E

COPTIC ORTHODOX
PATRIARCHATE
Discipleship
BY
H. H. POPE SHENOUDA III
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Title : Discipleship
Author : H. H. Pope Shenouda Ill.
Translated by : Mrs. Glynis Younan, London.
Photocomposing : J. C. Center
Press : Dar El Tebaa El Kawmia.
Edition : August 1990 - 1 st eddition.
Legal deposit No. : 5294 /1990
Revised :COEPA 1997
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H.H. Pope Shenouda III, 117th Pope of
Alexandria and the See of St. Mark
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CONTENTS
Introduction
The Life of Discipleship
The Necessary Conditions of Discipleship
A Beneficial Word
Discipleship of Life
Lessons to be learned from Death
Discipleship from Books
Learning from Nature
Learning from the Animal World
Learning from Christian Rites and Rituals
Learning from Things that Happen
Learning from a Spiritual Father
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INTRODUCTION
This book is part of a series which we are hoping to
publish, God willing, for those engaged in any kind of ministry,
to help prepare them for service. It can be seen as part of a
course of instruction which the Church can follow for the
purpose of teaching, and for the education of its young people.
It is the fruit of two lectures: One which I gave at the conference on
training ministers (September 1972), and another lecture
which I gave at Banha in 1966.
Although you have this first book in the series in your hands,
the next, "Holy Zeal", is already being printed, and it is hoped
that the third book, which is on the spirituality of ministry, will
be issued shortly.
I wish you all success in your service.
Pope Shenouda Ill
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The Life of Discipleship
The Christian life is a life of discipleship.
Everyone who believes in Christ, is called to be His disciple.
Christ was called 'the Teacher', and 'the Good Teacher',
being His disciple is something for all Christians to
claim, Jesus had His special disciples who were called "His
own" (John 13: 1). These were the men whom He prepared for
ministering the word (Acts 6:4). The Bible says about them
that: "He had called His twelve disciples to [Him], He gave
them power [over] unclean spirits," (Matt. 10:1).
It says in the Sermon on the Mount: "His disciples came to
Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them," (Matt.
5:1-2). And when He wanted to celebrate the Passover, He sent
two of His disciples to say that, " The Teacher says, "Where is
the guest room in which I may eat the Passover with My
disciples? " (Mark 14:13-14).
The followers of John the Baptist were likewise called to be
John's disciples. It says in the Bible that once, " Then there
arose a dispute between [some] of John's disciples and the
Jews about purification." (John 3:25). And on another
occasion, the disciples of John came to the Lord Jesus Christ
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saying: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your
disciples do not fast?" (Matt. 9:14).
The Pharisees used to call themselves the disciples of Moses,
which is why, in a debate between the Jews and the man who
had been born blind, whose sight the Lord restored, the Jews
said: "You are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples." (John
9:28).
We observe that preaching the gospel was taken to mean
making disciples. When the Lord sent His disciples to preach
the gospel, He said to them: "... Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptising them ... teaching them to
observe all things that I have commanded you; " (Matt. 28:19-
20). And when Paul and Barnabas went to Derbe, it was said
that, " And when they had preached the gospel to that city and
made many disciples, " (Acts 14:21).
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The Necessary Conditions of Discipleship.
I should like to make two observations on the subject of
discipleship:
1. That discipleship is not just a matter of learning
particular facts, but rather, is a way of living.
2. That discipleship has certain conditions which should be
fulfilled in practical aspects of life.
Thus the Lord said to His disciples: " If you abide in My word,
you are My disciples indeed." (John 8:31).
So then simply listening to the words of a teacher, does not
mean that one is his disciple. One has to be firmly grounded in
his teaching. This means converting the teacher's words into a
life, so that they become principles that are firmly established in
the one who is learning.
The Lord Jesus gave us a sign, and a practical example, when
He said to His disciples: " ... love one another; as I have loved
you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that
you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
(John 13:34-50).
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Here the Lord Jesus is laying down a necessary qualification, a
standard, without which they would not be considered His
disciples. No matter how much they had learned from Him, in theory
about life. If people did not find in the Lord Jesus's disciples
that mutual love, then those disciples had no right to say that
they were disciples of Christ! It was an essential sign.
Just as Christ loved everyone, so His disciples must be like
Him. They, too, should behave and " to walk just as He
walked. " (1 John 2:6).
This reminds me of what the Lord said to the Jews who prided
themselves on being sons of Abraham: "If you were Abraham's
children, you would do the works of Abraham. " (John 8:39).
So true discipleship, then, is a discipleship of life which is
manifested in a practical way in a person's way of living. It
also reveals itself as being a discipleship according to a
particular teacher who was himself distinguished by that quality
of life and type of teaching.
This is why the Lord Jesus provided examples of people
who could not be considered as His disciples. For instance,
He said: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father
and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and
his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does
not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ".
And "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he
has cannot be My disciple. " (Luke 14:26,27,33).
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In this way Christ laid down the foundation for those who
would be His disciples, which was that they should
renounce the world in whole hearted dedication to Him,
and love of God, above their friends or relations.
And in taking this point further when His disciple Peter asked
him: "... we have left all and followed You. Therefore what
shall we have?" (Matt. 19:27), the Lord answered, with the
same kind of spiritual instruction: "And everyone who has left
houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or
children or lands, for My name's sake, shall receive a
hundredfold, and inherit eternal life. " (Matt. 19:.29).
So it is a basic principle, then, in discipleship for the Lord,
that you leave everything for His sake, or that you are at
least ready in you heart to leave everything, without feeling
any regrets.
This is why the Lord added another necessary condition, which
is that: " No one, having put his hand to the plough, and
looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9: 62).
Being a disciple of the Lord needs steadfastness upon the way,
with no turning back. It requires that a person be ready to
endure for the sake of the Lord and His ministry, and that he
should work hard for that purpose. Thus the Lord says: "...
And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me
cannot be My disciple. " (Luke 14:27).
There are other necessary conditions of discipleship, such
as commitment and accomplishment.
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Anyone who wants to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus must take
on what he has heard and been taught as his duty, and carry it
out, thereby transforming what he has learnt in theory into his
practical life. What use are words if we just listen to them and
then forget them, or memorise them just for the sake of
information? Knowing this we can see what a lovely phrase it
was that anyone of those who visited the Fathers used to say:
'Tell me a word which I might live by,' for the word is his
spiritual food. He takes it and nourishes his soul by it. He lives
by it and benefits from it. He does not only gain intellectual
benefit, but gains also in the practical aspects of life, so that it
becomes a beneficial and useful word...
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A Beneficial Word.
The spiritual person becomes a disciple of the beneficial word.
He searches for it from all sources: firstly from the Bible, then
from the sayings of the fathers and the teachers who may be
depended on, and then from any other source. Even if it should
be a word that has come from the mouth of a sinner, it still
might be beneficial.
An example of this is the story of Saint Ephram Al-Surriani
and the woman who gazed at him.
This woman looked at St Ephram and stared so hard and for so
long at him that he became embarrassed, and he asked her why
she was fixing her gaze on him in that way? And she answered
'It's natural that I should look at a man, because women,
when they were created, were taken from the body of a man.
But as for you, you ought to look at the ground, because you
were taken from the soil of the earth.'
The saint learned a useful lesson from this woman's words, and
trained himself to look at the ground.
Another similar example is the benefit which St Anthony
derived from the words of the woman who took off her
clothes to bathe in front of him!
