“Can we long for more than a real father, a father in God?” asks Saint Theodore of Studites (759-826). This personal relationship between the spiritual father – “Jerunda” in Greek, “Staretz” in Slavic – and his son in God is at the heart of the Christian East.

There are two kinds of apostolic succession in the life of the Church. The visible succession of the hierarchy comes first, that is, the unbroken line of bishops in the various cities referred to by St. (2). Irenaeus at the end of the second century. Then comes the apostolic succession of spiritual fathers and mothers in every stage of the Church, parallel to the first succession but in a hidden way in the broad sense of the word and more charismatic than formal: the lineage of saints extending from the time of the apostle to our own day and which Saint Symeon the New Theologian called the “golden chain.” These two types of succession overlap, since a bishop can be both a spiritual father and a saint. The first type was mainly centered in patriarchal and episcopal cities such as Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Moscow, or Cantropa. The successions of the second type varied from generation to generation, but generally developed in remote monasteries, in the desert or wilderness: Natron and Scetis at the end of the fourth century, Gaza at the beginning of the sixth century, Sarov, Optino, and Spruce Island (Alaska) in the nineteenth century. These two types of sequence are essential for the regular functioning of the Body of Christ; and in their interaction is the perfection of the life of the Church on earth.

The mission of the spiritual father is alluded to in the New Testament: “For you have had ten thousand instructors in Christ, but you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15).(3)St. Paul points out the distinction between “guide” or “educator” in the broad sense of the word and “father”: the Corinthians have many “guides,” but they have only one Father, and he alone has “given them life” in the new life of Jesus Christ, and he alone has the right to say: “I have begotten you.”

There is no doubt that we cannot confuse the mission of Saint Paul with that of the elder in Eastern spirituality: Saint Paul was a preacher of the Word and a traveling missionary of souls working in a monastic environment. It remains to point out clear similarities between Saint Paul and the elder monk. Saint Paul has a firm responsibility towards those whom he has “begot” or “trained” for the Christian life, and finds himself directly concerned with the wars they would inevitably suffer. He writes to the Galatians, moving from a paternal to a maternal image: “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you” (Gal 4:19). As we can see, Saint Paul’s responsibility does not stop at their first transformation, but he continues to watch over them and suffer for them like a father throughout the process of their growth in which Christ is formed within them. He does not content himself with preaching the Word, but bears their burdens: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who stumbles, and I do not stumble?” (2 Corinthians 11:29). He helps his children in Christ, especially since he desires to share his life with them and to conform their lives to his own.

This also applies to the spiritual father in other later eras. What Dostoevsky wrote about the starters can be fully identified with the mission of St. Paul: the apostle, like the elder, is the one who “draws the spirit and will of others into his own spirit and will.”(4). There is another indication of the mission of the sheikh towards his spiritual sons in Alexandria during the second and third centuries. The role of the teacher, as described by Saints Panthenus and Clement, with Origen, was not limited to guidance in the academic sense of the word, and a simple delivery of facts. The teacher was also a spiritual guide to his sons, and a living example to be followed; he did not only provide them with information, but also involved them in a personal relationship at all levels. Origen’s ascetic life and prayer formed an integral part of his educational mission. It is noteworthy that Saint Clement began the “Stromatotus” by establishing a comparison between the relationship of the teacher to his disciple and that of the father to his son; he mentions that there were religious teachers in Alexandria who were called “fathers.”

Hence the importance of the similarities with classical philosophy and Rabbinic Judaism.(5)The figure of the elder or spiritual father, portrayed to some extent by St. Paul and Origen, has occupied a prominent place in Eastern monastic life since the fourth century. The “founder” of Egyptian monasticism, St. Anthony (251-356), himself provides a model and a basis for later generations; so does the life of St. Athanasius.(6) Or the stories of Palladius(7)... about his relationship with Eulogius and Paul the Simple, which constitute a complete model of the life and works of the true elder; and the sayings attributed to Saint Anthony and included at the beginning of the “Apothetigos” indicate the essential character of spiritual fatherhood:

“I know monks who have fallen after suffering much sorrow and having attained pride of soul, because they placed their hope in their works, forgetting the commandment of the One who said: ‘Ask your father and he will teach you.’ The monk should reveal as much as possible to the elders the number of steps he takes and the number of drops of water he drinks in his cell, so that he may know whether he is not doing something wrong.”(8)“.

Even if it was not the book “Apotheogony” (9) It explains the nature of the sheikh in an abstract manner, but it remains the single and most important source in the Christian East. The correspondence of the spiritual fathers Barsanuphius and John of Gaza confirms the impression left by the book of “Apothegemes” in a more significant and significant way. We have received the questions put to them and their answers in full detail.(10).

The tradition of spiritual fatherhood or motherhood has been preserved - because women also exercise this function.(11) - Despite its overall importance during the Byzantine era, and from Byzantium it extended to the Slavic Orthodox world. Among the many examples we can cite the following advice: “Guidance from a father to his son” which appears in a text from Kievan Rus which dates specifically to the eleventh century:

“I would like to show you, my son, real refuges: monasteries, the houses of the saints. Take refuge in them and they will comfort you; cast your sorrows at their feet and you will be strengthened. They are the children of the passions and they know how to comfort you, you who wallow in sorrow (…). Search in the city where you live or in the neighboring cities for a man who fears God and serve him with all your strength. Once you have found this man, no harm will touch you again; for in this way you will have found the key to the Kingdom of Heaven. Commit your body and soul to what he says and does; observe his life, how he walks, how he sits, how he looks, how he eats, and examine all his customs. And do not forget, my son, to memorize his sayings without neglecting a single one of them; for the sayings of the saints are more precious than jewels.”

What is striking about this passage is that Staritz protects his disciple not only by giving advice, but by giving him a model to follow in all aspects of life: “Watch his life, how he walks, how he sits, how he looks, how he eats.” What he proposes, as is the case with Origen in Alexandria, is not so much a directive as a personal relationship.

The personal relationship in Orthodoxy is no less important today than it was in the past. Spiritual fatherhood, represented especially by St. Seraphim of Sarov and the Optino elders, is the real entrance into the life of the Church in Russia in the nineteenth century. It is also the main reason for the unexpected revival of Greek monasticism on Mount Athos in the last twenty years. This revival lies precisely in the presence of elders capable of giving the same charismatic direction that St. Anthony gave in Egypt in the fourth century. The monasteries that attract monks today in Athens are those inhabited by an abbot or monk who also plays the role of a true spiritual father.

The Apophtigomes and other texts, especially the lives of the saints, show in the clearest terms how the spiritual father practically carries out his mission. However, it is easier to find in the patristic sources an analysis of what constitutes in absolute terms the essence of spiritual fatherhood. This question is explained in two texts: a letter to a pastor (12) by St. John Climacus (579-649), the Administrator of Sinai, sometimes considered the thirty-first step of the sacred ladder, and a letter on confession, the first letter of St. Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022), the Administrator of the Monastery of St. Mamas in Constantinople. In support of these two letters, the authors also made many references to the spiritual fatherhood in other writings.

The similarities between these two texts are so striking as to preclude any correspondence. Although St. Simeon, in accordance with his usual method, did not mention any earlier Father in his letter of confession, it is unlikely that he did not refer directly to St. John Climacus, who was undoubtedly familiar with his sacred ladder. (13)It is useful to examine the similarities between the texts of the Epistle to a Pastor of St. John Climacus and the Confession of St. Symeon, especially since no one, we are not sure, has yet undertaken to do so in a systematic way. What is surprising is that F. K. Christophorides(14) He may have avoided this approach in his adequate and comprehensive study of St. Simeon's teachings on spiritual fatherhood.

Neither Saint John Climacus nor Saint Simeon provided a systematic list of criteria for a spiritual father in defining him, but rather focused on five essential criteria: physician, guide, intercessor, mediator, and godfather.

Doctor:

This is the predominant “ideal” of the spiritual father in Saints John Climacus and Simeon, and even in Eastern Christian literature since the fourth century. Saint Athanasius describes Saint Anthony as “a physician and a gift from God to Egypt”; Saints Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom use the same style to speak of the pastoral work of the priest or bishop. The so-called Council of Trullo (691) judges the sinner as a “sick man.” The state of sin is therefore a “sick” state and the confessor is the one who administers the “medicine” to heal the “sickness.”

Saints John Climacus and Simeon use the same approach. In a letter to a pastor, Saint John Climacus elaborates on this medical approach at length. In it, the spiritual father is represented as a “doctor” who treats the sick man using “plasters, potions, powders, drops, sponges, scalpels, cautery, ointments, sleeping pills, scalpels, bandages, and anti-nausea medicines.”(15)“The ‘reprimand’ he imposes is not a punishment, but a medicine, a cautery, which he imposes ‘with compassion to help him repent.’ The spiritual father cannot help the patient unless the latter is completely frank, if he has revealed his wound to him with complete confidence.”(16) .

Saint Simeon uses the same medical method. In his letter to confession, he calls for: “Find a physician full of compassion and mercy… Let us now go to the spiritual doctor.” To confess our sins means to spit out the poison that afflicts us, and the rebukes prescribed by the confessor are, according to Saint John Climacus, not a punishment but an antidote to the poison.

