Address of Patriarch Alexei on Granting the Episcopal Staff
From Orthodox Parish of St Nicholas
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Also: additional materials about the consecration
Your Grace Bishop Elisey!
By the prayers of the Church and the laying on of episcopal hands, divine power has come down onto your head in this mystery: 'healing that which is infirm, and completing that which is lacking', it has come to rest on you and henceforth it will live and act within you.
By the grace of the All-Holy Spirit you are henceforth joined in communion with the host of hierarchs of the Church of Christ and, like the apostles, you are called to continue to sow the word of God and sanctify the faithful through the grace of the saving Mysteries.
May 'the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' (I Peter 1, 3), vouchsafe you to carry out your pastoral duties in a holy manner, beyond reproach, guiding your flock 'not by constraint, but willingly' (I Peter 5, 2) in a manner pleasing to God, pouring forth the divine light of everlasting Truth on the faithful of the Church, that they may glorify our Father Which is in heaven (Matt. 5, 16).
I address our words of edification and good wishes to you, who are entering onto the sacrificial path of episcopal service.
Together with us, you have become a partaker of the authority which the Lord granted to His disciples and, like them, you must show yourself 'approved unto God, a worthy workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth' (2 Tim. 2, 15).
The outward circumstances of the bishop have changed with time. However, 'the ministry of reconciliation' (2 Cor. 5, 18) given to us by God remains unchanged. The bishop does not receive authority in order to lord it over the people of God and to be exalted above others. We are called 'to feed the flock of God.not by constraint, but willingly and in a way that is pleasing to God, not for filthy lucre; but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock' (I Peter 5, 2-3).
Paul the Apostle says: 'But we have this treasure (that is, the grace of the episcopate) in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, not of us' (2 Cor. 4, 7). The Apostle points out to us not only the weakness of our human nature, our spiritual imperfection, but also our outward situation, our readiness according to the example of Christ, to 'abase' ourselves, until we are ready to give up our lives for the salvation of the world.
To be a bishop means to live the life of your flock, to live its joys and its sorrows. Our Lord's disciples had every reason to be 'burdensome, as the apostles of Christ, but were gentle' among their flock, 'even as a nurse cherisheth her children' (I Thess. 2, 6-7).
The task of the bishop is not only to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, but also to establish it on earth, for, having started here, it stretches up to the heavens, having started in time, it stretches forth into eternity. The episcopal staff, as a symbol of authority, establishes merely outward order. But the Kingdom of God can only be planted in the hearts of the faithful through prayer with tears, through spiritual feats, with great labours of humility and self-abasement. Paul the Apostle says: We are, 'as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things (2 Cor. 6, 10). 'Guiding the Church gives those who feed it much trouble and labour', is the testimony of St John Chrysostom, whom the Holy Church commemorates this day. 'This is the art of arts and the science of sciences', as St Gregory the Theologian confirms.
Do not for a moment close your eyes to the difficulty of the task placed on you. The charge of the episcopal ministry, as we have said, is not generally a light one and in this particular case it is especially heavy and difficult.
May these our spiritual reflections at the very outset of your episcopal path not deter you, but encourage you and inspire in you steadfast faith in the power of God to strengthen you. Remember: 'No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God' (Lk. 9, 62).
May the ineffable mercy of God, shown to you in your recent obedience in the Church console you. The Lord vouchsafed you to serve Him in those places where His immaculate feet trod, to kiss the stone on which His divine body lay, after it had been taken down from the Cross, to kneel before the Sepulchre, from where there shone forth the Light of His Resurrection and illumined us with the hope of eternal life.
The conditions of Church life far from your homeland have given you the opportunity to acquire suitable experience of a wide range of pastoral and administrative activities, which are indispensable for a bishop.
By Divine Providence a task has been placed upon you, the task of witnessing to the truth of the Orthodox Faith before the peoples of the West, working to strengthen it, with the ultimate aim of reuniting all in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
Your task is to give spiritual support to our compatriots who now live in Great Britain. Only the Church can help them to grow spiritually stronger in their new place of residence.
You will receive encouragement and support inasmuch as you have been appointed as vicar-bishop of the Diocese of Korsun, to be an assistant for His Eminence Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun, who has laboured much in order to calm the disorders that have arisen there. Make use of the opportunity to draw on and be guided by his advice and instructions.
First of all, above all other tasks, however great and urgent they may be, you face the daily and unceasing task of caring for each child of God, 'for whom Christ died' (I Cor. 8, 11).
You are receiving an obedience of great responsibility at a difficult time for your flock. Some pastors do not 'seek those things that are above' (Col. 3. 1) but 'seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's' (Phil. 2, 21), they have not kept the deposit 'safe and sound' and they bring trouble and temptation.
I firmly believe that the division will not be long lasting and that those who have left the Mother Church, having experienced the misfortune of their uncanonical situation, will return to the fold of the Holy Church.
Exactly forty-nine years ago, on 30 November 1957, in the Russian church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in London, a new hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church entered into the highest ministry of the Church. That was the ever-memorable Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh. His voice speaks to us from that distant past, as it addresses his sermon 'to his spiritual children': 'Let us stand as one with Christ, through love and in love, and with the love of Christ, which nothing can break, let us love that world for which He gave up His life. Let us love each one, as He loves us also. As disciples of Christ, let us enter into life with new hope and renewed strength. Let us bring into the cold, grey world our fiery and unconquerable joy, that every soul may rejoice, that fear may be driven away from all, that hatred may be extinguished, that the light of Christ may illumine those who wander in darkness, that with one mouth and one heart, all, all without exception may sing unto God the triumphal song.
You well know that the Russian Orthodox Church has given new birth to Orthodoxy on the shores of Albion and that she has been adorned with many distinguished workers, who have laboured there with honour and glory. Let us have faith that their names have been written in the book of eternal life by the Chief Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ.
With staff in hand, those that went before you led their flock into green pastures, with His help, they sought out the lost sheep and brought back what had been taken away.
Take such a staff and go with it in peace. With God's help, strengthen those that are weak in faith, return to the fold of the Church those that are scattered and wander without true shepherds, bring them all into the bosom of the Holy Orthodox Church of Christ.
