Too often when we think about the Church Fathers, we consider them as men who benefited the Church only academically. I have heard many say that the Fathers lived during a time completely different from our own and, therefore, have little to do with us. This is not the case. Just look to the three stages of prayer—an experience to which a number of these Fathers alluded—as proof of their spiritual paternity.
First, what does it mean to be a father in the spiritual sense? And does spiritual fatherhood at all relate to the role the Church Fathers should have on contemporary Christians?
In the physical sense, both a father and mother pass down their nature to their offspring. Their children are made in their image, so to say.
In an analogical sense, when we speak of spiritual fatherhood, we are still talking about the passing down of a nature—just not in the same sense. A spiritual father passes down their own spiritual life to a disciple.
In the ancient Judaic tradition, a disciple not only learned lessons from the rabbi, but he trained to become his rabbi. In the Christian tradition, from the very early times of the Church, a spiritual father was someone who was known for his charity and mastery of the passions. Like the Jewish rabbi, the spiritual father was someone who shared his life with his disciples who aspired to their mentor’s level of spiritual mastery.
Rather than teaching disciples to grow intellectually, the early spiritual fathers sought to receive the life of the Holy Spirit, Who could only be given by God. Therefore, the Church Fathers’ foundational pursuit was prayer.
Prayer, which they defined as the Holy Spirit dwelling in the heart (or the elevation of the mind and heart to God), was the most central element to Christian life. So, rather than being overly concerned with systematics (which is of course important), the Desert Fathers were concerned with praxis, the practical habit of prayer and fasting in order to wage war against demons.
There are three basic stages to which many of the saints and Fathers refer:
- Vocal prayer
- Mental prayer
- Prayer of the heart
Vocal prayer refers to the basic practice of repeating the Jesus Prayer in one’s cell. Through this, the monk learns to be in solitude and to be satisfied by prayer. This satisfaction takes time and effort because the monastic life is, at first, utterly foreign to the monk. Therefore, the first stage is very practical and not overly complicated. Simply put, the first stage is this: to get used to being alone with God, to speak with God, to listen, and to be patient.
The second stage, that of mental prayer, refers to being settled in prayer and comfortable with silence such that one can begin to enter deeper into God’s life. In this stage, our senses become more spiritualized, and we consider things from God’s perspective rather than ours. Some saints say that when a person gets more comfortable in prayer and silence, then reading scripture helps him or her begin to think of godly things rather than earthly things—His life, teachings, Paschal mystery, angels, saints, apostles, etc. This stage is characterized by becoming comfortable with solitude and thus being able to move further into contemplative prayer.
The third and last stage, the prayer of the heart, refers to being in a place of total peace and undistracted ceaseless prayer—when a person allows for the Holy Spirit’s fire to reign in their heart. St. Paul describes ceaseless prayer as the Holy Spirit praying from the heart, “Abba, Father.” Something central to this stage is allowing the Spirit to pray within you. It is not a stage in which, strictly speaking, we are praying, but rather one in which the Spirit prays to the Father through us.
The goal of illustrating these stages is not to purposelessly create existential levels to which we should aspire. Practically speaking, I think this could draw us into scrupulosity and unrest. The purpose is for the disciple to learn from a father who has matured in the spiritual life, has learned how to control his passions, and has become receptive to God’s love. In other words, the spiritual father knows what it feels like to grow through phases of dryness and phases of great ecstasy in prayer. He distills this spiritual progression into three basic levels in order to more easily mentor his disciples, aiding them in their own progress.
Rather than passing down his physical nature, a spiritual father teaches his disciples how to be attentive to God and live in the Spirit (what Roman Catholics would call “remaining in a state of grace”). Father Zossima, for example, became the spiritual father to Mary of Egypt, listening to her life’s story and giving her spiritual attention. He was present with her as she recounted her life’s journey and story of repentance. He listened and was amazed at the work that God did in this blessed woman’s life, and he marveled at her holiness. Simply by being present and merciful to the repenting woman, Zossima acted as a living icon of Christ. Zossima probably also shared his experience of prayer to assist Mary’s spiritual progress.
Perhaps we live in a world with many priests but few spiritual fathers, and many sisters and nuns but few spiritual mothers. In order to become spiritual parents, we have to receive what has been given to us, first by Jesus, and second by those to whom the Church was entrusted—the apostles, Church Fathers, and saints. The stages of prayer, for example, can help us realize where we are and how to move forward. So, rather than discarding the early Church Fathers as irrelevant, let us look to our spiritual ancestors, how they imitated the life of Christ, and from them learn how to do so ourselves.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Alexander Harb’s book, The Kingdom of the Heart: Meditations from the Christian East, is available from Sophia Institute Press.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
