Priestly office (1a)

By Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk (Sokolov)

On the commandments of God

V. How many commandments of God were given to Moses on Sinai?

A. Ten, they are as follows (Exodus 20:1-17):

1. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: you shall have no other gods before me.”

2. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

3. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” 4. “Remember the Sabbath day (i.e. Sunday), to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” 5. “Honor your father and your mother, that it may go well with you, and that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.” 6. “You shall not kill.” 7. “You shall not commit adultery.” 8. “You shall not steal.” 9. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” 10. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his cattle, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Addition “To the office of the priest.” On the Sacrament of Holy Repentance

Advice to a priest on how to act during confession.

A priest must have great discernment and every fear when he confesses a repentant sinner; therefore, in addition to what is indicated in the Trebniks about the form of confession, I advise you to take into account the following and act in this way. 1. When you, presbyter, confess your spiritual son, you must first with all meekness and quietness, as a doctor of the soul, admonish him to declare all the sins which he committed after the previous confession, and ask: has he fulfilled the penance given by his spiritual father or by you yourself, the presbyter? And then, when he declares that he has fulfilled it, you can say to him thus:

“You, child, are confessing to God, Whom you have angered with your sins; and I am His unworthy servant and a witness of your repentance. Conceal nothing, do not be ashamed and do not fear anything, since there are only three of us here: God, before Whom you have sinned, Who knows all your sins perfectly as they were committed; because God is everywhere, in every place, and wherever you did, or said, or thought, good or bad, He was there, and knows it all perfectly, and is now with us, but He only awaits your voluntary repentance and confession. You yourself also know your sins. Do not be ashamed to speak them all out, since you were not ashamed to do them. I am the third, obsequious to you, the same man as you, therefore there is nothing to be ashamed of me.” Moreover, to declare to the confessor that he should forgive everyone against whom he has enmity, since God does not forgive him who does not forgive his neighbor’s sins – so Christ Himself teaches: “And if you do not forgive men their sins, then your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matt. 6:15), – and also to be reconciled with others, whomever he has offended in any way, and if he stole anything, he would return it. And when he himself forgives the one who has offended him, and if he has offended anyone and stolen something, promises to return it, treat him at confession as it is printed in the Book of Trebniks about confession.

2. When during confession you notice that the one confessing is contrite in heart and grieves over his sins, then this is good, thanks be to God! But if you do not notice in him that regret and heartfelt contrition, then try in every way to bring him to regret that he has angered God, who is so good, so merciful, such a great benefactor, with his sins. What you can do is to do it by example, showing your heartache about the fact that we all anger God, and use touching speech. In this way you can say:

“Do you know, child, what kind of people we are before God when we sin? We are extremely ungrateful; then we lag behind God, and join His adversary and our enemy the devil; We reject His fatherly love, we despise the Blood of the Son of God, shed for us; we despise His holy Gospel and the fact that He feeds us, warms us, preserves us from all evil, the sun shines on us, gives us rain and all kinds of fruits for food – but we forget all these blessings when we sin. Because when we sin, we do not listen to Him, we turn away from Him. And God looks down from heaven on all this ingratitude of ours. Judge then, what it is like for God to see such ingratitude on our part, for God our benefactor and Father, who has loved us so much, who pities us so much, who has mercy on us so much! Ah, what are we doing, that we are so insensitive!.. Do not our parents, father and mother feel sorry when we do not listen to their instructions and resist them? Does not our benefactor feel sorry when instead of love we repay him with hatred, instead of good we repay him with evil? Does not God feel more sorrow from us, God, who feeds us, clothes us, preserves us from all evil and fulfills other good deeds, when instead of love we repay Him with hatred and show such ingratitude? Ah, it would be better for us then that the sun did not shine, it would be better for us not to see this light, it would be better for us to lose our parents and friends, it would be better for us to die a hundred times, it would be better for us not to live in this world!..” 3. After confession, when you are already dismissing your spiritual son, you, presbyter, must exhort the confessed one to guard himself in every way from sins and always think about this, so as to have nothing in the world more dear than his Creator the Lord God, and if possible, not to spare his own life and health for His honor; and so that he thinks of doing everything that is pleasing to His holy will; and for the sins that have passed, he tries to make amends as much as possible. Here you suggest to him that God hates sins very much and brings all kinds of punishment for sins. You can tell him about this in the following way: “God hates sins so much that He sent His Son into the world to destroy them. This is what the Apostle of Christ John the Theologian teaches: “For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and the works of the devil are sins. God brings every punishment for sins, God did not spare the angels for sin and cast them down from heaven; for the sins of Adam and his whole generation he drove them out of paradise and condemned them to death; for the sins he drowned the whole world with waters; for the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah with the surrounding cities he burned with fire from heaven; for the sins he prepared Gehenna, hell and unbearable torment. For the sins even now all sorts of troubles happen; for the sins of illness, sorrow, war, terrible bloodshed happen; for the sins of pestilence, fire, attacks of foreigners, famine, and other similar things happen. And you, child, remembering this, beware of sinning in the future, lest some evil befall you; and for those sins that you have committed up to now, try to satisfy.