It should be noted that Saints John Climacus and Simeon – and indeed the Eastern Christian tradition in general – do not consider the confessor or spiritual father primarily a judge who judges and punishes. On the contrary, he is a “doctor of souls,” a healer or spiritual doctor, as they called him in medieval England. Saint Simeon undoubtedly commented on the power of binding and loosing in the spiritual father, which may suggest a kind of judicial authority; but this character is certainly not the dominant example and is partly absent in Saint John Climacus. For both, what constitutes the heart of the matter is not legal but therapeutic; for confession is more of a hospital than a court, and reprimand is not so much a punishment as a tonic that helps the patient to recover.

Moreover, the spiritual son does not merely reveal his father's sins, but also reveals his thoughts logismoi - even before they are put into practice - including those that are sound and innocent. The elder's medical care includes not only transgressions, but the patient's entire inner life; therefore, the treatment is more preventive than retroactive.

Advisor:

 The fact of the matter is that the spiritual father, without it being his exclusive right, treats and heals with his words and his advice. In the book “Apothegemus,” the disciple or visitor often asks the elder: “Tell me a word, Father,” or more specifically: “Tell me how I can be saved.” The words of the spiritual father have a saving and life-giving power. That is why Saint John Climacus describes the spiritual father in a letter to a pastor as a “teacher” who heals with his word. Saint John realizes that if the elder suffers from a lack of self-confidence and finds himself unable to give direct advice, then he should express it in writing.

And here is Saint Simeon, in turn, speaking of the confessor as if he were a “teacher,” and as “a good guide who offers his counsel as a means of repentance.” Just as the spiritual father heals with his words, so he heals with his silence, that is, with his mere presence. When Saint Anthony of Egypt asked a monk who frequently visited him why he did not utter a word (asked him nothing), he replied: “One thing is enough for me, Father, and that is to see you.”(17)“St. Symeon the New Theologian speaks of his spiritual father – St. Symeon the Studite or “the Pious” – who spent the whole day with his disciples, and who “helped many of them by his mere presence.” Yet St. John Climacus the Elder warns against the danger of remaining silent: it is his duty to speak as well.

Intercessor:

The spiritual father does not heal only with his words and instructions, but also and even more so with his prayers. In “Apothegemus” it is mentioned that instead of the visitor simply saying to the holy man: “Say a word to me,” he says: “Pray for me.” I remember a visit made by an American friend of mine to an elder from Mount Athos. At the end of the conversation, my friend asked him: “Can I write to you from time to time to ask for your advice?” The monk replied: “No, don’t write to me, but I will pray for you.” The American felt that he was being pushed away by his answer, and left in a depressed mood. Later, a monk who had heard the conversation said to him: “You should be overjoyed because the elder promised to pray for you, and he doesn’t say this to just anyone. His advice is good, but his prayers are more beneficial.” The intercessory prayer that the spiritual father prays for his children is a fundamental and recurring theme in the conversations of Barsanuphius and John: “Night and day to God for you always.”

Saint John Climacus, in all fidelity to the tradition of Gaza, affirms in his first definition of the word “shepherd”: “The true shepherd is he who, through his goodness, zeal and prayer, is able to seek out the lost, rational sheep and bring them on the right path. Saint John Climacus continues by saying: The monk’s helmet of salvation is the prayer of his superior, which protects him.” The obedient monk, even if he raises the dead, thinks that it is the intercession of his spiritual father that has enabled him to do so.

Here too, Saints Simeon and John Climacus are in complete agreement. The former says that the function of a spiritual father is to bring his children into favor with God “through his prayers and intercession”; he is therefore an “intercessor.” When Saint Simeon the New Theologian was visiting his elder, Saint Simeon the Studite, he greeted him saying: “Pray for me… so that through you I may ask for mercy.” Saint Simeon the Younger, describing his first vision of the divine light, affirmed that he saw the image of his spiritual father looming next to the uncreated light. He immediately realized “how much the intercession of that holy man helped him.”(18)The intercession of the spiritual father continues even after death. But the relationship is reciprocal because the spiritual father in turn needs the prayers of his children.

Mediator:

Saints John Climacus and Simeon delve into the mission of the spiritual father’s intercession to the point of describing him as a “mediator” or “mediator”: he does not merely pray for his children, but, through his intercession, he reconciles them with God. At the beginning of the sacred ladder, Saint John Climacus compares the spiritual father to a new Moses who intercedes before God on our behalf against the invisible Amalekites (see Exodus 17:1-13): “We, who all desire to leave Egypt, escape from the grip of Pharaoh and flee, need another Moses to intercede for us before God. Even if he is less important than God, occupying the middle place between action and contemplation, he stretches out his hands to God so that, if we walk in obedience to him, we can cross the sea of sins and cast out the Amalekites of passions.”

