Second Sunday of Pentecost
Don't Insult the Priest!
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Don't Insult the Priest!
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Here is a very instructive story of one priest: “My father,” said this shepherd, “was a priest for a long time at the Church of Saint Andrew, where I have served since 1824; he gave me the following obvious proof of the truth that it is dangerous to insult a priest. In his parish there was a certain Maxim, from the Little Russian Cossacks, a man of an obstinate character, especially when he drank, which, unfortunately, happened to him quite often. My father, in accordance with his duties as a shepherd, admonished him at every opportunity, urged him to reform and stop drinking. Once, seeing this Maxim, again behaving outrageously while drunk, he made a remark to him: 'How badly you act, Maxim, how you sin!' However, Maxim, instead of adhering to the counsel given, uttered a considerable amount of rudeness and foul language to his spiritual father, and in response to my father's remark, 'But I am your spiritual father,' retorted, 'May I never see you, even when I am dying.' Thus, the matter concluded there.
Several years passed since then, and it happened that this Maxim fell ill. His family called my father to give the sick man the Holy Gifts. My father came, but as soon as he entered the hut, the sick man, who had been conscious and talking, suddenly became speechless in the presence of his confessor, fell into unconsciousness and looked in a frenzy, not seeing anything. No matter how much my father and his family spoke to him, he remained speechless.
There was nothing to do; father left the hut and was about to go home, when suddenly the family said that the sick man had come to his senses and asked him to return. But as soon as he entered the hut, the sick man again fell unconscious and became incapable of receiving the Mysteries. The next day, the sick man’s relatives again asked my father to confess him and give him Communion, since he was already conscious. My father, thinking that the sick man could possibly not receive the Mystery from him alone, did not go himself, but invited another priest; but what happened? The same thing happened: before the priest’s arrival, the sick man spoke and was conscious, but as soon as he entered the hut, he became unconscious and speechless. When the priest left the hut, the sick man came to his senses again; they again asked the priest to return, but as soon as he entered the hut, the sick man again lost consciousness. So this poor fellow died without the communion of the Holy Mysteries. May the Lord God forgive and have mercy on him!”
Source: From the book The Simple Gospel Word: Stories and Reflections from the Gospel Readings on Sundays and Feasts, 1890. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
