His Holiness Patriarch Alexy on the negative side of some current pastoral practices

In his speech at the December 2005 session of the Diocesan Council of Moscow, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Alexii, talked at length about negative phenomena in pastoral work in Moscow and the whole Church.

"My experience as a diocesan bishop tells me that many clergymen do not have the necessary understanding of the responsibility they bear as servants of the Church. It is shown through certain clergymen's inability to counteract the atmosphere of sin in the world," His Holiness said. He added that such clergymen's spiritual life is lacking in the experience of communication with God, and that their advice to the flock are often formal and meaningless.

The Primate also came down heavily on the exploitation of certain parishioners' lack of education, which makes them regard church rites and sacraments as pagan-like magic acts.

His Holiness believes that such attitudes are rooted in the clergymen's "unwillingness to understand the person's pain, coupled with commerciality."

"Such clergymen's lives and interests are not very different from those of an average member of the consumer society. It is obvious that the priest and his family must not starve, but making the wellbeing of his family his top priority is unacceptable for a clergyman. Parishioners, who are often on the verge of poverty themselves, bring their last possessions to the church to prevent the priest and his family from material discomfort," the Primate said.

This misguided attitude leads, His Holiness the Patriarch believes, to the Church being perceived, not as a sphere of spiritual growth and toil in the vineyard of Christ, but a feeding place, a money-making place.

His Holiness is sure that the service of a priest is becoming harder and harder in the world where secularism is launching an aggressive assault, and that the world, incapable of embracing the Spirit of Truth, hates the servants of Christ as it hated Himself.

The Primate described in detail what a modern pastor must be like. He warned clergymen against building their relationships with their parishioners along the lines of administrative subordination. "The only firm foundation for this relationship must lie in love and mutual respect." He also begged the pastors to guard their flock's spiritual freedom, and avoid coldly manipulating them.

His Holiness the Patriarch pointed out that, "experienced priests are usually guided in their service as confessors by the established tradition, whereas younger priests sometimes consider themselves entitled to act according to their own will."

He also called on Moscow's clergymen to pay attention to the development of their minds, studying the writings of the Fathers of the Church, church architecture, music, history, iconography etc. "Secular culture and scholarship will undoubtedly also help a pastor to understand a modern parishioner better and to make the Gospel news reach out to the mind and heart of a person who is as yet outside the Church," he stressed.

He also paid special attention to the absence of ardour in prayer, which he believes to be "one of the most serious ailments for a priest." He lamented the general lack of proper prayer among the clergymen: "Living, sincere prayer is forced out by formal, dry, and lifeless, 'reading out', of the prayers and rites. The lack of attention to the words of prayers, to the services, unfortunately, is modern church life's most common drawback."

"What the Church needs is not skilled professionals who know all the rules and can perform services in accordance with them, but zealous pastors who stand in awe of their service, fearful of God, and concentrated in prayer," His Holiness said. He reminded those present that the members of the Council had specifically visited services in many Moscow churches and found these results which are far from satisfactory.

The officials were very critical of hasty or negligent performance of services, and refusals to perform rites for no satisfactory reason, etc.

His Holiness the Patriarch also spoke against the practice of setting up firm prices for services and rites, as unacceptable, and being at variance with the actual spirit of the Church. "It is worthy of notice that in those parishes that were brave enough to start performing commissioned rites with no fixed system of prices, income has increased," he pointed out.

The Primate called on the clergymen and those who work in churches, to surround those who come to the House of God with attention, care and sympathy, for "there the person must meet reverent silence, cleanliness and beauty."

source: www.Patriarchia.Ru and www.Sedmitza.Ru 21.12.2005