The Canonical Epistle of St Tarasios of Constantinople

Direct English translation

To the most holy and most blessed brother and fellow minister, the lord Hadrian, Pope of Elder Rome, Tarasios, by the mercy of God Bishop of Constantinople, New Rome: greeting in the Lord. In many parts and in many ways—by the Gospel, the Apostles, and the Fathers—we are taught to maintain a manner free from love of money in the consecrated ministry of the priesthood and not to obtain gold, silver, or anything for ourselves in the ordination of any priestly man, as we shall show in the testimonies set out below from the divine words of Scripture and the teachings of the Fathers. Those who lay on hands are servants of the Spirit, not sellers of the Spirit. Having freely received the grace of the Spirit, they declared that it must be given freely to those who receive it from them, having received this liberality from the Lord's word. But if anyone is proved to have bought it with gold, they declare such a person cast out from the priestly order. Even if in name he has obtained the priesthood, the claim is contradicted by the deed, for, as we learned from the Gospel, no one can serve God and mammon. And because we heard God cry prophetically, 'Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem,' and again threaten and say, 'If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not sound the trumpet, and the people are not on their guard, and the sword comes and takes a soul from them, I shall require the blood from the watchman's hand,' from fear of the command—or condemnation—concerning silence, we make this known to all the presidents of our churches, so that with boldness we may say according to the divine Apostle: 'We are clean from the blood' of those who transgress the canonical ordinances, and most especially of those who ordain or are ordained for money. The divine Apostle Peter, whose see your brotherly holiness inherited, deposed such persons as he did Simon Magus. For this reason we do not shrink from announcing the truth, guarding and holding what was canonically issued by the Holy Apostles and our Fathers of blessed memory, and abhorring whatever of these things has been transgressed by some. Your brotherly, priestly archpastoral holiness, which lawfully and according to God's will presides over the sacred work of the hierarchy, possesses renowned glory. For Christ our God, the great and first High Priest, said through the Prophet: 'As I live, those who glorify Me I shall glorify.' You know, most sacred man filled with the desires of the Spirit, that even the impious heresy of Macedonius and the Pneumatomachi around him is more tolerable. They babble that the Holy Spirit is a creature and servant of God the Father, but these persons appear to make Him their own servant. Every master, if he wishes, sells whatever he possesses, whether a household servant or something else he has acquired. Likewise a purchaser, wishing to become master of what is bought, acquires it for a price of silver. In this way those who practise this lawless deed bring down the Holy Spirit, sinning equally with those who blasphemed that Christ cast out demons by Beelzebul—or, to speak more truly, they resemble Judas the traitor, who sold Christ to the God-killing Jews for a price of silver. Since the Holy Spirit is consubstantial with Christ our God, it is plain to everyone, as has been proved, that their lot will be the same. Since He is not sold—and plainly He is not sold at all—indisputably the grace of the Holy Spirit, that is, the consecration of the priesthood, is not in them; if they did not receive it, they do not possess it. Let them remember Saint Peter saying to the one who attempted this: 'You have neither part nor lot in this matter.' For if the dignity of the priesthood is sold, then a reverent way of life and conduct in purity and virtue are superfluous for them. According to them the divine Apostle Paul is also superfluous when he teaches that a bishop must be blameless, sober, orderly, able to teach, self-controlled, vigilant, holding to the faithful word according to the teaching, so that he may be able both to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. All these things vanish from the seller and buyer of the priesthood. The sacred testimonies set out below therefore declare wholly alien from the priesthood anyone who at any time gives or receives money, whether before or after the ordination—for receiving is receiving whenever it occurs. They also remove from every ecclesiastical appointment those who give money for it. Canon 29 of the Holy Apostles: 'If any bishop obtains this dignity through money, or any presbyter or deacon, let both he and the one who ordained him be deposed and altogether cut off from Communion, as Simon Magus was by me, Peter.' From the Acts of the Apostles: 'When Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the Apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying: Give me also this authority, so that anyone upon whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him: May your silver perish with you, because you thought the gift of God could be acquired through money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore from this wickedness of yours and entreat God, if perhaps the intention of your heart may be forgiven you; for I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of injustice.' From the Third Book of Kingdoms: 'Jeroboam did not turn from his evil, but turned again and made priests of the high places from among the people. Whoever wished filled his hand and became a priest for the high places. This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, for destruction and disappearance from the face of the earth.' From the Fourth Book of Kingdoms: 'Naaman returned to Elisha, he and all his company, and came and stood before him, and said: Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; now therefore receive a blessing from your servant. Elisha said: As the Lord lives before whom I stand, I shall not receive it. He pressed him to receive, but he refused.' And a little later: 'Gehazi, Elisha's servant, said: Behold, my master spared Naaman the Syrian by not receiving from his hand what he brought; as the Lord lives, I shall run after him and receive something from him. So Gehazi pursued Naaman.' And shortly afterwards: 'Naaman said: Receive two talents of silver; and he received two talents of silver in two bags and two changes of garments.' And after other things: 'Elisha said to him: From where, Gehazi? Gehazi said: Your servant went nowhere. Elisha said to him: Did not my heart go with you? I know that the man turned from his chariot to meet you. Now you received the silver, and now you received the garments; with it you shall acquire gardens, vineyards, olive groves, sheep, oxen, male servants and female servants; and