ACC ~ John 20 v23

THE APOSTLES RECEIVE CHRIST’S AUTHORITY

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: What truly wonderful gifts! Indeed, it does not only give the power over the elements and the faculty to make signs and wonders but also concedes that God may name them [judges], and therefore the servants receive from him the authority that is proper to him. The prerogative to absolve and retain sins only belongs to God, and the Jews sometimes raised this objection with the Savior, saying, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” [1] The Lord generously gave this authority to those who honored him. COMMENTARY ON JOHN 7.20.22-25. [2]

[1] Mk 2:7.

[2] CSCO 4 3:357.

THE CHURCH FORGIVES AND RETAINS SIN

AMBROSE: They affirm that they are showing great reverence for God, to whom alone they reserve the power of forgiving sins. But in truth no one does him greater injury than those who choose to prune his commandments and reject the office entrusted to them. For the Lord Jesus himself said in the Gospel, “Receive the Holy Spirit; whoever’s sins you forgive they are forgiven to them, and whoever’s sins you retain, they are retained.” Who is it that honors him most, the one who obeys his bidding or the one who rejects it?

The church holds fast its obedience on either side by both retaining and remitting sin. Heresy is on the one side cruel and on the other disobedient. It wishes to bind what it will not loosen and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns itself by its own sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of binding and of loosing should be the same, and he sanctioned each by a similar condition. So whoever does not have the power to loose does not have the power to bind. For as, according to the Lord’s word, the one who has the power to bind also has the power to loose, their teaching destroys itself, inasmuch as those who deny that they have the power of loosing ought also to deny that of binding. For how can the one be allowed and the other disallowed? It is plain and evident that either each is allowed or each is disallowed in the case of those to whom each has been given. Each is allowed to the church; neither is allowed to heresy. For this power has been entrusted to priests alone. It is only right, therefore, that the church, which has true priests, claims it. Heresy, which does not have the priests of God, [1] cannot claim it. And by not claiming this power heresy pronounces its own sentence, that not possessing priests it cannot claim priestly power. CONCERNING REPENTANCE 1.2.6-7. [2]

[1] This is not a denial of the validity of Novatian ordinations, which were admitted by the Eighth Canon of the Council of Nicaea, but of their lawful jurisdiction.

[2] NPNF 2 10:330**.

THE CHURCH FOUNDED ON ALL OF THE APOSTLES

JEROME: But you say the church was founded on Peter, [1] although elsewhere [2] the same is attributed to all the apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the church depends on them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism. AGAINST JOVINIANUS 1.26. [3]

[1] Mt 16:18.

[2] Mt 18:18.

[3] NPNF 2 6:366**. Origen makes a similar comment in his Commentary on Matthew 12.11 (ANF 10:546).

THE MASTER CONFIRMS THE SENTENCE OF THE SERVANTS

CHRYSOSTOM: Anyone who considers how much it means to be able, in his humanity still entangled in flesh and blood, to approach that blessed and immaculate Being [1] will see clearly how great the honor is that the grace of the Spirit has bestowed on priests. [2] It is through them that this work is performed, and other work no less than this in its bearing on our dignity and our salvation.

For earth’s inhabitants, having their life in this world, have been entrusted with the stewardship of heavenly things, and they have received an authority that God has not given to angels or archangels. Not to them was it said, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose, shall be loosed.” [3] Those who are lords on earth have indeed the power to bind, but only people’s bodies. But this binding touches the very soul and reaches through heaven. What priests do on earth, God ratifies above. The Master confirms the decisions of his servants. Indeed, he has given them nothing less than the whole authority of heaven. For he says, “Whoever’s sins you forgive are forgiven, and whoever’s sins you retain, they are retained.” What authority could be greater than that? “The Father has given all judgment to the Son.” [4] But I see that the Son has placed it all in their hands. For they have been raised to this prerogative, as though they were already translated to heaven and had transcended human nature and were freed from our passions.

Again, if a king confers on one of his subjects the right to imprison and release again at will, that person is the envy and admiration of all. But although the priest has received from God an authority as much greater than that, as heaven is more precious than earth and souls than bodies, some people think he has received so slight an honor that they can imagine someone entrusted with it actually despising the gift. God save us from such madness! For it is patently mad to despise this great office without which we cannot attain to salvation or God’s good promises. For if one “cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven unless he is born again of water and the Spirit,” [5] and anyone who does not eat the flesh of the Lord and drink his blood is excluded from eternal life, [6] and all these things can happen through no other agency except their sacred hands (the priests’, I mean), how can anyone, without their help, escape the fire of Gehenna or win his appointed crown? ON THE PRIESTHOOD 3.5. [7]

[1] That is, God.

