The richest and most beautiful image of the covenant that God established with his people in the Old Testament, and which the Lord Jesus repeated in the New Testament, is the image of the shepherd leading his people. This metaphor is rooted in the experience of the patriarchs of Israel, who lived within the framework of a shepherd civilization (Gen. 2:4). It was natural for God to speak to his people in his own language and in his own images rooted in their daily lives. For this reason, and for the same reason, we find the metaphor of the “fisherman” added to the image of the “shepherd” in the New Testament. The fishermen disciples in the New Testament become fishers of men. The shepherds of sheep in the Old Testament become shepherds of speaking sheep.

There are many images of the “shepherd.” He is the one who defends his flock (Sam. 17:34-37, Matthew 10:11) and he is the one who carries the lost sheep on his shoulders (Isaiah 40:11). But were all shepherds able to achieve this image? Of course not. Therefore, the Bible has not ceased to distinguish between good and bad shepherds. In this context, Jesus cried out: “I am the good shepherd,” distinguishing him from false shepherds. We see the roots of this distinction in the prophet Ezekiel: “You shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My sheep at their hand… Behold, I will require My sheep and make them lie down, says the Lord” (34:10-16).

The Book of Psalms, with its poetry and music, sings the most beautiful images of God’s care for His people (Psalm 57:71-72, 58:13, 59:2). How beautiful is Psalm 22: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, And leads me beside still waters… Though I walk through the valley and the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me…” Thus the leader among God’s people in the Old Testament was given the title of shepherd. He was asked to be so. And God expected that in him.

In the New Testament, the shepherds welcome the birth of Christ, the “Good Shepherd,” into their fold. It is Jesus who declares in his message that he is seeking the lost sheep (Lk 15:4-7) and that he was sent to the lost sheep (Mt 15:24), and calls his few disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock” (Lk 12:32), and seeks to protect his lambs from the ravening wolves (Mt 7:15-16, Rom 8:36). Yes, the people will be scattered because of their sins. But the pierced shepherd will gather them in Galilee of the Gentiles (Mt 26:31-32, Zech 13:7-9). He is the shepherd who will separate the sheep from the goats (Mt 25:31-32). He is, as the apostle Paul calls him, “the great shepherd of the sheep” (Heb 13:20) and “the shepherd of shepherds” according to the apostle Peter (1 Pet 5:4), by whose wounds we are healed (1 Pet 2:24-25). The Book of Revelation ends with this same shepherd becoming a wounded lamb and sheep leading to the waters of life (Revelation 7:17).

But Jesus’ use of the phrase “I am the good shepherd” remains the most important text in the New Testament that deals with the subject of the covenant as care (John 10). What is noticeable here is that Jesus adds, or rather mixes, this image with the metaphor of “the door.” Jesus’ use of these two images together, the shepherd and the door, was a way to clarify that true and good care passes through him. He is the “door of the sheep,” and the flock and the shepherd who enter and exit through other than this door are not his sheep who know his voice, he leads them and they follow him. This foundation is the deep starting point of care, and this is what our Christian literature calls the “centrality” of Christ in the circle of our work. Christ is the instrument and the goal, he is the alpha and the omega, he is the beginning of care and the desired end of it. This text, John 10, is perhaps considered the starting point for the establishment of the Church. Jesus established his flock, but he also chose in it “shepherds” whom he wanted in his image and imitating him.

It may be necessary here to clarify the meaning of the word “talking sheep”, which the Arabic translation does not give its true meaning. In the world of sheep-keeping, God raises up shepherds for his talking sheep. In the world of hunters, the Lord makes his messengers fishers of people. Just as there is a big difference between a hunter and a hunter of people, so too there is a big difference between a shepherd and a shepherd of talking sheep. The meaning of the word “talking” here is not limited to the ability to speak and utter! Rather, in its basic meaning in the original language, it means rationality, meaning that it was given the ability to think and have freedom in every situation.

