοῖς ἐπιορκοῦσι δι᾽ αἰσχρὸν κέρδος ἐπι- νοησάντων, καὶ τοὺς παῖδας κατὰ τῶν γονέων ὅπλι- σάντων, καὶ τὰς θείας παρερμηνευσάντων, καὶ ἀνα- τρεψάντων ἐντολάς· ἀλλ᾽ εὐαγῶς καὶ εἰλικρινῶς τοῖς διὰ τῶν χρησμῶν θεσμοθετηθεῖσιν ἑπο- οἷς καὶ ὁ ἱερὸς Ἀπόστολος ἀκολούθως (51) ἔλεγεν· « Οὐ γὰρ δυνάμεθα τι κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας, ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῆς ἀλη- θείας. » Ἢ ἂν μὲν πλούσιος ᾖ ὁ ἐπιορκήσας, καὶ προσενέγκῃ τῷ ἱερεῖ, ἀπολύεται· ἐὰν δὲ πένης καὶ μὴ προσενέγκῃ, εὐθύνεται. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα οὐ φημι πράττειν, ἀλλ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ἐννοεῖν θέμις. Ἐρεῖ γάρ σοι ὁ κριτής· « Ὑπέλαβες ἄν με (52), ὅτι ἔσομαι σοι ὅμοιος ; » Καὶ πῶς οἶόν τε; Ὁ γὰρ προστάξας τοῖς ὑπηκόοις δῶρα ἐπ᾽ ἀθώοις μὴ δέχεσθαι, οὐκ ἂν δή που τοὺς ἱερωμένους τούτοις καταρρυπαίνεσθαι τοῖς αἰσχροῖς κέρδεσι προσέταττεν. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἔφη, ἵνα μετὰ τὴν ἀπολογίαν τῶν ἀποστερηθέντων (53) συγ- ευχόμενοι, καὶ συνηστεύοντες τοῖς πταίσασι, λύσιν αὐτοῖς οὐρανόθεν πορίσοιντο· ἐκεῖνο μηδ᾽ εἰς νοῦν λαμβάνοντες τὸ· « Δεῦτε, κληρονομήσωμεν ἑαυτοῖς τὸ θυσιαστήριον τοῦ Θεοῦ. » Λειτουργοὶ γὰρ εἰσίν, οὐ κοινωνοί· πρέσβεις, οὐ κριταί· μεσῖται, οὐ βασι- λεῖς. Οἱ γὰρ καὶ περὶ οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων, ὡς ἔφη ὁ Ἀπόστολος, θυσίας προσφέροντες, οὐκ ἂν δήπου ἐξ αὐθεντίας καὶ τοῖς ἀμετανοήτοις, εἰ καὶ πλούσιοι εἶεν, δύναιντ᾽ ἀφεῖναι ἁμαρτίας. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐ τοῖς ἱερωμένοις καπηλεύειν τὰ πράγματα (54) ἐπέτρεψεν, οὐδὲ πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον κέρδος ὁρᾷν ἐθέσπι- σεν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸ τῶν ἀρχομένων συμφέρον πάντα ἐνομοθέτησεν ὁ πάσης ἁγνείας καὶ καθαρότητος, ἀνάκτορον (55) αὐτοὺς εἶναι βουλόμενος, μεμήνυκε μὲν καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἱεροφάντου Μωσέως, μεμήνυκε δὲ καὶ δι᾽ ἑαυτοῦ· διὰ μὲν τοῦ νομοθέτου φήσας, ὅτι « Εἰ τις παρακαταθήκην νοθεύσειε, πρῶτον μὲν ἀποδιδότω τὰ ἀφαιρεθέντα, εἶτα ἥκέτω εἰς τὸν νεών, ὁ τῶν ἱερέα, ἀλλὰ τὸν κριτὴν ἀξιλασόμενος· διὰ δὲ ἑαυτοῦ· Λάβετε Πνεῦμα ἅγιον· ἄν τινων ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας, ἀφίενται· καὶ ἄν τινὰ κρατῆτε, κεκράτηνται. Εἰ τοίνυν διὰ τὸ θεῖον Πνεῦμα ταύτην εἴληφασι τὴν ἐξουσίαν, οἱ δι’ ὧν ἁμαρτάνουσι, τοῦτο ἀπελαύνοντες, ταύτην δηλονότι τὴν ἐξουσίαν οὐκ ἔχουσιν, ἀλλ’ ἐκεῖνοι οἱ διὰ τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος εἰδότε, τίνες μέν εἰσιν ἀφέσεως, τίνες δὲ κατακρίσεως ἄξιοι. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸν ἀνθρώπινον τοῦτο ὑπερβαίνει νοῦν, ὁ Παράκλητος ὁ τῆς θείας οὐσίας καὶ δόξης κοινωνός, διδάσκαλος τοῖς ἀξίοις τῆς ὑποδοχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐγίνετο, ὧν ὁ ἀνθρώπινος νοῦς οὐκ ἀφικνεῖται.