Fatherhood and Authority
Fatherhood and Authority¹
Fatherhood is not an official title as much as it is a state of love, care, and compassion, experienced practically by everyone who comes into contact with the shepherd, whether closely or from afar. The shepherd is the wide and great heart to which all resort, and they find with him a solution to their problems, or at least consolation in their tribulations…
The true shepherd enters the school of love before the school of service. People take him as a father by merit, not by position. Even if his talents are few, his love compensates for them. But woe to the one who seeks to acquire authority and dominion instead of the love of the flock for him and the gathering of their hearts around him.
The disciples of Christ were also fought by the love of authority, so the Lord said to them: “This shall not be so among you.” Yet, “whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant,” and “whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave” (Matthew 20:26–27).
It is the same counsel mentioned by the Scripture in the Old Testament:
“If you will be a servant to this people today, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever” (1 Kings 12:7).
The true authority of the shepherd is his authority over hearts, through love. It is not fitting for it to take on a worldly appearance that deviates into the love of domination and control!! His work is to win souls for the Lord, not to win their obedience and submission to his own person!
How easy it is for the shepherd to humiliate people under his authority and lose them—and the Church may lose them because of him as well—and God will require their blood from him on the last day…
And how easy it is for the shepherd to try to justify his position by saying: “I am not seeking my own honor, but the honor of the priesthood”!! This is a mistaken understanding of the honor of the priesthood. For the Lord Christ did not lose His honor when He bowed down and washed the feet of His disciples; rather, His honor increased in our eyes by His service to us, and increased greatly by the Scripture’s saying about Him that He “emptied Himself and took the form of a servant.”
Will your Master empty Himself and take the form of a servant while He is the Lord of all, and you try to become a lord over your fellow servants…! Do you want to test yourself in this matter? Here is the test:
If you go to sleep pleased when you subject others to your priestly authority and humiliate them beneath your feet, then you are merely a master and not a father. But if you are truly a father, you will not close an eye if you have overpowered your son and humiliated him, and he goes to sleep because of you weary…!
The shepherd who wants to build the Kingdom of God sets before him the salvation of the souls of his flock, no matter what he suffers for that sake and no matter what he endures. But the one who wants to build himself—when in truth he is destroying it—sets before him continually the obedience and submission of people.
And he thinks that all success lies in their obedience and submission!! Whether the commands are convincing or not, beneficial or harmful!!
Obedience and submission are easy matters, but more important than them are love and respect. The shepherd who cares only for obedience needs only to issue an order, without explaining the wisdom of his command and without clarifying it… And if someone wants to be convinced so that his conscience may be at ease, the request for conviction is considered a departure from propriety and obedience!
The loving shepherd convinces his children of the wisdom of his commands, just as the Lord used to explain and interpret. The path of conviction is long, but it is firmer and more beneficial. As for the path of authority, it is short and abbreviated, but it is dangerous and unstable. It may make matters proceed for a time, but it does not satisfy the heart of the one who submits, nor does it save the soul of the one who commands!
A shepherd may gain the submission of people without gaining their reverence and appreciation. He may receive respect for his position, without his person. But those who were immortalized in the history of the Church, and those who will be immortalized in the Kingdom, are those whom people revered and whom God loved for their persons, no matter how small their positions were…
Shenouda
Bishop of Theological Institutes and Christian Education
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Second Year – Issue Five, July 1966.
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