It is striking that, when Christians had only a few symbols in their church art, such as the cross and the fish, and before the development of the art of the icon, due to their conditions under persecution in the first centuries, we find that the image of the Good Shepherd entered church painting at that very early time. We find in Christian catacombs sculptures and drawings depicting Christ with his cross behind him and his lost sheep on his shoulders. This expresses the extent of Christians’ attachment to this image of Christ, “the Shepherd,” and to the meaning of care.

From Christ the apostles received this way of understanding and practicing pastoral care. Thus the Apostle Paul knelt down to bid farewell to the pastors of Ephesus and said: “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood.” Our tradition was built on this responsibility. Our holy fathers were living examples of this throughout the history of Christianity…

Parental care

We do not find specialized texts on the subject of pastoral care among the Fathers, as we expect. This is because pastoral care is not a “topic” of theology. Rather, it is the goal of all topics. Pastoral care is not included among virtues or doctrines. Rather, the goal of defining doctrines, explaining the Bible, and emphasizing the living of virtues is to reach “good pastoral care.” Pastoral care is not an aspect of writing or interpretation, but rather the goal of every thought and the aim of every activity. Perhaps it is better, when we want to talk about pastoral care among the Fathers, to study their lives and not their writings. It is not without the Fathers, many times, when they addressed specific verses in the Bible, or on other occasions when they addressed subjects such as the priesthood, that they dealt with a topic in pastoral care. For example, we find Chrysostom in his book “On the Priesthood” addressing what the priest needs in terms of knowledge for pastoral care, describing good pastoral care and its good shepherd. Likewise, Gregory the Theologian, when he “escaped” from this great responsibility, wrote a book in which he defended himself. He justifies his escape from pastoral care for one reason: the enormity of this responsibility and the qualifications required of a pastor, which, due to his extreme humility, he did not find himself worthy of. But in doing so, he wrote for us the most beautiful thing left by Christian literature about the pastor and pastoral care, his book “On Escape”! We have similar books: “On Pastoral Care” by St. Gregory the Great, and “On the Duties of Servants-Priests” by St. Ambrose.

For Basil the Great, the shepherd leads his sheep to fertile pastures and protects them. There is a clear distinction between the shepherd who sacrifices himself for his sheep and the hired shepherd who seeks his own interests. Basil was one of the most important Christian figures who led the people of God in education and organization. His abundant and profound writings form a picture of his educational giving, and the monasteries and social centers he founded provide a complementary picture of his care. He is a reference organizer in monastic life, and his concern for the needy in the parish also constitutes an important Christian reference throughout history.

For Chrysostom, the Apostle Paul is the ideal of a shepherd in the image of Christ. He is the shepherd father. The shepherd must pay attention to himself and to the flock. He is the one who sacrifices himself, so as not to be a ravening wolf in shepherd’s clothing. Shepherds like these are the guarantee of the flock. The shepherd who loves the Lord Jesus will truly love his flock. The love of Jesus is the true door to the love of the flock, because, as Jesus said to Peter, if you love me, feed my lambs.

Chrysostom reads care in the Bible not so much from the texts as from the people and their lives as examples, interpretations and teachings about it. Paul, Moses, David, Peter and Elijah are living examples that teach and interpret the meaning of care.

The authority of the pastor, as in these examples, comes from his love for his flock and the extent of his efforts for its sake. When Antioch was a city of tens of thousands of people, Chrysostom had 3,000 widows in the care of the church. Almost no sermon, in all his sermons, is devoid of an insistent exhortation to charity. It is well known that when he entered the patriarchate in Constantinople, he first sold its valuables and distributed them to the poor. Chrysostom is perhaps considered one of the first to send out organized missionary trips. His special concern for the priests was the cause of a strong conflict between him and some of them who did not carry the pastoral message faithfully. There is much to be said about Chrysostom’s “care”. Did not researchers say that he wanted to make Antioch a living “example” of the virtuous Christian city, in contrast to Plato’s book on that. And this is care…

St. Gregory the Theologian sees the purpose of pastoral care as “caring for the hidden inner man.” The pastor is the one who is able to read and address the human soul and the man within him, who is often unknown to man himself. He is the one who treats man in his passions and imitates him in purifying his inner tendencies. The purpose of pastoral care is to “elevate the soul” from worldly things to the love of the divine. Pastoral care is to preserve the image of God in man and to walk in his example: it is to lead man to the realization of the purpose for which he was created. In other words, pastoral care is the growth of this living being to the full stature of Christ, that is, his “christification.”

