Code of Honor for a Priest. What’s the Danger of Trying to Mingle with the World?
Make a
Vow
As soon as they are consecrated, new priests
acquire a new life. Similar to the Sacrament of Baptism, which restores the
purity of God’s image in a human being, the Sacrament of Priesthood also
revives the image of God.
When a person becomes a priest or a monk, he
crosses the threshold of a new reality and declares that it is God who is the
purpose of his life.
The vows that the person takes demonstrate that
the Lord becomes the reference point of his entire life, and that there aren’t
any values of this world that could undermine his desire to come closer to God
and to serve Him.
The
Spiritual Code
If we look into it carefully, we’ll see that the
vows taken by a priest or a monk in front of God and people imply his
acceptance of a certain spiritual code of conduct. It is an oath that he has to
abide by till the end of his days. Finally, it’s an examination of his decency
and courage, accountability and honesty, and his allegiance to his cause.
It brings to memory Moonzund, a novel by Valentin
Pikul, which describes the last months of the First World War and underlines
how important it was to preserve one’s honor, courage, and allegiance to one’s
cause in the wake of various difficult and contradictory circumstances.
First Lieutenant Artenyev who serves on a
destroyer, maintains the qualities of a true naval officer in spite of the
difficult situation. He is a brave and resolute man, who is also capable of
compassion and who becomes sad when his crew faces a tough luck.
As an officer, he cannot yield to the destructive
tendencies on the warship, and doesn’t want to placate rudeness, knavery, and
cowardice.
He does everything he can to prevent anarchy and
lawlessness.
Letting go of the reins and backing down is
fraught with peril, judging by the example of another officer who was in charge
of the engine room.
Afraid for his life, he started appeasing the
sailors as soon as the riot broke out on the ship. He tolerated humiliation and
mockery. He broke the code of honor and smeared his dignity, at which point he
lost the other officers’ respect while not becoming a comrade for the
rank-and-file sailors. He was openly despised and later blamed for disorder and
collapse of the engine room.
Once a
Priest, Always a Priest
Nowadays, there are priests who cannot withstand
external pressure of the hateful society, agitated by the slanderous and
misleading mass media accounts, which love to spit out libel about the Church,
as well as internal provocations of other clergymen, who are unqualified for
this sacred calling due to a number of factors, including their personal
qualities. Those priests fail the test, betray the Church and the vows that
they promised to God, and infect other priests with their rebellious
“revolutionary” talk.
They find it hard not to kowtow to those who, in
their opinion, possess power and wealth. They do their best to demonstrate to
the outsiders that they are “good fellas”, accommodating and harmless.
It is a great personal tragedy for those priests.
Trials must make us stronger, unite us, and help us to find out what is the
most important for us. They must make our souls free from debris. That is
something every Christian, especially a priest, must remember.
A priest’s heart requires constant purification to
be a worthy container for God. Self-improvement is key for a successful priest.
Abba Isaiah instructs, “If you want God to dwell in your heart, keep it
spotless.” You must always remain honest and sincere with yourself, the Lord,
and other people.
If there is just a bit of an unrepented and hidden
sin in your heart, all your efforts, your ministry, and your achievements will
be null and void. You won’t be able to resist temptations. You won’t be able to
walk down your path till the end. You won’t be able to respect yourself.
One has to be true to his calling in every aspect.
Spiritual life in general has no trivial or less important details.
It is not accidental at all that the Church puts
special clothes on her priests. Those clothes must ensure their proper
functioning. One must never be shy of wearing the priestly clothes under any
circumstances!
Obviously, clothes don’t make us any better ipso
facto. At the same time, they have been known to shield priests from many
temptations.
Aside from that, the appearance and prudent
behavior of a priest or a monk serve as a guidance for our contemporaries.
It isn’t easy to defy the pressure of the ever-changing
world and not to get caught under the millstones of popular trends and
tendencies. Christianity is for the strong in spirit.
Every person who chooses this path must be aware
of the high dignity of a Christian, and especially of a priest or a monk. When
you break these vows, you betray yourselves first of all. The Church was, is,
and will remain forever. She is like a ship in a turbulent sea. She resists all
storms and torrents. She saves and protects everyone who is inside.
Only those who don’t forget the vows that they’ve
made before God and stick to those vows, will be saved.
By Metropolitan Anthony (Pakanic)
Recorded
by Natallia Goroshkova
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
Source: https://pravlife.org/content/kodeks-chesti-svyashchennika-chem-opasno-stremlenie-stat-svoim-sredi-chuzhih
