Open sample · Greek Fathers
On the Priesthood, Book III
John Chrysostom, c. 386. Book three of the dialogue with Basil.
Editorial introduction
The six books known to the manuscript tradition as the Peri hierosynes were written, by Chrysostom's own account, some years after the events they recount: the joint election of John and his friend Basil to the episcopate, John's flight from the office on the day of consecration, Basil's bitter and inconsolable resentment when he discovered himself ordained and his friend not, and the dialogue in which the now-presbyter John attempts to justify what he has done. The work is in form a dialogue between the two friends; in substance it is one of the most sustained reflections in patristic literature on the seriousness of the priestly office.
Book III, which we present here in open sample, contains the heart of John's positive theology of priesthood. The two preceding books are largely devoted to John's defence of his conduct — his evasion is justified, he argues, by the practical necessities of pastoral love. In Book III the argument shifts: the question is no longer why one might flee the office, but what the office is. John develops here the great image of the priest as one who has been entrusted with mysteries before which the angelic orders themselves stand in awe.
The translation of Stephens (NPNF, first series, vol. ix, 1889) remains widely read. We have departed from it in several places, of which the most consequential are noted in the apparatus to the full edition. The translation of Neville (St Vladimir's, 1996) has been our companion throughout the editorial work; we have differed from it only on minor questions of phrasing.
Book III, §§ 4–6
The priestly office is exercised on earth, but it ranks among heavenly ordinances; and very rightly so. For neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself, ordained this succession, and persuaded men, while yet abiding in the flesh, to represent the ministry of angels. The priest, therefore, ought to be as pure as if he stood in the very heavens, in the midst of those Powers. The signs and tokens of his office, as it were the badges of his rank, are awful and full of fear: long stoles, the chair of judgment, the right to admit and to exclude, the keys of the kingdom. But these are visible signs. Far more awful are the things they signify.
For when you see the Lord sacrificed and lying on the altar, and the priest standing over the sacrifice and praying, and all the assembly stained with that precious blood — can you imagine yourself still on earth, still among men, and not rather translated at once into the heavens, having cast away every fleshly thought, contemplating with naked soul the things of heaven? Oh, the marvel! Oh, the love of God for mankind! He who is enthroned with the Father above is at that moment held in the hands of all, and gives Himself to those who are willing to embrace and receive Him. And this they all do through the eyes of faith.
Are these things, then, to be despised? Are they such as to be treated with contempt? Will you marvel, do you ask, at the heavenly ordinance, while you despise the ministry by which it is conveyed? Listen, then. If a man cannot ascend into heaven and behold these mysteries with the bodily eyes, but believes through the instruction he has received, what is needed in him who is appointed to teach these things? Surely he needs to be not less wonderful than the things themselves. For if Moses, who was sent to free a single people, withdrew at first, alleging his weakness — and if the prophets after him, each time they were sent to a single nation, hesitated and trembled before the divine commission — what shall we say of him whose ministry is exercised in the very presence of Christ?
And yet, after this consideration, I see persons of every age and condition rushing toward this office with light heart, and willing to be ordained without a moment's deliberation. I have known a man come from his trade in the morning, in the evening present himself for the laying-on of hands, and on the third day already exercising the office as though he had been bred to it from childhood. I do not believe — I will say it plainly — that such men perceive what they have undertaken. For if they perceived it, they would tremble. The angels, who do nothing in their assemblies on high but stand in fear and reverence before the holy mysteries, what would they say if they saw a man of yesterday, untaught and untried, stretching out his hands to the same altar?
A note on the dialogic frame
Earlier translations have sometimes presented Book III as a continuous discourse, dropping or subordinating the interjections of Basil. The Greek text in fact retains the dialogic structure throughout: Basil interrupts, raises objections, and at several points concedes the argument with brief formulas. Dr Janssen has restored these interjections, with the result that Book III reads more visibly as a dialogue than in the older English versions. The decision is editorial and we have not concealed it; we believe the dialogic texture is integral to the work and should not be smoothed away.