Therefore, some verses taken from the Holy Bible do not constitute the essential starting point for pastoral care. Rather, the decisive event in the subject of pastoral care is “incarnation.” Christ is the “water of rest” to which the shepherd will lead his speaking flock. Without the incarnation of Christ, the shepherds would be lost in a desert with no water or oasis. Without the incarnation of Christ, the “resting place” of the flock would remain undefined. The image that each person in the flock should become would remain unclear or undefined. According to St. Athanasius the Great, “God became man so that man might be deified.” Pastoral care is the process of “transfiguration” of man as the Lord was revealed, “the deification of man by grace.” Pastoral care is not, therefore, a matter limited to teaching some virtues only; it is, therefore, “the art of arts”!

shepherd

It is clear that the shepherd in patristic literature is more like a doctor than a teacher! He is even more than that, he is the model and the father whose strength lies in the purity of his life. He is the father whose life is characterized by a dynamic love for God and man, and in him there is no static “profession” or “hired man”. He is the one who gives himself continually, not just once. He is the one who pours himself out constantly.

The shepherd, for St. Gregory the Theologian, is like a hawk that wounds itself to feed its young with its blood. He is the priest who not only offers sacrifices for the people, but also “enters behind the veil into the divine mysteries and then goes out to the people to give them the revelations of grace and what the Spirit has spoken to them.” What is essential for the shepherd is to distinguish between form and content, between instrument and end, between letter and spirit. The shepherd possesses compassion and is able to “empty himself.” For St. Gregory, the shepherd is the one who has always united himself with God and leads his people like Moses. Moses, when he was a zealous Jew who dreamed of his people’s dreams, believed in their faith and desired their unity, could not wisely separate two quarreling Jews, but after their disagreement he fled from the face of Pharaoh. But “when he was hidden in the divine cloud, and saw what is, and obtained knowledge of the Spirit”—in our theological expression, he was united with God—he came down with his face like light and was able to lead a whole hard people. The only authority, that is, the only instrument, of the shepherd is his union with God, his purity and his enlightenment. Beyond that, the shepherd remains one of the many examples rejected by the Lord Jesus, and after that the same ancient words of Jesus apply to the flock: “like sheep without a shepherd.”

The shepherd plays the role of intercessor, like Moses, before God. He is the leader of the people in history, that is, he leads the flock to the Promised Land - the Kingdom of God. That is, he restores the true order of things, which is the victory of the spirit over matter in life, the victory of which he bears the experience.

The pastor must be multi-talented and knowledgeable; but at the same time simple in character. Knowledge inspires and the Spirit gives life. Spiritual knowledge is not like scientific knowledge. Spiritual knowledge leads to humility, and scientific and intellectual knowledge contributes to the formation of spiritual knowledge (wisdom) and is one of the tools in his pastoral work. With it he can attract more “the souls of the flock.”

Pastoral care is based on persuasion, not coercion. This requires deep personal experience. Raising the soul to its desired spiritual level is a series of steps that the pastor has already taken with himself. No human being is born spiritually! Every human being is born physically, carrying within him the divine image, that is, his thirst for his spiritual personality. The pastor is the one who has crossed these thresholds and knows through his own experience the way to the freedom of the children of God. He leads his gradually developing children with knowledge to experience more and more divine love and grace. According to Saint Gregory the Theologian, he “unites the soul with Christ,” and he is the means that revives the wedding of the soul with Christ. Therefore, the nature of pastoral work is to establish a personal relationship with the flock in order to lead each member of it to his true divine wedding.

