* The mere fact of enrolling in a theological school or belonging to a clerical class, being a purely formal sign, in no way means a true calling.

* Nor can it be considered a vocation if it is caused by fatigue of life, disappointment, or disgust with former hobbies. Such a mood is also fleeting and also indicative of infatuation. Disappointment in one cannot be recognized as a vocation to the other: "it is romantic folly to think that disgust with life is a sign of a religious vocation" (L. Blois). What God needs in His most holy service is not a disappointed and paralyzed spirit, but a heart filled with fire, podvig, sacrifice, and creative impulses for the building of the Body of Christ.

What are the signs of a calling, or, according to the Apostle, that a given person has a taste for the priesthood?

* First of all, there must be a free attraction of the heart to the great and holy work of pastoral care.

* The desire to build the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of this world, whatever its political coloring.

• Readiness for sacrificial service to one's neighbor and acceptance of pastoral care as the yoke of Christ.

• Willingness to have compassion for a sinful and sick, grieving person.

* Readiness for persecution by this world and its princes. Fearless rejection of all conciliation (conformism).

• A humble consciousness of one's own unworthiness and striving for the reverence of Christ, and not the denunciation and condemnation of dissidents.

* An experience of faith and living in the gospel that led to the bowing of one's head to the service of God.

Pastoral mood

This question is the cornerstone of the science of pastoral care and determines the innermost things that lie in the actions of the priest. It is not so much a question of content as of the direction of the pastoral heart. The knowledge and training of the priest will be discussed in the next chapter. Here we will examine the question of where the spiritual vision of the pastor is directed and what distinguishes his ministry from all other ministries in the Church.

This question has been considered in different ways in science. For a long time, under the influence of the scholastic West, our textbooks repeated what was said in the Catholic and Lutheran "chodegetics." Anthony (Khrapovitsky) gave this question a completely different direction. He returned to the roots of the Holy Fathers and the true Orthodox tradition, having decisively shaken the ashes of dry scholasticism.

It is usually pointed out that the pastor must be prayerful, spiritual, unmercenary, sober, meek, etc. But all these virtues are essentially required of the laity as well, and of the pastor their application is required more strictly and must reach perfection. However, this means that the difference is only quantitative, not substantive, and the priesthood does not confer any special gift on the Christian. The merit of Met. For Russian Orthodox theology, St. Anthony posed the question to his listeners: "Is there a special gift of pastoral care, and if so, what does it consist of?" – and to this question he gave an interesting, original, and not at all rational and scholastic answer. This answer should not be accepted as an absolute truth, outside of which there is no other, possibly true answer, but this answer fully corresponds to the spirit of Orthodox patristics and asceticism. Later we will speak of the incompleteness of his view, expounding its essence and the teaching of some of the Holy Fathers.