John Chrysostom, On Priesthood

6.1 DISCOURSE 2 1. That priests are also subject to answer for the sins of others And such are matters here, as you have heard; but how shall we bear matters there, when we are compelled to give an account for each of those entrusted to us? For the penalty is not limited to shame, but eternal punishment also awaits. For the words "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls," although I have said them before, I will not be silent now; for the fear of this threat continually shakes my soul. For if it is better for the one who causes even one of the least to stumble that a millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the sea and all those who wound the conscience of the brothers sin against Christ himself, what will those who destroy not only one, or two, or three, but so great a multitude, suffer, and what penalty will they pay? For it is not possible to plead inexperience, nor to take refuge in ignorance, nor to put forward compulsion and force, but one of the ruled would sooner have used this refuge for his own sins, if it were possible, than the rulers for the sins of others. Why is this? Because he who is appointed to correct the ignorance of others and to announce beforehand the coming of the devil's war will not be able to put forward the plea of ignorance, nor to say: I did not hear the trumpet, I did not foresee the war. For he was set in this position for this very purpose, as Ezekiel says, that he might sound the trumpet for others and forewarn of the coming troubles. And for this reason the punishment is inescapable, even if the one who perishes happens to be only one; "for if, when the sword is coming, the watchman does not sound the trumpet to the people, nor give a sign," he says, "and the sword comes and takes a soul, it is taken for its iniquity, but I will require its blood from the hand of the watchman." 6.2 2. That they need greater strictness than monks Cease, therefore, pushing us into so inescapable a penalty; for our discourse is not about a military command or a kingdom, but about a matter requiring angelic virtue. For the priest's soul must be purer than the very rays of the sun, so that the Holy Spirit may never leave him desolate, so that he may be able to say: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." For if those who inhabit the desert, being free from the city and the marketplace and the disturbances from there, and continually enjoying harbors and calm, are not willing to trust in the security of that way of life, but add countless other safeguards, fencing themselves in on every side and being diligent to say and do all things with great strictness so that they may be able to approach God with boldness and sincere purity, as far as human power can, how much power and force do you think one who is consecrated as a priest needs in order to be able to snatch his soul from every defilement and to preserve its spiritual beauty unharmed? For he needs far greater purity than they, and he who needs greater purity is subject to more necessities than they which are able to defile him, unless by using continual watchfulness and great effort he makes his soul inaccessible to them. For beauty of faces and languishing movements and studied gait and modulation of the voice and painting of the eyes and rouging of the cheeks and arrangement of braids and dyeing of hair and luxury of garments and variety of gold ornaments and beauty of precious stones and fragrance of perfumes and all the other things that the female sex practices, are enough to disturb a soul, unless it happens to be hardened by great austerity of self-control. But to be disturbed by these things is not at all surprising; but for the devil to be able to strike even through their opposites