Shepherd and flock

If Jesus appointed twelve disciples and sent them as teachers “and gave them authority to bind what they bind, and to loose in heaven what they loose on earth,” this means a special gift among many gifts in the Church, but it does not mean a distinction in responsibility or dignity. This “distinction,” if the expression is correct, is not aristocratic. Because the relationship between the pastor and each individual in the parish is based on paternal love and filial trust. The success of pastoral care “as medicine and healing” requires the openness of the former and the love of the latter, that is, mutual support. There is no “clerical” superiority, but rather the coming together of all gifts “for the building up of the one body of Christ.”

If we require an elite group of virtues in the shepherd, this does not mean that we form an “elite group” towards a “weak group”. When virtues come together, they cannot build “transcendence”, but rather become, in depth, the only means of “communication”. Ideals are not transcendence. The shepherd is the friend of the Bridegroom (Christ) who rejoices in the union of every soul with its heavenly Bridegroom.

If there is an “elite”, it is defined by those who are ignorant of its true nature. Whoever thinks he is an elite proves that he is corrupt. The elite is the salt that does not want dignity for itself but gives everything a flavour. It is the substance that does not show or see itself but rather expends itself so that everything else may exist. Whoever is aware that he is an “elite” at any level of care does not know that he is in fact claiming it and losing it.

John Chrysostom exposes this hidden danger and cancer that Jesus called “Pharisaism,” which can make every pastor profoundly sterile. When a pastor possesses “the elite of virtues,” he becomes more compassionate and tender, and his love and understanding increase. He possesses true knowledge, which is the fruit of the Spirit. Do spiritual faculties threaten the balance of a pastor? The answer is yes, only when he falls into “Pharisaic elitism,” whether he is a priest or a servant in any ecclesiastical field.

God disciplines the shepherds, meaning that He shepherds them. His grace deserts them many times so that they may know that “without Him they can do nothing” and that despite all they do they are only useless servants. They realize that the talents given to them are not from them and not for them, but from God and the flock. When grace deserts them as a chastiser, it makes them realize that man is nothing but worms and dust when he is not blessed by God. The shepherd is the one who qualifies the children of the flock to receive divine grace, because he realizes from his personal experience that without grace we are nothing. The shepherd wants to make the hand of every member of the flock clenched with his hand to the hand of his master, and to make the heart of every person open to the breezes of the Spirit as God opened his heart to him. Where is the loftiness? There is nothing loftier than the overflow of divine love for him. The shepherd is the one who gives, “freely” and not for glorification, what he also received freely – that is, by grace.

The shepherd is the spiritual man who “rules all things and is ruled by no one.” He is the one whom grace has raised to the top of a mountain where he sees every movement in the souls of his children gathered on the steps and slopes, and he supports them by the hand to ascend the steps that God has led him to.

When the pastor has all the virtues, as we want him to be, then he becomes a servant. When, for example, a confessor comes to his spiritual father to confess his sins, he does not “go down from the eyes of his pastor,” but rises. For the pastor is a physician, not a judge, and he is aware that his very health has been given to him by grace, and that his authority has been given to him for service. He was once so, and now the hand of the Lord has healed him. He desires for each one what God has accomplished in him. The pastor is knowledge and a watchful eye, which does not watch with arrogance but supports. The knowledge of the pastor is neither for analysis nor for condemnation, and it cannot be so, because it is clothed in love. Is the pastor not watchful of himself, and does he not realize that the presence of God in his words, his movements, and his giving is his guarantee?

When the Apostle Paul says that the spiritual judges all things and no one judges them, he means exactly that the shepherd embraces everyone even if no one embraces him. He is the one who embraces. The spiritual son rejoices when he realizes over time that his shepherd understood him more than he was aware of this truth, because this knowledge is a guarantee and did not appear and does not appear as an insult.

Metropolitan Boulos Yazigi
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