Saint John Climacus describes him precisely as “a mediator between God and us, although he is in a rank lower than God,” or “after God.” We must not forget that there is, in fact, only one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ, the God-man (see 1 Timothy 2:5). Thus, the mediation of the spiritual father comes after the mediation of Christ and is related to it. He crystallizes the idea of mediation in a letter to a shepherd. The “elder” or spiritual father is the friend of God, since he can enter the royal presence at will and defend others with strength and courage: “Those who have seen the face of the king and have gained his friendship are able to reconcile him with his officials or even with strangers and enemies if they wish, and to grant them the enjoyment of his glory; so, I believe, is the case with the saints.” From here St. John Climacus draws the terrifying idea that the sin committed against the spiritual father is greater than that committed against God: “Do not be astonished at what I am going to say, for I rely on the authority of Moses: It is better to sin against God than against your father. The fact of the matter is that if we anger God, our Master can reconcile us with Him; but if the Master is angry with us, there is no one left to intercede for us. But it seems to me that the two cases are similar.”

The mediation of the spiritual father takes two paths: towards God, representing his children through his intercession before the heavenly throne; and towards man, representing God before his children so that his instructions are parallel to the divine word. According to what an Alexandrian monk said to Saint John Climacus during his visit to Egypt: “I looked at my teacher as if I were at an icon of Christ; therefore I did not think that I was receiving an order from him, but from God.”

Since the spiritual father is the one who allows access to the royal presence, and is the one who can introduce other people to the Great King, no one should assume the mission of an elder unless he has had a personal experience with God. Herein lies the truth of the essential and fundamental characteristic of the spiritual father: direct inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Anba Moussa said in “Apo-Tigmas”: “Believe me, my son Zacharias, that I saw the Holy Spirit descending upon you, and this is what compelled me to ask you.”

St. Seraphim of Sarov (1759-1833) uses similar words, emphasizing the importance of the starets having direct experience with the Holy Spirit. This is to become, he says, transparent: “I give only what God tells me to give. I believe that the first word that comes to me is commanded by the Holy Spirit… God directs my words. If I answer from my own judgment – we might add an abstract answer written in the books – then I am making a mistake.”

The same is true of Barsanuphius. When a father is asked for advice, the spiritual father prays inwardly: “Lord, entrust to me whatever you desire for the salvation of this soul, so that I may say it and your words may be fulfilled, not mine.” The importance of direct personal experience is precisely what Saint Climacus points out at the beginning of his letter to a shepherd: “The true teacher is he who carries within him the spiritual book of knowledge written with the finger of God, that is, in fact and the enlightenment that comes from him, which no longer needs any book. It is a shame for teachers to teach only copies of others, like painters who are content with reviving old paintings.”(19)“.

The spiritual father cannot be “used” or “consumed.” He must say what he himself sees and feels. If one wants to be an instrument of reconciliation with others, he must first “be reconciled with God.” Saint Simon fully supports Saint John Climacus in all this. Referring to the Letter to the Hebrews (5:1-3), he gives the spiritual father the title of high priest, considering him as a mediator who presents the sinner before God: “If a man wants to collect his debts, he seeks a mediator and an intercessor, because he is unable to go alone without shame because of the many sins that afflict him and bind him. He inevitably seeks a mediator and friend of God, who is able to restore him to his former state and reconcile him to God the Father… There is no other way to be reconciled with God than through the mediation of a holy man, a friend and servant of Christ, and through fleeing from evil. And as a mediator in the immediate presence of God, he obtains for us, through his prayers and intercession before God, free divinity.”

Here too, the spiritual father, as in Saint Climacus, is the friend of the king who can win royal favor for others. Saint Simeon adds that such a man is rare. Like Saint John Climacus, who affirms that the spiritual father is only a mediator of secondary rank, “after God,” Saint Simeon teaches that Christ is “the first mediator and the first sponsor of our nature to present it to his own God and Father.” Our Lord entrusted the mission of “mediation and care” to the apostles, who in turn transmitted it to others, but Christ remains the only source.

Once again we find ourselves in agreement with Saint John Climacus, who sees mediation as working in two directions: the spiritual father not only represents us before God, but also represents God before us. He is a living icon of Christ, and we must accept his advice as if it came directly from the Lord: “You must look at him, talk to him, honor him, and learn from him what is useful for you, as if he were Christ himself. He who has acquired an apparent faith in his Father according to God, thinks that he sees Christ when he looks at him, and when he is present with him or follows him, he believes with certainty that he is in the presence of Christ or at his heels.”

