What is the work of the heavenly High Priest in the life of His priests, their preaching, and their pastoral work?

First: He transforms them to be like the heavenlies. He dwells in them, so that their thoughts and lives may reflect heaven itself. St. John Chrysostom says, “For even to the whole world He was to send them out as teachers. Therefore of men He makes them even angels (so to speak); releasing them from all worldly care, so that they should be possessed with one care alone, that of their teaching; or rather even from that He releases them, saying, ‘Do not worry about how or what you should speak’ (Matt. 10:19).”¹⁵⁸³

He also says, “The symbols which existed before the ministry of grace were fearful and awe-inspiring … But if you consider the ministry of grace, you will find that those fearful and awe-inspiring symbols are only trivial … When you see the Lord sacrificed and lying there before you, and the High Priest standing over the sacrifice and praying, and all who partake being tinctured with that precious blood, can you think that you are still among men and still standing on earth? Are you not at once transported to heaven, and, having driven out of your soul every carnal thought, do you not with soul naked and mind pure look round upon the heavenly things? Oh, the wonder of it! Oh, the loving-kindness of God to men! He who sits above with the Father is at that moment held in our hands, and gives himself to those who wish to clasp and embrace him … Do you think this could be despised? Or that it is the kind of thing anyone can be superior about?”¹⁵⁸⁴

“Vessels and pails measure the water drawn from natural springs; the water from the spiritual fountains is measured by our understanding, our fervent desire, and the sobriety with which we approach them. He who comes with these dispositions straightway carries away blessings beyond number, since the grace of God, working invisibly, lightens the burden of his conscience, brings him abundant assurance, and prepares him henceforth to put off from the shore of the earth and to weigh anchor for heaven. For it is possible for a man who is still in the embrace of his body to have nothing in common with the earth, but to set before his eyes all the joys of heaven and to contemplate them unceasingly.”¹⁵⁸⁵

1582 Monastery of the Syrians, St. Basil the Great: His Life, Asceticism, and Church Canons (Arabic) (St. Mary’s Monastery (Deir al-Sourian), 2003) Section 3, column 39.

1583 St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Matthew 32.7 (NPNF I/10:210).

1584 St. John Chrysostom, Six Books on the Priesthood 3.4(7) PP 1:70–71).

1585 St. John Chrysostom, Baptismal Instructions 7.11 (ACW 31:108).

“The work of the priesthood is done on earth, but it is ranked among the heavenly ordinances. And this is only right, for no man, no angel, no archangel, no other created power, but the Paraclete himself ordained this succession. And persuaded men, while still remaining in the flesh to represent the ministry of angels. The priest, therefore, must be as pure as if he were standing in heaven itself, in the midst of those powers … Imagine in your mind’s eye, if you will, Elijah and the vast crowd standing around him and the sacrifice lying upon the stone altar. All the rest are still, hushed in a deep silence. The prophet alone is praying Suddenly fire falls from the skies on to the offering. It is marvellous; it is charged with bewilderment … Turn, then, from that scene to our present rites, and you will see not only marvellous things, but things that transcend all terror. The priest stands bringing down, not fire, but the Holy Spirit. And he offers prayer at length, not that some flame lit from above may consume the offerings, but that grace may fall on the sacrifice through that prayer, set alight the souls of all, and make them appear brighter than silver refined in the fire.”¹⁵⁸⁶

Second: He makes Him an image of His Savior, the Lover of Mankind. St. John Chrysostom says, “The Priest is God’s advocate. The Priest is the common father of all the world; it is proper therefore that he should care for all.”¹⁵⁸⁷ Therefore, the deacon or the servant is a brother of the whole world.

Third: He shows him that Christ is the one at work in His priests and servants. The priest does not enter the sanctuary, the heavenly throne, because of his own righteousness or even struggle in his spiritual life. Instead, he enters as though hidden in Him who is the pleasure of the Father and the secret of his sanctification. St. John Chrysostom says, “When you see the priest offering the sacrifice, contemplate Christ’s hands that are extended in silence.”¹⁵⁸⁸ He also says, “Let us imitate the couple that was at the wedding at Cana Galilee, who invited Christ to their wedding, and had Him sit in their midst.”¹⁵⁸⁹

Divine grace prepares prophets, apostles, preachers, shepherds, and teachers for their heavenly calling and works with them, but if someone neglects this grace, they fall from their vocation. Origen writes that a good shepherd “is good precisely because he has the best Shepherd with him, pasturing his sheep along with him.”¹⁵⁹⁰ He again says, “If, then, to be a teacher is a gift given ‘in accordance with the measure of Christ,’ clearly also the pastor who pastors with understanding needs to have a gift to pastor. And how will someone be an evangelist if ‘the feet’ of his soul, so to speak, are not ‘beautiful’ (Rom. 10:15)? God must supply them with beauty that they may be so.”¹⁵⁹¹

1586 St. John Chrysostom, Six Books on the Priesthood 3.4(7) PP 1:70–71).

1587 Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Pastoral Love (Arabic), 1965: p. 546.

1588 Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, Pastoral Love (Arabic), 1965: p. 27.

1589 Conversations about Marriage 1 (Al-Noor Publications, Arabic).

1590 Origen, Homilies on Luke 12.2 (FOTC 94:48–49).

1591 Origen, “Commentary on Ephesians” 4.11–12 in The Commentaries of Origen and Jerome on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians , trans., Ronald E. Heine (Oxford University Press, 2002): pp. 174–175.

