The Priest and Teaching
The Priest… and Teaching
In order for the priest to be able to satisfy his people with knowledge, he must first be filled with this knowledge…
And in order to be filled, he must read much and study, and he must also have times for contemplation, so that from both he can offer spiritual nourishment to the people who listen to him…
Coptic libraries are currently filled with books, and people read and their knowledge increases. The priest’s knowledge should be much greater than that of his people, and his level higher than their level, so that they may receive from him.
Here we advise the priest to set for himself a reading program, and to dedicate part of his time to this purpose…
And if his afternoons are occupied on most days with visitations and the various activities of the Church, then the morning time—except for the days of Liturgies—is very suitable for reading and contemplation, and for charging the heart and mind with what he will say to the people in the evening meetings.
As well as the periods before sleep, and the spiritual contemplative sessions that the priest spends in his home with his own family.
The priest needs reading and study not only for the sake of the sermons and lectures he delivers, but also because of the questions that may be directed to him at any time by the children of the Church, and perhaps from outside it as well.
He also needs reading and contemplations so that he may be enriched in his guidance to his children in confession, in addition to his personal experiences.
Teaching is an important part of the work of the priest, and there is a specific commandment concerning it during his ordination… And there is no doubt that the teaching priest has a deeper connection with his people than others…
And the priest in teaching should present the teaching of the Church, not merely his own personal thought, or what appeals to him from new ideas!
Nor is it permissible for him to confuse people’s thoughts with new information that the Church has not approved, and people find its opposite in what other priests say, and thus they become troubled or turn into a special sect with a thought and belief different from the thoughts and beliefs of the rest!
Rather, the duty of the priest is to explain the teaching of the Church, in doctrine and in spirit.
For this reason we say that teaching requires humility of thought.
It is not permissible for the teacher in the Church to insist on his opinion, cling to it, believe it, and spread it, no matter how sound it seems to him…
Rather, humility leads to consultation, and returning to the opinions of the elders. And we do not forget that St. Paul the Apostle says about himself:
“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain…” (Gal. 2:1–2). And thus this great Apostle did not hesitate to present his gospel to Peter, James, and John… lest he had run in vain, or was still running in vain!!
If St. Paul did this, how much more should any priest do so regarding any personal thought that occurs to him…
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