Priesthood 004: Royal inadequacies of royal priesthood

Continued from a previous post

"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!" - Psalm 133:1

In a previous post, we discussed the problem of spiritual abuse as it often presents itself in Orthodoxy. To be sure, abuse per se is pervasive in all areas of human culture, especially in situations of unequal authority or power. There is no shortage of petty tyrants at every level of institutions - from the largest and most complex to the smallest and most intimate. However, abuse becomes spiritual when the perpetrator claims to be acting on behalf of God - such as when a domestic bully cites verses from the Bible as not only a justification, but indeed a divine mandate for abusive behavior. An added level of complexity in clergy abuse is that many if not most of the abusers seem to be in a state of delusion and appear to believe with all honesty that the title of Spiritual Father, with all of its entitlements, actually applies to them - merely by the virtue of their wearing black robes or having unkempt beards.

There are many wonderful and holy pastors who labor in Christ’s vineyard; and it is important to remember that while all pastors, just as all humans in general, struggle with the effects of their fallen nature, cases of spiritual abuse are limited to only a small number of them. Statistics, however, is a small consolation to the victims of spiritual abuse; thus, it is important to explore some ways of preventing such behavior.