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Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol on Humility and the Spiritual Father
Metropolitan Athanasios of Limassol teaches that entry into spiritual life requires humility and simplicity under the oversight of a spiritual father. The spiritual father acts as a spiritual physician who prescribes appropriate spiritual medicines to heal double-mindedness and the fragmentation of human existence. The Metropolitan states that when a person humbles themselves and asks for God's help, God becomes immediately present.
A journalist then asks how one should receive God's presence once His help arrives. The Metropolitan answers that grace itself instructs the person on how to respond. He describes several ways grace may move a person: at times the person weeps and offers thanksgiving to God; at times they swim in the ocean of the Father's divine love; at times they glorify God; at times they encounter God's presence with silence.
Each response corresponds to the particular grace given. The discussion centers on the necessity of a spiritual guide, the healing of inner division, the immediacy of God's response to humility, and the varied manifestations of grace in the believer's life.
Key moments
- We must enter spiritual life humbly and simply through the spiritual oversight of our spiritual father.
- The spiritual father acts as a spiritual physician who gives appropriate spiritual medicines to heal double-mindedness and the fragmentation of our existence.
- When a person humbles themselves and asks for God's help, God is immediately present.
- The grace that arrives teaches the person what to do.
- Sometimes the person weeps and thanks God.
- Sometimes the person swims in the ocean of the Father's divine love.
- Sometimes the person glorifies God.
- Sometimes the person faces God's presence with silence, and grace is given accordingly.