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The Priest as Spiritual Father: Teachings from Elder Paisios and Saints
48:43
Dr. Constantine Cavarnos delivered this homily on April 3, 1995, to Orthodox priests of New Jersey at the Parish of Christ the Savior in Paramus. The address was sponsored by the Orthodox Clergy Fellowship of Northern New Jersey and the New Jersey Deanery of the Orthodox Church in America. Cavarnos draws on the teachings of contemporary elders and saints to outline how a priest becomes a true spiritual father.
Elder Paisios of Mount Athos teaches that a priest must first work on his own spiritual transformation through prayer, fasting, vigils, and the Jesus Prayer. Paisios states that sermons no longer influence people as they once did; instead, a priest's personal inner work quietly changes parishioners more than direct exhortation. This work involves turning attention inward to uproot faults and plant virtues, requiring effort and humble reading of the Philokalia, the Ladder of Divine Ascent, and the Evergetinos.
Paisios, citing St. Isaiah, describes the process: becoming conscious of faults, opposing them with the mind, hating them, and invoking God's help through prayer. He emphasizes noetic prayer, gathering the nous into the heart and repeating "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me", which purifies and unites the intellect with God.
St. Nectarius of Aegina insists that clergy need broad theological, philosophical, and encyclopedic knowledge to defend Orthodoxy against modern attacks and to be skilled in apologetics. Elder Philotheos Zervakos identifies the qualities of a good confessor: humility, gentleness, patience, discernment, compassion, and love. These are exemplified by St. Arsenios of Paros, who received all with love and gave the medicines of repentance and God's compassion.
The story of St. Arsenios and a repentant harlot illustrates how a spiritual father heals the wounded soul with compassion rather than condemnation, leading to true repentance and imposing therapeutic penances on those who drove her away.
Elder Gabriel warns that a priest's life must be exemplary in word and deed, avoiding politics and worldly distractions, and centering his ministry on faith, hope, and love as the three great virtues of a servant of God.
Key moments
- Elder Paisios says sermons no longer influence people; a priest must work on himself through spiritual training based on the Holy Fathers, and then parishioners will become better without direct effort.
- Paisios explains that work on oneself means turning attention inward to uproot faults and plant virtues, requiring effort and reading the Philokalia, Ladder of Divine Ascent, and Evergetinos with humility and prayer.
- St. Paisios, citing St. Isaiah, teaches that faults are uprooted by becoming conscious of them, opposing them with the mind, hating them, and invoking God's help through prayer, using anger according to nature against negative dispositions.
- Paisios emphasizes prayer of the heart (Jesus Prayer) with fasting and vigils; St. Nicodemus describes noetic prayer as gathering the nous into the heart and repeating "Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me," which purifies and unites the nous with God.
- St. Nectarius of Aegina states that clergy must possess theological, philosophical, and encyclopedic knowledge to refute heresies and defend the faith, and must be skilled in argumentation (apologetics).
- Elder Philotheos Zervakos identifies the qualities of a good confessor, humility, gentleness, patience, discernment, compassion, and love, exemplified by St. Arsenios of Paros, who received all with love and gave the medicines of repentance and God's compassion.
- The story of St. Arsenios and the repentant harlot shows how a spiritual father heals the wounded soul with compassion rather than condemnation, leading to true repentance and imposing therapeutic penances on those who drove her away.
- Elder Gabriel warns that a priest's life must be exemplary in word and deed, avoiding politics and worldly scandals, and centering his ministry on faith, hope, and love as the three great virtues of a servant of God.