Do any of the Church Fathers or any Orthodox theologian state that you should not call spiritual leaders “father” or “teacher?”
Upvote:1
Chrysostom's Sermon 72 is one example of an Eastern Father who wrote on this topic.
For what says He? But 'be not ye called Rabbi.' Then follows the cause also; For one is your master, and all you are brethren; [Matthew 23:8] and one has nothing more than another, in respect of his knowing nothing from himself. Wherefore Paul also says, 'For who is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers?' [1 Corinthians 3:5] He said 'not masters.'
And again, Call not 'father,' [Matthew 23:9] not that they should not call, but they may know whom they ought to call Father, in the highest sense. For like as the master is not a master principally; so neither is the father. For He is cause of all, both of the masters, and of the fathers.
So Chrysostom clearly cautioned against confusing God the Father with any spiritual father or teacher, but did not go so far as to forbid the mere "calling" of these titles.
Upvote:1
Do any of the Church Fathers or any Orthodox theologians state that you should not call spiritual leaders “father” or “teacher?”
The short answer is no.
Although St. John Chrysostom wrote how not to apply these terms in a way the would be confusing and ambiguous with its’s usage in reference to God the Father. No Church Father has stated that we cannot call our spiritual teacher father, teacher or master.
They understood that Christ is are perfect teacher and master and leads us to the Father.
Right from the very being the Desert Fathers freely used the wordings similar to father to denote their trust in a person dedicated to enlighten them matters of the spiritual life.
St. Paul of Thebes is often credited with being the first hermit monk to go to the desert, but it was St. Anthony of the Desert who launched the movement that became the Desert Fathers. Sometime around AD 270, Anthony heard a Sunday sermon stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one's possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Jesus. He followed the advice and made the further step of moving deep into the desert to seek complete solitude.
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers are full of references of hermits and monks calling their mentors Abba which means Father.
For example:
One time, the blessed Abba Theophilus the archbishop went to Scetis. But the brothers gathered and said to Abba Pambo: 'Tell the Father one word that he may benefit.' The old man told them: 'If he does not always benefit from our silence, then if we speak he will still not benefit.'
Abbot Pastor said: If a man has done wrong and does not deny it, but says: I did wrong, do not rebuke him, because you will break the resolution of his soul. And if you tell him: Do not be sad, brother, but watch it in the future, you stir him up to change his life.
A hermit saw someone laughing, and said to him, "We have to render an account of our whole life before heaven and earth, and you can laugh?"
Abba Longinus said to Abba Acacius: 'A woman knows she has conceived when she no longer loses any blood. So it is with the soul, she knows she has conceived the Holy Spirit when the passions stop coming out of her. But as long as one is held back in the passions, how can one dare to believe one is sinless? Give blood and receive the Spirit.'
More post
- 📝 Did Matthew the Tax Collector author the Gospel?
- 📝 How do Lutherans interpret Matthew 15:11?
- 📝 Which of Luther's 95 Theses are still potentially valid critiques of Roman Catholicism?
- 📝 Aren't Romans Catholics cults? As they have different doctrine comparing to Christianity
- 📝 In Calvinism, is there any correlation with the elect and the "blessed" in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5?
- 📝 How does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reconcile 3 Nephi 15:23 with Jesus visiting Joseph Smith?
- 📝 Surveys to find out which Christian denomination I am most like
- 📝 Which biblical verses indicate that Jesus was a messenger?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis that Jesus could sin?
- 📝 Can you explain the conflict between 2 Corinthians 5:10 and Isaiah 43:25?
- 📝 When did the split in crufix/empty-cross sybolism occur and why did it happen?
- 📝 Jesus' sacrifice covers our eternal hell?
- 📝 What does the Roman Catholic Church teach about covenant theology?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis against the idea that Jesus descended into hell?
- 📝 According to Trinitarians, when the term Yahweh ('LORD') is used in the OT, who exactly is being referred to?