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He said to her: 'Aren't you ashamed of taking your clothes off
before me, a monk? And the woman replied: 'If you were a
monk, you would live in the heart of the desert, because this is
not a suitable place for monks to live in.'
So St. Anthony profited considerably from her words, and said
to himself: 'That was the voice of God coming to me, which
He sent by the mouth of that woman.' He then went away to
live far away in the desert.
In the past, people would cross land and sea on long
journeys in order to ask one the fathers for a beneficial
word.
The book 'Bustan al-Ruhban' is full of such stories. The
journeys of Paladuis, Jerone and Rufinus are all of this type.
And their books have left us with a rich heritage which has been
of spiritual benefit to the whole world...
It was not only young people or ordinary people who used
to seek a word of advice from the desert fathers, but old
people and Great people used to do so too.
There was St Theophilus (he was the 23rd Patriarch), who as
Pope went many times to the monasteries to gain some
beneficial advice from the saintly monks. His stories are well
known from those of Anba Arsanius and Anba Paphnuti. As is
the visit of Pope Benjamin (the 38th Patriarch) to the
monasteries and places of recluse.
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It is also well-known that St Athanasius the Apostolic was a
disciple of St. Anba Antonius the great.
We bear too, about how St Macarius the Great asked for a
word of advice from the young Zachariah!!
The boy was amazed, and said to him: 'Are you, father, you
who are the star of the desert and its light, asking me, a young
boy, for a word of help?!
And St Macarius replied humbly: 'I trust, my son, in the holy
Spirit who is in you, and that you have something which I need
to know.'
There is also a story about how St Macarius received a
beneficial word from a boy who was tending some cattle...
Discipleship need not be hampered by a person's age or
situation. Blessed are those who live as disciples, ready and
willing to learn, throughout their lives...
Our problem, however, is that we imagine that we already know
something, or that we have reached a point at which we do not
need to ask or learn any more... yet we find a group like the
Lord's apostles asking Him, on one occasion: "Lord, teach us to
pray." (Luke 11:1).
Who was there who did not know how to pray?! Everybody
knew... or they imagined that they knew. The apostles asked
about a matter which seemed perfectly clear, but the result was
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that the Lord taught them the Lord's prayer, which was
certainly of great benefit to them...
From this we can deduce that one of the characteristics of
discipleship is humility.
It begins with a person feeling that he needs to learn, and to
ask, and to seek guidance. That person then goes on to have
the feeling that someone else has greater understanding than he,
and that God is able to guide him through that other person.
On the question of the humility of discipleship, look at what St
Paul said about himself: " ...I am indeed a Jew, ... at the feet of
Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers'
law," (Acts 22:3). For the pupil was not permitted to sit on the
same level as his master...
One of the necessary conditions of discipleship is that you must
take care to remember what you have heard and keep it within
you, and not forget it. As the prophet David said: " Your word
I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!
" (Ps. 119:11).
Forgetting an instruction is likely to make you fall into sin, and
make you forget those principles and values which you wanted
to learn. Therefore the Lord says: "And these words which I
command you today shall be in your heart." (Deut. 6:6). All
this is so that you won't forget them.
Do the same in regard to your spiritual training, so that you
do not forget it either.
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Being a disciple means that you gain knowledge which is then
transposed, through your practising various spiritual exercises,
into a stage of being practically applied.
By practising such exercises you will be putting what you have
learned constantly before your eyes, and it will warn you
whenever you are likely to break your new pattern of thought,
or behaviour and fall back into old ways.
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Discipleship of Life.
In your discipleship you do not learn from the words of your
teachers, but form their behaviour and way of life. Even when
they say nothing, you still absorb their way of living, by
absorbing the good qualities, standards and patterns which they
demonstrate in their life.
The ear is not the only means of learning, the eye is too.
There is the story of St Snba Shishoi who was so humble that he
would not give any instruction to those who came wanting to be
his pupils. When the fathers criticised him for not giving any
guidance to a new brother whom they had sent to learn from
him, he said to them: 'I am neither a leader nor a teacher. But if
that young man wishes to learn something, then if there is
anything that 1 can teach him, let him look at how I behave, and
how 1 act, and let him do likewise, without my having to
instruct him.'
A case of learning from the example of someone's life, is that of
the three brothers who visited Anba Antonius. Two of them
asked him questions, while the third sat silent. When the saint
asked the silent one why he had not asked about anything, the
brother replied: 'It is enough for me just to look at your face,
Father.'
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Just looking at the face of the saint was enough for the brother
to learn a lesson from him, even without that holy man saying a
word to him. He saw how the saint spoke and answered and
observed his gentle, kind and humble features... and he learned.
As another example we have the occasion when Pope
Theophilus visited the desert of Shihit. The fathers said to St
Anba Paphnuti: 'Say something to help the Pope.' And he
replied to them: 'If he has not been able to benefit from my
silence, then it is unlikely that he will be helped by my words,
either.'
So in fact one should be a disciple of silence as much as of
beneficial words.
Perhaps one of the best examples of this is that of St Arsanius
the Great, from whose silence many learned as disciples, and
from whose good model of behaviour many profited more than
from the words of other teachers.
So a disciple now can learn from the lives of others, from the
beautiful qualities that they exhibit. He can absorb their virtues
without their actually giving him lessons in those virtues. This
is what St Anba Antonius did at the beginning of his monastic
life. He used to learn from the life of the hermits by observing
them.
He was like a bee which sucks nectar from every flower.
From one recluse he learned calmness, from another humility,
and from a third silence, and from a fourth how to speak well.
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What St Antonius did reminds me of another useful piece of
teaching.
In your discipleship do not try to be just like a carbon copy
of one particular person. For there isn't a single human being
in whom all the virtues are to be found. Also, what suits one
person's particular character, may not suit yours at all. So just
take from everyone those beautiful qualities in him which you
admire. And take as much of those qualities as you feel is right
for you and in whatever way suits your character, your
mentality and situation.
This, then, is being a disciple of life, and part of that is
being a disciple of the lives of the saints.
St. Paul says about this: " Remember those who rule over you,
who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow,
considering the outcome of [their] conduct." (Heb. 13:7).
The Bible presents us with practical examples of every type, just
as history presents us with other examples of every branch of
virtue, and of every different style of life, so that we can learn
from them.
The Lord Jesus Christ reproached the Jews with the
example of the Queen of the South, when He said to them:
"The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this
generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater
than Solomon [is] here." (Matt. 12:42).
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She was a surprising example of one who sought wisdom and
knowledge, in other words, of discipleship. She learned from a
man who had been given wisdom by God Himself, and who was
the wisest of his generation. (1 Kings 3:12). Therefore, this
queen became an example for us to copy.
The Lord told parables and gave examples to His
generation and to us, from which we can learn.
There was, for instance, the humility of the Syro-Phoenician
woman, when she said of herself and her daughter: " yet even
the little dogs under the table eat from the children's crumbs."
(Mark 7:28).
And the Lord also gave us the example of the faith of the
centurion, who said: "Lord, I am not worthy that You should
come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant
will be healed." (Matt. 8:8). Then the Lord said to those who
were following Him: "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found
such great faith, not even in Israel! " (Matt. 8:10).
This, then, was how the Lord provided the people with
actual examples from those living around them, and who
were good models for others to learn from.
