February
17, 2002
"Finding
A Spiritual Father"
As you know, this newsletter has been published
for over four years. During that time, we have received many letters
from readers with questions on the spiritual life, asceticism, and
related topics. It was clear from the questions and the letters that
many people thought this newsletter was produced by monks or other
clergy; but that is not the case. Instead, a simple layman who merely
wants to share the riches of the ancient Desert Fathers with the widest
possible audience and to help people see that today's problems and
issues can be addressed with the ancient wisdom of the Desert Christians
produces it. By making the writings of the Desert Fathers available on
the Internet, in a searchable, accessible format, it is our hope that
this ancient wisdom will touch the lives of more people in today's
world. In that, I believe we have succeeded as our readership now
numbers over 1700 each week.
One question that has come up time and time again
is the most important one -- "How do I find a spiritual father in
today's world?" It is this question I would like to address today
as it is one that applies to a great number of people and it is one I
personally have struggled with over the years. In answering this
question, reference will be made to the writings of spiritual fathers
through the centuries, but I will also take the liberty of sharing some
personal experiences with you.
Two primary points have been made repeatedly in
my own consultations with monks and priests and in the writings I have
consulted: 1) a sincere spiritual child will ALWAYS be led to a
spiritual father if the seeker is sincere; and 2) in the absence of a
spiritual father, one can always turn to the writings of the Desert
Fathers.
I remember once asking a Russian monk, "Why
are there no spiritual fathers today like St. Seraphim or the ancient
saints who can guide and advise us?" His answer: because there are
no spiritual children as in the past. In other words, because modern
people are not as serious and humble in their quest for spiritual
maturity, are not as willing to endure the hardship, submission,
asceticism, material renunciation, and time spent in prayer as people
did in earlier times, God does not reward us with the spiritual fathers
we think we want. The monk told me, however, that any person who is
truly desirous, truly sincere, whose heart truly seeks complete
submission to God, will always be led to a spiritual father or mother
who can help lead that seeker to salvation.
On the other hand, most of us do not fit that
category of truly sincere and truly submissive seekers. For us, a
"mediocre" spiritual guide may be found, but the safest and
most reliable guide will always be found in the writings of the ancient
Desert Fathers. In this respect, you might wish to reread a newsletter
from 1998 which discusses the issue of "Why
Should We Read the Desert Fathers?" .
What about the earliest saints? Did St. Anthony
the Great or St. Paul of Thebes have spiritual fathers or libraries of
books to read? Of course not. So how did they learn? How did they
acquire their vast troves of spiritual knowledge and understanding? I
asked a monk on Mount Athos about this once and his answer was simple.
The early Fathers had the greatest spiritual library imaginable -- the
Holy Bible.
If you read the lives of the Desert Fathers, one
common fact about their lives comes up repeatedly; quite often, the ONLY
book they had in their cells was a copy of the Bible, as often as not
personally and painstakingly hand-copied from a Bible owned by another
hermit. This Bible was their most valuable possession, but they were
without exception ready to give it up to a thief, a buyer, or a pilgrim
in order to avoid material attachment to the object itself. Because of
their profound humility and simplicity, and their great desire to submit
to God, the Almighty One taught them through the pages of the Bible and
led them to learn and write down the vast wisdom we now know as the
teachings of the Desert Fathers.
St. Anthony the Great, when asked how he could
live in the desert without books to teach him, replied that the hills
around him were his books. In other words, living in solitude in nature
in submission to God's Will taught him the spiritual life. The
implication is clear -- the serious seeker, who shuns the material world
(even if he or she continues to live IN the world, material attachment
can still be avoided), will always be led to the Truth by God if the
effort and desire are there.
One should also not make the mistake of thinking
that only those will be saved who leave families and the world behind to
live the ascetic life in solitude. On this, the teachings of the Desert
Fathers are clear. A man who lived in the city and wanted to go to the
desert to be a monk once consulted St. Niphon. St. Niphon could tell
this man had no real inclination toward monasticism so he told him,
"My son, a man is neither saved nor lost by the place he is in, but
is saved or lost by his deeds. Neither a holy place nor a holy state is
of use to him who does not fulfill the commandments of the Lord. Saul
lived in regal luxury and perished. David lived in luxury and received
the wreath (of salvation). Lot lived among the lawless Sodomites and was
saved. Judas was among the apostles and went to Hell. Whoever says that
it is impossible to be saved with a wife and children is a deceiver.
Abraham had a wife and children and three hundred and eighteen servants,
and also much gold and silver, and he was called the friend of God! Many
servants of the Church have been saved, and many lovers of the desert;
many aristocrats, and many soldiers; many craftsmen, and many farm
laborers. Be devout towards God and loving towards men, and you will be
saved."
St. Theophan the Recluse wrote a nice piece about
the need for a spiritual father in one's life. Read his words carefully:
"St. Anthony the Great, when he began to
wonder whether his rule was true, immediately began to cry out: 'Tell me
the way, Lord,' and was only at peace when he received assurance. Anyone
who has embarked upon the spiritual life is just as one who has embarked
upon an ordinary journey. Since we do not know the way, we need someone
to lead us. It would be too self-reliant to think: 'I can do it myself.
. . . .' No, neither rank nor learnedness, nor any other thing can help.
It is no less self- reliant if someone who is not subject to
extraordinary circumstances but who has the opportunity to seek out a
guide, yet does not choose one, assuming that God will guide him without
an intermediary. It is true that it is God Who has received us and leads
us to perfection, but under the guidance of a father. The father does
not lift us onto the steps, but facilitates our being lifted by God.
Nevertheless, in the usual order of things, God leads us, makes us
understand, purifies us, and tells us his will through others. Anyone
left alone with himself is in extreme danger, never mind that he will be
thrashing and floundering in one place, producing very little fruit.
Knowing neither ascetic feats, nor spiritual exercises, nor their order,
he will do them and re-do them, like someone who has taken up a task he
does not know how to do. Often for this reason many people get stuck,
grow cold and lose their zeal. But the chief danger is inner disorder
and satanic delusion."
Clearly, the spiritual seeker should seek a
spiritual father, but one should not despair when one does not find such
a guide immediately. Each Christian needs a spiritual father if they are
truly seeking to do God's Will and grow in the Faith. However, we do not
need to go to Mount Athos or the Holy Land to find a "spiritual
guru." We do not even need to wander from monastery to monastery or
parish to parish within our own land to seek a spiritual father. If you
truly seek the wisdom of the Desert, you will find it if you seek with
your heart and soul and your real desire is to submit to God, as opposed
to being "spiritual." If you are a sincere student of the
spiritual life, a true seeker of holy wisdom, then God will lead you to
it and, in the process, may even lead you to a true spiritual father who
will direct your daily life in the tradition of the Desert Fathers.
Should that happen, consider yourself blessed to the highest degree. If
it does not happen, however, do not despair because everything you need
for spiritual growth is there if your heart is truly seeking submission
to God's Will.
I hope these thoughts are of some help to you if
you feel the need to find a spiritual father in these times of spiritual
deadness. The search is not an easy one, but God DOES reward the sincere
seeker and the guidance we need is out there, whether in the Bible, the
Desert Fathers, or from that rare spiritual father who can truly lead
the dedicated student who submits to his will. It is a difficult search,
but the payoff is eternal life and salvation.
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