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The Pastoral Epistles of Saint Paul
Talk by Metropolitan Jonah (Paffhausen), part p. 34. 1 Timothy 3-4
March 28, 2023

Topics include: 
(1) On Bishops, Deacons and Presbyters. On their required qualifications. Deacons serve their Bishop as assistants and also serve the congregation in the Liturgy and Agape meal afterwards. Presbyters (Priests) were delegated the task of celebrating the Liturgy and heading up communities in the fourth century when the number of Christians grew abruptly once Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Priest is an assistant and agent of the Bishop. The Bishop is responsible for his Priests, that they are living an appropriate life and cooperating with him in the ministry of the Church. 
(2) Bishops were originally married. Celibacy among Bishops began in the sixth century due to issues with inheritance of property rights of Churches by Bishop's children. So after that change, Bishops were chosen from among the monks. 
(3) Discussion of monasteries and unmarried Priests. Everyone needs a community of some sort, a family or a spiritual community. 
(4) The Church is the pillar and ground of truth. Augustine: The Church is the Jerusalem from above. 
(5) Chp 4. Paul addresses deceitful teaching, largely from Gnostics, who were dualist and who rejected marriage because they believed that marriage, sex, the body and procreation were evil. They had various dualist categories: good/evil, white/black, male/female, virgin/married, light/dark, vegetables/meat, and would associate all the "good" categories together and vica versa. Paul is also possibly addressing Judaisers and their insistence on abstinence from various foods. cf. Jesus appearing to St. Peter and saying “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ... “What God has made clean, do not call common.” 
(6) The importance of Bishops TEACHING and not just performing administrative tasks! The Episcopate is the ultimate office of teaching. 
(7) St. Timothy's ordination as a Bishop: Ordination is a charism, a spiritual gift given by prophecy (that is by speaking forth, not predicting the future). They didn't just prophecy that he would be a good leader, but spoke down the Holy Spirit's anointing on him as Bishop in the laying on of hands. 
(8) On salvation: not just about what happens when you die. The Kingdom of God is here and now, and godliness is a manifestation of the Kingdom. God sent his Son to save all of us. We appropriate this salvation by faith in this life. Who God saves in the future is His business.