The Lord Jesus also told them the parable of the widow who
gave all that she had out of her poverty, (Mark 12.:44) and that
of the woman who poured a jar of expensive perfume over His
head, at the house of Simon the Leper. And He said:
"Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in
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the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as
a memorial to her." (Mark 14:9).
So there are examples from which you can learn not only in
the lives of the saints who have passed over, but there are
also living examples around you.
Perhaps you may find in those with whom you associate and
mix, and in those who live in your generation, even if you
haven't actually had any personal dealing with them, good
examples from which you can pick up or absorb or imitate their
virtues.
We see in children an example of those who learn by
imitation.
Children have not yet reached a level of intellectual maturity
and understanding which will help them to learn about the
world or comprehend advice, but they live as those around them
live. They absorb life, religion and everything else around them
by unquestioning acceptance, not by teaching.
Just as you learn from people's virtues, you can also learn
from their faults.
If you see something that is not right, and notice its awful
consequences, and its repercussions on others, you can learn a
lesson from it by making sure that you avoid that mistake in
your own life. Or, like when the lion said, 'Who taught you
wisdom, Mr Fox?' and the fox replied: 'I learned it from the
head of the wolf as it flew from its dead body!'
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And then there is that lovely proverb: 'I learned silence
from the parrot', which means that when we see the
disadvantages of talking too much, we learn a lesson about the
superiority and benefit of keeping quiet, and how people have
more respect for those who do not talk too much.
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Lessons to be learned from Death.
You learn not only from life, but also from death. It is the
old professor for you, and for many others.
Many of the fathers have learned from death the lessons of
being detached, of the transitoriness of the world and the futility
of all desires. The depth of this feeling has led some of them to
monastic life and to renouncing the world altogether.
An example of such people was the great Anba Antonius.
He looked at his father when the latter lay motionless on his
deathbed, and addressed him saying: 'Where is your strength,
your greatness and your wealth? You have departed from the
world against your will. But 1 shall willingly depart from it,
before they can take me away reluctantly'.
Thus St. Antonius resolved to lead a monastic life. And with
this feeling in his heart, he was moved by the verse which he
had heard in church. (Matt. 19:21) "If you want to be perfect,
go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven. "
And St Anba Paul, the first of the anchorites, was also
affected by death.
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He had been on his way to the court to carry out a lawsuit
against a relative over a matter of inheritance, when on the way
he had seen a funeral procession. He was so deeply affected by
it, that he left the money and the lawsuit, and went to the desert
to try and save his soul.
Then there is the story of the advice which a brother heard
from St Macarius the Great.
St Macarius had said to the young man: 'Go and praise the
dead'. And the young man had gone and said to them: '0
righteous ones, 0 faithful saints...' and then returned and the
saint had asked him: 'Did they make any reply to you?' To
which the young man replied, 'No, not at all'. So the saint said
to him: 'Then go and criticise them', which the young man duly
did. The saint then asked: 'And did they make any reply to you
this time? Were they upset by your condemnation of them?' To
which the young man replied, 'No, not at all.' At which point the
saint said: 'This is how you must be, then, if you wish to be a
monk. Be like these dead souls. Do not rejoice at praise and
do not be sad at being disapproved of.'
And there is the story of how St Macarius once went to
sleep having placed a skull under his head.
Some of the saints used to benefit spiritually from the sight of
skulls, from seeing the dead, and from visiting tombs. In fact,
merely the mention of death used to benefit them. And to
meditate upon it was a spiritual lesson for them.
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It was said about Alexander the Great, the most outstanding
leader and emperor of his times, that he had commissioned a
servant of his to say to him every day: 'Remember that you are a
human being, and that one day you must die.'
I wish that you too would benefit every time you hear of a
death, and from every funeral you attend, and that you would
learn from those upon whom death has had a deep effect, and
take from them a useful lesson in setting your priorities in life.
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Discipleship from Books.
The basis of discipleship is learning from the fathers and
teachers. As the poet said: "Take knowledge from those who
possess it, but seek wisdom from the wise."
But what happens if you don't find a teacher, father or guide?
Then, in that case, there are books, in which everything can be
found and which can provide you with good guidance.
Origen, the greatest scholar of his age, learned from books.
It was said that he used to hire whole libraries and spend the
night there, reading all night, eagerly devouring the treasures of
knowledge to be found in the manuscripts. St Jerome said of
him, that: 'He used to read while he ate, and read while he
walked ... until his mind was full of knowledge.' But Origen was
harmed by some of what he read.
Nowadays, we remember the name of Habib Girgis who, on
finding no teacher in the Theological College who could teach
him knowledge, especially after the illness and decease of the
archpriest Philotheus Ibrahim, resorted to books and eagerly
consumed their information. This enabled him to become the
first teacher of theology of his generation, and to write various
book son doctrine, spirituality, the lives of the saints, and
textbooks for church teaching and religious instruction. His
only source of learning was books.
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However, a person must choose carefully the books which
he reads and from which he learns, and must read them
selectively and not embrace unquestioningly all of what he
reads.
For there are books, even by famous writers, which may contain
incorrect information. not all books are infallible. The reader
must keep before his mind what St Paul said: " Test all things;
hold fast what is good. " (1 Thes. 5:21). And also the words of
St John: ".. do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,
whether they are of God; " (1 John 4:1).
A person also needs to distinguish between just reading,
and actually putting into practice what he is reading about.
There are certain spiritual principles for which one needs
guidance in knowing how to put them into practice. And some
virtues might also require a step by step approach and gradual
progression over a long period of time, in order for you to put
them into full effect. Someone might read in the book 'Bustan
al-Ruhban' about a virtue which one of the saints mastered,
perhaps only after struggling for years to do so, but it doesn't
necessarily follow that the reader can suddenly take that
knowledge and use it as his starting point, the stage reached by
that saint only after years of striving. He will not reach that
point or acquire that same virtue unless he follows the gradual
progress and spiritual struggle, one stage at a time, which the
saint had experienced.
The same applies to the various stages of prayer, and the
practice of silence, fasting and seclusion, and similar matters
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for which one needs spiritual guidance in order to be able to
master them.
We thank God that the Coptic library is well-stocked at
present with valuable books, whether they are the sayings of
the fathers in translation, or the lives of the saints, or books on
spirituality, doctrine, or history of Christian ritual and various
other aspects of Christian knowledge.
The individual must choose something that will fill his heart
and mind.
He would do well to draw up a daily programme of reading, or
at least a weekly one, so that if he doesn't read enough one day
he can make up for it the next.
Anyone engaged in the teaching ministry personally needs
to read a great deal, in order to be able to satisfy his pupils,
and so that he won't just present them with a repetition of facts,
or superficial knowledge, or things which they already know.
The minister whose knowledge is deep, will be seen as a rich
source of information by his pupils, who will then want to come
to him and his lessons. He will not be able to instruct them
unless he has first been through the stages of being a pupil and
has gone deeply into his studies. As the proverb puts it: 'Be
filled; because no one can overflow unless he is full.'
Learning from books has two sides to it: knowing it in one's
mind, and living it in one's life. And in order to integrate
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what you have read, you have to practise spiritual
exercises.
Read and make sure that you fully understand. And extract
those spiritual concepts which are most beneficial and
appropriate for you. Write them down in a personal notebook,
so that you can remind yourself of them from time to time.
Discipline yourself to do them, and be responsible for practising
them. Watch yourself as you apply them. If you fall short in
your spiritual knowledge into your way of life.
