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Is it wrong to openly seek priesthood?
Every boy's dream is to become a priest. I know many guys (teenagers/young teenagers) that openly seek (for lack of a better term) priesthood. For example, one person has "abouna" in all of his usernames, openly sings the priest's parts of liturgy out of liturgy and dresses as a priest every year at the church "Halloween" celebration. I am not picking or judging on this person but many people do similar things. One day, he asked me what should his priest name be when he gets ordained...the kid is 15! He also claims that he wants to ask a Bishop if he can ordain him at 18 years old to be the youngest priest ordained.
So is this wrong? I once heard Anba David say that priesthood comes to the servant, not the other way around.
So is this wrong? I once heard Anba David say that priesthood comes to the servant, not the other way around.
Comments
I suspect by the time you get to hour 25, you will have lost 50% of your hair,
grown 50% gray hairs for the remaining, gained at least two diseases, lost contact with your family, and wondered where your car keys are to go look for the hospital where you will be praying on someone who is about to die.
Shall I go on?
I know to the minute and the second the pain of a priest's day.
Watch what you ask for, you may get it.
i second that.
Live the life of a priest for 24 hours, then try seven days.
I suspect by the time you get to hour 25, you will have lost 50% of your hair,
grown 50% gray hairs for the remaining, gained at least two diseases, lost contact with your family, and wondered where your car keys are to go look for the hospital where you will be praying on someone who is about to die.
Shall I go on?
I know to the minute and the second the pain of a priest's day.
you make it sound so bad! Abouna Mikhail Tobia said "If you are ever asked to be a priest, accept it. It is the best thing in the world" and he probably is the priest that fits that description the best.
and my question still wasn't answered. Is it wrong to do that?
Try putting yourself and this person in a saint movie. Do you think the actors acting as the Saint were saying to themselves: "I can't wait till I'm ordained a Priest!" or "Do you think I'll be ordained a Priest?"
Now look into the lives of the saints: Pope Kyrillos VI when he heard about him becoming the next Patriarch of Alexandria, he cried bitterly. His famous saying was: "I wished to live a stranger and die a stranger, but may God's will be done". He never seeked the Apostolic See. When he was ordained a priest in the monastery, there are pictures of him being pulled by the elder monks to enter the church for his ordination.
If your friend wants to become a servant in the Holy Church, that's a different story. Fr. Mikhail Ibrahim was always praying to become a servant (of any kind), he ended up being ordained a priest, and is one of the most famous priests of the 20th century. All he seeked was to become a servant, to wash people's feet, both examples took humility as their first step, and using humility, they earned a huge gift on earth.
No one should ever seek a rank in the church, its just plain wrong :P
One soul is hard enough to look after...
As a deacon, he slept on the ground without even a mattress after St. George & St. Shenouda in Jersey City burned down. He slept without heat. Fr. Michael has let his very existence fall into pieces in every aspect of his life and body. He is one of the priests, despite his diseases and pain, will look for the hospital in the middle of the night to give Unction to someone about to die.
Fr. Michael did not seek the priesthood. The priesthood found him.
Since you are familiar with Fr. Michael, then I do not have to give any word about the sacrificial aspect of the Blessed and Reposed Very Rev. Fr. Bishoy Demetrious.
The Blessed Reposed Very Rev. Fr. Gabriel Abdelsayed of St. Mark was locked in an apartment in Egypt for three weeks until he agreed to become a priest. His own father, a priest of the Fayyum, ordained by the St. Bishop Abraam, did not want him to become a priest and did not attend his own son's ordination.
A person called to the priesthood is being asked to shred every aspect of his life in sacrifice; indeed his own flesh for the sake of those in his care.
The issue is not whether it is "good" or "bad".
The issue is whether one has the ability and sacrificial character of being a true father.
as the verse in the Bible says: "From your hands, God will ask the blood of each soul you are responsible for.", there is a story that goes with this about Hegumen Bishoy Kamel.
Once, there was this girl who left God's bosom and forced God out of her life. The devil tempted her to change her religion to Islam. Fr. Bishoy begged her not to do this and was crying with all bitterness about her. She kept her head hard. She left into a cab to go to Al-Azhar to have her religion change completed. Fr. Bishoy chased after the moving car until he caught onto the back of it, and the car was still moving at a fast rate. Fr. Bishoy's skin was torn, blood began to splatter all over the street, and his clothes were ripped to shreds to keep the girl from converting. When she saw Abouna's love to her, and his insisting on saving her and himself, she ordered the driver to stop the car and got out...
The priest will even offer his life to not have his children's blood on his hands when the judgement arrives. Do you think your friend is ready to give his time, even life to save someone? Or does he just want to wear the hat and grow a beard?? Not trying to be harsh or judgemental, but its the truth...
As TheGodChrist said, "One soul is hard enough to look after"...