St. Silouan – Why are there no longer spiritual fathers?

Fr. Rafail responds to one of the questions posed by St. Silouan, ‘why are there no longer spiritual fathers?’
He also talks about the Mystery of Confession and the relationship with the spiritual father in the Orthodox spiritual life.

Subtitles: English (YTranslations Ltd), Romanian

Fr. Rafail:

“Saint Silouan answered such a question saying: ‘because there are no longer good obedients…’
The good apprentice, the good obedient, is the man whose mind leans toward God and who seeks a response from God, not from people and who may turn to man because we can’t even reach God as Cain did…
But when you turn to man, you must go with your attention towards God, with Whom you must have talked before then, praying that the man – your spiritual father – would give you the word. Take care of your inner self and, as Father Sophrony says, take hold of – seize, I’d say – the first word…

Learn how to receive the first word from spiritual fathers, from those over you, from priests and bishops. But before that, you are the ground on which this word is sown. Prepare the ground!

But now take care that you are aware that it is God who gives you the word through him, honor him, of course, but do not make him an idol by asking of him without prayer, without contact with God,
rather remain in contact with God.

I have sometimes said that a spiritual father is like a telephone; you don’t talk to the telephone but to someone on the other end…”

This video is part of the speech of Fr. Rafail Noica given at the International Colloquium “Meeting with the spiritual father”, November 13-15, 2016, Iasi, Romania.

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