In talking about books and the scholar Origen, we can
mention St Basil the great and St Gregory, who
pronounced on the divinities, who were both disciples of
Origen.
Although they were not his contemporaries, since they lived in
the following century, nevertheless, we can say that because
they learned from his books, they were his disciples, in the same
way as the Jews referred to themselves when they spoke to the
man who had been born blind saying: "we are Moses'
disciples.". (John 9:28). Yet obviously they had not lived at the
same time as the prophet Moses, but having studied the five
books which Moses wrote, which are called the Pentateuch (the
law of Moses), they felt entitled to call themselves his disciples.
You will no doubt have come across many good and kind
people. But have you benefited from them and from their
example? Believe me, God will judge us on the last day if we
have not taken full advantage of learning from those whom He
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has sent to us as exemplars, whom we should imitate, just as He
said about those who were His contemporaries when He lived
on earth: "The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment
with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the
ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a
greater than Solomon [is] here." (Matt. 12:42).
Perhaps you might hear or read about the virtue of
gentleness, but not understand it exactly. Then God sends
you a gentle-tempered person from whose peaceful, kind
behaviour you learn by watching, and in this way you
understand more about what it is to be gentle than you
would from explanations in books.
So the Lord sends us living examples for every virtue: for
humility, simplicity, holy zeal, faith, and for all those spiritual
matters which books are unable to explain precisely, and which
might carry a wider meaning than words or expressions could
convey. And if we don't learn from such models and God were
to ask: 'Why didn't you learn from these practical examples?!',
then "every mouth may be stopped," (Rom. 3:19).
Did you imagine that being a disciple was only a matter of
reading books, listening to sermons and receiving spiritual
guidance? No, far from it! There is also learning from
others who do not speak about virtues, but whose virtues
speak for them.
So learn a lesson from every virtue which you see in someone
else, whoever he might be, Christian, minister or lay person...
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But let us go on now to another branch of discipleship which is
learning from Nature.
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Learning from Nature.
I always tend to remember the words of the psalm, when I talk
about Nature:
"The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament
shows His handiwork. " (Psalm 19:1).
This is indeed what Nature declares, which is why the Reciter
continues his reflections in this psalm: " Day unto day utters
speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge." (Psalm
19:2).
So a human being, then, can listen to what Nature is saying, to
the words of the celestial sphere, But what lessons can we learn
from Nature? I will mention some lessons here:
1. Nature gives us a lesson in order and intricacy.
In the forefront of this there is that wonderful, exact order
which holds together the sun, moon, stars and planets. How
does the earth revolve around its axis, its regular 24 hour cycle,
which gives rise to day and night, and also its other cycle
around the sun each year which produces the four seasons? All
this has been going on with such regularity, without losing any
balance, for thousands of years. Thus it is that one can forecast
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what will happen after hours, days or months, with regard to the
air pressure, wind, rain, or temperature, or flow of the tides.
One can observe the pattern or times and seasons operating
according to the precise order of Nature, that is a lesson for us.
Another example of order and intricacy are the various
systems of the human body.
I mean those systems as God originally created them to be, not
how human beings have abused them by neglect, or how they
have sometimes become damaged through illness, disease or
accidents.
These systems are, in fact, very delicate and very precisely
arranged, whether it is the action of the heart, or the blood
system in the human body, or the function of the brain in all its
centres, or the digestive or nervous systems etc. etc..
Consider the eye as an intricate and complex organ, and the ear
as a hearing system, and the tongue as an organ of taste and
speech, and an aid to digestion. One can only say that they are
a wonder upon wonder. Therefore it is not so surprising that in
the past, they used to study medicine in colleges of theology,
because it gave an idea of God's ability to create.
2. Let us take another example from Nature, which is the
way that it works tirelessly, without wearying, and without
asking for rest.
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Just imagine if the earth leaned over to rest on its axis, and
asked for a break, even for a little while, from the
labour of this unceasing revolving! What confusion it would
cause to the light and dark?! But the earth never ever
ceases its work, nor does the moon or the other members of the
celestial sphere, the sun, stars and planets. The movement is
constant; an amazing activity, performed for the purpose of
carrying out its mission faithfully. All this, of course, holds
lessons for us.
3. Nature gives us a third lesson, in that it acts for the sake
of others, and that it carries out another's will, with
complete obedience and devotion.
What actual benefit would Nature get for itself from all that it
does? What benefit does water derive from evaporating with
the heat and rising up, then being condensed as rain and falling
down? And this rising and falling goes on continuously every
season of every year for the sake of something else.
The whole of Nature works in the service of others. Nature
itself has no existence as far as its work is concerned. It just
gives itself freely and that is it. It obeys the law which God
laid down for it and doesn't shy away from it, or argue
about it.
What on earth would happen if the stars called a meeting, to
debate their plan of work the coming year?! Or if they
demanded a rearrangement of their affairs, or if they protested
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against having to work constantly without ever having a break
or a holiday?!
Whoever does this sort of thing could be classed, perhaps, as
someone who is too impressed with their own intellectual
ability, who is in too much of a rush to look clever, and
whose mind has grown bored. Such a person is one who isn't
learning a lesson from Nature, and who isn't carrying out what
he says, when he prays to God: "Your will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. " (Matt. 6:10).
4. Nature gives us a fourth lesson, in cooperation and
teamwork.
All of Nature works together to perform one task. It will be
enough for us to take as an example what happens when a
person eats a meal. This is one operation in which you find out
how everything works together. There is the hand which puts
the food into the mouth, the teeth which chew it, and the
tongue which helps you swallow it and which pushes it down
the back of the throat to the oesophagus and on to the stomach.
Then comes the various secretions, from one part or another,
which extract any goodness from the food which is then
changed into blood tissues or energy, with the waste being
expelled from the body by the bowels. Each organ and every
system of the body works with the others for the well being of
the whole body, with remarkable cooperation; receiving from
one organ to pass on to another, and working in partnership
with each other. So that we can never say in the end, 'Which
part did that?', because it was the whole digestive system which
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carried it out. But that's not all, because even if the process
were attributed to the digestive system alone, there are still the
other systems which are involved too, like the heart and the
brain.
We also find the same cooperation between the temperature of
the weather, the winds, rains and plants. All work together for
the sake of a healthy purpose, which is to benefit the whole.
One cannot isolate part of Nature to work on its own.
We find the same cooperation in the ant world and the bee
kingdom, but I don't have enough time to talk about the
wonderful way in which these creatures play their different
roles.
Shouldn't we learn this lesson from Nature, along with another
which the Bible tells us:
5. " If one member suffers, all the members suffer with [it];
" (1 Cor. 12:26).
All it takes is for one organ to be in pain, and you find the
whole nervous system intervening. You find the feeling of pain
appears and perhaps alarm signals start ringing to motivate the
person towards healing. It might be that he develops a raised
temperature, an irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure or
headache etc... which calls out: 'There is illness here, heal it!'
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If a germ has entered the body, you find the white blood cells in
constant -motion, and the whole immune system preparing to
fight it... beside the brain and other organs coming to its aid.
The apostle went on to say: ".. if one member is honoured, all
the members rejoice with [it]. " (1 Cor. 12:26). The face
smiles, the heart is at rest, the nerves are calm, the hands and
feet are ready to serve and express their joy. It is a lesson that
Nature gives us of the feelings shared by one family.
6. Nature's sixth lesson to us is that it acts without being
influenced by what people think about it.
