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Works John Chrysostom (344-407) De sacerdotio libri 1-6 Treatise concerning the christian priesthood
Book V.

3.

The best kind of Bishop must, therefore, be strong in both these points, so that neither may supplant the other. For if when he stands up in the congregation and speaks words calculated to make the careless wince, 1 he then stumbles, and stops short, and is forced to blush at his failure, the good of what he has spoken is immediately wasted. For they who are rebuked, being galled by what has been told them, and unable to avenge themselves on him otherwise, taunt him, with jeers at this ignorance of his, thinking to screen their own reproach thereby. Wherefore he ought, like some very good charioteer, to come to an accurate judgment about both these good things, in order that he may be able to deal with both as he may have need; for when he is irreproachable in the eyes of all, then he will be able, with just so much authority as he wishes, both to correct and to remit from correction all those who are under his rule. But without this it will not be easy for him to do so. But this nobleness of soul should be shown not only up to the limit of indifference to praise, but should go further in order that the gain thus gotten may not in its turn be fruitless.


  1. epistupsai, literally, to purse up the mouth, as at the taste of what is tart or sour. ↩

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Traité du Sacerdoce Compare
Treatise concerning the christian priesthood
Über das Priestertum (BKV) Compare
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Einleitung Über das Priestertum
Introduction to the treatise on the priesthood

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Faculty of Theology, Patristics and History of the Early Church
Miséricorde, Av. Europe 20, CH 1700 Fribourg

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