The Shepherd’s Money and the Church’s Money
The Shepherd’s Money… and the Church’s Money [1]
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The Shepherd’s Money… and the Church’s Money
The money that reaches the shepherd’s hand is all God’s property. People have given it to the shepherd as God’s steward: he spends it in a way that satisfies their consciences and makes them feel that what they offered has indeed reached God…
Many people prefer to give their tithes and vows to the poor, for Christ said: “I was hungry and you gave Me food,” and continued: “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” (Matthew 25:40). And in doing this, they prefer to give to the poor personally, with their own hands, to be assured that the money has reached them. Because some do not feel assured — to a great extent — that the shepherd will deliver the money to the poor, as he may consider it his own property. He may consider that when the money reaches him personally, it has reached God…!
So what is the solution then?.. When do we consider that tithes, vows, and firstfruits have reached God?.. Is it when they reach the hands of the shepherds, or when they reach the hands of the poor?..
In reality, God’s money includes these and those and others… What is God’s includes all the clergy, all the servants of the Church, and the Church itself with all its needs of building, incense, oil, pictures, and the like. And it includes all the services of the Church. And it includes the poor and the needy… The money is not exclusive to the shepherd alone…
The shepherd who realizes that the money reaching his hand must be spent on all these, is the one whom people trust with their tithes and vows. But the one who considers that everything reaching his hand goes into his personal pocket, has robbed God of His rights, and from his hand the Lord will demand the rights of the poor and the needs of the Church. Such a person cannot be trusted by people with the gifts they offer to God…
There must be a clear dividing line between the shepherd’s money and the Church’s money. What is this dividing line?.. And how do we distinguish it?.. Let us seek it, then, in the Didascalia and the Canons of the Church:
Chapter Five of the Didascalia states that the shepherd “should receive his food and clothing according to sufficiency, as befits need and chastity. And he should not receive from the money of the Lord’s Church as though he had a capital, but in measure, for the laborer is worthy of his wages, and he should not be wasteful…”
This text gives shepherds the right to take from the Church’s money only their sufficiency, merely their needs without extravagance. And they should not consider the money of the Church as their personal property. And this chapter continues:
“And the tithes and firstfruits that are given to the Church as the commandment of God — let them distribute, as men of God, as good stewards, to orphans and widows and the afflicted and strangers and the needy, as people whom God will hold accountable for it.”
“But as for the Lord’s money, do not squander it, nor eat it and spend it on yourselves alone… but be like the ox that works on the threshing floor without a muzzle and eats of it. But it does not eat all of it…”
How beautiful is this expression in the Didascalia: “It eats of it, but does not eat all.” It eats according to its sufficiency, and leaves the rest for others to eat with it. “He who serves the altar, from the altar eats,” but he does not eat all. From the altar eats the bishop, and with him eats the priest, and with them eats the deacon, the lector, the chanter, and the steward. And with all these eat also, from the altar, the stranger and the guest, the orphan and the widow, and the poor and the needy.
It is absolutely forbidden for the servant of the altar to eat alone from the altar and leave the others — his partners in service, no matter how low their ranks — and his partners in the Body of Christ. He may not eat from the altar and store and save in his personal pocket!
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth.”
Thus the Church’s canons require that the shepherd be “a good administrator,” “knowing well those who are in distress, and managing and giving to each as needed.” And thus the Didascalia says (Chapter 15): “…And what you collect, distribute it to the brethren — the orphans and widows — with justice… Clothe the needy and support them… and deliver the enslaved captives who are bound and taken unjustly, and those who have fallen under judgment for the sake of the Lord Christ…”
And the canons warn that the shepherd must not consider the Church’s money his personal property. Canon 29 of the Second Book of the Apostolic Constitutions says: “And let the bishop care for the Church’s goods and manage them, as though God Himself were watching over him. And he must not take from them profit for himself alone, nor give what is God’s to those of his own kind (his relatives) even if they are poor. Nor may he trade with the Church under the pretext of such people.”
Before us are two kinds of clergy who eat from the altar: those of the episcopal rank, and then the priests and the rest of the servants.
As for those of the episcopal rank, they are currently monks — monks of the schema — the highest degree in asceticism, and they have all vowed voluntary poverty, meaning they own nothing and cannot own anything.
Everything that reaches their hands is God’s property. They eat — according to their sufficiency only — from the Church’s money. And everything that reaches their hands belongs to the Church. Therefore we have said repeatedly that they do not inherit, nor bequeath, nor own anything to be inherited. They are merely stewards over the funds of their dioceses.
The bishop, as a monk who has vowed poverty, has no personal property to be inherited. All his money belongs to the diocese. And the diocese has not died to be inherited!
As for the married priests and the rest of the servants, they have families, and they have the right to own within the spiritual limits proper to the priest. They eat from the altar — they and their families — and they receive from the Church their needs. As for the rest of the Church’s money, they distribute it to the servants of the Church and to the poor, in the light of the spirituality of Christian socialism.
Do you not see with me, then, that this topic needs a long continuation?
[1] An article by His Grace Bishop Shenouda, Bishop of Education: The Pastoral Page — “The Shepherd’s Money… and the Church’s Money,” in El-Keraza Magazine, October and November 1966.For better translation support, please contact the center.