The rain descends at its proper time and performs its task,
without being influenced by the praise of the farmer that his
fields have been watered, or by the grumbling of the person
who has been rained upon, or the hut that has fallen because of
the strength of the downpour or the clothes that have been
soaked. The rain does not seek false glory, thus it is affected
neither by praise nor by condemnation. It just carries out its
duty faithfully.
In the same way, the sun, the heat and cold and the winds
perform their functions without being concerned whether
anyone praises them because he is happy with what they have
done, or objects because he is annoyed. To perform their duty
is all that they are concerned about.
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7. The seventh lesson which we can learn from Nature is
that of wisdom.
Look at the vine, for example: it sheds its leaves in winter, in
order to give you the chance to enjoy the rays of the sun under
its trellis. Then in summer it is clothed in leaves once again,
because you then need shade to protect you from the heat.
We could also mention as a similar example, the pansiana tree
(the kind that gives shade) and many other types which
shed their leaves.
It is also part of Nature's wisdom that many plants and
fruits appear at the best time, and the right time, for
human beings.
The watermelon appears in summer, for it is then that you need
to quench your thirst by its juice, because of the heat. And the
orange appears in winter, for it is then that you need the vitamin
C which it contains, to ward off colds. In the same way, one
could cite the cases of many of the fruits as a point for
reflection on how they appear according to Nature's wisdom, as
to what is their appropriate time.
8. The eighth lesson we can learn from Nature is that of self
denial.
We can learn this lesson from the roots, for example, which
crouch beneath the earth without appearing, yet it is them that
bear the whole weight of the tree. And the higher the tree
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grows, the more the roots branch out and bury themselves in
the earth, so that by their burrowing further and further they can
give the tree the chance to grow higher and higher. Would you
call that self-sacrifice or love, an expression of humility, self-
denial or service to others, or all of that put together? For that
is what it is...
Let us just imagine what would happen if the roots were
suddenly overcome with feelings of jealously, and started to
envy the trunk, the boughs, the branches and the leaves,
because of their appearance, and because of the admiration they
receive from people. And suppose the roots wanted to be like
those other parts of the tree..! Suppose they wanted to leave
the earth and rise up out of their hiding place to be above the
ground, like the branches, dancing in the air ?! And if that
happened, the whole tree would fall down, wouldn't it!? But
we thank God that the roots don't behave like that, that they are
humble, and steadfast in their humility, and do not envy.
We can learn the same lesson from the foundations of
building.
People like to admire a towering building for its impressive
structure, its height, decoration, its lights and furnishings etc.
etc.. But no one speaks about its foundations, hidden below the
ground, which support the whole building in self denial. They
perform their supportive role unnoticed and unacclaimed. The
higher the building rises, the further down the foundations need
to go. The foundation seeks no praise, but only the safety of
the building that appears above. It is quite content to be deep
down.
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9. Nature provides us with a ninth lesson, on the different
variety of virtues.
As we have seen, the question of virtue is not confined to one thing,
as if there were only one kind of virtue; it is rather like a bouquet of
different coloured flowers. While flowers make you think of
beauty and giving, fruit can make you think of how fruit grows only
to sacrifice itself for the life of others, and of how other fruits give
themselves for people's health and healing. And there are those
fruits which don't mind being made to have a bitter taste, because
then they can have health giving properties.
10. Some parts of Nature give us a tenth lesson, one in strength
and resistance.
As an example of this, we have the hills and mountains, which are
firmly fixed and never move, no matter how much the winds blow and
the rains fall. They stand upright, unshaken, no matter what man
burrows into them, or digs roads on them, or builds on them.
Another example is that of the huge stone which stands in the course
of the river, which are buffeted by the water and waves, yet which
stand firm, taking no notice of shocks and remaining unaffected by
them.
11. Sometimes we can learn from Nature a lesson in
acclimatising oneself to one's environment.
There are desert plants, which find no water and whose leaves
are not exposed to any vapour, rain or dew, which are enfolded
in prickles furthermore, but which nevertheless retain their
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moisture, and do not lose their water. Another example is that
of the Artic fox and wolf which have a particular type of fur
coat to protect them from the cold, while racehorses have quite
a different type of skin because they do not live in a cold
climate. Can't we also learn from this another lesson, on how
God cares for His creatures? No doubt we can..
12. The prickles mentioned in the previous section remind
us that all things work together for good, which is a lesson
in faith.
A famous writer once made a wise remark when he said: 'Even
thorns can be used to make good fertiliser for the field'!! There
is nothing strange about that, for when thorns or prickles are
burned they turn into compost, and that particular compost can
make good fertilizer and is useful to man, besides the other
advantage of burning it, which is the heat that it generates,
which can also be put to good use. This gives us yet another
lesson which is, that we should make full use of everything,
even things like prickles which at first sight might seem to be
rather harmful.
13. Another lesson, one in humility, can be learned from the
cycle of the clouds and the rain.
Water evaporates and dries and rises up to become clouds.
Even so, it doesn't forget its origin, which is down below in
the lowest level of the earth. Therefore it is humble, knowing
that its rise will not go on forever, that a time will come when it
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will get cold and become dense, and that the wind will blow
and it will fall to the ground, perhaps to be absorbed by the
roots of a tree and to be taken down under the earth.
Would you expect the clouds to be proud of their water,
knowing where it had come from and knowing its fate?!
On the other hand, should the water be afflicted with feelings of
inferiority, or belittle itself, remembering its fellow drops of
water which had evaporated and risen up?!
No, not at all. Both should be content with their situation,
whether God made it rise to the sky or descend to the earth,
or whether He caused it to be absorbed by the roots of a
tree or enter the veins of its leaves and branches.
This is also a lesson in the life of acceptance.
14. We can also learn from the case of the manure which is
used to fertilise the soil.
A person might look at manure as something offensive because
of its rotten smell and unattractive appearance, yet the manure
itself is quite content to be as it is, and God who created it is
quite able to change it. For it might become part of the food
which a tree absorbs to be carried along to feed its buds and
then turn into fruits, which a person eats and which then goes to
build up that person's body and become part of its tissues.
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I wonder if people would be more humble if they were to realise
that some of their tissues had, once upon a time, been manure in
the earth?!
These are spiritual lessons for all who wish to learn and reflect.
It reminds me of what the Lord said: " Take heed that you do
not despise one of these little ones, " (Matt. 18:10).
15. We can learn another lesson about the care God takes
and His concern, which is made clear by the Lord's words:
" Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither
toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes
the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, [will] [He] not much more [clothe] you, O you
of little faith? " (Matt. 6.28-30).
This teaches us that we should not worry about what we need,
for God cares about us and knows what we need before we ask.
In actual fact, when God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden,
He put him in a place which was full of spiritual benefits to
anyone who might contemplate them. God gave Adam the right
to be master over the earth and bring it under his submission.
(Gen. 1:26, 28). But, it would have been more useful to him
to have contemplated it and learned from it, rather than to
have dominated it!
Let us now move on to another aspect of the sources of
discipleship which is, learning from the animal world.
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Learning from the Animal World.
Our Lord gave us this principle when He said: " ... be wise as
serpents and harmless as doves. " (Matt. 10:16). He was
teaching us that we should learn simplicity and innocence from
doves, and wisdom from serpents, which is a symbol or
suggestion that we should be prepared to learn even from the
birds and from the things that crawl upon the earth.
Believe me, I've learned many lessons from the sparrows!