- 📝 What guidelines should be followed using spiritual gifts?
- 📝 Are questions that begin "Is it ok to ___" of primary theological importance?
- 📝 Is Jesus the Creator?
- 📝 Who is the speaker and who is "him" in Daniel 11:1 according to the Seventh-day Adventist?
- 📝 To what do the seven churches of Revelation refer?
- 📝 Are there different Trinitarian foundations?
- 📝 Is Levi from Luke 5:27 and Mark 2:14 referring to the apostle Matthew
- 📝 How do Mormons defend Reformed Egyptian as a legitimate language?
- 📝 Jesus' completed messianic prophecies
- 📝 God’s View on Incorrect Theology
- 📝 Was the Trinity looked upon by John of Damascus and Gregory of Nyssa as a combination of Jewish monotheism and pagan polytheism?
- 📝 Did Jesus reject the apocrypha?
- 📝 Catholicism - Is the TULIP Formula more or less true? (Semantics)
- 📝 Are there any accounts of former Pagans being supernaturally reached by God (or an angel) with the Gospel before any human missionary arrived?
- 📝 Is the will of God always fulfilled?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Do any of the Church Fathers or any Orthodox theologian state that you should not call spiritual leaders “father” or “teacher?”
- 📝 How can common believers in the Eastern Orthodox Church be sure that the Church's decisions are correct and not erroneous?
- 📝 Do any Early Church Fathers ever argue that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen. 2:9) is the Law or Torah?
- 📝 According to the morality of the Catholic Church are there any organs that are not permitted to be offered in organ transplants?
- 📝 Did any of the Church Fathers think the current-day Gospels were not inspired?
- 📝 Do any Protestant groups teach that Paul founded the Church and not Peter?
- 📝 Are there any Church traditions or legends that state what species of fish Tobias caught in the Book of Tobit?
- 📝 Did any of the Early Church Fathers believe that Revelation 12:1-5 is about the Virgin Mary?
- 📝 Are there any authors that who believe Eph. 4:11 is not describing titles but general characteristics of how God created the church to work together?
- 📝 Did any of the Early Church Fathers use the Orthodox canon?
- 📝 Did any of the Church Fathers interpret Matthew 1:25 as not speaking in a sexual sense?
- 📝 Has the Catholic Church ever declared any group that identified itself Christian as not Christian?
- 📝 Are there any trinitarian Christian denominations that believe one should only pray to the Father, not to Jesus?
- 📝 Are there any writings from the church fathers teaching Original Sin before Augustine?
- 📝 Why did so many early church fathers say that sex was a consequence of the Fall?
- 📝 Is there any evidence for the claim that the Catholic church suppressed translation of Scripture?
- 📝 Did any other early church fathers besides Origen teach the pre-existence of souls?
- 📝 Are there any churches that do not accept the teachings of Paul?
- 📝 Did any church fathers after Chrysostom believe that Mary committed sin?
- 📝 Is there any evidence in the Roman catacombs that the Early Church had a devotion to the Virgin Mary?
- 📝 Did any early Church Fathers record the event of the ceasing of spiritual gifts?
- 📝 Does any church follow the Apostolic Tradition of Baptism ‘in the nude’, or was that never the tradition?
- 📝 How does the relationship of the Church of Scotland to the state differ from that of the Church of England?
- 📝 Why does the Eastern Orthodox Church dislike the idea that the Spirit proceeds from the Son?
- 📝 Do any of the Church Fathers draw a connection between Eve and the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 What is the origin of the Orthodox belief that Sts. Joseph and Mary were betrothed but not married?
- 📝 Are there any tenets of Gnosticism that are still present in the church today?
- 📝 Did Jesus tell us that we should give a tenth to The Church and then give of the excess to the poor?
- 📝 Are there any major Protestant denominations that meet every day and are together all the time like the early church was?
- 📝 The Mormon Church teaches that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son. How do you reconcile this when the Bible says the Father cannot be seen?