The People Have the Right to Choose Their Shepherd
The People Have the Right to Choose Their Shepherd
God’s Appreciation of Freedom
People have the right to choose the person whom they trust, in whom they find reassurance, and to whom they entrust their spiritual matters to shepherd them and care for them. And God Himself loves this freedom, and does not compel any human being to anything against his will, nor drives him in spite of himself, even to what is good. God, out of the abundance of His appreciation for freedom, granted us a freedom by which we are able to break His commandments. God knew that if He granted freedom to the human being, he would sin, and the forgiveness of his sin would require that God take flesh, empty Himself, take the form of a servant, toil and be humiliated and beaten and spat upon and crucified and die and be buried and rise. And yet God was pleased to give the human being freedom, and to pay for it by Incarnation and Crucifixion and Death..
The Lord Fulfills the Desire of the People:
And the First Book of Samuel gives us a most wonderful example in which God fulfills the desire of the people. The people wanted to have a king. And God was against this idea. And appointing a king for them meant rejecting God who ruled them directly, and their desire to appoint a human being instead of Him. And God showed them that He was against the idea, and explained to them its disadvantages. And yet when the people insisted on their request, God fulfilled this request, while He was against it.. And the examples of the Lord fulfilling the desires of His people and His children are many in the Holy Scripture.
The People Are the Ones Who Choose Their Shepherds:
The people have the right to choose all the clergy: not only those of the episcopal and priestly rank, but even the deacons also. In this, the Book of Acts gives us an important principle which is:
Choose for yourselves… and we shall appoint them (Acts 6).
The apostles could have appointed deacons for the people. And no one would have objected, because the apostles were attested to in holiness and the working of miracles, and were the place of trust and respect for all. But they nevertheless said to the people: “Choose for yourselves, brethren, seven men from among you.. and we shall appoint them over this need.” The people are the ones who choose, men filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom. And the apostles are the ones who lay hands. And this matter is clear in the Apostolic Canons, the Didascalia, and the rest of the ecclesiastical canons.
The Didascalia says concerning the ordination of the bishop (Chapter 36):
“Let the bishop perform this by the choice of the whole people as the will of the Holy Spirit. And he shall be ordained on Sunday, and all the people agreeing on his ordination, and all the people and the priests bearing witness to him.” And in the rite of ordination, the Didascalia says: “And the bishops shall lay their hands upon him saying.. and all the people shall say Amen.. And after this let the bishops receive him, and all the clergy and the people shall say: Worthy, worthy, worthy. And they shall all receive him and pray for his peace.” And the Apostolic Canons also state this. For in the first book: Canon 21 says: “The bishop shall be chosen, as we began and said, from all the congregation without blame.” And he shall not be ordained “unless they have mentioned him and accepted him.”
And Canon 52 explains this approval in the rite of ordination, saying: The bishop must ordain as we began and said, and by the command of all the people together, a good and holy choice in every way. The people have chosen him. This, if he has been mentioned and they have accepted him, all the people and the presbyters and the bishops gather.. on Sunday. And the chief among the presbyters and deacons shall ask and say: “Is this the one whom you have accepted to be your head?” Then if they say: “Yes,” he shall ask them also and say: “Is this one worthy of this great offering, and has he performed all things well, and has righteousness in God..” Then if they all answer together and say “It is truly so..” he shall ask them also a third time: “Is he worthy of this headship?”.. Then if they say for the third time that he is worthy, let them all greet him with their hands..
And Canon 21 states that “all the people shall gather together and the presbyters and the deacons on Sunday. And all the bishops shall go to one another with gladness, and lay their hands upon him.”
And the second canon of Hippolytus states that: “The bishop is chosen from all the people” and that he shall be ordained “in the week in which the clergy and the people say, ‘We prefer him.’”
And the Church continued on this principle in all its ages. For in the canons of Cyril Ibn Laqlaq: “No bishop shall be ordained except one who is known, and who has been given a testimonial of good conduct and suitability for this, and has become well-known for it, and whose people whom he is to be placed over have accepted him.”
And in the book The Precious Jewel in the Sciences of the Church by the scholar Yohanna Ibn Zakariya (Ibn al-Siba‘), in the rite of the ordination of the bishop: “On Sunday morning the new bishop stands in one of the corners of the church, with a lit candle before him.” And the Pope Patriarch sends three bishops who take hold of him “and they lead him around the entire church, so that all the people of the church may see him and know him. And if any of them knows that there is something bad upon him or a matter that prevents him from completing the ordination, he must present it immediately, for returning to the truth is better than continuing in error. And when it becomes evident that there is nothing upon him, they bring him to the sanctuary of God, and the Pope lays his hand upon him.” “And if anyone objects to him, and mentions that he is not suitable for the episcopate, his matter shall be postponed three months and he shall be investigated in the presence of his accuser or in his absence. If a reason that prevents his promotion is proven against him, he shall be prevented. Otherwise let him be promoted. But as for the accuser who accused him and nothing was proven, he shall be removed from the church if he is a priest. And if he is of the people, he shall be disciplined as is fitting.”
To this extent the canons of the Church were careful about the people’s choice and their consent.
So what is the method by which the people express their choice?
Anba Shenouda
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