the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your seed forever. And he departed from his presence leprous as snow.' From Saint Basil's interpretation of Isaiah: 'He gave the law as a help so that they might say: Not like this saying, concerning which no gifts may be given. This law is not like the saying of the ventriloquist, for it was not devised for deception as those were, but is a teacher of truth. They divine for silver. This is the ridiculous thing: those deceived also pay them silver as the wage of their profit. The saying of the law is not such that gifts should be given for it: Freely give. You see how Peter was indignant with Simon when he brought silver for the grace of the Spirit: May your silver perish with you, he says, because you thought the gift of God could be acquired through money. The word of the Gospel is not like the sayings sold by ventriloquists. For what could anyone give as a worthy exchange for it? Hear David perplexed and saying: What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has rendered to me? No gifts can be given for it worthy of His grace. One gift alone is worthy: the keeping of what was given. The One who gave you the treasure does not demand the price of what was given, but that it be guarded worthily.' From Saint Basil's letter to the bishops under him, that they should not ordain for money: 'They think they do not sin because they do not receive at the same time but receive after the ordination. But receiving is receiving whenever it occurs. I therefore entreat you: put away this revenue—or rather, this road leading to Gehenna—and do not, by defiling your hands with such payments, make yourselves unworthy to celebrate the Holy Mysteries.' From the Life of Saint John Chrysostom: 'Eusebius, who was the cause of our lengthy discussion among all the bishops and the accuser of the other six bishops, approached, asking to be received into communion. Some of the bishops objected that he ought not to be received because he was a slanderer. At this he pleaded, saying: Since the trial has been examined for the greater part of two years and was postponed for witnesses, I ask your God-loving assembly to let me produce the witnesses this very day. Although Bishop Antoninus, who received the gold and ordained, has died, those who gave it and were ordained remain.' The present Synod judged that the matter should be investigated, and the case began with the reading of the records of the earlier proceedings. The witnesses entered, and the six who had given money and been ordained also entered. At first they denied it. When the witnesses—some laymen and some presbyters, who appeared confident—persisted, they continued at first to deny it. But as the witnesses convicted them, reminding them of places and times and stating the kinds and amount of the pledges, their conscience being ill at ease, they confessed voluntarily without much pressure: 'We gave and became bishops, thinking this course necessary so that we might be freed from public service. Now we ask that, if it is not lawful for us to remain in the Church's ministry, at least we receive back the gold which we gave in order to obtain it, for we gave some vessels belonging to our wives.' John promised the Synod: 'I shall obtain from the emperor their release from the council, and you command that they receive from Antoninus's heirs what they gave.' The Synod commanded that they receive the gold from Antoninus's heirs, be permitted to commune within the sanctuary, but cease to be priests, lest, if they were pardoned, a Jewish or Egyptian custom of selling and buying the priesthood should arise. For they say that the corrupter falsely called Patriarch of the Jews changes the rulers of the synagogues every year or every other year in order to collect silver, and likewise his imitator, the Patriarch of the Egyptians, so that the prophetic saying may be fulfilled: 'Her priests answered for gifts, and her prophets divined for silver.' From the canons of the six hundred and thirty Holy Fathers assembled at Chalcedon: 'If any bishop performs an ordination for money and reduces the grace that cannot be sold to a sale, and for money ordains a steward, advocate, paramonarios, or any person at all of the canonical order for his own shameful gain, the one attempting this, if convicted, shall endanger his own rank; and the one ordained shall gain no benefit from the commercial ordination or appointment, but shall be alien from the dignity or office obtained for money. If anyone is shown to have acted as an intermediary in such shameful and unlawful payments, then, if a cleric, let him fall from his own rank; if a layman or monk, let him be anathematized.' From the encyclical letter of Gennadios, the most holy Archbishop of Constantinople, and the Synod with him: 'Both the one who thinks to acquire the priesthood through money and the one who promises to provide it for money—whether cleric or layman, whether convicted or not convicted of doing this—let him be, and he is, cast out, alien from every priestly dignity and ministry, and subject to the curse of anathema. Things that cannot be reconciled can never be joined; mammon cannot agree with God, nor can those who serve it serve God. This also is the Master's indisputable judgment: You cannot serve God and mammon.' From the canons of the Sixth Council: 'We command that those ordained for money, whether bishops or clerics of any kind, and not according to examination and choice of life, be deposed, and likewise those who ordained them.' Let all of us hear these things and give heed—not only hierarchs, but also those numbered among the clergy and all who inhabit the world. For we must pay greater attention to the things heard, lest we drift away, because we were redeemed from the vain way of life handed down by our fathers not with perishable silver or gold but with the precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Teach us also in this way, most sacred man, to follow the scriptural, evangelical, apostolic, canonical, and patristic precepts, for we obey the words of your mouth. Ascend upon the heights; lift up your voice with strength; go forth in freedom; proclaim with boldness, so that ordination through money may be removed and pass into oblivion, together with every injustice and commerce for shameful gain that follows it through love of money. For when this and the things aligned with it are removed from the chosen people, who are called by Christ's name and freely obtained redemption, every defilement joined to evil will be cut out by the roots. The priests will flourish like the palm tree, breathing the fragrance of Christ upon those being saved and singing triumphantly to the Church: 'The Lord has taken away your iniquities'; and they will sweeten the fruits being gathered and multiply them in a flourishing old age, showing them to be heirs of that blessed and incorruptible life.