Saints Simeon and John Climacus agree that, based on this idea of mediation, it is impossible for anyone to act as a mediator unless he himself is a friend of the King; no one can be a true spiritual father unless he has acquired, in a direct and sensuous way, a personal experience with the Holy Spirit. This need for a sensuous – based on experience – perception of the Holy Spirit within us is a recurring theme in all of Saint Simeon’s writings:

Don't say it's impossible to get the Holy Spirit.

Don't say that salvation is possible without it.

Don't say we can share in his life unless we know him.

Don't say that God does not reveal himself to the world.

Do not say that humans cannot see the divine light, nor that it is impossible in the present times.

This is not impossible, my friends,

It is very possible if we wanted to.(20)

Saint Symeon wrote a special work in which he attacked “those who think that they possess the Holy Spirit in themselves without realizing it, but who do not feel its power at all.” For him, it is not enough to affirm: “I have put on Christ and the Spirit in baptism,” but each one of us must acknowledge the grace of baptism already present and working in his heart: “If those who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal 3:27), what is this garment that they have “put on”? The Son of God. Should he not be spiritually aware of and know what he has put on? A man who is naked in body feels something when he puts on his garment and sees a likeness to himself; should not a naked soul feel the presence of God when he puts on him?” If we apply this general guidance on personal experience to the specific reality of the spiritual father, Saint Symeon points out that no one ever dares to undertake this task unless he has “obtained the grace of the Spirit in a tangible way and has thus become guided by God.” The direct experience of the Holy Spirit characterizes and accompanies the mission of the spiritual father: “Do not seek to be intermediaries for others before you are filled with the Holy Spirit and before your spirits have experienced the knowledge of the King of all in a tangible way.”

Without this personal experience, we cannot act as mediators for others, since we ourselves need someone to mediate for us.

While Saint Simeon stresses the importance of personal experience, he does not separate the acquisition of this experience from the practice of Christian life, which constitutes an integrated life, according to the instructions of the Holy Scriptures. He would have been astonished if he had known of Aldous Huxley’s theory that direct perception of transcendent truth can be acquired merely by taking drugs. However, he sees, on the contrary, only one way to acquire a sensory experience of the Holy Spirit: namely, the practice of virtues, and the suppression of passions that pave the way to the passionless and the non-emotional. There is no doubt that Saint Simeon views the experience of the Spirit and the vision of the divine light as a free and undeserved gift from God, and that it is not possible to obtain it through human effort. He never ceases to contemplate his own unworthiness to receive this gift. However, at the same time, he considers that there is no mysticism without asceticism, and no vision without work. And every claim to “experience,” if it is separated from the confession of the true faith and from the pursuit of practical life, is, in his view, nothing but a diabolical deception.

Saint Simeon then endeavors to show all the consequences that result from this insistence on personal experience. Fathers, even bishops and patriarchs, who lack this experience of the Spirit, have, for him, no right to act as spiritual fathers nor any power to grant indulgence, that is, to bind and loose. On the other hand, lay monks who do not belong to any clerical order can fully identify and exercise the power to bind and loose if they have this sensible experience. Here he cites his spiritual father, Saint Simeon the Studite, who was not ordained.

St. John Climacus did not speak on this subject outwardly, but he never specified or indicated that the spiritual father had to be a priest. There is no evidence to confirm whether he was ordained or not; nevertheless, he certainly exercised the office of fatherhood and spiritual guidance.

The letter of Saint Simeon on confession deals in particular with a recurring theme in religious history: the relationship of the father to the prophet, of the hierarchy to the saint, and of the Church as an “institution” to the Church as a “charismatic event.” The laymen in the binding and loosing had been the focus of the canons within the Church long before the time of Saint Simeon, especially in Africa in the years 251-252, following the persecutions, when confessors claimed the power to correct apostates.(21) While Saint Cyprian asserted that this could only be decided or implemented by the hierarchy.

In fact, Saint Simeon did not rely on the latter’s opinion. Rather, he affirms two interconnected things, the first positive and the second negative: the first is that persons who do not belong to priestly ranks – or rather, unordained monks – have the power to bind and loose provided that they have the tangible experience of the Holy Spirit. The second is that ordained persons do not have this power since they do not have this experience.

The history of Eastern Christian monasticism from the fourth century to the present provides various examples in support of the first assertion. Many of the Egyptian Desert Fathers, including St. Anthony himself, were not ordained; St. Barsanuphius and St. John of Gaza, as far as we know, were not fathers. One of the most illustrious elders of our time on Mount Athos, St. Silouan (1866-1938) of the Russian monastery of St. Panteleimon, was a lay monk; and Fr. Paisios (1924-1994), who lived near the monastery of Stavronikita and then at Kris, was venerated and recognized as an elder throughout the Holy Mountain.