I was sitting before my cell in the monastery garden once, and
there were a few seeds on the ground which might have
been dropped by one of the farm workers. A sparrow came to
feed on the seeds, and I imagined that it would eat until it had
had its fill from this source of provision. But it took one or two
seeds and flew off, leaving all this goodness behind without
minding or regretting it.
And so I learned a lesson from this about frugality and
being satisfied with what one has, and in fact about
detachment as well. And I remembered what the Lord had
said: " ... they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; "
(Matt. 6:26). This sparrow didn't greedily covet
or consume its pile of material blessings, nor did it stand in
guard beside it, but rather took what it needed and flew away,
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happier to sing in the sky than to sit beside the stuff on the
ground. And in that there was another useful lesson for me.
The bird sang happily after leaving everything behind...
I said to myself: 'This little sparrow is more of a real monk than
I. It is more detached from the world, because it does all this
naturally of its own accord, without straining or making an
effort, or having to resist inner feelings. Its nature is to be
happy, in spite of the fact that little traps sometimes await it.
And I recalled the words of the apostle: " Rejoice in the Lord
always. Again I will say, rejoice! " (Phil. 4:4).
The sparrow also taught me a lesson in the life of trust,
because it had left behind its supply of grain and flown off,
trusting absolutely that wherever it went, it would find the food
it needed, without having to worry about anything. And here I
also remembered what our Lord said: ".. do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. "
(Matt. 6:34) and ".. do not worry about your life, what you will
eat or drink.." (Matt. 6:26). And then I recalled what he said
about the sparrows: " ... for they neither sow nor reap nor
gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. "
(Matt. 6:26).
Dear Lord, it is a fact that these sparrows are better than
many people, for the way they trust You. Yet You, out of
Your great love for us, and to encourage us weak ones, said
something which makes us feel ashamed of ourselves when
we realise what little faith we have in comparison to the
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sparrows, which was: "Are you not of more value than
they?" (Matt. 6:26).
Thus we learn from them the life of faith, of not being worried
about material things, and not being anxious about tomorrow.
You Yourself, 0 Lord, told us to look at the birds of the sky
and learn. Perhaps you meant that we are more precious than
they from the point of view of being creatures endowed with a
mind and spirit and made in the image and likeness of God,
though the birds are superior to us in their reliance on You!!
Something else that amazes me about the sparrow is its
independent spirit and love of freedom.
It amazes me how it never ties itself to one particular spot, for
instance, the place where it finds food, which is why I said in
my poem, 'The travelling Hermit'.
"I have no monastery for a home,
all the desert and hills are my abode.
I am a bird soaring in the air,
no passion for a nest have I.
In the world I am free,
free to travel or stay."
We can also learn a lesson on activity from the ant. The book
of Proverbs tells us: "Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her
ways and be wise, " (Prov. 6:6).
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I can state with complete confidence that I have never in my life
seen an ant keep still! They never ever stop. They run
constantly here and there. And as the Bible says: ".. Provides
her supplies in the summer, [And] gathers her food in the
harvest. " (Prov. 6:8), which is a wonderful lesson in activity
and movement.
The bee also gives us a lesson on organisation and order.
The bee kingdom, as that prince of poets Ahmad Shawqi put it,
is: .. an ordered kingdom, with a female in command: the
burden of rule borne by the workers and labourers."
What is so wonderful here is the orderliness of the bee
kingdom, whether it is in the distribution of work, or making
the beeswax so beautifully, or collecting the nectar and making
the honey, or making the food for the queen (which we humans
steal and which can be bought in pharmacies under the name of
Royal Jelly). And what could be more wonderful than the
honeycomb which the bees make, which has such amazing
health-giving properties, and how about the many books and
articles that have been written? And, after all, wasn't it the food of
John the Baptist?!
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Learning from Christian Rites and Ritual.
All the rites and rituals which the church has laid down, have
spiritual benefits for whomever likes to reflect and learn from
them. It is because of this that we find children and illiterate or
uneducated people benefiting from them, even if their mental or
intellectual level is not up to understanding the beliefs or even
grasping fully the meanings of the prayers. It is not only they,
but all the congregation who reap spiritual benefits from the
rituals.
They benefit from all that they see, the candles, incense, icons,
the priests' robes etc. etc. In fact, they even benefit from
watching the priests' gestures, and from being in their presence,
or from being in the sanctuary.
The congregation also benefit spiritually from the standing and
sitting during the services, from looking at the priests' vestments
and the crosses, and from the steps which give access to higher
levels.
They may see a candle illuminating a picture of a saint.
Thereby they recall that saint's life story, and profit from it.
They see how the church honours him with its lights, and know
that he must be benefiting the church and worthy of veneration.
For thus God honours those who honour Him. And the light of
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the candle reminds people of how that saint used to give light
like that candle.
But in order to shed light like a candle, that saint had to
withdraw and melt away as he gave light.
This is how people can gain a lesson in self-sacrifice for the love
of God, and in the service of others.
They might also feel that the saint is still alive and has not
died.
They may talk to him and ask his prayers on their behalf, and
speak to him as if he were there with them. Thus they gain an
idea of the relationship between the church that strives on earth,
and its members who have striven before and passed on. In all
of this, without their being aware of it, the belief in eternity
becomes firmly established in them, and they repeat inside them
the words of the priest in the prayer: ".. because there is no
death for your servants but only a passing on." So these are
things which one can learn just from a candle and a picture.
Those whose perceptions go deeper, will notice that the
candle gives light because of the grease in the wax, and a
lamp in the church sheds light because of the oil which it
burns, and this wax or oil can be seen as a symbol of the
Holy Spirit.
Therefore they see that all the good we do doesn't stem so
much from any innate goodness in us, but rather from the
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action of the Spirit in us. And they recall the importance of the
oil in the story of the wise and foolish virgins.
In the same way, people can learn other lessons from the
candles which are held up at the reading of the gospel, and
those used in the church and at the altar in general.
They might then remember the words of the psalm: "Your word
is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. " (Ps. 119:105).
Also, "The commandment of the Lord [is] pure, enlightening
the eyes; " (Ps. 19:8).
They will see that the church, with its lights, is like heaven, and
that these lights remind us of the angels, and that the faithful, "..
shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, ... Like the
stars forever and ever. " (Dan. 12:3).
The white vestments of the priests remind the worshippers
of the purity of the priesthood, and that priests are the angels
of the church. (Rev. 2:3). They remind them of those who dwell
in heaven, who appear in the book of Revelation, as those in
robes which had been whitened in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev.
7:13-14).
Then there are the steps which the priests ascend to the
sanctuary which remind the people of the sanctity of the
altar and its deep significance and elevation, and the
exalted position of its ministers.
This is why people remove their shoes out of respect, when they
enter the sanctuary, because they are conscious of its
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holiness, and because the place in which the deacons and
ministers move, is higher than that of the congregation, whilst
the altar area is the highest of all.
When the incense rises up, it gives off a purifying scent,
which reminds people of those pure prayers which rise to
heaven.
I do not have the time to talk about all the rites and rituals of
the church in detail, it would require whole books to do so, but
they all contain something upon which one can reflect and learn,
alongside the readings and tunes used in worship.
It is enough to say that whoever enters a church with a
contemplative spirit, will leave it in a stronger spiritual state,
having been affected by the lessons which he has received from
the rituals.
Just the sight of the church might well lead one to think of
Noah's Ark and how the children of God were saved in it, or it
might remind one of heaven, with all its angels and lights.
