Глава 22. О послушании – полнее

We have shown, as far as possible, that once he has entered into unity with spiritual society, he must keep this unity inseparable. And now let us again take up the word about obedience, which we spoke about briefly before; Now let us express our thoughts more completely and show what kind of obedience to the abbot the strict teaching requires from ascetics, because I will try to determine the measure of this obedience from the Holy Scripture itself. The Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans commands all those in power to obey (Rom. 13:1), that is, to obey the authorities of the world, and not the spiritual, which he makes clear in the following, where he talks about lessons and tribute (Rom. 13:7), and explains that even in the smallest way he who resists authority resists God (Rom. 13:2). Therefore, if the law of God required from the pious such submission to the rulers of this world, who received authority according to human law, and, moreover, then lived in wickedness, then what kind of obedience is the ascetic obliged to show to the leader who was appointed by God and received authority according to His laws? Whoever resists the mentor is not clearly opposing God’s command, especially when the Apostle clearly commands to obey the spiritual leaders in everything? For he says: “Obey your guide and repent, for they will watch over your souls, as if they wish to repay the word; Let them do this with joy, and not sighing, for it is not good for you” (Heb. 13:17). Therefore, if we do not strictly obey “not being useful,” then we need to strive for what is useful, because the words “not being useful,” as I think, imply great damage that requires repentance and correction. Most of all, it is necessary to imitate the obedience of the saints, which they showed before God, if we intend, using an example sufficient for our purpose, to completely fulfill the duty of obedience. And let no one think that, wanting to inspire obedience before mentors, I give examples that are too high and that I arrogantly dare to compare obedience to people with the obedience that we owe to God. Not by my own will, but in accordance with the Divine Scriptures themselves, I make this comparison. For look at what the Lord says in the Gospels, commanding obedience to His servants: “Whoever accepts you, accepts Me” (Matthew 10:40) and in another place: “Listen to you, He listens to Me, and reject you, He rejects Me” (Luke 10:16). And that He legitimized what was said to the Apostles about all the mentors after them, this can be confirmed by many and undoubted testimonies of Divine Scripture and the clearest arguments. That is why we expressed ourselves in agreement with Divine laws, saying that we should take the obedience of the saints to God as a model of obedience to the superior. How did the saints show obedience to the Lord? Look at Abraham, who was ordered to leave his home, fatherland, property, possessions, relatives, friends - moreover, to look for the opposite: a foreign land, the unknown, wandering, poverty, fears, dangers and all the troubles that accompany wanderers. And he blithely obeys, abandons domestic prosperity and tranquility, and instead chooses poverty and wandering on a foreign side. Do you see what a strict ascetic he is and how he despises all worldly prosperity for God? But let's see what happened afterwards. He comes to Palestine - to the place that God showed him to settle; but since this country was visited by famine, he goes to Egypt and there, when his wife was taken from him, he is not faint-hearted, does not complain about God’s orders as having received such retribution for his obedience, but meekly endures his insult, the most serious of all insults, and not this one time, but also another time, from the king of Gerar. For once having decided to obey God, he looks not at how God plans for him, but at how he can maintain the most exact and impeccable obedience. For this, he finally receives his son Isaac - a reward and gift for long-term prayer and faith. But when he saw that Isaac was coming to a flourishing age and was giving his parents good hopes of succession and the subsequent continuation of the family, then, after such hopes, he received a command from God to take him to a high mountain and sacrifice him to the Giver. Having accepted this striking demand and this terrible service, when not only to fulfill, but also to listen to what was commanded was beyond the forces of nature, look with what meekness he endures this: he does not lose his mind, does not lose heart, but with such calmness and serenity of thoughts, as if intending to sacrifice a lamb, puts on himself the yoke of obedience and goes after his son to fulfill the command, without in the least experiencing God’s judgment about this and not complaining, but keeping in mind your business - in no way violate the duty of obedience. And thus he acquired a bright crown: for the whole universe he was placed in the pillar of faith and obedience. It would be possible to expand on obedience and other