Conclusion of the Conference

The ministry of the spiritual father

Discernment is the heart of the charism of spiritual paternity. The opening of the heart (exagoreusis), that is, the confession of thoughts (logismoi, cogitations), is the road of discernment. Frequent, if not daily Christian practice of exagoreusis brings the disciple to a lucid self-knowledge and to authentic humility. We were able to hear how much importance a contemporary spiritual father, patriarch Pavle of Belgrade, gives to discernment still today, seventeen centuries after St Antony the Great (according to John Cassian).

The ministry of spiritual fatherhood is a cross. St Benedict and St John Climacus remind us that the spiritual father ought to give his life (offer his soul) for his spiritual children. He is asked to carry the burden of their sins (in addition to his own sins), to care for the maladies and passions of their souls. He will make himself all things to all, to the simple as to intellectuals. He will correct and scold their faults and vices, always loving his spiritual children.

We have perhaps spoken too little about the responsibility of spiritual children. Let us point out, however, that they should be honest and transparent, imitating the obedience of Jesus to the Father. They are asked to pray so that the Holy Spirit places in their spiritual father’s heart words that serve towards their salvation. The duty of conscience (sovest’, syneidesis; see Isaias of Scete) has been mentioned several times. It is an element of the freedom of God’s children, also in spiritual relations, which ought to be treated more fully.