Window Quarterly
Vol. I, No. 4, January 1990
Copyright 1990

[Permission is granted to use, print, reproduce this article 
provided the following acknowledgment is given: From 
Window Quarterly 1, 4  (1990);  ACRAG c. 1990. 

***

Beneath the Collar

by Fr. Vazken Movsesian


"Eat Free at Italian Restaurants" claims a full page ad in a 
major U.S. magazine portraying  the  face of satirist "Father" 
Guido Sarducci.  The caption reads, "Go on.  Mangia.  I'm 
not talking subs, either.  I'm talking cacciatore.  You think 
they're gonna let the check slide if you're a doctor or a 
lawyer?  Don't hold your breath. But when you're a priest, it's 
on the house!  One of what I call 'the padre perks.'  Other 
padre perks are sleeping late, getting first crack at parish 
rummage sales, and helping your fellow man.  Could be 
these perks are right up your alleyway.  Which makes you 
priest material."  The tongue-in-cheek plea is followed by the 
address of the recruiting director of the Oblates of Mary 
Immaculate.

Overshadowing a sincere plea for recruits by this Roman 
Catholic order is a humorous description of a priest, who fits 
a stereotype.  This priest has his counterpart in the Armenian 
Church.  Though we are more likely to admit it behind 
closed doors, our view of the Armenian priest may in fact be 
a bit more radical than the one presented by the Oblates in 
their ad.
	
Based on an informal survey of parishioners, here is a 
stereotypic characterization of the Armenian priest.  He has a 
one-day-a-week job. He lacks intelligence and has therefore 
accepted the only occupation available to him.  Driven by 
greed, he celebrates the sacraments for their monetary 
reward.  The reason he enjoys the work is because it is easy 
and financially stimulating.  He is first in line for food and 
never pays for his meals because he does not feel the need to 
contribute to his own cause.  If he is celibate, his activities 
are embellished with sexual connotations.  If he is married, 
his wife's personality becomes an issue.  The priest is a nice 
ornament at parties and functions.  He is also the president of 
all parish organizations: a figurehead with all the wit and 
intelligence of a department store dummy.
	
The so called "Dumb Priest".... Presumably he is so dumb 
that all he can do is God's work!  One would quickly be 
branded a bigot should s/he make such a blanket statement 
about the Blacks, Mexicans, Jews or any other group.  Yet 
the priest is fair game for stereotypical projections.  Like the 
comment of a bigot or racist, stereotypes blind the senses to 
reality.  Even as the youngest Armenian priests in America, 
with only eight years since receiving the holy order, I can 
verify that it is far from a sleep-in-late-one-day-a-week-job.  
The "dumb-priest" myth unjustly ignores: the disappointment 
of finding church pews empty, while church dinners are sold 
out to capacity; the nights away from the family for the 
infamous "meeting"; the preparation to make sermons 
relevant; the difficulty in expressing sympathy at premature 
death; the tuning of a deaf ear to misdirected criticism; the 
dilemma of juxtaposing fund raising with the free love of 
God; the anguish at witnessing the moral decay of 
parishioners; the loneliness at partaking of the Lord's supper 
alone; and so on and so on.
	
This is not an apology.  "Where there is smoke there is fire," 
we say, and so stereotypes are fabricated on some bit of truth.  
Maybe so. Perhaps there are a few "bad apples" that spoil the 
bunch. Or possibly recent sensationalistic revelations about 
televangelists have made us suspicious about all clerics.  Or 
maybe the socio-economic conditions of our day, where job 
security is so vital, has necessitated compromise.  But the 
sting of this stereotype is felt in its wide-spread acceptance 
among the Armenian laity and even among the projectees--
the clergy.  And this betrays the Armenian Church to 
disfunctionality because the role of the priest cannot be seen 
outside of the myth.  The inability to conceptualize the priest 
as a man of God, who has a sincere dedication and devotion 
to the Church, prevents us, as the Church, from exploiting 
the talents of the clergyman for the greater glory of God.
	
Case in point: According to the by-laws of the Armenian 
Church in America (all jurisdictions), the priest is the head of 
the parish.  He is the president of all parish organizations.  It 
is a nice title with very little function behind it.  
Nevertheless, he is the one most familiar with the day-to-day 
routines and needs of the parish.  Yet the operation of the 
parish is delegated to a parish council (a body which changes 
every year).  The parish council makes the decisions about 
what and where to invest money, how to operate the church 
facility, what office equipment to buy,... etc.  If, by chance, 
the priest understands investing, if he is computer literate, if 
he is knowledgeable in contract law, it does not matter.  His 
opinions are dismissed, "What can he possibly know about 
anything in the business world?  After all he is only a dumb-
priest."  Perhaps not in these words, but the stereotype has a 
tight grip: The collar is choking our clergy!