6.1 ΛΟΓΟΣ ʹ αʹ. Ὅτι καὶ ταῖς εὐθύναις τῶν ἑτέροις ἁμαρτανομένων ὑπόκεινται οἱ ἱερεῖσ Καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐνταῦθα τοιαῦτα οἷάπερ ἤκουσας· τὰ δὲ ἐκεῖ πῶς οἴσομεν, ὅταν καθ' ἕκαστον τῶν πιστευθέντων ἀναγκαζώμεθα τὰς εὐθύνας ὑπέχειν; Οὐ γὰρ μέχρις αἰσχύνης ἡ ζημία, ἀλλὰ καὶ αἰώνιος ἐκδέχεται κόλασις. Τὸ γὰρ «Πείθεσθε τοῖς ἡγουμένοις ὑμῶν καὶ ὑπείκετε, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἀγρυπνοῦσιν ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν», εἰ καὶ πρότερον εἶπον, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ νῦν σιωπήσομαι· ὁ γὰρ φόβος ταύτης τῆς ἀπειλῆς συνεχῶς κατασείει μου τὴν ψυχήν. Εἰ γὰρ τῷ μόνον ἕνα σκανδαλίζοντι καὶ ἐλάχιστον συμφέρει ἵνα μύλος ὀνικὸς κρεμασθῇ εἰς τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦ καὶ καταποντισθῇ εἰς τὴν θάλατταν καὶ πάντες οἱ τὴν συνείδησιν τῶν ἀδελφῶν τύπτοντες εἰς αὐτὸν ἁμαρτάνουσι τὸν Χριστόν, οἱ μὴ μόνον ἕνα καὶ δύο καὶ τρεῖς, ἀλλὰ πλήθη τοσαῦτα ἀπολλύντες, τί ποτε ἆρα πείσονται καὶ ποίαν δώσουσι δίκην; Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἀπειρίαν ἔστιν αἰτιάσασθαι, οὐδὲ εἰς ἄγνοιαν καταφυγεῖν, οὐδὲ ἀνάγκην προβαλέσθαι καὶ βίαν, ἀλλὰ θᾶττον ἄν τις τῶν ἀρχομένων, εἴ γε ἐνῆν, ἐν ταῖς οἰκείαις ἁμαρτίαις ἐχρήσατο ταύτῃ τῇ καταφυγῇ ἢ ἐν ταῖς ἑτέρων οἱ προεστῶτες. Τί δή ποτε; Ὅτι ὁ ταχθεὶς τὰς τῶν ἄλλων ἀγνοίας ἐπανορθοῦν καὶ τὸν διαβολικὸν πόλεμον προμηνύειν ἐρχόμενον οὐ δυνήσεται προβαλέσθαι τὴν ἄγνοιαν, οὐδὲ εἰπεῖν· Οὐκ ἤκουσα τῆς σάλπιγγος, οὐ προῄδειν τὸν πόλεμον. Ἐπὶ τούτῳ γὰρ ἐκάθισεν, ὡς ὁ Ἰεζεκιήλ φησιν, ἵνα καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις σαλπίζῃ καὶ προμηνύῃ τὰ μέλλοντα δυσχερῆ. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπαραίτητος ἡ κόλασις, κἂν εἷς ὢν ὁ ἀπολωλὼς τύχῃ· «ἐὰν γὰρ τῆς ῥομφαίας ἐρχομένης μὴ σαλπίσῃ τῷ λαῷ, μηδὲ σημάνῃ, φησίν, ὁ σκοπὸς καὶ ἐλθοῦσα ἡ ῥομφαία λάβῃ ψυχήν, αὐτὴ μὲν διὰ τὴν ἀνομίαν αὐτῆς ἐλήφθη, τὸ δὲ αἷμα αὐτῆς ἐκ χειρὸς τοῦ σκοποῦ ἐκζητήσω.» 6.2 βʹ. Ὅτι τῶν μοναζόντων ἀκριβείας δέονται πλείονοσ Παῦσαι τοίνυν ἡμᾶς ὠθῶν εἰς οὕτως ἄφυκτον δίκην· οὐ γὰρ ὑπὲρ στρατηγίας οὐδὲ βασιλείας ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ πράγματος ἀγγελικῆς ἀρετῆς δεομένου. Καὶ γὰρ τῶν ἀκτίνων αὐτῶν καθαρωτέραν τῷ ἱερεῖ τὴν ψυχὴν εἶναι δεῖ ἵνα μή ποτε αὐτὸν ἔρημον καταλιμπάνῃ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, ἵνα δύνηται λέγειν· «Ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός.» Εἰ γὰρ οἱ τὴν ἔρημον οἰκοῦντες καὶ πόλεως καὶ ἀγορᾶς καὶ τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἀπηλλαγμένοι θορύβων καὶ διαπαντὸς λιμένων καὶ γαλήνης ἀπολαύοντες οὐκ ἐθέλουσι θαρρεῖν τῇ τῆς διαίτης ἐκείνης ἀσφαλείᾳ, ἀλλὰ μυρίας ἑτέρας προστιθέασι φυλακάς, πάντοθεν ἑαυτοὺς περιφράττοντες καὶ μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀκριβείας καὶ λέγειν ἅπαντα καὶ πράττειν σπουδάζοντες ἵνα μετὰ παρρησίας καὶ καθαρότητος εἰλικρινοῦς, ὅσον εἰς ἀνθρωπείαν ἧκε δύναμιν, προσιέναι τῷ Θεῷ δύνωνται, πόσης οἴει δεῖν τῷ ἱερωμένῳ καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ βίας ὥστε δυνηθῆναι παντὸς ἐξαρπάσαι μολυσμοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἀσινὲς τὸ πνευματικὸν τηρῆσαι κάλλος; Καὶ γὰρ πολλῷ μείζονος αὐτῷ δεῖ καθαρότητος ἢ ἐκείνοις καὶ ᾧ μείζονος δεῖ, οὗτος πλείοσιν ἀνάγκαις ἐκείνων ὑπόκειται ταῖς δυναμέναις αὐτὸν ῥυποῦν, ἢν μὴ τῇ διηνεκεῖ νήψει καὶ τῷ πολλῷ τόνῳ χρησάμενος ἄβατον αὐταῖς ἐργάσηται τὴν ψυχήν. Καὶ γὰρ προσώπων εὐμορφία καὶ κινημάτων διάθρυψις καὶ βαδίσεως ἐπιτήδευσις καὶ φωνῆς διάκλασις καὶ ὀφθαλμῶν ὑπογραφαὶ καὶ παρειῶν ἐπιγραφαὶ καὶ πλεγμάτων συνθέσεις καὶ τριχῶν βαφαὶ καὶ ἱματίων πολυτέλεια καὶ χρυσίων ποικιλία καὶ λίθων κάλλος καὶ μύρων εὐοδμία καὶ τἄλλα πάντα ἃ τὸ γυναικεῖον ἐπιτηδεύει γένος, ἱκανὰ θορυβῆσαι ψυχήν, ἢν μὴ πολλῇ τῇ τῆς σωφροσύνης αὐστηρότητι ἀπεσκληκυῖα τύχῃ. Ἀλλὰ τὸ μὲν ὑπὸ τούτων ταράττεσθαι, θαυμαστὸν οὐδέν· τὸ δὲ καὶ διὰ τῶν τούτοις ἐναντίων δύνασθαι βάλλειν τὸν διάβολον