pastoral responsibilities

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.

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.

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.

²that you should preach the word urgently, in season and out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke, with all patience and doctrine.

¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²“Son of man, prophesy about the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and you shall say to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? ³You consumed the milk, and you covered yourselves with the wool, and you killed what was fattened. But my flock you did not feed. ⁴What was weak, you have not strengthened, and what was sick, you have not healed. What was broken, you have not bound, and what was cast aside, you have not led back again, and what was lost, you have not sought. Instead, you ruled over them with severity and with power. ⁵And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd. And they became devoured by all the wild beasts of the field, and they were dispersed. ⁶My sheep have wandered to every mountain and to every exalted hill. And my flocks have been scattered across the face of the earth. And there was no one who sought them; there was no one, I say, who sought them.

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

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

¹⁷Obey your leaders and be subject to them. For they watch over you, as if to render an account of your souls. So then, may they do this with joy, and not with grief. Otherwise, it would not be as helpful to you.

³not so as to dominate by means of the clerical state, but so as to be formed into a flock from the heart.

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. ⁶And so, be humbled under the powerful hand of God, so that he may exalt you in the time of visitation.

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.

¹²for the sake of the perfection of the saints, by the work of the ministry, in the edification of the body of Christ,

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.

¹In those days, as the number of disciples was increasing, there occurred a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were treated with disdain in the daily ministration. ²And so the twelve, calling together the multitude of the disciples, said: “It is not fair for us to leave behind the Word of God to serve at tables also. ³Therefore, brothers, search among yourselves for seven men of good testimony, filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom, whom we may appoint over this work. ⁴Yet truly, we will be continually in prayer and in the ministry of the Word.” ⁵And the plan pleased the entire multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man filled with faith and with the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolas, a new arrival from Antioch. ⁶These they set before the sight of the Apostles, and while praying, they imposed hands on them.