You receive the cup which seemingly comes from the hands of man. What is it to you whether the bearer of the cup acts righteously or unrighteously? As a follower of Jesus, your concern is to act righteously; to receive the cup with thanksgiving to God and with a living faith; and courageously to drink it to the dregs.
If there is no fear of God before your eyes, you will think it a trivial matter to officiate unworthily, for you will be deceived by your own self-love into imagining that God will be charitable to you.
Long ago Dathan and Abiram imagined the same thing until the earth opened beneath them and swallowed them up (Num. 16:25-33). Standing with genuine awe and fear before Him who is to be feared, recognize how grave a matter it is to officiate, and either engage in the priesthood worthily and purely – as it were like an angel – or wisely keep away from the dread ministry. Otherwise, slighting your office, and using specious arguments against your conscience when it rebukes you, you will say in your agony as you are condemned on the day that all things are judged and set aright: The fear that I feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has visited me (Job 3:25).
– St. Theognostos, “On the Practice of the Virtues, Contemplation, and the Priesthood.” Philokalia, Vol. 2
Ponder deeply on the angelic honor of which you have been found worthy and, whatever the rank to which you have been called, strive through virtue and purity to keep yourself unsullied. For you know from what height Lucifer fell on account of his pride. Do not dream up great ideas about yourself and suffer the same fate.
Regard yourself as dust and ashes (Gen. 18:27), or as refuse, or as some cur-like creature; and lament continuously, for it is only on account of God’s inexpressible compassion and kindness that you are permitted to handle the holy things at the celebration of the dread mysteries, and so are called to communion and kinship with Him.
– St. Theognostos, “On the Practice of the Virtues, Contemplation, and the Priesthood.” Philokalia, Vol. 2
Featured image: At the Moscow Theological Academy. source
I know a man who loves God with great intensity, and yet grieves because he does not love Him as much as he would wish. His soul is ceaselessly filled with burning desire that God should be glorified in him and that he himself should be as nothing. This man does not think of what he is, even when others praise him. In his great desire for humility he does not think of his priestly rank, but performs his ministry as the rules enjoin.
In his extreme love for God, he strips himself of any thought of his own dignity; and with a spirit of humility he buries in the depths of divine love any pride to which his high position might give rise. Thus, out of desire to humble himself, he always sees himself in his own mind as a useless servant, extraneous to the rank he holds. We too should do the same, fleeing all honor and glory in the overflowing richness of our love for the Lord who loves us so greatly.
– St. Diadochos of Photiki, “On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination.” Philokalia, Vol. 1
Featured image: Procession in Pribilof Islands, Alaska, 1907.