What’s Good About the Priesthood?

“Okay, you’ve told us about the ‘bad’ in regards to the priesthood. Surely there’s something ‘good’ about being a priest … right? What’s good about the priesthood?” This from the wife of a man who was flirting with a vocation. What did I say? I laughed. I had no answer. I asked the question of several colleagues — they howled. What’s the “good” in priesthood?

More billows toss the priest’s soul than the gales which trouble the sea. – St. John Chrysostom, 4th c.

The trials of this world are not a stumbling block for the good; be just, and they will exercise you in virtue. When tribulation comes, it will be for you precisely, what you desire to make of it — either a test or a damnation. Tribulation is a fire; has it found for you gold? If so, remove the dross. Has it found for you straw? If so, it will turn you to ashes. – St. Augustine, 5th c.

On the way home the other day I heard Ira Glass plugging his NPR radio show. In the ad, he spoke of a man who, even though Jesse Helms tried to persuade him, would not change the way he voted. When asked why, the man replied, “Jesse Helms just doesn’t understand the Conservative movement.” The next sound heard in the ad was hysterical laughter! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Believe me, that’s how my question was received. “What’s good about the priesthood?”

It is difficult to speak of the “good” in priesthood chiefly because a “good” is something we normally take pride in. Yet, pride is the sin that wipes away humility which is the very ministry to which priests are called. One thing must be said at the outset, by “good” we are not referring to “happy”. In other words, this good is not an emotion or a possession. For most, the priesthood will not provide earthly riches.

However, as with any vocation or profession, the priesthood does provide happy moments. There’s plenty of parties and celebrations, births, weddings, and social events included within the life of a priest. Yet the good in the priesthood may not resemble the happy things of life in the least. For a good is often something we glory in. “But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world”, writes St. Paul to the Galations (6:14).

Trying to grasp the good in priesthood — using the common worldly understanding of good — is like trying to hold onto smoke. Perhaps this is because our view of what is good and our experience of the priesthood seemingly have little in common. Why is this? Maybe God’s definition of good differs from ours? This is certainly the case.

I believe that unless one is actually called by the Providence of God to the Holy Priesthood, he will fail. Fr Alexander Schmemann wrote:

No one can take it upon himself to become a priest, to decide on the basis of his own qualifications, preparation and predispositions. The vocation always comes from above — from God’s ordination and order. It is not ‘priesthood’ that the priest receives in his ordination, but the gift of Christ’s love, that love which made Christ the only Priest and which fills with this unique priesthood, the ministry of those whom He sends to His people.

Obedience to the call from God is inherently good. The Theotokos is our model in this call of obedience. By saying “yes” to God she bore the Salvation of the world which is Christ. In the same manner, a priest is called to be a type of God-bearer by his obedience. Then again, what was prophesied of Mary can be said of priests: “a sword will pierce through your own soul also”.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus teaches us:

The responsibility of pastoral office is great indeed, and no one ought to enter who has not deeply examined motive and ability, who has not struggled against call in the face of the Godly demands of office and the frailty of mere humanity, and for whom obedience alone is the yield of faithfulness.

Obedience is an intrinsic good. If a priest is obedient to the will and call of God — that constitutes a good in itself. Without this good any fruit borne of his ministry will be dark and bitter. Soon the disobedient priest shall be but a barren and withered fig tree. Such is not the will and call of God.

Perhaps this is why we laugh without a ready answer to the question, “What’s good about the priesthood?” We laugh because, the truth is, we know all the wrong answers to the question. For there is nothing inherently good in JUST being a priest. God forbid that we should teach our children, female and male, that the most superior way to serve God is by being up front, in some “official” capacity. If we do, we’ve educated them in a falsehood.

Sacrifice is the essence of the priesthood. The priesthood of all believers (laity) the ordained priesthood (clergy) is filled with sacrifice. We betray this truth when we view participation around the altar, in front of the iconostasis — up front — as somehow superior to the indispensable ministry of the faithful as the sacrificing community of God.

Once a man has obeyed the call for ordination, he shall soon become acquainted with the essence of the priestly ministry: sacrifice. How can sacrifice be seen as a good? The same way “Good Friday” is good! That is, in sacrificing himself for others, the priest models Him Whom he re-presents. Sacrificing is life giving. The devil, though often disguised as an angel of light, refuses to sacrifice. Self-indulgence, i.e. not sacrificing, leads to death. Sacrifice differentiates good from evil. Sacrifice is inherently good. Sacrifice is to be offered on behalf of all and for all to the Triune God and Creator of all. Gregory of Nazianzus writes of the priest:

For he seeks not his own interests, but those of his children, whom he has begotten in Christ by the gospel. This is the aim of all his spiritual authority, in everything to neglect his own in comparison with the advantage of others.

When, in St. Matthew’s gospel, the rich young ruler approaches Christ and asks how to inherit eternal life, the query is prefaced by the salutation “Good Teacher”. “Why do you call Me good?” replies Christ, “No one is good but One, that is, God.” Herein lies the answer to our question. What is good about the priesthood? God. The immeasurable joy that one experiences when he and others are drawn into the never ending Mystery which is God is truly the good that fuels one’s priestly ministry.

