A Patriarch’s Address to the Moscow Theological Schools on the Feast Day of the Holy Ghost

Abstract

If the Church is disobeyed, you will be treated as a pagan and a tax collector. These are words of great significance we have just heard in the Gospel. The Lord does not call upon us to uncover man's unrighteousness through fighting or intrigue, but to confront him openly and honestly. If anyone is in error, rebuke your brother; if he will not listen, do so before witnesses; and if even before witnesses he will not listen, tell the Church. But if the Church will not listen, then be to you as a heathen and a tax collector.