Caput XXVIII
Reverence for the Office, Not the Man
The faithful must reverence the authority of the office and the power of the Judge, even when the officeholder is personally unworthy.
Whoever lives by faith should, then, revere the presence of Christ or of his saints, and not despise the one who proclaims it—even if, God forbid, that person were unworthy of respect by the merit of his life; rather, let him stand in awe of the Judge's power. For although someone may hold the position of one who judges, while his life is entirely at variance with that position, still, whoever is appointed to a rank of governance receives the place of the apostles in the authority to bind and to loose.✦
The Flock's Fear and the Pastor's Sentence
Citing Gregory, Odo teaches that subjects must fear the pastor's sentence whether just or unjust, while pastors themselves must fear careless absolution or binding.
And for this reason, as is said in the twenty-sixth homily on the Gospels of Saint Gregory: 'Whether the pastor binds justly or unjustly, the flock must still fear the pastor's sentence, lest both the one who is subject and the one who is perhaps bound unjustly should, through another fault, bring upon themselves the very sentence of their own obligation.' The pastor, then, since he will render an account to the Judge for all his judgments, must fear either to absolve carelessly or to bind; and the one subject must fear to be bound, even unjustly.
The Burden of Governance
Superiors bear a grave accountability for every soul under them, and their failure to correct the wicked increases both their own punishment and their subjects' guilt.
How superiors should live, whether for themselves or for their subjects, and how they should correct some things more gently and others more harshly, and how they should overlook certain things yet not allow them to grow worse—this is clearly discussed in the book of Pastoral Care. Here, though, let this one point be recalled from book twenty-six of the Moralia: if they have ceased from correcting the wicked, they themselves will be punished in their place. And as many souls as each one governs in those subject to him, so many will he alone have to give an account for before the strict Judge—when perhaps he will scarcely have enough for his own alone. Superiors will render their subjects so much freer in the divine judgment as they do not here leave their guilt unpunished; but the subjects themselves become so much more accountable inasmuch as those who commit faults are not rebuked even by a word from anyone.
Read the original Latin
Quisquis igitur ex fide vivit, Christi vel sanctorum ejus praesentiam revereatur, et non praeconem contemnat; si etiam, quod absit, vitae merito contemnendus fuerit, sed judicis potentiam reformidet. Licet enim talis judicandi locum teneat, cujus vita loco minime concordat: quisquis tamen regiminis gradum sortitur, locum apostolorum in ligandi atque solvendi auctoritate suscipit. Et idcirco sicut in homilia Evangeliorum vigesima sexta sancti Gregorii dicitur: Utrum juste an injuste liget pastor, pastoris tamen sententia gregi timenda est, ne is et qui subest, et cum injuste forsitan ligatur, ipsam obligationis suae sententiam ex alia culpa mereatur. Pastor ergo sicut de omnibus judiciis suis, rationem vero judici redditurus, vel absolvere indiscrete timeat, vel ligare: subditus vero ligari timeat, vel injuste. Qualiter autem praelati vel sibi, vel subditis vivant, aut qualiter quaedam levius, quaedam asperius corrigant, quaedam dissimulent, nec tamen crescere sinant, in libro Pastorali manifeste disseritur. Hic tamen ex libro XXVI Moralium illud commemoretur, si a pravorum correptione cessaverint, ipsi pro eis punientur. Et quot regendis subditis quisque praeest, tot apud districtum judicem animas solus ad reddendam rationem habebit, cum forte de sua sola vix sufficiat. Subditos quoque tanto liberiores in divino examine praelati reddent, quanto hic eorum culpam sine vindicta non deserunt: ipsi vero tanto obligatiores fiunt, quanto in his qui committunt, nec verbi quidem injectione ab aliquo lacerantur.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Matt.16.19;John.21.15-John.21.17 — I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. John.21.15 — When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." John.21.16 — He said to him again a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?' He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.' He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.' John.21.17 — He said to him the third time, 'Simon son of John, do you love me?' Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?' and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.'
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