Letter 866: The priesthood is a sacred trust, not a career.

To Zosimos. A man learned and upright in his character, and brilliant in his manner of life (for that he was also adorned with a brilliant rank I will pass over, since this is a shadow and a dream), having met with us, reported that he had approached the august altar in order to partake of the divine mysteries; but when he saw you standing beside it -- a man old in age, an elder [presbyter] in rank, but in the prime of his lust, and one who has outshot all those notorious for their licentiousness -- he retired backward, not deeming it right to receive the holy mysteries through a defiled hand. Now how I was stricken in soul on hearing these things, I will pass over; but what I charged against that man in particular, I will state. "Nothing," I said, "O most wise sir, is the receiver harmed, even if the giver should seem to be unworthy, nor are the undefiled mysteries defiled, even if the priest should outstrip all men in vice. And if you disbelieve, consider the raven, the unclean and child-hating creature, through which Elijah [the prophet], runner of heaven and citizen of heaven, was fed." And many other things too I said, which I have refrained from writing to you for two reasons: both that I might not add superfluous length to the letter, and that I might not seem to dramatize your evils too greatly. Therefore, just as I charged that man, so also do I exhort you: either to repent, or to withdraw from the august altar, lest by your own deeds you drive away those who have resolved to approach it. On the written text: "Man shall not live by bread alone." Since the Hebrews, fed for forty years on the manna -- a thing not, so far as human reasoning goes, to be trusted as sufficient for the strength of bodies -- nevertheless continued in equal vigor and strength, and perhaps even enjoyed greater power (for it was not the food, but the divine decree that sustained both their souls and their bodies), the lawgiver [Moses] said the very thing you wished to learn: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds through the mouth of God." This very text Christ also put forward, parrying the devilish contrivance, and shook the strength of the tempter.

Ἀνὴρ ἐλλόγιμος καὶ ὀρθὸς μὲν τὸν τρόπον, λαμ- πρὸς δὲ τὸν βίον (τὸ γὰρ καὶ ἀξιώματι αὐτὸν λαμ- πρῷ κεκοσμῆσθαι, παρῆσω· σκιὰ γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ ὄναρ), ἐντυχὼν ἡμῖν ἀπήγγειλεν, ὅτι προσῆλθε μὲν τῷ σεπτῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ τῶν θείων μυστηρίων μεταλη- ψόμενος· θεασάμενος δέ σε αὐτῷ παρεστῶτα, ἄν- θρωπον πρεσβύτην μὲν τὴν ἡλικίαν, πρεσβύτε- ρον δὲ τὴν ἀξίαν, ἀκμάζοντα δὲ τῇ λαγνείᾳ, καὶ πάντας τοὺς ἐπ’ ἀσελγείᾳ βεβοημένους ὑπερακον- τίσαντα, εἰς τοῦπίσω κεχώρηκε, μὴ ἀξιώσας τὰ ἱερὰ μυστήρια διὰ μιαρᾶς χειρὸς δέξασθαι. Ἐγὼ δ’ ὅπως μὲν ἐπλήγην τὴν ψυχὴν ταῦτα ἀκούσας, παρήσω· ἃ δ’ ἐκεῖνον καταπράτος ἐμεμψάμην, λέξω. Οὐδὲν, ἔφην, - ὦ σοφώτατε, παραβλάπτεται ὁ δεχόμενος, εἰ καὶ ὁ διδούς ἀνάξιος εἶναι δοκοίη, οὐδὲ τὰ ἄχραντα χραινέται μυστήρια, εἰ ὁ ἱερεὺς πάντας ἀνθρώπους εἰς κακίαν παρελάσειεν. Εἰ δ’ ἀπιστεῖς, ἐννόει τὸν κόρακα, τὸ ἀκάθαρτον καὶ μισότεκνον ζῶον, δι’ οὗ ὁ οὐρανοδρόμος καὶ οὐρανοπολίτης Ἠλίας ἐτρέφετο. Καὶ ἄλλα δὲ πολλὰ ἔφην, ἅπερ γράψαι σοι δυσῖν ἕνεκεν παρρησάμην, τοῦ τε μὴ μῆκος περιττὸν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ προσθεῖναι, τοῦ τε μὴ δόξαι λίαν τὰ σὰ ἐκ- τραγῳδεῖν κακά. Ὥσπερ τοίνυν ἐκείνῳ ἐμεμψάμην, οὕτω καὶ σοὶ παραινῶ, ἢ μεταγνῶναι, ἢ ἀποστῆναι τοῦ σεπτοῦ θυσιαστηρίου, ἵνα μὴ τοὺς προσιέναι αὐτῷ προηρημένους, διὰ τῶν σαυτοῦ πράξεων ἀπ- ελαύνοις. Εἰς τὸ γεγραμμένον · « Οὐκ ἐπ᾿ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ἄνθρωπος. » Ἐπειδὴ Ἑβραῖοι τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη τῷ μάννα τρεφόμενοι, οὐκ ἀξιοπίστῳ, ὅσον κατ᾿ ἀνθρώπινον λογισμὸν, πρὸς ἰσχὺν σωμάτων τυγχάνοντι, διέμενον ἐπὶ τῆς ἴσης ἀλκῆς καὶ ῥώμης, ἴσως δὲ καὶ μείζονος ἀπέλαυον δυνάμεως (οὐ γὰρ ἡ τροφὴ, ἀλλ᾿ ὁ θεῖος ὅρος διεκράτει καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς καὶ τὰ σώματα), ἔφη ὁ νομοθέτης, ὅπερ μαθεῖν [68] ἐθέλησας : « Οὐκ ἐπ᾿ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ. » Ὥπερ καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς δισκρουόμενος τὸ διαβολικὸν μηχάνημα, προεβάλλετο, καὶ κατέσεισε τοῦ πειράζοντος τὴν ἰσχύν.