In explaining this practice of confession before a layman, contemporary writers, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox, have sometimes distinguished between spiritual direction in the general sense of the word – the revelation of “thoughts” – where the confessor can be a lay monk or a nun in women’s communities, and the sacrament of penance in the specific sense of the word – the absolution of sins – which can only be performed by priests. St. Simeon, however, does not make this distinction: “For him, confession constituted an integral whole, a charismatic act(22)“.

As for what is open to discussion, it is the affirmation of Saint Simeon II or his second hypothesis. His logic went so far as to link the effectiveness of the sacraments to the effectiveness of the minister, to the point of risking imitating Donatism.(23)We can say that Saint Simeon, in his perspective, speaks in his Epistle on Confession more pastorally than legally, and in more moral than doctrinal terms. He does not make an abstract discourse on the efficacy of the sacraments so much as he personally mentions the Fathers of the Church and the bishops of that time. He orders them not to rush to accept the mission of spiritual fatherhood, since it is possible that God has not called you to this mission. Although he does not hesitate to insist that “you cannot bind or loose,” what should really be said is that “you must exercise this mission only if the Spirit has called you directly.” His Epistle should not be interpreted as a methodological discussion on doctrine, but rather as a prophetic warning.

It should be noted that Saint Simeon was never censured or condemned for the opinions expressed in his confessional text. When the Holy Council of Constantinople accused him and condemned him in exile in 1009, the charges against him concerned the liturgical worship which he performed without the knowledge of the Church, except for his spiritual father Saint Simeon the Soudite. However, the Council’s condemnation was soon overturned and he was acquitted. It is true to say that the question of confession before lay monks undoubtedly appeared implicitly in the controversy with Cenciel Etienne, who believed that Saint Simeon was seriously limiting the privileges of the clergy. However, at his trial he preferred not to attach much importance to this particular accusation, perhaps considering that he could have been condemned rather for the cause of liturgical worship; thus the question of confession before a layman was not openly raised. Although Saint Simeon’s opinion in his letter “On Confession” was not approved by a large number of Orthodox, it is considered acceptable from an Orthodox point of view.

Let us put this controversial topic aside and remember the central point of spiritual fatherhood that Saint Simeon wants to inform us of in this regard: the father in Christ is a mediator who reconciles his children with God.

Godfather Parrain:

A spiritual father is a healer, a teacher, a man of prayer and more. He is, according to Saints John Climacus and Simeon, a godfather, after all. The word godfather comes from the Greek expression anadochos, from the verb anadéchomai, meaning to pledge and guarantee, and it is used to describe someone who takes responsibility or watches over the protection and needs of another. It is also used to describe Christ as the Savior of our souls, and to describe the offerings in baptism or monastic vows.

It is also a title given to the spiritual father. Being a mediator in the likeness of Christ, he does not only pray for his children, but also bears the burden of their passions and errors. He is, according to the Pauline expression, a “burden-bearer”: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). This idea of burdens is repeated in the “Apotheogems”, and Abba Lot says to a brother who could not find peace in his sobriety: “Confess your sin to me, and I will bear it.” This reality was specifically confirmed in the school of Gaza in the sixth century. St. Barsanuphius subsequently wrote to one of his spiritual sons: “Imitating Jesus Christ, I have stretched out my wings to you until this day, bearing your burdens and errors… I have seen all this and covered it, just as God sees our faults and covers them… Behold, I commend you in the name of God for your salvation; If you keep my commandment, I will take upon myself the responsibility of condemning you, and I will not neglect you either in this world or in the next, by the grace of Christ… I have taken away your burden, your load, and your debt. And now you have regained your youth, your innocence, and your purity.(24)“.

Here too, as in all other cases, Abba Sinai shows his fidelity to the tradition of Gaza. St. John Climacus uses the term godfather in more than one place in a letter to a shepherd, referring to the spiritual father. He says that the mission of the elder is to “bear the burden of the disciple(25)He adds: “May your Father be the one who is able and willing to suffer with you to bear the burden of your sins.”(26)“.

The influence of the Letter to the Galatians (6:2) is clearly evident. Like St. Barsanuphius, St. John Climacus believed that this task of carrying burdens extended beyond this life, to eternal life. At the hour of the final judgment, the Elder answers for the sins of his disciples, so that they can face death without fear, “knowing for sure that at the moment of separation it will not be they who will give account, but their Guide.”