He says, “These are the two works of the high priest: that he either learn from God by reading the divine Scriptures and by meditating often on them, or teach the people. But let him teach those things that he has learned from the Lord, not ‘from his own heart’ (cf. Ezek. 13:2) or from human understanding, but what the Spirit teaches … For this reason, let us meditate on these things (stories of the Old Testament); and recalling them to our memory ‘day and night’ and being diligent in prayer and vigilant, let us entreat the Lord that in these things which we read the Lord may see fit to reveal wisdom in us and to show us how we may observe the spiritual law not only in understanding but in our deeds that, illuminated by the law of the Holy Spirit, we may be worthy to obtain the spiritual grace in Christ Jesus our Lord.”¹⁵⁹²

Fourth: He makes him aware of his need for constant learning. St. Cyprian says that every believer should never cease to learn, be they clergymen or laymen. For no one can teach without learning, except God Himself. In St. Basil’s letter to Amphilochius of Iconium, he praised him, for though being a teacher himself, he always wanted to humbly learn from St. Basil. As for the Archbishop Basil, he considers himself ignorant and in need of learning. St. Basil says, “the question of a wise man, so it seems, makes even the fool wise. And this, by the grace of God, happens to us as often as we receive the letters of your painstaking soul. For, through the question itself we become more observant and more sensible than we were, being taught many things of which we had no immediate appreciation. Moreover, our solicitude to give an answer becomes for us a teacher. So, since we had never before taken thought of your questions, now we have been driven to examine carefully and to recall whatever we have heard from our elders, and to draw conclusions related to what we have learned from them.”¹⁵⁹³

“We were in admiration of your love of learning along with your humility, because you who have been entrusted with the position of teaching do not refuse to learn, and to learn from us who possess no great knowledge at all. Nevertheless, since you consent through fear of God to do a task not easily done by another, it is necessary for us also to co-operate, even beyond our power, in your desire and in your noble effort.”¹⁵⁹⁴

As for teaching the people, he says, “The ram is an animal capable of leading, one which guides the sheep to nourishing pastures and refreshing waters, and back again to the pens and farmhouses. Such are those who are set over the flock of Christ, since they lead them forth to the flowery and fragrant nourishment of spiritual doctrine, water them with living water, the gift of the Spirit, raise them up and nourish them to produce fruit, but guide them to rest and to safety from those who lay snares for them.”¹⁵⁹⁵

1592 Origen, Homilies on Leviticus 1–16 6.6.4, 6 (FOTC 83:128).

1593 St. Basil of Caesarea, Letters 186–368 188 To Amphilochius Concerning the Canons (FOTC 28:4–5).

1594 St. Basil of Caesarea, Letters 186–368 199 To Amphilochius Concerning the Canons (FOTC 28:47).

1595 St. Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms 13.2 On Psalm 28 (FOTC 46:195; PG 29:284).

Fifth: He teaches him not to overburden the people . St. Basil the Great says, “None of the priests should burden their congregation by anything outside the law set by the Apostles.”¹⁵⁹⁶

Sixth: He teaches him to apply his own teachings to his own life . It is important for the priest to examine himself as to what he preaches, for the sake of his own salvation and the salvation of those whom he serves, so they might not stumble in him. St. Basil the Great says, “If a priest or a bishop is teaching, let him examine himself before he speaks so they would not stumble by his teachings.”¹⁵⁹⁷

Seventh: He teaches him to be a good listener . Any clergyman — whatever his rank — should not judge anyone before listening to them and giving them the opportunity to present their point of view. “The clergyman should not speak evil about others before listening to them first. For it is written, ‘He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is a folly and shame to him’ (Prov. 18:13).”¹⁵⁹⁸

Eighth: He teaches him to support the repentant. The bishop’s primary role is to care for the sinners and gently support their healing from sin: “If someone falls into sin, is saddened, and confesses, yet was broken-hearted, the clergyman or the bishop should be his support, and guide him to protect himself from this sin and to repent from his previous sins.”¹⁵⁹⁹

Ninth: He teaches him to be a man of prayer and to ask others to pray for him. In his letter to some bishops, St. Basil speaks about the power of prayer in times of tribulations, saying, “We know that, even if you are not bodily present, you will furnish great assistance to us in our most trying times by the aid of your prayers.”¹⁶⁰⁰

Tenth: He teaches him not to regard food or marriage as unclean . The fifty-first Apostolic Canon states, “If any bishop, presbyter, or deacon, or any one of the sacerdotal list, abstains from marriage, or flesh, or wine, not by way of religious restraint, but as abhorring them, forgetting that God made all things very good, and that he made man male and female, and blaspheming the work of creation, let him be corrected, or else be deposed, and cast out of the Church.”¹⁶⁰¹ And in Canon 2.37 we read the warning: “… and they became

1596 Monastery of the Syrians, St. Basil the Great: His Life, Asceticism, and Church Canons (Arabic) (St. Mary’s Monastery (Deir al-Sourian), 2003) Section 3, point 51.

1597 Monastery of the Syrians, St. Basil the Great: His Life, Asceticism, and Church Canons (Arabic) (St. Mary’s Monastery (Deir al-Sourian), 2003) Section 3, point 62.

1598 Monastery of the Syrians, St. Basil the Great: His Life, Asceticism, and Church Canons (Arabic) (St. Mary’s Monastery (Deir al-Sourian), 2003) Section 3, point 61.

1599 Monastery of the Syrians, St. Basil the Great: His Life, Asceticism, and Church Canons (Arabic) (St. Mary’s Monastery (Deir al-Sourian), 2003) Section 3, point 93.

1600 St. Basil of Caesarea, Letters 186–368 203 (FOTC 28:68; PG 32:741B).

1601 The Apostolic Canons Canon 51 (NPNF II/14:597).

a cause of doubt for the people.” St. Basil the Great says, “A priest or a bishop should not consider any food as defiling; nothing defiles a person except separation from God.”¹⁶⁰²