These three points together must be observed during confession, when you confess a healthy person. As for the last, third, one can say this to the confessor and to all those who have confessed, after confession.

How to act during confession and the communion of the Holy Mysteries of the sick

First, during confession you, priest, must exhort the sick person to forgive everyone, no matter who has offended you; also, to reward anyone you have offended in any way, as best you can; and after confession you must console him, offering him God’s mercy, which cannot be overcome by any sins, if only the confessor would regret that he has angered God his Benefactor all his life. Thus you can say to the sick person:

“Child, although you have sinned in this and that way, nevertheless, do not despair of God’s mercy; admit yourself guilty before God, regret that you have sinned; and God will accept even this small repentance and contrition of your heart, for repentance does not depend on a long time, but on the zeal of the penitent. Here are examples of God’s mercy to repentant sinners, which the Holy Scripture, written by the Holy Spirit, offers you; bring them to mind and always remember:

The publican, a great sinner, who cried out to Him in a single hour, God forgave (Luke 18:9-14).

The prodigal son, who squandered his property with harlots, He kindly received (Luke 15:10-32).

The great sinner, who wept, He forgave her many sins and said: “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven” (Luke 7:47).

The thief, who cried out on the cross at the last hour: “Remember me, O Lord, when You come into Your kingdom!” (Luke 23:42), – forgave and said thus: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Peter, who three times denied and wept over his sin, He kindly received and again confirmed in the apostolic rank.

Manasseh, the king of the Jews, and the Ninevites, who had committed sin and repented, He forgave (2 Chronicles 33:1-20; Jonah 3).

And He Himself says with sincere lips: “I do not desire the death of a sinner,” – and so on (Ezek 33:11).

Behold, child, how merciful God is to repentant sinners! The same merciful God now shows the same mercy to repentant sinners. For He is our Creator, and we are His creatures; He is our God, and we are His people; He is our Lord, and we are His servants; He is our Father, and we are His unworthy sons, – therefore He will have mercy on us in every way, when we turn to Him with tears and regret. He also accepts your contrite confession with His mercy and by His grace forgives your sins for the sake of the death of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Be hopeful of your salvation, be courageous, be strong, do not admit any thoughts contrary to this into your head! ” After consolation, the priest communes the sick person with the Body and Blood of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, saying these words: “Behold, the merciful and loving Christ our God gives you His Body and Blood as a sign of His mercy and love for you, as a farewell to eternal life: accept, my dearest, this pledge of eternal life with spiritual joy and love, and thank the great Merciful One, and, strengthened by these Holy Mysteries, be of good confidence. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, enlightening, strengthening, protecting, guiding you to the quiet haven of eternal life, and the Angel of God, your faithful guardian, amen.”

The Apostle’s Admonition to the Pastors

“Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). The Holy Apostle Paul says to the elders of the Church of Ephesus: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock.” Consider also how precious His flock has become to Christ God, that is, His rational sheep, over whom you have been appointed shepherds by the Holy Spirit. And how precious? Christ shed His Blood for this flock, and one drop of which is priceless, for it is Divine. Woe to us if through our negligence, and even greater woe if through temptations any sheep of this flock perishes! He will seek all His sheep when He sits on the throne of His glory, no longer as a Shepherd, but as Lord and Judge. “See then,” I add the apostolic word, “that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise” (Eph. 5:15). Here is God’s rebuke to the shepherds: “Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and will require My sheep at their hand” (Ezek. 34:10).

(to be continued)

Source in Russian: Writings of the Holy Fathers and Teachers of the Church, relating to the interpretation of Orthodox worship. Volume III. – St. Petersburg: In the Printing House of Grigory Trusov, 1857. – P. 225-248.

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