Distinction XL

GRATIAN. Part I. A bishop also ought to be adorned and hospitable. The episcopal ornaments ought to be understood as the virtues that are promised to them by the Lord when it is said: “I will clothe his priests with salvation.” Hence in the Old Testament priests are read to have been adorned with various garments at the Lord’s command, because the life of a pontiff ought to shine with manifold virtues, so that he may confer adornment upon the grade from which he did not receive it. For places do not make a priest holy, but life and morals do. Hence they should know that from the office they have undertaken they have obtained not a license to sin but a necessity of living well. Hence Pope Symmachus says:

We do not judge that blessed Peter, as you say, received from the Lord, together with the privilege of the see, a license to sin, nor that his successors did. He transmitted to posterity a perpetual endowment of merits together with the inheritance of innocence. What was conceded to him through the light of his deeds pertains to those whom an equal splendor of conduct illuminates. For who would doubt that one whom the summit of so great a dignity raises up is holy? If acquired goods through merit are lacking in him, those that are attested from the predecessor of the place suffice. For either it raises illustrious men to these heights, or it makes illustrious those who are raised.

Likewise Jerome [to Heliodorus, epistle I]. It is not easy to stand in the place of Peter and Paul and to hold the chair of those reigning with Christ, because on this account it is said: those who hold the places of the saints are not the sons of the saints, but those who practice their works.

Likewise Gregory. We who preside ought to become known not from the dignity of places or birth, but from nobility of morals; nor from the renown of cities, but from purity of faith.

The same to Anastasius the Priest [Book VI, epistle 29]. Places or orders do not make us near to our Creator, but either good merits join us or evil ones separate us.

Likewise John Chrysostom [that is, the author of the Unfinished Work on Matthew, homily 40, at c. 21]. Part II. A Christian person falls mightily into sin on account of two causes: either on account of the greatness of the sin or on account of the height of dignity.

Likewise from the acts of Boniface the Martyr. Part III. If the pope, negligent of his own and his brother’s salvation, is reproved as useless and remiss in his works, and is moreover silent concerning the good—a thing that harms himself and everyone more—he nevertheless leads innumerable peoples in crowds with himself to the first bondage of hell, to be beaten together with him for eternity with many blows. No mortal presumes to reprove his faults here, because he who will judge everyone is to be judged by no one, unless he is found deviating from the faith. The whole body of the faithful prays for his perpetual condition the more urgently, the more attentively they perceive their own salvation after God to depend upon his well-being.

Likewise Augustine to Valerius [epistle CXLVIII]. Part IV. Before all things I ask that your religious prudence consider that there is nothing in this life, and especially in this time, easier and lighter and more acceptable to people than the office of bishop, priest, or deacon, if the matter is conducted perfunctorily and flatteringly; but nothing before God is more wretched, sorrowful, and damnable. §1. Likewise: There is nothing in this life, and especially in this time, more difficult, laborious, and dangerous than the office of bishop, priest, or deacon; but before God there is nothing more blessed, if service is performed in that manner in which our commander orders. What that manner is, however, I learned neither from my boyhood nor from my adolescence; and at the time when I had begun to learn, force was done to me by the merit of my sins. For I do not know what else I should think: the second place at the rudders was handed to me, who did not know how to hold an oar.

Likewise Isidore. Just as the worthy union of a man and a woman makes one marriage, and just as the coupling of two perfects one body, so the clerical state and the priesthood make one priest, and election and consecration make one bishop. All these things effect one body, which is very quickly corrupted and dragged to earth unless it is lawfully preserved, unless it is praised by living justly.

Likewise Ambrose [Book On Paradise, c. 4]. Part V. Observe this, however: the man was made outside paradise, the woman inside paradise, so that you may observe that each person acquires grace for himself not by nobility of place or of birth, but by virtue. Finally, the man made outside paradise—that is, in an inferior place—is found better, and she who was made in a better place—that is, in paradise—is found inferior.

Likewise Gregory [Book VI of the Register, epistle 5]. No secluded places whatsoever can save the soul without grace, something we sometimes behold even in the wanderings of the elect themselves. For Lot was righteous in the perverse city itself; on the mountain he sinned. But why do we say these things, when we know greater ones? For what is more delightful than paradise? What is safer than heaven? And yet man fell from paradise, and an angel from heaven, by sinning.

The same. Adam, the first man, was cast out of paradise for sin; that is, he who cast away from himself the nobility of God was deprived of nobility of place.

Likewise John Chrysostom [that is, the author of the Unfinished Work on Matthew, homily 43, at c. 23]. Part VI. Many priests, and few priests: many in name, and few in work. See, therefore, how you sit upon the chair, because the chair does not make the priest, but the priest the chair; the place does not sanctify the person, but the person the place; not every priest is holy, but every holy person is a priest. One who has sat well upon the chair receives the honor of the chair; one who has sat badly does injury to the chair. Therefore an evil priest acquires from his priesthood an accusation, not dignity. For when sitting in judgment, if indeed you have lived well and taught well, you instruct the people; but if you have taught well and lived badly, you will be the condemner of yourself alone. For by living well and teaching well you instruct the people how they ought to live; but by teaching well and living badly you instruct God how he ought to condemn you. The same: §1. Whoever has desired primacy on earth will find confusion in heaven, nor will one who has treated of primacy be numbered among the servants of Christ. Let not each of them hasten to appear greater than others, but to appear lower than all, because it is not the one who is greater in honor who is more righteous; rather, the one who is more righteous is greater.