What To Do About A Bad Priest

From the website Good Guys Wear Black, a selection from St. Theophan the Recluse I've always enjoyed, "What To Do About A Bad Priest." I read this passage about a year ago and am happy to have come across it again. I am reminded of two parishes I am acquainted with that run through priests at alarming rates. One church continued to run off clergy (and not pay them shortly after they got there) so that the bishop refused to send another priest until they saved a year's pay for him and sent it to the chancery. The other parish kicked their priest out right before Pascha. He asked to stay, knowing they'd not get a replacement in time, but they would have none of it and to this day they have very infrequent services and there is no priest in sight.

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Question: “We had a good priest; but he was transferred to another parish. In his place came another, who is a grief to the soul. In his serving the services, he is careless and hurried; when conversations occur, he talks only about trivial things; if he starts to talk about the things of God, then it is all with a kind of limitation and truncation of the strict truth. How is one to escape from such a temptation?”

Answer: You yourselves are at fault. You made poor use of the good priest, and the Lord took him away. Tell me, did you become better from your previous good priest? Here you falter to say, “Yes.” But I from a distance shall say that you did not become better, judging by the fact that you are judging the new priest, not knowing how to control your feelings in relation to him as you should. Indeed, you had a good priest even before this good priest who has now departed from you, and the one before him was good too. You see how many good priests the Lord has sent you; but you all have not become any better for it. And here He has decided: why waste good priests on these people? I’ll send them one not so good. And He did. Seeing this, you should have at once paid attention to yourself, to repent and improve, but you just judge and keep judging over and over again. Improve yourselves, and then the priest will at once be changed. He will think...

Complete article here.