Away with madness! For madness clearly
overlooks such a great foundation [αρχη],
without which we neither have salvation nor obtain the good things proclaimed
to us. For if no one can enter the kingdom of heaven except he is born again
through water and the Spirit, and unless he eats the flesh of the Lord and
drinks his blood, then he is cast out of eternal life. Then all these things
are done through no other means but only through those holy hands, those of the
priests I mean. Then how can anyone without these escape the fire of hell, or
obtain the crowns stored up? These men are those who have been entrusted with
spiritual birth pangs and who have been entrusted with giving birth through baptism.
Through these we are clothed with Christ and buried with the Son of God. We
become members of that blessed head! So then they [the priests] are more to be
feared than rulers and kings. And not only this; they are honored more than
parents. They [parents] give birth from blood and the will of the flesh, but
they [priests] are the source of our birth from God, of that blessed
regeneration, of that true freedom and adoption by grace. (On the Priesthood,
3,5-6)
To understand the priesthood, it is necessary
to distinguish its objective aspects from its subjective appropriation by a
particular man. Here John concentrates on the objective features of the
institution when he speaks of the necessity of the priesthood from salvation.
Quoting from Jn 3:5 (on the necessity of baptism) and Jn 6:53 (on the necessity
of communing in the Eucharist), Chrysostom insists that “all these things are
done through no other means but only through those holy hands, those of the
priests I mean.” A key word in this context is “entrusted” (πιστευθεντες) because John
certainly embraces Paul’s self-description as “stewards of the mysteries of God”
(1 Cor 4:1) even if he doesn’t quote it at this point. And picking up on Paul’s
words, the priest’s baptismal ministrations make a person “buried with the Son
of God” (Rom 6:4) and clothe that person with Christ (Gal 3:27). The priest can
command even greater respect than parents because God has entrusted with “spiritual
birth pangs” (τας πνευματικας ωδινας)
and with nourishing the faith of the children of God through the Eucharist. The
honor due to the priest is as high above natural parents as the world of heaven
is to this world. (Kenneth J. Howell, John Chrysostom: Theologian of the
Eucharist [Washington. D. C.: The Catholic University of America Press,
2024], 180)
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