elders

¹Therefore, I beg the elders who are among you, as one who is also an elder and a witness of the Passion of Christ, who also shares in that glory which is to be revealed in the future: ²pasture the flock of God that is among you, providing for it, not as a requirement, but willingly, in accord with God, and not for the sake of tainted profit, but freely, ³not so as to dominate by means of the clerical state, but so as to be formed into a flock from the heart. ⁴And when the Leader of pastors will have appeared, you shall secure an unfading crown of glory. ⁵Similarly, young persons, be subject to the elders. And infuse all humility among one another, for God resists the arrogant, but to the humble he gives grace.

¹It is a faithful saying: if a man desires the episcopate, he desires a good work. ²Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher, ³not a drunkard, not combative but restrained, not quarrelsome, not covetous; ⁴but a man who leads his own house well, having children who are subordinate with all chastity. ⁵For if a man does not know how to lead his own house, how will he take care of the Church of God? ⁶He must not be a new convert, lest, being elated by pride, he may fall under the sentence of the devil.

²³And traveling by way of Pisidia, they arrived in Pamphylia.

¹⁷Let priests who lead well be held worthy of twice the honor, especially those who labor in the Word and in doctrine.

²⁸Take care of yourselves and of the entire flock, over which the Holy Spirit has stationed you as Bishops to rule the Church of God, which he has purchased by his own blood.

¹⁴Is anyone ill among you? Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

¹⁷Let priests who lead well be held worthy of twice the honor, especially those who labor in the Word and in doctrine. ¹⁸For Scripture says: “You shall not muzzle an ox as it is treading out the grain,” and, “The worker is worthy of his pay.” ¹⁹Do not be willing to accept an accusation against a priest, except under two or three witnesses.

¹⁷Then, sending from Miletus to Ephesus, he called those greater by birth in the church.

⁵For this reason, I left you behind in Crete: so that those things which are lacking, you would correct, and so that you would ordain, throughout the communities, priests, (just as I also ordained you)

⁶if such a man is without offense, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of self-indulgence, nor of insubordination. ⁷And a bishop, as a steward of God, must be without offense: not arrogant, not short-tempered, not a drunkard, not violent, not desiring tainted profit, ⁸but instead: hospitable, kind, sober, just, holy, chaste, ⁹embracing faithful speech which is in agreement with doctrine, so that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to argue against those who contradict.

²Therefore, it is necessary for a bishop to be beyond reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, prudent, gracious, chaste, hospitable, a teacher,