Obedience in the Church is one of the greatest problems, because of the ease with which its concept is distorted, and it turns into obedience to some party or some leadership. For the one who is obeyed very often misuses it, so that the personality of his disciple is erased, and the son becomes attached to his father. Thus the former falls into the temptation of human influence, wanting to be a commander, forgetting that he came to raise up disciples and apostles for Christ. And there arises in the soul of the son the rule that the one to whom he submits possesses a wisdom whose depths cannot be fathomed, because the obeyed one and wisdom have become twinned, and if he errs, then the error is itself wisdom. And what increases the complexity of the problem is its justification by saying that you submit to God Himself when you obey.
How is obedience explained in general? How is it also understood in the Church? What is the purpose of obedience, and for whom is it?
Obedience in society is compliance and consent to execution. For our saying ‘we hear and obey’ means: I am present at your disposal and under command. And obedience in human behavior is explained as follows: “it is a form of social influence in which a person submits to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure” (1). So it is the complete compliance with those who have been entrusted with authority whose command is executed.
Upon this concept rest all the systems of some party or some organization. And we find that the problem of obedience in the Church does not depart from the prevailing and dominant concept in society, especially when it is seen as a religious authority in the narrow sense of the word. The justifications for obedience are many, especially as Metropolitan Georges Khodr says: “Among the sins of the false theology which certain weak, unbalanced, or disproportionate texts hastened to produce is the saying, in brief, that you must submit to the holder of the rank because he represents God and stands in His stead (2).” Thus the believer submits to the holder of the command who derives his authority from being a representative of God, while we realize that God has not appointed for Himself a representative on earth, because He is present and does not depart (hence the saying about the bishop whom the community has appointed: the rank is from God). And among the examples of texts that urge obedience and are understood contrary to their purpose: Mor Ephrem the Syrian says: “If you sit in obedience to a spiritual father, do not set a limit for yourself by saying: I cannot do this or that” (that is, obey whatever is said). And he says in another place: the obedient one pleases everyone and everyone praises him (2). In addition to examples from the scriptural texts that emphasize that the fruits of obedience are great: Elisha the prophet, as the Fathers express it, because of his obedience received double the grace of Elijah, and Moses, because of his obedience to God, overcame Pharaoh. As for the case of error in a certain judgment, Elder Ephrem the Hesychast of Katounakia justifies it: “In many cases we, the fathers and elders, err in our judgment, but if you are obedient, then your obedience will be for your good and not for your harm; obedience cannot bring evil, because it likens you to Christ Himself (3).” And even the saying that blessing descends upon the son of obedience has become a strong support used in its proper time and in other than its proper time. The more obedient a man is, the greater the blessing. But let us not forget that the goal is not obedience and personal loyalty; rather, it is a means that we use in order to achieve a more important goal, which is that we possess the freedom of the children of God. If it had importance in and of itself, then every obedience to any authority would be a virtue.
The concept of obedience as a permanent submission toward the one who has been entrusted with the affairs of the faithful binds people and turns the Church into a party in which those who belong to it commit themselves to loyalty and obedience to the holders of office (a bishop, or a spiritual father, or….). Thus it becomes an instrument of domination, tyranny, and factionalism. For what is the difference between a party to which you belong and submit to the words of its officials, and a religious authority to which people yield? There is no difference. Only then is formed the sect that has its own following.
But the goal of obedience in the Church differs entirely from its goal in parties and authorities. In the Church, the spiritual father or the bishop works to lead man toward the freedom of the children of God, disciplining him and training him in obedience to the divine word. The spiritual life begins with a loving encounter with Christ through a father who helps him to keep the word of God through his word, so that his will is disciplined and his passions are subjected. If you do not submit to a human being whom you see, how will you submit to God whom you do not see? But this submission is a temporary stage; it is a transition from the stage of spiritual childhood to the stature of the fullness of Christ.
At the beginning the believer obeys (his spiritual father or the bishop or….) because he raises him upon the word of God, so that he disciplines his will and subjects his passions. For if we do not obey a person whom we see, how shall we obey God whom we do not see? The spiritual father is one who disciplines and helps, who transfers us from the state of spiritual childhood to the stature of the fullness of Christ, who brings his sons to attachment to Jesus and sets them free for Him.
For Elisha, the disciple who obeyed the prophet Elijah and took his grace, became a new prophet and did not remain in his first state. Christ taught the twelve disciples during the period of His presence, but after His ascension they became apostles. Obedience leads its sons to become fathers and not to remain sons, to become apostles.
Spiritual obedience is not far from obedience in the paternal home, where the child grows up adhering to the words of his father with every letter he utters. But once the child grows up, he becomes an independent man, mature and free, and becomes a father in his turn.
The Church is a liberator of her sons from the bonds of the passions; she plants in them the word of God and His commandments. For she is like an eagle that teaches its young to fly and then releases them into the sky of God. Therefore, obedience for us is temporary and transitional; it begins with the freedom of surrendering the will to a spiritual father, because I see him as one who speaks the word of God. Then I arrive at the freedom of the children of God, so that I no longer need to submit as a child, but rather I mature in Christ, and the final obedience becomes obedience to the divine word. But every obedience that keeps its adherents as disciples is enslavement.
1. Colman, Andrew (2009). A Dictionary of Psychology. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199534067.
2. The New Life, Metropolitan Georges Khodr, Dar An-Nahar, first edition, 2001, p. 252.
3. Saint Ephrem the Syrian (Spiritual and Devotional Articles), translated into Arabic by Fr. Ephrem Kyriakos, the Monastery of Mar Mikhael, 2004.
4. Elder Ephrem the Hesychast of Katounakia, translated into Arabic by the Subdeacon William Elias Khoury, publications of the Diocese of Akkar, first edition, 2009.