Why do I need discipleship to my Father in confession if I already knew the source of his teachings and instructions? I memorized the entire Bible and I even studied it much better than many priests!

In our intellectual and elitist age this kind of objection reveals how many Christians are spiritually lukewarm. Many of our Christian youth memorize many passages from scripture, but are content merely to study and memorize them without putting them into action; without living, tasting, and experiencing them. We live in an era where everyone competes to become a teacher and not a disciple, to convict others for their sins while hiding their own personal sins and ignoring scripture itself, which although it teaches that wisdom comes from the Holy Spirit, emphasizes the importance of discipleship to the Father in confession, to live with him in Christ.

Scripture testifies that when Saul of Tarsus met the Lord, he immediately asked him: “What do you want me to do?” The Lord’s response was to direct him to a spiritual father, Ananias (Acts 9:12). Samuel, great among the prophets, was more attentive to God’s voice than Eli the priest, yet Samuel learned and was trained at his hands (1 Sam. 3:10). Cornelius, to whom the Lord proclaimed the acceptance of his charities and prayers through an angel, was not guided by the angel but was commanded to call Peter the Apostle to guide him (Acts 10:5).

Abbot Moses says, “The Lord did not of Himself instruct by the method of a Divine colloquy the lad Samuel, when chosen for judgment, but suffered him to run once or twice to the old man, and willed that one whom He was calling to converse with Him should be taught even by one who had offended God, as he was an old man, and preferred that he whom He had deemed worthy to be called by Him should be trained by the Elder in order to test the humility of him who was called to a Divine office, and to set an example to the younger men by the manner of his subjection.

“And when Christ in His own Person called and addressed Paul, although He might have opened out to him at once the way of perfection, yet He chose rather to direct him to Ananias and commanded him to learn the way of truth from him, saying: Arise and go into the city and there it shall be told you what you ought to do. (Acts 9:6) So He sends him to an older man, and thinks good to have him instructed by his teaching rather than His own, lest what might have been rightly done in the case of Paul might set a bad example of self-sufficiency, if each one were to persuade himself that he also ought in like manner to be trained by the

government and teaching of God alone rather than by the instruction of the Elders. And this self-sufficiency the apostle himself teaches, not only by his letters but by his acts and deeds, ought to be shunned with all possible care, as he says that he went up to Jerusalem solely for this reason to communicate in a private and informal conference with his co-apostles and those who were before him that Gospel which he preached to the Gentiles, the grace of the Holy Spirit accompanying him with powerful signs and wonders: as he says And I communicated with them the Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles lest perhaps I had run or should run in vain. (Gal 2:2) Who then is so self-sufficient and blind as to dare to trust in his own judgment and discretion when the chosen vessel confesses that he had need of conference with his fellow apostles. Whence we clearly see that the Lord does not Himself show the way of perfection to anyone who having the opportunity of learning despises the teaching and training of the Elders, paying no heed to that saying which ought most carefully to be observed: Ask your father and he will show it to you: your Elders and they will tell you. (Deut. 32:7).”¹⁴⁶⁹