We all suffer on earth and seek freedom, but few know what freedom is, where it is.
And I, too, desire freedom, and I seek it day and night... I have come to know that it is with God, and from God it is given to humble hearts who have repented and cut out their will before Him. To the repentant, the Lord gives His peace and the freedom to love Him. And there is nothing better in the world than to love God and one's neighbor. In this, the soul finds peace and joy.
Elder Sebastian of Karaganda, secular name - Stepan Vasilyevich Fomin (1884-1966), predicted the events of one woman's life. She had a daughter who was dating a young man and wanted to marry him. The mother and daughter decided to go to Father Sebastian for a blessing, but the groom refused to go. The elder asked: "Why didn't you bring your future husband?" After the conversation, the priest told the girl: "Don't marry him." At first, he did not explain why. The second time the saint strictly warned: "Don't marry him, he will kill you." The girl did not believe and became his wife. Later the elder's prediction came true. The spouses lived for a short time, the husband drank, beat his wife and, in the end, killed her.
– Father Vladimir, in your opinion, should we have impeccable obedience only to the elder or to the spiritual father – a simple priest – too?
– Now, I think, yes – we should have impeccable obedience only to the elder. It is good to have a desire to obey the spiritual father too. But spiritual fathers, who are as blind as I am, should not demand this obedience from their spiritual children. How can I, a blind person, demand obedience that can ultimately lead a person into a pit? Where will the blind lead the blind? Into a pit. Both will definitely fall. Therefore, I show the most reasonable, in my opinion, condescension to my spiritual children and do not demand obedience from them. I demand obedience to the commandments of God, obedience in relation to the established rhythm of Confession and Communion.
What is the difference between a layman and a monk? The difference in terms of obedience is very simple: a monk does as he is asked, and a layman does as best he can. And this is a big problem. When you tell laymen to do something, they always try to do as best they can. But you have to do as you are asked. The main goal is the unity of the spiritual father and the obedient, and the rest is a means to this unity. The spiritual father asked you to do something, you did it - and you have contact, unity with the spiritual father, with his thought, you grow together with him in soul. And the rest is a means: cabbage, firewood ... Do as he has asked, and you will receive the most important thing that Christ prayed for before his suffering: That they all may be one, as We are one. That there may be one will. Obedience is the unity of will, when two beings merge in one act. Confessor and obedient, husband and wife, father and children.
“Christ humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2,8). A man was created for free will, but does it mean that he is absolutely free in his wishes, intentions, decisions and deeds? Does he have a right for headstrongness and willfulness? No, the human will is restrained by God’s laws of the universe. God determined what Adam was allowed to do and what was prohibited.
According to the Holy Fathers obedience is the same thing as piety. So St. Anthony the Great explains: “To be pious is to fulfill the will of God, that means to know God”. The Holy Fathers say that the will is the only thing that really belongs to us, and anything else is given by God as a gift. Therefore the renunciation of the will values more than many other good deeds.
As elder Silouan of Mount Athos says: “Hardly anyone knows the mystery of obedience. The obedient man is great before God. He emulates Christ, Who gave us the image of obedience. The Lord loves the soul of the obedient, bringing it quiet and love. The spirit of obedience is necessary not only in monks but in everyone else, too. Everyone seeks peace and joy, but few people know that they are obtained through obedience. Even feats without obedience may lead to vanity”.
