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On the Duty of Parish Priests
St George Konissky and Parfeny, in Blackmore, 1845
A Prefatory Address to Priests
TO the glory of the Holy, consubstantial, life-giving, and undivided Trinity; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: by the command of the most religious and most absolute autocrat, our Sovereign Lord the Emperor Nicolai Pavlovich, Emperor of all Russia; with his consort, the most religious Lady, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna; his heir, the religious Lord, the Cesarevich and Grand Prince Alexander Nicolaevich; the religious Lords, the Grand Princes Constantine, Nicolai, and Michael Nicolaevich; the religious Lord, the Grand Prince Michael Pavlovich, and his consort the religious Lady the Grand Princess Helena Pavlovna; the religious Ladies the Grand Princesses Mary, Olga, and Alexandra Nicolaevna; the religious Ladies the Grand Princesses, Mary, Elizabeth, and Catherine Michaelovna; the religious Lady the Grand Princess Mary Pavlovna, and her Consort; the religious Lady the Grand Princess Anna Pavlovna, and her Consort: and with the blessing of the Most Holy Governing Synod; This Boob, On the Duties of Parish Priests, taken from the Word of God, the Canons of the Councils, and the Doctors of the Church, is now printed for the twenty-first time, in the Great Imperial City of Moscow, in the year of the Creation of the world seven thousand three hundred and forty-one, and of the birth of God the Word in the flesh one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, the sixth of the Indict, the month of May.
There are four duties which Priests are bound diligently to fulfil.
The first: To preach God’s word, without omitting any opportunity, and so bring their parishioners to the knowledge of the faith, and to a good Christian life, according to the injunction of the holy Apostle Paul: Preach the word, be instant in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine. 2 Tim. iv. 2.
The second: To lead their lives in accordance with the doctrine of the Gospel, and so make themselves ensamples of holiness: for a Bishop, as the Apostle Paul teaches, must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; holding fast the faithful word, as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine to exhort. Tit. i. 7, &c.
The third: To minister God’s sacraments; the sole end and aim of which is, to confirm those who believe in Christ in faith and holy living, and so perfect them for everlasting life, and for the kingdom of heaven.
The fourth: To pray to God; which is so profitable and needful to preachers and stewards of the mysteries, that without it they can neither preach God’s word, nor live holily Wherefore, in accordance with the Apostle’s command, Pray without ceasing, they ought day and night with all their souls to pray to our gracious God, and beseech Him to give them the Holy Spirit. For He alone it is Who both first makes men Priests, and afterwards in the performance of their duties guides them into all truth, (John xvi. 13.) and makes them workmen that need not to be ashamed; nor is He given in any other way than upon earnest prayer. Luke xi. 13.
How great is the weight of these four duties the Apostle has clearly shewn, when extolling the New Testament above the Old, he calls the preaching of the Gospel and stewardship of the mysteries of God the ministry of the Spirit, the ministry of righteousness, and the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor. iii. 8, 9. and v. 18.) And how great skill, wisdom, and caution, how great piety, faith, and energy, together with the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost, such a ministry requires in its stewards, every one may easily see and understand, if he considers either the particular commands hereunto relating, or the nature of the Mysteries.
In the Old Testament the Lord by Moses strictly enjoined the Priests to give heed to their ministry: Speak, He said, to Aaron and his sons, that they be careful in the holy things, and profane not My holy name ... I am the Lord. (Lev. xxii. 2.) And in another place: Ye shall reverence My holy things: I am the Lord. Lev. xix. 30.
But if the ministry of the Old Testament needed in the sight of the Lord such strict attention and such deep awe, much more surely in the ministry of the New Testament, in the preaching of the Gospel, in the stewardship of the Mysteries, in the ministry of the Spirit, of righteousness, and of reconciliation, must the strictest attention, and the deepest awe, awe joined with love and all thankfulness, be required of Priests.
For if in the ministry delivered through Moses to Aaron and his sons every disobedience and transgression was punished, (Heb. ii. 2.) how much stricter inquisition and judgment must there needs be for any transgression or neglect in that ministry, which has been delivered to the Apostles and to each of us, their successors, by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? Our Saviour has with His own mouth forewarned us in plain terms, when He says of the evil and careless servant, that He will cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Mat. xxiv. 51. Luke xii. 46.
Hence ye see, O Priests, that those duties which we have named are of no little weight, and so require of you no little skill, wisdom, attention, and piety. The Apostle Paul by his own example at once teaches you this truth, and incites you to act upon it. For he, while fulfilling the ministry of the word and Sacraments entrusted to him, writes of himself to the Corinthians thus: I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. (1 Cor. ii. 3.) And in another place he mentions the fear and reverence required for the ministry: Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire. (Heb. xii. 28, 29.) Wherefore there should be in you all manner of skill and godly reverence.
But whereas we see some Priests, who know not these their duties, or care not even to know them, and so give no heed to their calling, but live in great disorders; that such may not be left to the end in their ignorance and carelessness, and so fall under that severity of God’s judgment which punished unworthy Priests, such as Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, and Hophni and Phineas, sons of Eli, in the Old Testament; to this end, as well to awaken as to instruct such Priests, is this book written; and also that they who think to become Priests, or inferior servants of the Church, may know beforehand the greatness and responsibility of the ministry of the New Testament.
Do ye then, O Priests, who bear the name of shepherds, receive these instructions with the same zeal, with which they are written for you; and use them to your own profit, and that of the souls committed to you; that ye be not called in vain the light of the world; that ye be not blind others into the pit of destruction, from whence there shall be no deliverance for ever.
May God grant you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, perfectly to know your duty, and to fulfil it: may He enlighten the eyes of your heart to see what are the riches of the glory prepared for you, if ye give heed to walk worthy of your calling; and what fierce torments on the other hand await you, if by your neglect of your calling a multitude of souls, for whom Christ died, should be drawn down together with you into the pit of everlasting perdition. But may He, our Lord Jesus Christ, by His almighty hand save you all from this, and deliver you from every evil work, and preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom.