November: Day 26: Teaching 5: Venerable Akakios of Sinai

 

November: Day 26: Teaching 5:*
Venerable Akakios of Sinai
 
(On the Virtue of Obedience and Especially on Obedience to Spiritual Shepherds in the Work of Salvation)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Venerable Akakios, now being glorified, lived in the sixth century, and was a disciple of an elder, a monk, and presented in his life an example of wonderful obedience. Despite the fact that the elder reproached and beat him every day, Venerable Akakios never complained and followed the elder’s orders exactly. When asked how he spent the day, he always had one answer: “Thank God, well.” Meanwhile, the dark circles under his eyes, the wounds on his head and neck clearly indicated the beatings he had endured. Venerable Akakios served the cruel elder for nine years and then he died. Venerable Akakios endured to the end and was saved. Five days after the death of Venerable Akakios, the elder went to a monk and said: “Father, Akakios, my disciple, has died.” The monk answered: “No, he has not died, ask him and he will tell you himself.” When the elder asked, Venerable Akakios answered: "Can a doer of obedience die? I am ready, father, to serve you still." Then the elder repented and settled at the grave of his disciple.

II. Venerable Akakios teaches us by his living example the virtue of obedience.

a) First of all, children must be obedient to their parents. If this is the case, the family is happy; if not, then not only is the happiness lost, but the family itself is lost: its members have nothing to bind them together and hold them together. And just as a wall, if the cement between the bricks has worn away, must fall apart, so a family, if there is no longer humility and obedience in it, must disintegrate: its members must necessarily separate and live alone, each for himself, to the detriment of themselves and the family.

b) Secondly, the wife must be submissive to her husband, as the word of God commands: “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord: for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church” (Eph. 5:22, 23). If this is fulfilled, then the blessing of God rests upon the family, and such a family, even in the poorest state, enjoys love, peace and prosperity; but if the wife considers humility to be humiliation for herself and does not want to hear about submission, then neither she, nor her husband, nor the children will see any good.

c) Thirdly, all citizens must show complete humility and obedience to the king and to any authority appointed by him. For what would become of us if no one wanted to know any authority and no one would obey anyone? This is what would happen: discord, disagreement, mutual insults would arise, robberies, murders, riots, civil wars, etc. would be inevitable, and finally – the destruction of the state. So says the word of God: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand” (Matt. 12:25).

d) Fourthly, we are all obliged to show all submission and obedience to our spiritual fathers in a spirit of humility.

What is obedience?

This is “renunciation of one’s own will and one’s own understanding,” it is “distrust of oneself in all good things, even to the end of one’s life.” So says Saint John Climacus. Now I will ask: do we have the right to follow our own understanding in the matter of our salvation? Are we allowed to believe and be saved as we ourselves think fit, and not as God has commanded? Can we, unless proud conceit has stifled our conscience, rely on our own wisdom, for example, in interpreting Holy Scripture? And what if we are mistaken? What if instead of benefit we receive harm to the soul? What if what we consider good turns out to be not good at all? How will we test ourselves? We will say: there are books, read them, learn from them... But will we understand everything in the books as we should understand it? Can’t we make a mistake here too? No, we won’t get far with our minds alone, and we can very easily get lost... And if we don’t trust ourselves, then we must ask someone else. Whom? Of course, the one appointed by God for this – the shepherd of the church, your spiritual father. Hear what the Lord says to His disciples, and through them to all the shepherds of the Church: “He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me” (Luke 10:16). “If anyone disobeys the Church, let him be to you as a heathen and a publican!” (Matt. 18:17). It is clear that everyone must be an obedient follower of the Holy Church, an obedient child of your spiritual father – the shepherd of the church. This means that obedience is appropriate not only for monks, but for every layman: they remain in obedience to their mentors and elders, and you obey the shepherd of the church. They obey the elder in everything, but you - at least in the main thing, in everything that concerns your salvation - ask your spiritual father, and it will be even better if in your everyday affairs you ask for God's blessing through him for everything.

In our time there are so many wolves prowling about in the guise of sheep, so many wise false teachers, so many soul-harming books being printed and distributed among the people to tempt Orthodox people, that one must be especially careful not to become infected with the poison of their false teachings and not to ruin one's soul. The Stundists, the Molokans, the Pashkovites, and the schismatics of various persuasions - all undertake to interpret the word of God, and each interprets as he pleases, and each tries to draw a simple, inexperienced person into his sect ... Beware of them, my beloved brethren! Do not enter into disputes with them if you realize that you cannot come to an agreement with them ... It is better to go to your spiritual father, tell him your perplexities; he was appointed by God to teach and guide you; he knows both the word of God and the writings of the Holy Fathers better than these self-proclaimed teachers; and most importantly: the grace of God, through the Mystery of Ordination, resting upon him from the Holy Apostles one to another, will enlighten him according to your faith, what to tell you for the benefit of your soul. That is the whole point: if we decide a doubtful question with our own minds, then there is danger from conceit; but God is ready to proclaim His will to the humble even through a small child. He proclaimed it to Balaam even through a dumb ass - how much more will He enlighten us through His servant, to whom the Holy Church has entrusted the souls of his flock to care.

III. Brethren! The virtue of obedience is a great thing! There is no path to the Kingdom of Heaven straighter than this path! Let us be obedient to the Church of God and to the shepherds appointed by God: let us trust ourselves and our own understanding less, and more often ask advice from a spiritual father, and the Lord, for our humility, will tell us through him His holy will, and as good obedient ones, will not deprive us of a good part in His Kingdom with such zealots of obedience as was Venerable Akakios.

Source: A Complete Annual Cycle of Short Teachings, Composed for Each Day of the Year. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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* Because in the Slavic calendar St. Akakios is commemorated on November 29th, I switched the date from the original text to conform to the Greek calendar where St. Akakios is commemorated on November 26th. On the 29th, this is also numbered as "Teaching 1", but here I have numbered it as "Teaching 5".