The belfry of a church which rises up into the sky can remind a
person, before he enters the church, that he too should raise his
eyes and direct them upwards.
Whoever wishes to be a disciple, will find in the rites and rituals
of the church, a rich source from which to learn.
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Learning from Things that Happen.
Every event that takes place bears deep within it a useful lesson
for anyone who wishes to profit from experiences in life, and
who desires to be a disciple. It is not only the righteous who
profit, but also those who don't believe. All can learn from
what goes on in the world.
When King Xerxes read the book of the chronicles, the record
of his reign, his soul was influenced by what he read. And that
proved to be the reason for the salvation of the entire people.
(Esther ch.6). Events inspired certain feelings, which led to
spiritually-guided actions in those who were influenced by them.
I wish that we too would reflect on how the hand of God
acts in all that happens to us, and around us, both as
individuals and as groups.
We can learn about God by seeing how He acts, how and when
He intervenes, how He changes bad into good, and how He
arranges the affairs of the world in wisdom, combining the
freedom which He gives to man, with divine determination,
which sets up justice on earth.
We can learn lessons from God's care and concern, from God's
justice, and from His patience and long-sufferings.
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The prophet David recorded events which happened in his
day. He sang about them in the Psalms. And the Israelites
sang of them in their national songs in the Book of Jashar.
(2 Sam. 1:18), and see also, (Joshua 10:13). These were
lessons for the people, as were the events which Joshua sang
about.
So think over, and meditate on all the things that happen to
you.
Learn from these experiences, and keep the lessons in your
heart, just as it was said about the Virgin Mary, that she ".. kept
all these things in her heart. " (Luke 2:51). And do not forget
these reminders you have been given, for they are like the
specific commemorations which the Lord God instituted for
special events, in order that the people would not forget them,
such as the stones which they put in the midst of the river
Jordan, so that the Israelites would not forget that it had once
parted to let them cross (Joshua 4:9).
There is the story of the crossing of the Red Sea, and the
story of the three young men in the fiery furnace, which the
Church includes in the midnight prayer, so that we sing of them
everyday, and can learn a lesson in faith, and a lesson in how
God cares and protects. And there are, of course, other stories
apart from these two.
What are the events which we read about in the
Synaxarium everyday, if not other lessons which we can
learn from?
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They are recited to us so that we can learn from them, and so
that we can see how God worked, and how the saints acted.
There are also other stories in the Book of the Acts of the
Apostles, which we hear in the Mass, which have the same
objective, together with stories from the lives of the saints.
Blessed is he who profits from the lessons contained in all these
events.
You could also say that we have lessons from history, when
we learn from something that happened in the past, and lessons
from current events that we have seen with our own eyes or
heard of.
But if we let events go by without learning any lessons from
them, then without doubt we are failing in our discipleship.
Even non-believers find something worthy of consideration in
events that take place, by which 1 mean lessons which they
could learn from and use to their advantage, whether these
things happen to them or to others, a friend or enemy. The poet
said: "Whoever is conscious of history within him, adds years to
his life."
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Learning from a Spiritual Father.
Happy is the person who has a spiritual father who is on the
level of giving him spiritual guidance. What this means is, a
father confessor who not only listens to him and recites the
absolution, but who also guides and teaches him, and explains
the spiritual road, and who gives his spiritual son or daughter, in
his or her confession, the gift of discernment and discretion.
This kind of father is a teacher who has studied the
spiritual path and experienced it, who has studied the human
soul and come to know its weaknesses, its impulses, its
tendencies and what motivates it. And he will also have studied
the attacks of the devil and the tricks, cunning and deceptions of
evil spirits and knew how to overcome them.
From such a father, one can learn as a disciple.
If there is no one like this available, then the one who needs
to confess should try to find a spiritual guide, besides the
father confessor, whom he can ask about how he should
conduct himself in his spiritual life. The father confessor is
supposed to be the spiritual guide because the soul of his son or
daughter is revealed to him, but if he does not have this gift for
giving guidance, or his time is too limited, to give adequate
guidance to the hundreds of those who would come to confess,
because of his other responsibilities, then necessity dictates that
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anyone who needs to confess, should try to find himself a
suitable guide. He will need to find a person upon whose
advice and encouragement he can rely, and who will reveal to
him what is hidden from his knowledge, so that he does not
walk blindly in the fog.
I have given to my sons the priests, many lectures about
how to be a father confessor, which I am hoping to publish
soon as a book.
In connection with learning as a disciple from a spiritual father
or guide, I have a few observations to make:
1. The guide must be secure in his belief, sound in his
directives and guidance, and he should be experienced,
otherwise it will be as the Bible says: " ... if the blind leads the
blind, both will fall into a ditch. " (Matt. 15:14). This is the
situation which our Lord criticised in relation to the Scribes and
Pharisees, when He said that they were "blind guides". (Matt.
23:16,24). And when He rebuked them saying: " For you travel
land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you
make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. " (Matt.
23:15).
2. If the father or guide should go astray or deviate from his
correct position, he ought not to be obeyed, nor should his
guidance be accepted. So a person should seek guidance, but
at the same time keep his eyes open, and make sure that his
conscience feels comfortable with the advice that he receives.
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And the father or guide should not be content just to give
directions, but should try to convince, and reinforce his teaching
by verses from the Bible, or by stories and sayings of the saints.
3. There is nothing wrong with a person asking his teacher
or guide or spiritual father about something. The disciples
of our Lord Jesus Himself used to ask Him questions, and ask
Him to explain things to them. And He, blessed be His holy
name, used to interpret things for them and give them parables
and mention some of the verses of the Scriptures and explain
them (Luke 24:27).
If someone should ever find, though, that the advice given by
his guide is contrary to the word of God, then he should
remember what the Bible says: "We ought to obey God rather
than men." (Acts 5:29).
4. It is not a good idea for the son or daughter to try to be a
copy of his or her spiritual father in everything. For what
suits their father may not suit them at all. And perhaps their
father's circumstances, capabilities, and psychology might be
completely different from theirs. But what they should do is to
take the principles and apply them, as far as they are able to
spiritually, and in accordance with what is appropriate for them
and best suits their character.
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5. At the same time, the spiritual guide should not try to
cancel out the character of the one who follows him as a
disciple. Nor should the guide make that person follow a
course against his or her will, which can happen if the guide
doesn't take into consideration that person's circumstances,
psychology and inclinations!!
If the spiritual guidance, for example, involves calmness and
solitariness, he shouldn't put pressure on all his pupils to be like
that, for some of them might be sociable in character, and prefer
serving people and being with them, helping them and gaining
benefit from them in doing so.
6. Also, a person can have more than one guide, So that he
can ask them individually for guidance concerning whatever
aspects of life they are particularly experienced in, providing he
does not fall into any contradictions in the advice he is given. If
this or something like this should happen, then he can take it as
an area for questioning, study and finding out more information.
He should also be prepared to confront one view with another,
without embarrassment, and to do so without mentioning any
names.
The saint Anba Antonius the Great used to take lessons from all
the hermits around him, when he was starting out on his
monastic life. He learned humility from one, silence from
another, piety and asceticism from a third, how to pray and
contemplate from a fourth and wisdom from a fifth etc. etc.
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7. A person might also need to make a step by step
approach to the things that he learns from his guide, or
from books. Since not all the virtues, which a person has
convinced himself that he would like to master, are easy to put
into practice.
