Confession and Spiritual Fatherhood
"Blessed be He Who suffered to heal our pains!"
The Sacrament of Confession and the role of the spiritual father flow from the core Christian belief that God desires to heal and reconcile humanity to Himself.
Christ The True Physician
The concept of Christ as Healer permeates the teachings of the Church Fathers.
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord."
St. Ephraim the Syrian
"Christ is the Physician Who came to heal our wounds with a medicine that was not harsh. He became The Medicine that showed sinners mercy... Blessed be He Who suffered to heal our pains!"
The Church: The Body of Reconciliation
Overcoming the Rift
Dr. Paul Meyendorff: "The very purpose of the Church is to heal us, to overcome the rift between God and humanity which is caused by our sin and leads to death. This is achieved precisely when we are united to one another and to God in the Body of Christ, which is the Church."
Communal Nature of Sin
Based on the teaching of St. Paul, we are members of one Body?the Church. Therefore, our sins are not against God or ourselves alone, but against the entire Body. Sin is never a purely private act.
The Ministry of Reconciliation
"Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation... Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." (2 Corinthians 5:18-21)
The priest essentially says to the repentant person: "We, the Church, are forgiving you."
The Spiritual Father
"For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel."
"To Timothy, my true child in faith..."
"...as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel."
The Vision of the Spiritual Father
"Without a spiritual father, the soul is like a tree without roots, easily uprooted by the winds of temptation."
"A spiritual father should be in a condition to see the beauty of God's image in a person that cannot be taken away, even if a person is marred by sin... He sees the unshakeable, radiant beauty of His own Image."
Sacred Ground
"The spiritual father sees this eternal beauty, treating the person's soul like the Burning Bush! Every human being?potentially or actually?is that very Bush. Everything surrounding him is sacred ground upon which the spiritual father may step only after removing his shoes, looking in and knowing that this is the holy place of God."
"One of the tasks of a spiritual father consists in educating a person in spiritual freedom, in the royal freedom of God's children. He must not keep him in an infantile state all his life... but growing into maturity and learning how to hear what the Holy Spirit is wordlessly speaking to him in his heart."
"Then the spiritual father can truly be a travelling companion to his spiritual child, walk with him step by step, protect him, support him, and never intrude upon the realm of the Holy Spirit."
Father not Judge
"The spiritual father must not act like a prosecutor who wants to send people to prison, but like a father who wants to save his children... The spiritual father must take the other person's pain as his own."
In the Orthodox tradition, the bond between the person confessing and the priest isn't about crime and punishment. It is a deep, living relationship of a spiritual father and his child. The priest does not sit like a judge in a courtroom, handing out sentences for broken rules. Instead, he acts as a loving father in a spiritual hospital, whose only goal is to heal the wounds of his child.
"Confession is a hospital. You go there to heal your soul, not to be judged." ? St. John Chrysostom
Physician of the Soul
St. Basil the Great
"The spiritual father is like a physician who heals the wounds of the soul with the medicine of repentance and the bandages of prayers."
Sts. Barsanuphius & John
"The spiritual father is a vessel of God's mercy, pouring out compassion and wisdom upon his spiritual children."
A Guiding Light
St. John Chrysostom: "The spiritual father is like a lighthouse, guiding the ship of the soul through the stormy seas of life to the safe harbor of God's kingdom."
Humility in Ministry
St. Athanasius the Apostolic: "The priest is himself a sinner who needs healing. Therefore, he receives forgiveness and healing from Christ alongside the repentant person."
St. Augustine: "I am a pastor for you, under the Pastor. From that position I address you as one who teaches, but with you I am a disciple in the school of the one Master."
Trust in Christ's Healing Power
"Show your wounds to the Lord, the most excellent physician, and seek healing from Him. He does not judge or reproach; He most gently heals."