My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SPIRITUAL OBEDIENCE
By Saint Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia
“As flower comes before every fruit, so exile of body or will precedes
all obedience. On these two virtues, as on two golden wings, the holy
soul rises serenely to heaven. Perhaps it was of this the Prophet sang
when, filled with the Holy Spirit, he said, ‘Who will give me the wings of
a dove?’ and, ‘The active life will give me flight and I will be at rest in
contemplation and lowliness” (Psalm 54:7).
“Obedience IS A TOTAL RENUNCIATION OF OUR OWN LIFE, and it
shows up clearly in the way we act. Or, again, OBEDIENCE IS THE
MORTIFICATION OF THE MEMBERS WHILE THE MIND REMAINS ALIVE.
Obedience is unquestioned movement, death freely accepted, a simple
life, danger faced without worry, an unprepared defense before God,
fearlessness before death, a safe voyage, a sleeper’s journey.
Obedience is the burial place of the will and the resurrection of lowliness.
A corpse does not contradict or debate the good or whatever seems bad,
and the spiritual father who has devoutly put the disciple’s soul to death
will answer for everything. Indeed, to obey is, with all deliberateness, to
PUT ASIDE THE CAPACITY TO MAKE ONE’S OWN JUDGEMENT.”
[ Saint John Climacus]
ON OBEDIENCE TO CONSCIENCE
“Do not do what conscience forbids you to do, for an unerring conscience
forbids what the Law of God also forbids. For a good conscience is in
agreement with the Law of God. The Law of God says, ‘Thou shall not kill,
thou shall not steal’ (Exodus 20:13-15), and so on. You also hear the same
within your conscience, and it tells you the same thing. Avoid, then, doing
what conscience forbids, lest having wounded your conscience you wound
your soul.” [Saint Tikhon of Zadonsk]
Saint Porphyrios retained a deep sense of humility and a feeling of extreme, personal sinfulness throughout the course of his entire life. This is made manifest, principally, in his “swan song,” his “letter addressed to his spiritual children.” Whatever he did, he did through the prayers of his holy Geronda [Elder], whom “he loved a great deal.” His great love led him to “extreme obedience,” that is, extreme humility, which is IMITATION OF CHRIST. This extreme humility made him receptive to the Divine gifts of the Holy Spirit.
“This (meaning extreme obedience) helped me a great deal,” he writes. “I felt an immense amount of love towards God and thus, I spent my days very well.” He is speaking with much humility, “concealing himself.” He was granted the gift of clairvoyance at the age of seventeen.
In an article entitled “The Spiritual Father in Orthodox Christianity,” Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of Diokleia and of blessed memory, makes several lucid points regarding the relationship between a Gerondas [Elder] and his spiritual child and the subject of obedience. Metropolitan Kallistos writes: “Three points must here be made. In the first place, THE OBEDIENCE OFFERED BY THE SPIRITUAL SON TO HIS ABBA (FATHER) IS NOT FORCED, BUT WILLING AND VOLUNTARY. It is the task of the starets to take up our will into his will, but he can only do this b our own FREE CHOICE WE PLACE IT IN HIS HANDS. He does NOT break the will, but ACCEPTS IT FROM US AS A GIFT. A submission that is forced and involuntary is obviously devoid of moral value; the starets asks of each one that he offer to God his heart, not his external actions.
The voluntary nature of obedience is vividly emphasized in the ceremony of the tonsure at the Orthodox rite of Monastic profession. The scissors are place upon the Book of the Gospels, and the NOVICE MUST HIMSELF PICK THEM UP AND GIVE THEM TO THE ABBOT. The Abbot (Egoumenos) immediately replace them on the Book of the Gospels. Again the novice take the scissors, and again they are replaced. Only when the novice gives him the scissors for the THIRD TIME does the Abbot (Egoumenos) proceed to cut hair. Never thereafter will the monk have the right to say to the Abbot or the brethren: ‘My personality is constricted and suppressed here in the monastery; you have deprived me of my freedom.’ No one has take away his freedom, FOR IT WAS HE HIMSELF WHO TOOK UP THE SCISSORS AND PLACED THEM THREE TIMES IN THE ABBOT’S HAND.
But this voluntary offering of our freedom is obviously something that cannot be made once and for all, by a single gesture. There must be a continual offering, extending over our whole life; our growth is A CONTINUAL OFFERING, EXTENDING OVER OUR WHOLE LIFE; OUR GROWTH IN CHRIST IS, MEASURED PRECISELY BY THE INCREASING DEGREE OF OUR SELF-GIVING. Our freedom must be offered anew each day and each hour, in constantly varying ways; and this means that the relation between starets and disciple is not static but dynamic, not unchanging, but infinitely diverse. Each day and each hour, under the guidance of his Abba (Father), the disciple will face new situations, calling for a different response, a new kind of self-giving.”