Furthermore today, the Diocese-Prelacy unity committee has 
submitted a draft of a united by-laws to be debated and 
adopted by the respective assemblies.  One of the striking 
points in the document is the vote of the priest at diocesan 
assemblies which will count in a 1:7 ratio. Could it be that 
the grip on the priest, vis-a-vis the stereotype, is so profound  
that he must be repressed within the very organization which 
defines him?

From the beginning

The Father "consecrated and sent into the world" (Jn. 10:36) 
the Son, Jesus Christ in fulfillment of the prophetic call "to 
preach good news to the poor... to proclaim release to the 
captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty 
those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of 
the Lord." (Is. 61:1,2).   As the manifestation of the unseen 
God, Jesus in His work and ministry becomes the supreme 
example of the priesthood.  He establishes the Church, His 
Body, and the apostles organize the church, with the decent 
of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, to continue Christ's work in 
this world.  Tertullian, a the second century theologian, 
precisely writes, "The Church from the Apostles, the 
Apostles from Christ, Christ from God."
	
With the spread of Christianity and with the greater demands 
upon the apostles a formal structure for the Church became 
necessary.   The apostolic church had its own hierarchy: 
bishops, priests and deacons. Each order had its specific 
duties, responsibilities and authority.

Jesus Christ, as the proto-priest, is the "alpha and omega."  
He has never changed,  nor has His mission.  What has 
changed is our perception of the priesthood.
	
In the Book of Acts, chapter 6, we see when the apostles 
could no longer minister to the physical needs of the 
congregations, they chose deacons, so that the spreading of 
the Good News would not suffer.  In the same sense, we may 
argue that for the Armenian Church also, the physical 
demands of the congregation have become great.  Yet for a 
variety of reasons, we have not taken that next step to 
appoint "servers of the table" (Acts 6:2).   I am not making a 
case here for expanding the responsibilities of the diaconate, 
but rather the point that the priest in the Armenian Church 
has been left alone to carry out these responsibilities, while 
the myth constricts his office to a frivolous insignificance.

Our problem with the priesthood is not that we necessarily 
lack a definition, but that we have cluttered the definition 
with excess.
"I never learned plumbing in seminary"

Along with his responsibilities of spreading the Good News, 
healing the sick and consoling the bereaved, comes the 
administration of a parish.  In the parish, the priest is now 
called to a new ministry, which he may or may not be 
qualified to hold.  He is the chief fund raiser, the door 
keeper, the janitor, the secretary and the supplier of raffle 
tickets.  In essence, the priest is the man who keeps the 
church running.   Amidst this clutter of responsibilities, the 
spiritual shepherd is put out to pasture.  Hence, the priest 
learns and masters a new career, albeit, by way of on-the-job-
training.

The dumb priest myth--like all myths-- reflects the mind-set 
of the projector, i.e., the stereotype says more about those 
who harbor these sentiments than about those for whom they 
are targeted.

Marshall Shelley, in The Problems of Battered Pastors 
(Christianity Today, May 17, 1985) further explains that 
today the general changes in life are necessary to consider in 
our analysis of the  priesthood. "No longer are pastors 
allowed to be generalists, jacks of all trades; today is an age 
of specialization," writes Shelley. "Different church members 
expect pastors to be specialists in almost every area...."  He 
further notes, "The office is no longer guaranteed respect.... 
few positions are so open to public evaluation... sermons are 
received not so much as a word from God to be obeyed but a 
suggestion from the pastor to be debated."
	
It is somewhat encouraging to learn that this problem is not 
endemic to the Armenian Church.  In an age of 
specialization, the Armenian priest continues to be a "jack of 
all trades."  Where no one is exempt from rules, the actions 
of the priest is open to scrutiny.  When there are no moral 
standards, the Armenian priest's job cannot be taken 
seriously.   Here begins our confusion about his role within 
the community and our misunderstanding of his profession.  
Amidst this confusion arises the corrupt definition of the 
priesthood, one which can only be dismissed when we 
understand the meaning of the priesthood as defined by the 
Traditions of the Church.
 
The priest is a anointed server of God.  Yet, above all else, he 
is not God.  Nor is he a superman.   He is human.  He 
breathes, talks, laughs, cries, sings, hurts.  He is perhaps the 
happiest of all humans, because he is called to witness to a 
resurrected Lord-- the Champion of life.  At the same time, 
he is one of the saddest human beings, when confronted with 
a seemingly impossible mission.
 	
[...] Christ reminds his apostles, "You did not choose me, but 
I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear 
fruit..." (John 15:16).  It is this reminder that the 
congregation, through its love and understanding of the 
priest, must provide for the bearing of the true fruits.

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