The Archiereus — Worthy Servant and Humble Leader in the Church
The Archiereus is, according to the Apostle Paul, „taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God” (Hebrew 5:1). He belongs to the world above alike to the realities below. Inasmuch he serves the latter, equally he takes part in the Kingdom from this life.
The life of the Archiereus is a continuous struggle to find, to discover the way he must walk serving the Church of Christ beginning with the diocese received to rule. He comes from the monks’ world and is intended to remain in this world. At the same time, he is wearing the garment of authority and dignity and he is called to wear with dignity this garment. The Archiereus’ life is a tension between the monk state and the state of the diocese’s leader.
The Archiereus must be one who lived by spiritual experience the divine and he must know by human experience the earthly things. He is like the oak. The more he beautifully ascends to the sky, the more is rooted in ground, due to the storms that befall him. Being himself aware that he is no „lord of the Church” (1 Peter 5:3), but the servant of Churches joy, the Archiereus becomes the extension between the believers of Christ, the God-Man.