Let the pastor be discreetly silent, and to the point when he speaks
A spiritual guide should be silent when discretion requires and speak when words are of service. Otherwise he may say what he should not or be silent when he should speak. Indiscreet speech may lead men into error and an imprudent silence may leave in error those who could have been taught. Pastors who lack foresight hesitate to say openly what is right because they fear losing the favor of men. As the voice of truth tells us, such leaders are not zealous pastors who protect their flocks, rather they are like mercenaries who flee by taking refuge in silence when the wolf appears.
The Lord reproaches them through the prophet: They are dumb dogs that cannot bark. On another occasion he complains: You did not advance against the foe or set up a wall in front of the house of Israel, so that you might stand fast in battle on the day of the Lord. To advance against the foe involves a bold resistance to the powers of this world in defense of the flock. To stand fast in battle on the day of the Lord means to oppose the wicked enemy out of love for what is right.
When a pastor has been afraid to assert what is right, has he not turned his back and fled by remaining silent? Whereas if he intervenes on behalf of the flock, he sets up a wall against the enemy in front of the house of Israel. Therefore, the Lord again says to his unfaithful people: Your prophets saw false and foolish visions and did not point out your wickedness, that you might repent of your sins. The name of prophet is sometimes given in the sacred writings to teachers who both declare the present to be fleeting and reveal what is to come. The word of God accuses them of seeing false visions because they are afraid to reproach men for their faults and thereby lull the evildoer with an empty promise of safety. Because they fear reproach, they keep silent and fail to point out the sinner’s wrongdoing.
The word of reproach is a key that unlocks a door, because reproach reveals a fault of which the evildoer is himself often unaware. That is why Paul says of the bishop: He must be able to encourage men in sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. For the same reason God tells us through Malachi: The lips of the priest are to preserve knowledge, and men shall look to him for the law, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Finally, that is also the reason why the Lord warns us through Isaiah: Cry out and be not still; raise your voice in a trumpet call.
Anyone ordained a priest undertakes the task of preaching, so that with a loud cry he may go on ahead of the terrible judge who follows. If, then, a priest does not know how to preach, what kind of cry can such a dumb herald utter? It was to bring this home that the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues on the first pastors, for he causes those whom he has filled, to speak out spontaneously.
📜 Source Details
Latin Title: Regula Pastoralis, Saint Gregory the Great, Lib. II, Cap. 4
Patrologia Latina: Volume 77, Columns 30–31 (PL 77:30-31)
English Translation: The passage appears in multiple verified editions, including:
The Liturgy of the Hours, Vol. IV, Office of Readings, Friday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12, Saint Gregory the Great: Pastoral Rule (translated by James Barmby, 1895).
🕊️ Summary
Gregory outlines the dual discipline of speech and silence required of a true shepherd:
Discretion governs speech. The pastor must speak when his words edify and remain silent when speech would harm or mislead.
Failure in either direction is sin: speech without prudence deceives; silence without courage abandons.
The cowardly shepherd who fears losing men’s favor is likened to a “dumb dog” and a mercenary who flees before the wolf.
Prophets and teachers who refrain from reproving sin are condemned as seeing “false and foolish visions.”
The reproof itself is a key—it opens awareness of sin and thus repentance.
The priest’s lips must guard knowledge (Malachi 2:7) and proclaim the law as a messenger of the Lord.
The Spirit’s tongues of fire at Pentecost show that preaching is intrinsic to the pastoral office.
⚖️ Doctrinal Emphasis
Gregory frames pastoral speech as:
Prophetic: speaking truth against worldly power.
Protective: building a “wall” before the flock.
Sacramental: embodying the divine Word through human voice.
Charitable: correction as an act of love.
Hence the key principle:
“Let the pastor be discreetly silent, and to the point when he speaks.”
— Regula Pastoralis, II.4, St. Gregory the Great