It probably needs time, and a long time at that, because the soul
is unaccustomed to practising this new virtue, and might put up
opposition to it. It might also need a long time because of
attacks by Satan, who always tries to obstruct those who are on
the road to God, and these people might also encounter
obstacles from their home life or from their surrounding
environment, which hinder their progress on the spiritual road.
Something which one grasps easily, may just as easily be
lost!
What is important is not that a person just practises a particular
virtue, but that he makes it so firmly rooted in him that it
becomes an integral part of his character. Therefore, every
virtue which one does not persevere at acquiring over a period
of time, is not likely to take root in one's life, and is liable to be
inconsistent.
So it is not good for a person to jump rapidly along the
spiritual road, and try to cover it too soon, but rather he
should take it calmly and deliberately, in a balanced way, and he
must take it one step at a time, until his footsteps are firm and
steady, remembering the apostle's advice:
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'' ... Not to think [of] [himself] more highly than he ought to
think, ... " (Rom. 12:3). Nor must he go rushing to the next
particular step, until he has mastered the one before. And he
should not try to put pressure on his guide or spiritual father to
allow him to go too quickly.
8. You should not consider your spiritual father merely as a
means of implementing your spiritual desires! Don't present
him with decisions that you have already made up your mind
that you are going to carry out, but rather, present him with
your desires, or better still, with suggestions, questions, or
aspirations, so that he can tell you whether they are good for
you or not. Do not press him to allow you to do something,
and do not get angry if he doesn't give you permission!. If you
do, then the guidance given will be superficial, and in such a
situation, you will become like someone following his own
whims, just wanting his father to agree with him in order to give
those whims or fancies spiritual legitimacy .
9. Before you go to seek spiritual guidance, you must pray
that God will give your guide the right thoughts which will
be most appropriate to your life. This means that you pray
that God's will be done in your life, through the guidance of this
father or guide, and that God will lead you to receive the
guidance that He wants to give you, by guiding your spiritual
father or guide in what advice to give to you.
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10. Realise that any virtues which you might practise
according to your mood, may lead you to seek or feel a false
sense of glory. This is why the fathers say in 'Bustan al-
Ruhban': "If you find a young man climbing to heaven on the
strength of his own fancies, pull him back down to earth." The
point to watch here is that the person is acting according to his
own understanding, and the Bible says: "Trust in the Lord with
all your heart and lean not on your own understanding... "
(Prov. 3:5).
The Bible also explains this matter in a verse which is repeated
twice in close proximity in the same Book, which is: " There is
a way [that] [seems] right to a man, But its end [is] the way of
death. " (Prov. 14:12, 16:25).
A person might cling to that path which seems to him to be
straight, but by doing so he might bring upon himself a lot of
harm.
That road which appears to be so straight, might well be
part of Satan's deception.
How often St Ishaq and St Ogris explained this very point,
namely that one who adheres to his own way of thinking, who
allows himself to be led by his desires or whims, may convince
himself that the thought comes from God, and that it is the
Spirit which has inspired him with this idea!
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11. But what a dangerous situation it is when someone says
that he receives his knowledge directly from God, and that
he learns directly from Christ!! Because of this, that person
refuses to learn from others. And at the same time, he cannot
be sure whether that thought which has come to him, is from
God or not!.
The surprising thing is that people who have said that they have
received knowledge directly from God, have not been prophets,
nor of the twelve disciples. Nor have such people been able to
say, as the apostle Paul said: " For I received from the Lord
that which I also delivered to you: ..." (1 Cor. 11:23).
12. Instruction from God may mean learning from divine
sources. We learn from God through the Holy Bible. We learn
from our Lord Jesus from His holy life. Even so, we need
somebody to explain these books and these examples to us, and
somebody to lead us on the spiritual path. Learning is not just
theoretical understanding, as much as it is actually putting that
new knowledge into practise.
13. If this were not the case, then why did God create
teachers and guides?! Why did the Lord say to the disciples:
".Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, ...
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded
you;" (Matt. 28:20), if it were possible for a person to learn
directly from God!? And why does it tell us in the Bible: " And
He Himself gave some [to] [be] apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, " (Eph. 4:11).
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And why does it say: "Having then gifts differing according to
the grace that is given to us, ... he who teaches, in teaching; "
(Rom. 12:7) and that: "..For the lips of a priest should keep
knowledge, And [people] should seek the law from his mouth; "
(Mal. 2:7).
The phrase, "It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all
be taught by God.", (John 6:45) we understand along with
another verse, which is: "He who hears you hears Me, "
(Luke 10:16) which takes this point further.
Whoever seeks to learn directly from God, or learn directly
from Christ, probably lacks the humility to accept instruction
from a teacher or guide, and has probably forgotten the words
of the apostle: " Remember those who rule over you, who have
spoken the word of God to you, " (Heb. 13:7).
And he goes on to say: " Obey those who rule over you, and be
submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who
must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief,
for that would be unprofitable for you. " (Heb. 13:17).
St Paul praised his disciple Timothy, the bishop, saying: " But
you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life,
purpose, faith, ...." (2 Tim. 3:10). If learning from a teacher
were unnecessary, then Paul would just have advised Timothy
that his instruction and way of life would come to him directly
from God, wouldn't he?! And do we consider ourselves to be
greater than St Timothy, who received his teaching from St
Paul, the apostle? And also, why should St Paul say to the
faithful believers: " Imitate me, just as I also [imitate] Christ. "
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(1 Cor. 11:1), and, "Brethren, join in following my example. "
(Phil. 3:17).
14. The kind of thought or idea which rejects learning from
the church, and which wants to learn directly from God, is
not an orthodox one, nor is it one that is based on the
gospels or the Bible. (By which I mean in the light of the
Biblical texts which we have mentioned, and many others like
them, which include all the verses which speak of teaching,
spreading the gospel, guidance and preaching and the church's
duty to instruct). However, in all the churches of the world
different beliefs might exist. For example, one finds preachers
and pulpits for preaching. None of this would be necessary,
would it, if people learned directly from God?!
15. Dear brothers and sisters, the spiritual life calls for a
humble heart, and in being a disciple there is humbleness.
Anyone who insists on learning directly from God, might run
the risk of falling into pride. And pride can hand him over as an
easy prey to Satan, who will give him whatever teaching he
likes. All those who have ever invented new sects, and all
heretics in the history of the Church, have refused to learn from
the Church and instead followed their own ideas, imagining that
those ideas were from God!!
16. How can you know if the thought which you imagine is
from God, is really from God?! The book 'Bustan al-Ruhban'
tells us that St Macarius the Great had the idea of
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visiting the anchorite fathers in the very heart of the desert, and
this great saint said: "I fought that idea for three years to see if
it were from God or not!"
And there you are in all your naivety, imagining that you are
learning directly from God, and that the Spirit said such and
such to you!!
What spirit was that? And how can you guarantee it?! The
Bible says: "..Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the
spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets
have gone out into the world. " (1 John 4:1) And Paul also
says: " Test all things;" (1 Thess. 5:21).
17. There are probably many sources of ideas which you
imagine are from God. There are your own ideas, or your
personal fantasies. And there are those ideas which have sunk
into your mind when it was empty, which have come from
things that you have read or heard before. This may be a trick
of the Devil though, and so you need to proceed slowly and
cautiously, to read the Bible, ask questions and seek guidance.
Dear friends, be humble and be disciples. And remember
your guides who have spoken the word of God to you
.
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