The faith of the priest is continually enhanced by the faith of the flock. This faith understands its creator as a God of Mercy, Compassion, and Love for mankind. God works through people and the experience of this, sinful though we be, is a good that passes human understanding. The sacrificing priest reveals God to his flock and reconciles the people to God. This is the ministry of Christ which is made manifest in His priests. For it is not our ministry but God’s. It is not our priesthood, but Christ’s. George Florovsky says of priests:

They are acting primarily in

persona Christi. They are representatives of Christ himself, not of believers; and in them and through them the head of the Body, the only High Priest of the New Covenant, is preforming, continuing and accomplishing his eternal pastoral and priestly office. He is himself the only true minister of the Church. This ministry of obedience, sacrifice, revelation, and reconciliation is improbable — nay impossible — void of a special grace from God. Before a man can serve the priestly office he must be given a special charism, or gift, from God the Holy Spirit. This gift — the grace of the priesthood — is necessary for any and all good to come from this sacred ministry. During the ordination rite the Bishops prays:

O God great in might and inscrutable in wisdom, marvelous in counsel above the sons of men Do thou, the same Lord, fill with the gift of the Holy Spirit this man whom it hath pleased thee to advance to the degree of Priest; that he may be worthy to stand in innocency before thine Altar; to proclaim the Gospel of thy kingdom; to minister the word of thy truth; to offer unto thee spiritual gifts and sacrifices; to renew thy people through the laver of regeneration. That when he shall go to meet thee, at the Second Coming of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, thine Only-begotten Son, he may receive the reward of a good steward in the degree committed unto him through the plenitude of thy goodness.

The Holy Spirit is invoked upon the candidate in order for him to proclaim the Gospel, minister the word of truth, offer spiritual gifts and sacrifices, and to renew the people of God. Then, and only then, are the true good things of God bestowed upon him — and that at the Last Day! Yet, the good that is found in between this life and the next is in being obedient to the call and charism. It is the struggle, the spiritual warfare, the unceasing love of God, and the promise of His Kingdom that are the good things this side of the grave. Without any of these, we have only Satan, sin, and death.

In obedience to God, the priest leads his flock toward their eternal reward with the Triune God. Again, St. Gregory writes:

But the scope of our art is to provide the soul with wings, to rescue it from the world and give it to God, and to watch over that which is in His image, if it abides, to take it by the hand, if it is in danger, or restore it, if ruined, to make Christ to dwell in the heart by the Spirit; and, in short, to deify, and bestow heavenly bliss upon, one who belongs to the heavenly host.

This shepherd will ‘take a stand with angels, and give glory with archangels, and cause the sacrifice to ascend to the altar on high, and share the priesthood of Christ, and renew the creature, and set forth the image, and create inhabitants for the world above, aye and, greatest of all, be God, and make others to be God.

The good in the priesthood is the Priesthood of Christ. The good in the priesthood is the “already and not yet” of the Kingdom of God. The priest re-presents the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, Who is the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of the world and its salvation. This same Christ, Who is God, is the Good of the priesthood. The priest must be ever mindful of this in order to faithfully serve his ministry in Christ.

However, in the process of re-presenting and sacrificing, the priest shall experience his own pain and suffering on behalf of all and for all to the glory of God.

He needs, therefore, a heroic spirit, not to grow despondent or neglect the salvation of the wanderers, but to keep on thinking and saying‘Peradventure God may give them the knowledge of the truth and they may be freed from the snare of the devil’ (St John Chrsostom).

Like Christ, the same people whom the priest serves shall crucify him. A parishioner once told me that each parish is every priest’s own personal Golgotha. Is this bad? No more than “Good Friday” is bad. For in dying to self, the priest is alive to others in Christ. This is not to say that crucifixion is inherently good. For the sacrifice pleasing to God is a contrite spirit and a humble heart. Again, St John Chrsostom:

The priest must be armed with weapons of steel — intense earnestness and constant sobriety of life — and he must keep watch in every direction, in case anyone should find a naked and unguarded spot and strike him a mortal blow. For everyone stands round him ready to wound him and strike him down, not only his enemies and foes, but many of those who pretend to love him.

What is good in this? Salvation. In the struggle of spiritual warfare, both within the priest and among his flock, the good fight is fought amid pain and suffering with the constant remembrance that God is with us. God’s presence does not always feel warm and fuzzy. Sometimes God is presented on the Cross. Sometimes the priest is made the “sacrificial lamb” by his peers — even his own flock. At other times, the weight of suffering, both his own and that of others’, hones his ministry. This is a good which leads to compassion.

It is quite dizzying for the modern, materialistic, secularist mind to comprehend suffering as a good. Yet if we read Church History and the lives of the saints, we see that suffering is necessary for salvation in much the same way that death is necessary for eternal life. This is the ministry of the Compassionate One — Who leads us toward compassion.

Compassion is the good fruit born of a faithful ministry to God and His people. This ministry begs us to recognize Christ in others. As God is compassionate, so are we to be. The priestly ministry is permeated with love and forgiveness. For there is no other way for us to reside in the will of God than to be living, loving, and forgiving. We either come by this willingly — or through hard knocks. Either way, it is the will of God and shall be done, often in spite of ourselves.

The glory of the priesthood is the glory of the Cross. The good in priesthood does not belong to the priest — nor to this earth. What is good about the priesthood is the recurring insight, provided by God’s grace, that one is doing the will of God. The good of the priesthood is in continually realizing that God is Good. The good of the priesthood is in sharing the goodness of God — even His precious Body and Blood — with others who, along with the priest, are unworthy of this great good. “No one is good but One, that is, God.” St. Gregory of Nazianzus states:

Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him, yesterday I died with Him; today I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him. But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the Image what is made after the Image. Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us.

Thus, the glory which is to come fortifies the present ministry of the sacrificing priest. This is not only good — but necessary for his salvation. Over and over again, the question, “What’s good in the priesthood?” is answered by one word: Christ. For in this ministry, over and over again, “We recognize that apart from him we can do nothing.” If we as priests are faithful in imparting this wisdom to those in our charge we shall receive the reward of a good steward at the Second Coming of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

* The above paper was originally written for clergy and edited (unfortunately losing the footnotes) for this blog.