It inevitably follows, even if Saint John Climacus did not clearly indicate it, that each of us must be careful before accepting the mission of spiritual father: and it may be better for us to accept it than to fear it!

Thus the spiritual father, as a mediator who represents Christ to us, represents the image or icon of Christ, especially as the Good Shepherd who carried the lost sheep on his shoulders and gave his life for his flock. Above all, the elder shows the characteristic of redemptive love, as a “true shepherd” in the image of the “Good Shepherd”: “Behold the love that the true shepherd showed you, for out of love the great shepherd sought the cross, which is a way of bearing with others, and it is the best way in the world because it consists in giving one’s life for the soul of one’s neighbor(27)“.

No one can be a godfather or spiritual father unless he bears this burden and sacrifices himself. Saint John Climacus provides a living example of a godfather: Once upon a time, a monk was confused by imaginary and blasphemous thoughts; despite all his struggles in fasting and staying up late, he found no consolation. Finally, he wrote down his thoughts on a piece of paper and entrusted it to a “holy man” after prostrating himself before him without daring to look at him. The old man smiled when he read what the monk had written, raised him up and said to him: “Put your hand on my neck, my son… and let this sin be on my neck… and from now on, fear nothing.” The monk was freed from his blasphemous thoughts on the way.

This story reminds us of the life of Saint John the Great (754-846), who said to a young nun who was entangled in impure desires: “Put your hand on my neck, my daughter… and by the power of Jesus Christ let the temptation that still troubles you fall upon me.” She was freed from the temptation on her way back. But let us note here that in this case Saint John had already been struck, “as by a volley of deadly arrows,” by the passions that had exhausted the nun.

Once again, the lesson is clear: “bartering” or “substitute love,” as Charles Welles put it, is a serious matter; no one should take this path unless he is prepared to lay down his own life for his neighbor. In the old confessionals we find the gesture referred to in these two stories, which involves the penitent placing his hand on the spiritual father’s neck.

The letter of Saint Simeon in the confession also contains the same terms and ideas that we find in Saint John Climacus. For Saint Simeon, the spiritual father is a man of God who becomes a godfather, who takes upon himself the debt owed by the other, bears his faults, and answers for them in his name, even if we assume that this person will sincerely repent. What fundamentally distinguishes the spiritual father is sympathy, sympatheia- Compassion sympathie, like the atheist in his full dimension of suffering with and for the other. This characteristic stems from the description that Saint Simeon gives of his spiritual father, Saint Simeon the Studite: “His compassion was unlimited.” Through compassion, the spiritual father is able to make the joys and sufferings of others his own.

Thus, Saints Simeon and John Climacus agree that a sacrificial love based on compassion is an essential characteristic of a true elder. Saint Simeon sees himself as deeply attached to his spiritual children, and feels that his personal salvation is inseparable from theirs. He writes, referring to himself in the third person (see 2 Cor 12:2): “I saw a man who fervently desired the salvation of his brothers, so much so that he often asked God with all his heart and with tears either to save them with him, or to condemn him with them, categorically refusing salvation alone, adopting an attitude similar to God – the attitude of Moses – since, by virtue of the spiritual connection that unites them through the sanctifying mercy of the Holy Spirit, he did not want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (if he was qualified for it) separately from them.”

Saint Barsanuphius offered the same prayer: “O Master, either bring my children with me into your kingdom, or erase me from your book.”(28)“.

If these are the positive characteristics of the spiritual father in his fivefold role as doctor, guide, intercessor, mediator, and godfather, we can only ask with Saint Paul: “Who is worthy of these things?” (Cor 2:16). The apostolic sources are unanimous on this subject. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus says that there is nothing more difficult than guiding others: it is “the art of arts and the science of sciences.”

The answer to this question must be that no one should accept such a mission without feeling called and motivated by love for his neighbor. Nor is it his duty to take the first step; rather, he must wait for a special call from God, which may manifest itself in various ways. Sometimes, as happened with the Optino elders, when shortly before his death the elder chose one of his spiritual sons as his successor. Often, the initiative came from the disciples: some people would approach a retreat or hermit in search of a guide. At first, the latter would not answer at all or would ask them to go elsewhere for guidance. But at a later stage, the time came for him to accept their call for help as if it were a sign of the divine will; he would turn away from them. In this case, it was the spiritual sons who addressed the message to the elder. This was the case, for example, with St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Seraphim of Sarov.

These were the striking points of convergence between Saints John Climacus and Simeon in their distinction of spiritual fatherhood. There are also differences in expression: Saint John Climacus uses especially the image of the shepherd and the lamb, as the title of his work indicates. We find this image in Saint Simeon, but not so clearly. Saint John Climacus also speaks of the elder as a “guide” and an “advanced one”; these expressions do not occur frequently in Saint Simeon, but the latter uses the image of the father with his children, or even the image of the mother who conceives and carries them. He also considers the spiritual father an apostle; this idea does not exist in Saint John Climacus.

