St. Photios the Great: On obedience to, and the burdens of, a bishop.

 

10. Why have slanders and calumnies against priests been the subject of my narrative? Why? That you may learn, beloved ones, and keep it in mind that to devise calumnies and weave deceits against Christ’s bishops is an invention of heretics, who have risen against the Son of God, our God, in drunken fury; that it is the outgrowth of men who have received in their souls so great a seed of impiety; that it is the foul deed of men who have hawked away our Christian faith; so that, when you see some of them making a show of their abuse of bishops and priests, you may remember their begetters and teachers, and recognize them for what they are, and of what stock they happen to be (for, “by their fruits,” the Lord’s saying proclaims, “ye shall know them”); that you may avoid the imitation of them whose impiety you have abominated, and lest, having severed intercourse with them but partially, you become accustomed to suck in little by little the rest of their irreverence. Is the shepherd a heretic? Then he is a wolf, and it will be needful to flee and leap away from him, and not be deceived into approaching him, even if he appears to be fawning gently. Avoid communion and intercourse with him as snake’s poison: for fish are caught with hook and bait, while an evil intercourse, which contains the poison of heresy concealed therein, has captured many of the more simple-minded who came close and expected to suffer no harm. Wherefore it is fitting to avoid such men with all our might. Is the shepherd orthodox, does he bear the seal of piety, does he have none of the heretical crew trailing after him? Then submit to him, since he presides in the likeness of Christ. Thou doest honour not to him, if thou doest it with all thy soul: Christ receives it. Do not meddle in other matters. God is their examiner; leave the judgment to Him. Do thou, however, show him obedience and a pure disposition in accordance with thy love of Christ. To others it is said, “Son of man, I have set thee as a watchman to the house of Israel”; to you it is said, “What the priests bid you observe, that observe, but do not ye do their works.” Oh, how sweet and pleasant is this saying to me, and so desirable, yet quite impossible for me now to observe! ’Tis not thy toil, He says, nor thy labour to meddle in and scrutinize the priest’s works; and do not thou do his works if they do not correspond to his words; but obey his teaching, and do not meddle in his conduct. Observe thyself, watch thyself. Leave the others to the Judge, and commit the care of them to their appointed shepherd.

11. Would that I were still in your position, would that I were enrolled, as formerly, in your ranks, that I should have no need to take account of the affairs of others, that no punishment should attend me, were I to overlook the shortcomings of my flock, that I should be allowed to look only after my own matters, and that cares of other men should not weigh down on me! That was malice indeed, and for me the worst and bitterest of malice, which snatched me away from that most pleasant, gentle and carefree life, in which I did not grieve any of my neighbours, was not required to be meddlesome towards anyone else, did not show myself severe to anyone. All was friendship and kindness, and my life was free of cares. Now, alas, the law of shepherds constrains me to grieve others, to show myself severe, to appear harsh, to judge on occasion, and to condemn—me who from the beginning have avoided this rank, and have consistently shown my aversion to it, although it did not prove possible to escape it, to have escaped which could be accounted as happiness.

 

Source: The Homilies of Photius Patriarch of Constantinople, Cyril Mango, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1958, Homily XV, pp. 258-259.