JOYFUL OBEDIENCE: THE SOURCE OF THE GIFTS OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT
The undeniable authenticity of the Elder’s Orthodox way of life shines forth in his “joyful necrosis of volition and freethinking,” which he lived at every moment. His ethos, both ascetical and humble, reveals his co-suffering on the cross with Christ, Who “BECAME OBEDIENT TO THE POINT OF DEATH, EVEN THE DEATH ON THE CROSS” (Philippians 2:5-9). This illumined imitation of the First and Great Disciple Christ used to say characteristically, that absolute obedience saved him. He lived as if what his Elders said was according to Divine Dispensation, relinquishing every personal “right,” desire and high-mindedness.
The great love which Elder Porphyrios possessed for his own Elders brings for mind the commensurable love which Saint Symeon the Theologian possessed for his own Geronda (Elder), the holy one Symeon the Pius (also) known as the Studite or Eulaves). As often as Saint Symeon desire to get a blessing, he would venerate the very footprints of his spiritual father.
Saint Symeon the New Theologian comprised this prayer for those in search of a spiritual father:
“O Lord who desirest not the death of a sinner but that he should turn and live, Thou who didst come
down to earth in order to restore life to those lying dead through sin and in order to make them worthy
of seeing Thee the True Light as far as is possible to man, send me a man who knows Thee, so that in
serving him and subjecting myself to him with all my strength, as to Thee, and in doing Thy will in his,
I may please Thee the Only True God, and so that even I, a sinner, may be worthy of Thy Kingdom.
Amen.”
“… This blessed obedience benefited me a great deal,” Saint Porphyrios of blessed memory said, “because it changed me. I became alert, swift, and stronger both in body and soul… I bowed down before obedience and poured over it. All the rest, which God brought about into my life, came on its own. The gift of foresight, additionally, was given to me by God on account of my obedience.”
Here, the Elder certifies with his own life, what Saint John Climacus writes in the Ladder of Divine Ascent: “From obedience comes humility, as we have already said earlier. From humility comes discernment, as the great Cassian has said with beautiful and sublime philosophy in his chapter on discernment. From discernment comes insight, and from insight comes foresight.”
“Obedience,” Saint Porphyrios said, “illustrates one’s love for Christ. And Christ particularly loves those who are obedient. This is why He says: ‘I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me.” (Proverbs 8:17). Everything is written within the Holy Bible, but such things are concealed.”
Obedience to the Church
The Elder’s obedience was universal, meaning that it was unconditional and it applied to everything and to all with the exception of obedience to sin. His obedience pertains to the Church at large, and not just to his spiritual rebirth. Such obedience means absolute faith and agreement with the Holy Bible, Orthodox dogmas, and Bishops.
“Despite the importance of ecclesiastical obedience as a religious good, Orthodox history also teaches us that resistance to religious authorities, be they Patriarchs, Bishops, or Councils, may be necessary to protect the Faith. This is especially the case when ecclesiastical authorities HAVE BEEN CO-OPTED BY THE STATE OR WHEN THEY CLEARLY TEACH CONTRARY TO THE ANCIENT FAITH OF THE CHURCH. “OBEDIENCE TO THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL IS THE FIRST REQUIREMENT OF THE CHRISTIAN.” When, either by their teachings or their actions, Church authorities BETRAY THAT TRUTH FOR PERSONAL GAIN OR POLITICAL EXPEDIENCY, ‘HOLY DISOBEDIENCE’ IS ENTIRELY APPROPRIATE.”
The Elder viewed every discordant or separatist tendency within the Church AS A KIND OF DISMEMBERMENT AND PARTITION OF THE COHESIVE BODY OF CHRIST, AND HE REACTED AGAINST SUCH TRENDS. He did not even wish to think in a manner contrary to what our Orthodox Tradition teaches us.
Once, he had a wonderful experience with the nightingales of the Holy Mountain. He suddenly thought that they appeared like Angels who sang praises to the Creator. However, he quickly corrected himself and inhibited this thought, saying that, we must not think contrary to what God has revealed to us, through the Holy Bible. (Source: Healing the Soul: Saint Porphyrios of Kafsokalyvia as a Model for Our Lives.”
______________
“Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!”
– Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 