There is in general a remarkable and limited continuity between these two writers, in expression as in thought. This is particularly evident in the use of the categories “doctor,” “mediator,” and “godfather.” But this freshness and liveliness with which Saint Symeon writes should not obscure the fact that in his letter of confession in particular, he bears witness not only to his own experience but also to the whole tradition of which he is the heir.

Bishop Callistos Ware(1)
Translated by Silva Shukor 6 - 2005

Quoted from: Bulletin No. 25
November 8, 2005
St. Michael's Monastery
Baqaata - Baskinta River

(1) This text was published in the introduction to the book.

 Spiritual Direction in the Early Christian East / Irénée Hausherr. Kalamazoo (Michigan): Cistercian Publication 1990 (Pp. vii-xxxiii).

(2) The abbreviation "may" stands for the word saint because it appears frequently in the text.

(3) For this text, see the book

  La Paternité spirituelle selon Saint Paul / P. Gutierrez – Paris: 1968; et M. Saillard

 “I have begotten you through the gospel in Jesus Christ” in:

. – Researches de science religieuse 56 (1968).pp5-41

The authors have consistently demonstrated that St. Paul's words should not be considered merely as a metaphor or a "poignant image (Saillard)" but as an "ontological reality."

(4) Dostoievski, Les Frères Karamazov, 1, 5

(5) See “Talmud de Babylone, “Sanhedrin” 19b When a man teaches the Torah to another’s son, the book is considered his son.”

(6) St. Athanasius wrote: “And so he was loved by all. Everyone wanted him as a father.”

(Antoine Le Grand, père des moines/Athanase. – Paris: Edition du Cerf, 1989. –(Foi Vivante; 240). – [81, p93]

(7) History of Lausiaque / Pallade d, Hélénopolis – Bégrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine 1999, – ( Spiritualité orientale; 75) – ( 21-22, pp. 120-130).

(8) Paroles des anciens. Apocalypse in the desert / Jean-Claude Guy. -Paris: Ed. du Seuil, 1976. (Points -Sagesse). -[Pp. 21-22]

(9) Apophtègmes Paroles of the ancients

(10) Correspondance / Barsanuphe and Jean de Gaza. -Sablé-sur-Sarthe: Abbaye de Solesmes, 1972. -548p

(11) The alphabetical collection of the “Apothegemes” contains 127 fathers and three mothers, or spiritual mothers, Theodora, Sarah, and a syneclytic about the title of mother, see the Metérikon (“Sayings of the Mothers”) written by the monk Isaac.

Pallade D'HELENOPOLIS, 34 et 59, [Pp 149-151 et 205].

Parallel to the Patérikon (“Sayings of the Fathers”). See

-Irénée Hausherr, “Direction spirituelle in Orient autrefois.” In: Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 144 (1955), pp. 266-267

(12) Lettre au Pasteur 'Jean Climaque. -Bégrolles-en-magues: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1987. (Spiritualité orientale; 24). -[18]

(13) St. Simeon clearly mentions the Holy Ladder twice in his teachings.

(14) He pneumatiki patrotes kata Symeon ton Neon Theologo, Thessalonique, 1977

(15) Letter au Pasteur, 14.-[P.315]

(16) Ibid., 39 -[p.319]

(17) Jean-Claude Guy, op. cit. -[P.60]

(18) Bersanuphe and Jean de Gaza, Letter 17. -[P.24]

(19) Letter au Pasteur, 2. –[P.313]

(20) L'Echelle Sainte, 4,2. -[P.55]

(21) Catéchèses / Syméon le Nouveau Theologien. -Paris: Cerf, 1964. -(Sources chrétiennes; 104). -[II, 22, 105-106. P. 373]

(22) L'Echelle Sainte / Jean Climaque. -Bégrolles-en-Mauges: Abbaye de Bellefontaine, 1987. (Spiritualité orientale; 24). -[1, 18. P.36]

(23) Leave a message. -[18. P.316]

(24) L'Echelle Sainte. -[4, 134. Pp.91-92]

(25) Ibid. –[4, 29. P.65]

(26) Jean-Claude Guy, op. cit. -[P.60]

(27) Barsanuphe and Jean de Gaza, Letter 577. –[P.380]

(28) Leave a message. -[5-6. Pp. 313-314]

(29) Categories / Symbol of the New Theology. _Paris: Cerf, 1965. -(Sources chrétiennes; 113). -[III, 35, 251-255. P.327]