[2] Or pastors.

[3] See Mt 18:18.

[4] Jn 5:22.

[5] Jn 3:5.

[6] See Jn 6:53.

[7] COP 71-73*.

WHEN TO FORGIVE, WHEN TO RETAIN

ORIGEN: Consider the person inspired by Jesus as the apostles were and who can be known by his fruits [1] as someone who has received the Holy Spirit and become spiritual by being led by the Spirit as a son of God to do everything by reason. [2] This person forgives whatever God forgives and retains sins that cannot be healed, serving God like the prophets by speaking not his own words but those of the divine will. So he, too, serves God, who alone has authority to forgive. ON PRAYER 28.8. [3]

[1] Mt 7:16, 20; Lk 6:44.

[2] See 1 Cor 2:14-15; Rom 8:14; Gal 5:18.

[3] OSW 150-51*.

TRANSFORMING POWER OF ORDINATION

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: After dignifying the holy apostles with the glorious distinction of the apostleship and appointing them ministers and priests of the divine altar, as I have just said, he at once sanctifies them by promising his Spirit to them through the outward sign of his breath, that we might be firmly convinced that the Holy Spirit is not alien to the Son but consubstantial with him and through him proceeding from the Father. He shows that the gift of the Spirit necessarily attends those who are ordained by him to be apostles of God. And why? Because they could have done nothing pleasing to God and could not have triumphed over the snares of sin if they had not been “clothed with power from on high” [1] and been transformed into something other than they were before. … [Jesus] consecrates by actual sanctification, making people partakers in his nature, through participation in the Spirit and in some sort strengthening the nature of humanity into a power and glory that is superhuman. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 12.1. [2]

[1] Lk 24:49.

[2] LF 48:671-73**. Leo the Great cites this same passage when urging that ordinations should take place on Sundays, since that is the day Jesus ordained his apostles. See Letter 9.2.

WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

GREGORY THE GREAT: It is pleasant to observe the disciples, lifted up to a height of glory equal to the burden of humility to which they were called. You see how they not only acquire peace of mind concerning themselves but even receive the power of releasing others from their bonds. They share in the right of divine judgment so that as God’s vicars they may withhold forgiveness of sins from some and grant it to others. So it was fitting that only those who had consented to be humbled for the sake of God be raised up by him. Those who feared God’s strict judgment were made judges of hearts. Those who were themselves fearful of being condemned condemn some and set others free. Their place in the church is now held by the bishops. Those who obtain the position of governing receive authority to loose and to bind. It is a great honor, but the burden is heavy. In truth it is difficult for one who does not know how to exercise control over his own life to become the judge of someone else’s life. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 26. [1]

[1] CS 123:204*.

IMPORTANCE OF PRIESTLY VIGILANCE

CHRYSOSTOM: You should hold your pastor [1] in high honor. You care about your own affairs, and if you care for them well you won’t have to give an account to anyone else. But your pastor, even if he orders his own life well, if he does not have an anxious concern for your life as well, yes and of all those around him, he is sent to hell with the evildoers. … Therefore, knowing the greatness of their danger, give them a large measure of your goodwill. … They should receive your most favorable attention. But if you join with the rest in trampling on them … and throw them into despondency, you weaken their hands and render them, as well as yourselves, an easy prey to the waves, no matter how courageous they are. … You have respect for secular authorities, but when God appoints do we despise him who is appointed and abuse him and besmirch him with ten thousand reproaches, and though forbidden to judge our brothers, do we sharpen our tongue against our pastors? … I am not saying that I approve of those who exercise their pastorate unworthily, but I do greatly pity them and weep for them. … And even if there is much to say against the way they have lived their lives, this in no way invalidates what they do by commission from God. … But why am I speaking only of pastors? Not even an angel or archangel can do anything on its own. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit do it all while the pastor only furnishes the tongue and the hand. For it would not be right that the salvation of those who come to the sacraments in faith should be endangered by another’s wickedness. [2] HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 86.4. [3]

[1] The Greek speaks of “priests,” but both can be rightly understood.

[2] Augustine makes the same point in his writings against the Donatists.

[3] NPNF 1 14:326**; PG 59:471-72.