What Should a Priest Do with Someone Who Stole from Him?
What Should a Priest Do with Someone Who Stole from Him?
Question
If a thief steals something from a priest, then comes to him confessing his sin, what should the priest do with him?
Answer
In this case, the thief has committed a sin against the priest by stealing from him, and a sin against God by breaking His commandments.
On the personal level, the priest should forgive the thief for stealing from him, keep a pure heart toward him, forget the offense, and rejoice in his repentance.
As for God’s right, the priest must make sure that the thief’s repentance is genuine. In general, when a repentant thief comes to a priest, the priest should, as much as possible, instruct him to return what he has stolen to its rightful owners. In the repentance of Zacchaeus the tax collector, we see that he returned what he had taken from people many times over. Thus, if the thief is truly repentant from the depths of his heart, he should restore what he stole.
However, the priest may choose to relinquish his personal right with fatherly generosity, in order to show the repentant thief that he is not acting out of personal interest.
