On Not Judging Priests
June 1
(A Homily of Saint John Chrysostom on How One Ought to Honor a Priest)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
June 1
(A Homily of Saint John Chrysostom on How One Ought to Honor a Priest)
By Archpriest Victor Guryev
In parishes where there are many schismatics among the Orthodox, the schismatics usually do everything possible to separate the Orthodox from the Orthodox Church. To accomplish this, they stir them up against the priests. As soon as they notice the slightest fault in an Orthodox shepherd, they immediately begin proclaiming it everywhere: "Look at the kind of shepherd you have! See what he does and how he lives! How can anyone listen to such a man? How can anyone go to him for confession?" and so on. And simple-minded Orthodox Christians often yield to these evil suggestions against their spiritual fathers, abandon them, flee from the Church, and, becoming schismatics themselves, become slanderers of Christ's priests. Therefore, in order to stop the mouths of these malicious accusers, and to remove you, brethren, from their slanderous suggestions and calumnies against the shepherd, we present to you the following teaching of Saint John Chrysostom concerning how one ought to honor a priest.
