The Orthodox priest Fr. Aris Metrakos has some harsh and welcome words for what ought to happen to clerics who engage in sexually abusive or immoral behavior. These are in one or two places specific to Orthodoxy, but as with the Catholic Fr. Philip's recommendations for youth ministry, a lot of this is universal. Excerpt:
Aren't we disgusted with the shocking number of high-profile cases of priests engaged in pedophilia, homosexual activity, and adultery? Some excuse this behavior with the platitudes "a sin is a sin" and "we are all sinners." Uh, excuse me?Persons who say "a sin is a sin" don't live in the real world. My wife is more than forgiving when I snap at her for no reason. I don't think that she would be that charitable if I were to come home smelling of another woman's perfume.
I concede that we are all sinners, but clergy relinquish the right to even think of engaging in certain classes of sin. When a priest sins sexually he damages the Church the way that crooked judges, lawyers, and police officers damage the legal system. How can anyone not understand this?
Looking back on my seminary years, nobody ever told me that I shouldn't put my hand on an altar boy's private parts, leave my wife for a man, or go to bed with someone other than my wife. Come to think of it, they didn't tell me not to eat yellow snow, either. The faculty assumed that we all knew better.
There's a saying about the word assume. If you don't know it, ask somebody who served in the military to explain it to you. So, rather than assume that seminarians and young clergy know right from wrong with regard to sexual matters, here are some essential rules of behavior for those preparing for and serving in the priesthood...
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MZF: Converts seem to always be at a loss as to why there are sinners in the world, even really bad ones, and some with titles like Father and Bishop.
That's just not true, not true at all. There's a big difference between a priest or a bishop stealing from the collection plate, and a priest raping children and his bishop covering up for him. Why is this such a difficult distinction to accept? If my priest were caught, say, stealing, and publicly repented, I could still accept his spiritual authority. I could never accept the spiritual headship of a priest or bishop who was caught in adultery, or sexually abusing a child. That's not the same thing as denying their spiritual faculties, but it makes a huge difference in whether or not that cleric has actual authority (as distinct from authority on paper).
Think about what it looks like to outsiders to say that you don't much care if your priest boffs little boys and your bishop transfers him from parish to parish, because hey, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. If being scandalized by that is a "Protestant" attitude, then three cheers for Protestant attitudes.
MZ. You actually paint a false analogy as far as Orthodoxy is concerned. Divorce and an affair are equally unnacceptable for an Orthodox Priest. So, why would divorce be better? Well, the Church recognizes that marriages may be so bad and damaging to the husband and wife that, as tragic as it is, divorce is better for the salvation of the two people than continued marriage. In this case, though, a priest would no longer be worthy of the priesthood. Likewise, a priest who has an affair is not worthy of the priesthood, but compounds the wrong of divorce with adultury and, if he hide the affair and remains a priest, this is even worse. It is definitely not a protestant viewpoint, especially as it concerns the sacremental role of the priest as an icon of Christ and how bad it would be for a priest to knowingly hide an affair and continue to serve the eurcharist unworthily. This, is very dangerous from an Orthodox perspective, but less so from the typical protestant perspective where communion is symbolic. It would be far better to leave the priesthood and work through a divorce if the marriage could not be worked out. (Im sure the priests bishop or spiritual father would have a great deal of imput here). This, at least, can be a first step in the path of repentence, where having an affair would be ignoring the need for repentence.
Marie,
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Lupton is heavily involved in rebuilding inner-city communities in Atlanta and his book is a revelation on urban renewal. (If you're at all interested in pursuing this line of thought, I cannot emphasize too strongly, this book will change your life.) FYI, Google: Robert Lupton Atlanta.
Will,
He is the one who gives divorce as a legitimate option for the priest. I don't advocate adultery by any means, but his disdain for marriage is quite manifest, or at least his view of the dispensability of the same. The view of divorce as salvific, "better for the salvation of the two people", is one I generally wouldn't even use as polemnic against Protestants. Such is not consistent with a view of remarriage occuring via economia, which hardly sees the demise of the first marriage as a good, let alone salvific. I will not debate you on the Orthodox view on the matter, because I don't believe you are accurately representing their teaching. No offense, but I don't think it would be profitable.
Rod,
He doesn't write about penances he has offered. He doesn't call others to penance. Instead he pontificates that men didn't know these particular evils were evil, because they were never told. He doesn't write that the spiritual is the greatest defense against evil. He doesn't call his fellow priests to fast in reparation. He acts like a stickin' Dr. Phil. You and he are correct that the Orthodox (and Catholic) churches need to address their prelates in grave sin. Writing editorials claiming that priests need to "Get Real!" or whatever else passes for advice these days isn't doing anything. Rather than fighting evil, he is trying to figure out how clever he can be by using the sins of fellow priests as fodder.
MZ. I doubt there is a specific teaching as such. That being neither here nor there, the same line gave me pause as well when I read the artical, but it also made me think. I think, in this case, that you may be bringing much to your interpretation that simply isn't there, such as assuming that he thinks marriage is dispensible. I read the same line and had the reaction of "whoah, I know he doesn't think divorce is a good option or something to take lightly (not if he is indeed Orthodox), but he thinks that even this is a better option than defiling the priesthood. Perhaps you are reading too much into one priests opinions based on one artical?
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