; although they
are consecrated by receiving orders before having a cure.

Reply Obj. 3: As parish priests and archdeacons have not the chief
cure, but a certain ministry as committed to them by the bishop, so
the pastoral office does not belong to them in chief, nor are they
bound to lay down their life for the sheep, except in so far as they
have a share in their cure. Hence we should say that they have an
office pertaining to perfection rather than that they attain the
state of perfection.
_______________________

SEVENTH ARTICLE [II-II, Q. 184, Art. 7]

Whether the Religious State Is More Perfect Than That of Prelates?

Objection 1: It would seem that the religious state is more perfect
than that of prelates. For our Lord said (Matt. 19:21): "If thou wilt
be perfect, go" and "sell" all [Vulg.: 'what'] "thou hast, and give
to the poor"; and religious do this. But bishops are not bound to do
so; for it is said (XII, qu. i, can. Episcopi de rebus): "Bishops, if
they wish, may bequeath to their heirs their personal or acquired
property, and whatever belongs to them personally." Therefore
religious are in a more perfect state than bishops.

Obj. 2: Further, perfection consists more especially in the love of
God than in the love of our neighbor. Now the religious state is
directly ordered to the love of God, wherefore it takes its name from
"service and homage to God," as Dionysius says (Eccl. Hier. vi);
[*Quoted above A. 5] whereas the bishop's state would seem to be
ordered to the love of our neighbor, of whose cure he is the
"warden," and from this he takes his name, as Augustine observes (De
Civ. Dei. xix, 19). Therefore it would seem that the religious state
is more perfect than that of bishops.

Obj. 3: Further, the religious state is directed to the contemplative
life, which is more excellent than the active life to which the
episcopal state is directed. For Gregory says (Pastor. i, 7) that
"Isaias wishing to be of profit to his neighbor by means of the
active life desired the office of preaching, whereas Jeremias, who
was fain to hold fast to the love of his Creator, exclaimed against
being sent to preach." Therefore it would seem that the religious
state is more perfect than the episcopal state.

_On the contrary,_ It is not lawful for anyone to pass from a more
excellent to a less excellent state; for this would be to look back
[*Cf. Luke 9:62]. Yet a man may pass from the religious to the
episcopal st