saints who shone in Old Testament history, as a lesson to the ascetics of unquestioning obedience. But in order not to make a lengthy speech, sending everyone who wants to learn to listen to the Holy Scriptures, let us turn the word to the Savior’s disciples and show how obedient and submissive they were. Jesus told them at the beginning of their education, when they expected that the Lord would soon reign, and assumed that they themselves would not suffer anything, would not be exposed to dangers, would not endure labor, but would reign with Christ and become partakers of His royal glory, the service and honor due to Him. And this makes it possible to see Peter reproaching Jesus when He offered a word about His suffering, for it is said: And Peter began to reproach Him, saying: “You are merciful, Lord! You will not have this” (Matthew 16:22), showing that he did not expect anything regrettable. The sons of Zebedee also show the same thing, who brought their mother to ask the Lord for them, so that they would be honored by sitting one on the right and the other on the left; for if they had not imagined that He would reign very soon, they would not have dared to ask Him, considering the Savior’s seat in heaven at the right hand of the Father. So, what did Jesus say to them when they were expecting and hoping for this? “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves” (Matthew 10:16). And thus, having heard a word so contrary to their own hope, they did not say: “We came with other hopes, but You command the opposite of what we hoped for. We expected peace, but You send us into danger. We hoped for honor, but You offer dishonor. We were waiting for the Kingdom, but You command us to be persecuted and to be slaves of all.” They did not say anything like that, although, in addition to what was said above, they heard many things that were even more painful, for example: “You will be betrayed in sorrow and you will be killed; and you will all hate languages ​​for My name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9); “And you will be in the presence of rulers and kings for My sake” (Matthew 10:18). So, having listened to all this beyond expectation, bowing the neck of their minds, they took up the yoke and willingly went into danger, to judgment, to face insults, throwing stones, beating with a rod, dishonor, to crosses, to various kinds of deaths, and with such zeal they endured this that they rejoiced and brightly celebrated when they were worthy to partake of the sufferings of Christ. For it is said: they rejoiced, “because you were deemed worthy to receive dishonor for His name” (Acts 5:41). An ascetic for God is required to show the same obedience to his mentor. For Christ chose disciples, signifying, as we said above, precisely this kind of life, because a mentor is nothing other than a man who represents the face of the Savior, became a mediator between God and people and sacredly acts before God for the salvation of those who submit to him. And we learn this from Christ Himself, Who appoints Peter as the shepherd of His Church. For he says: Peter, “Do you love Me more than these? Feed my sheep” (John 21:15–16). He gives equal authority to all subsequent shepherds and teachers. Proof of this is the equally given right to everyone, like Peter, to bind and loose everyone. Therefore, just as sheep obey the shepherd and turn where the shepherd leads, so ascetics for God must obey their mentors, not entering into the study of their orders when they are clean from sin, but fulfilling what is ordered with all zeal and diligence. Just as a woodworker or an architect uses each of the tools of his art according to his own desire, and the tool does not refuse to satisfy the need for which the artist uses it, but yields to the hand of the one acting with it, so the ascetic must, as an artist’s tool, contribute to the completion of a spiritual building, submit to everything in which his service is recognized as useful by the mentor, so as not to hinder the accomplishment of a spiritual work without applying his labor. And just as a tool does not choose for itself what it should do as an aid to art, so it is necessary for the ascetic not to choose work for himself, but to give in to the discretion and economy of the artist. For a person who is intelligently present knows how to accurately examine the morals, passions and spiritual aspirations of everyone and agree with this in his disposition of each. Therefore, one should not resist his orders in any way, but be sure that the most difficult thing is to know and heal oneself, because self-love is innate to people and everyone, out of predilection for himself, turns the true judgment. It is more convenient for someone else to know and heal us, because the passion of self-love does not hinder the one who judges others in true recognition. And when such agreement is established in an ascetic society, then peace will comfortably be established between them, and salvation will be accomplished with the common love and unanimity of all. You might be interested in: