John Chrysostom, On Priesthood

the Father has given to the Son.” But I see that all of it has been entrusted to them by the Son; for just as if they had already been translated to heaven, and had transcended human nature, and been freed from our passions, so they were raised to such a high office. Then if a king should bestow this honor on one of his subjects, so that he can cast into prison whom he will and release them again, this man is envied and admired by all; but he who has received from God an authority as much greater as heaven is more precious than earth, and souls than bodies, has seemed to some to have received so small an honor that they could even imagine that one of those entrusted with these things would despise the gift. Away with the madness! For it is manifest madness to despise so great an office, without which it is not possible for us to obtain either salvation or the promised good things.

3.6 6. That they are ministers of the greatest gifts from God. For if no one can enter into the kingdom of heaven unless he is born again of water and the Spirit, and he who does not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink his blood is cast out from eternal life, and all these things are accomplished by no other means, but only by those holy hands, I mean the priest's, how will anyone apart from them be able to escape the fire of Gehenna or obtain the crowns that are laid up? For these are they, these are the ones entrusted with the spiritual birth pangs and to whom is committed the birth through baptism. Through them we put on Christ and are buried with the Son of God, we become members of that blessed head, so that they would justly be to us more fearful not only than rulers and kings, but also more honored than fathers. For the latter begot us of blood and of the will of the flesh, but the former are the authors for us of the birth from God, of that blessed regeneration, of true freedom and of adoption according to grace. The Jewish priests had the authority to cleanse from leprosy of the body, or rather, not to cleanse at all, but only to declare cleansed those who were already cleansed, and you know how coveted the office of the priests was then. But these have received authority not to declare cleansed, but to cleanse completely, not leprosy of the body, but impurity of the soul, so that those who despise them would be far more accursed than those with Dathan and worthy of greater punishment. For the latter, even if they laid claim to an authority that did not belong to them, nevertheless had a wondrous opinion of it, and this they showed by desiring it with great eagerness. But these, when the office was arranged for the better and received such an increase, then they dared things contrary to those men, and much greater than theirs. For it is not the same thing in terms of contempt to desire an honor that does not belong to one, and to despise so many good things, but the latter is so much greater than the former, as is the distance between spitting upon and admiring. What soul, then, is so wretched as to overlook so many good things? I would never say so, unless one were to endure a demonic frenzy. But I will return to the point from which I digressed. For not only in punishing, but also in doing good, God has given greater power to priests than to natural parents, and the difference between them is as great as that between the present life and the life to come. For the one beget to this life, the other to that one. And the former could not ward off bodily death for them, nor repel a disease that has set in; but the latter have often saved a soul that was sick and about to perish, by making the punishment milder for some, and for others not allowing them to fall in the first place, not only by teaching and admonishing, but also by helping through prayers. For not only when they regenerate us, but also they have authority to forgive sins committed afterwards. “Is any sick among you?” he says, “let him call for the elders of the Church,

ἔδωκεν ὁ πατὴρ τῷ υἱῷ.» Ὁρῶ δὲ πᾶσαν αὐτὴν τούτους ἐγχειρισθέντας ὑπὸ τοῦ υἱοῦ· ὥσπερ γὰρ εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἤδη μετατεθέντες καὶ τὴν ἀνθρωπείαν ὑπερβάντες φύσιν καὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀπαλλαγέντες παθῶν, οὕτως εἰς τοσαύτην ἤχθησαν τὴν ἀρχήν. Εἶτα ἂν μὲν βασιλεύς τινι τῶν ὑπ' αὐτὸν ὄντων ταύτης μεταδῷ τῆς τιμῆς ὥστε ἐμβάλλειν εἰς δεσμωτήριον οὓς ἂν ἐθέλῃ καὶ ἀφιέναι πάλιν, ζηλωτὸς καὶ περίβλεπτος παρὰ πᾶσιν οὗτος· ὁ δὲ παρὰ Θεοῦ τοσούτῳ μείζονα ἐξουσίαν λαβὼν ὅσῳ γῆς τιμιώτερος ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ σωμάτων ψυχαί, οὕτω μικράν τισιν ἔδοξεν εἰληφέναι τιμὴν ὡς δυνηθῆναι κἂν ἐννοῆσαι ὅτι τῶν ταῦτά τις πιστευθέντων καὶ ὑπερφρονήσει τῆς δωρεᾶς. Ἄπαγε τῆς μανίας· μανία γὰρ περιφανὴς ὑπερορᾶν τῆς τοσαύτης ἀρχῆς ἧς ἄνευ οὔτε σωτηρίας ἡμῖν, οὔτε τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων ἀγαθῶν ἔστι τυχεῖν.

3.6 ʹ. Ὅτι τῶν παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ μεγίστων δωρεῶν εἰσι διάκονοι Εἰ γὰρ οὐ δύναταί τις εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν, ἐὰν μὴ δι' ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος ἀναγεννηθῇ, καὶ ὁ μὴ τρώγων τὴν σάρκα τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ πίνων ἐκβέβληται τῆς αἰωνίου ζωῆς, πάντα δὲ ταῦτα δι' ἑτέρου μὲν οὐδενός, μόνον δὲ διὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἐκείνων ἐπιτελεῖται χειρῶν, τῶν τοῦ ἱερέως λέγω, πῶς ἄν τις τούτων ἐκτὸς ἢ τὸ τῆς γεέννης ἐκφυγεῖν δυνήσεται πῦρ ἢ τῶν ἀποκειμένων στεφάνων τυχεῖν; Οὗτοι γάρ εἰσιν, οὗτοι οἱ τὰς πνευματικὰς πιστευθέντες ὠδῖνας καὶ τὸν διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐπιτραπέντες τόκον· διὰ τούτων ἐνδυόμεθα τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ συνθαπτόμεθα τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ, μέλη γινόμεθα τῆς μακαρίας ἐκείνης κεφαλῆς, ὥστε ἡμῖν οὐκ ἀρχόντων μόνον οὐδὲ βασιλέων φοβερώτεροι, ἀλλὰ καὶ πατέρων τιμιώτεροι δικαίως ἂν εἶεν· οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἐξ αἱμάτων καὶ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκὸς ἐγέννησαν, οἱ δὲ τῆς ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ γεννήσεως ἡμῖν εἰσιν αἴτιοι, τῆς μακαρίας παλιγγενεσίας ἐκείνης, τῆς ἐλευθερίας τῆς ἀληθοῦς καὶ τῆς κατὰ χάριν υἱοθεσίας. Λέπραν σώματος ἀπαλλάττειν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀπαλλάττειν μὲν οὐδαμῶς, τοὺς δὲ ἀπαλλαγέντας δοκιμάζειν μόνον εἶχον ἐξουσίαν οἱ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἱερεῖς, καὶ οἶσθα πῶς περιμάχητον ἦν τὸ τῶν ἱερέων τότε· οὗτοι δὲ οὐ λέπραν σώματος, ἀλλ' ἀκαθαρσίαν ψυχῆς, οὐκ ἀπαλλαγεῖσαν δοκιμάζειν, ἀλλ' ἀπαλλάττειν παντελῶς ἔλαβον ἐξουσίαν, ὥστε οἱ τούτων ὑπερορῶντες πολλῷ καὶ τῶν περὶ ∆αθὰν εἶεν ἐναγέστεροι καὶ μείζονος ἄξιοι τιμωρίας· οἱ μὲν γάρ, εἰ καὶ μὴ προσηκούσης αὐτοῖς ἀντεποιοῦντο τῆς ἀρχῆς, ἀλλ' ὅμως θαυμαστήν τινα περὶ αὐτῆς εἶχον δόξαν καὶ τοῦτο τῷ μετὰ πολλῆς ἐφίεσθαι σπουδῆς ἔδειξαν· οὗτοι δέ, ὅτε ἐπὶ τὸ κρεῖττον διεκοσμήθη καὶ τοσαύτην ἔλαβεν ἐπίδοσιν τὸ πρᾶγμα, τότε ἐξ ἐναντίας μὲν ἐκείνοις, πολλῷ δὲ ἐκείνων μείζονα τετολμήκασιν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσον εἰς καταφρονήσεως λόγον ἐφίεσθαι μὴ προσηκούσης τιμῆς καὶ ὑπερορᾶν τοσούτων ἀγαθῶν, ἀλλὰ τοσούτῳ μεῖζον ἐκεῖνο τούτου ὅσῳ τοῦ διαπτύειν καὶ θαυμάζειν τὸ μέσον ἐστί. Τίς οὖν οὕτως ἀθλία ψυχὴ ὡς τοσούτων ὑπεριδεῖν ἀγαθῶν; Οὐκ ἄν ποτε φαίην ἐγώ, πλὴν εἴ τις οἶστρον ὑπομείνειε δαιμονικόν. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐπάνειμι πάλιν ὅθεν ἐξέβην· οὐ γὰρ ἐν τῷ κολάζειν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ ποιεῖν εὖ, μείζονα τοῖς ἱερεῦσιν ἔδωκε δύναμιν τῶν φυσικῶν γονέων ὁ Θεός, καὶ τοσοῦτον ἀμφοτέρων τὸ διάφορον ὅσον τῆς παρούσης καὶ τῆς μελλούσης ζωῆς· οἱ μὲν γὰρ εἰς ταύτην, οἱ δὲ εἰς ἐκείνην γεννῶσι. Κἀκεῖνοι μὲν οὐδὲ τὸν σωματικὸν αὐτοῖς δύναιντ' ἂν ἀμύνασθαι θάνατον, οὐ νόσον ἐπενεχθεῖσαν ἀποκρούσασθαι· οὗτοι δὲ καὶ κάμνουσαν καὶ ἀπόλλυσθαι μέλλουσαν τὴν ψυχὴν πολλάκις ἔσωσαν, τοῖς μὲν πραοτέραν τὴν κόλασιν ἐργασάμενοι, τοὺς δὲ οὐδὲ παρὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἀφέντες ἐμπεσεῖν, οὐ τῷ διδάσκειν μόνον καὶ νουθετεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ δι' εὐχῶν βοηθεῖν. Οὐ γὰρ ὅταν ἡμᾶς ἀναγεννῶσι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ μετὰ ταῦτα συγχωρεῖν ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν ἁμαρτήματα. «Ἀσθενεῖ γάρ τις, φησίν, ἐν ὑμῖν; Προσκαλεσάσθω τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους τῆς Ἐκκλησίας,