In Service
In Service
When the Apostle spoke about the diverse and multiple gifts, he placed service at their forefront, to show its importance, and because it is a foundation for the other gifts, such as teaching, preaching, and giving… (Romans 12:7).
Thus the Lord said to His disciples: “Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:26). And He said of Himself: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). If He—who is the Lord of all—came to serve His servants, what shall we say about ourselves? Rather, here we contemplate what honor service has, if the Lord Himself took the form of a servant and came in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7) in order to serve humanity…
And just as Christ came to serve, He also granted His apostles to be servants—whether in spiritual service or service of every kind.
From the spiritual aspect, they said of themselves on the occasion of appointing the seven deacons: “But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). And Saint Paul speaks of this spiritual service, saying: “…and has given us the ministry of reconciliation… Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:18, 20). And he says to his disciple Timothy: “Do the work of an evangelist. Fulfill your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). And in this service, he said about our preacher Saint Mark that he is “useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).
As for the other kind of service, Saint Paul also says: “Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me” (Acts 20:34). And he praises the Hebrews, saying to them: “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love… in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10).
The most important thing is that the servant should have the spirit of service and the love of service, so that he finds delight in serving others and rejoices in serving them. If a service is presented to him, he feels acceptance for it in his heart and an attraction toward it.
We do not want those who serve as though service were a burden upon them, or imposed upon them, but those who serve with joy, and who feel that in service they receive more than they give. They receive joy in their hearts and blessing in their lives more than the effort they give in service.
Thus they are at all times and in every field inclined toward service, seeking it, pursuing everyone who is in need, in order to offer him help and meet his need.
With love of heart for all who are in need and readiness to help them, there may still be specialization in service. There are those who find delight particularly in serving orphans and giving them something of what they have lost of paternal or maternal tenderness. Others find delight in serving the sick, or the elderly and aged, or in serving kindergarten children, or the sheltered, or poor families, or students living away from home, or girls exposed to loss or deviation.
The love of service accompanies him in his home, in his work, and in every place. If he sits at the table to eat, he makes sure that those sitting with him lack nothing, so he brings water for one and hands salt or bread to another. When the meal is finished, he helps in arranging the table and carrying the dishes, and does not leave this as a burden on the mother or the sister. Likewise, when he rises from his bed, he arranges it; and when he removes his clothes, he does not leave them scattered here and there waiting for someone to gather them and put them in their proper place.
For there is someone who has a double fault: on the one hand, he does not serve others; and on the other hand, he leaves himself as a burden on others to serve him.
The true servant is a person sensitive to the needs of others. He does not wait until people present their problems to him and beg him to help them, but rather, of his own initiative, he studies and contemplates what they need, deduces what they lack, and arranges their needs for them without their asking. He sees what is lacking and completes it.
This is also the work of the active shepherd and the work of the man of priesthood: one who studies what people need and establishes and manages projects and activities that fulfill the needs of those served, spiritually and materially, without them asking him to do so, in a spirit of fatherhood, with all compassion, and in wisdom and depth.
Thus every successful servant acts in the field of service in the Church. He has the spirit of comprehensive service everywhere: in his home, in his workplace, among friends and acquaintances, and with the needy of every kind. He feels within himself the needs of others and takes care of them automatically.
A basic condition in service is that it be done in deep humility. Our fathers did not have a spirit of domination in service, but humility of heart. In the priesthood, everyone who was ordained over a church considered himself a servant of that church: serving the holy mysteries, serving God, and serving the people.
Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, when he prayed for his people, said: “I ask You, O Lord, on behalf of my masters, Your servants.” He considered that the members of that people, over whom God had established him as a bishop, were his masters, and he was their servant. And the word “servant” was not merely a title, but the reality of his work. The fathers labored in this service until their last breath: “in journeys often… in hunger and thirst… in cold and nakedness… in weariness and toil… in sleeplessness… in fastings” (2 Corinthians 11:26–27). “They watch out for your souls, as those who must give account” (Hebrews 13:17). They were like candles that melt in order to give light to others.
How beautiful is the saying of the spiritual elder about service mingled with humility: “Wherever you go, be there the least of your brothers and their servant.”
The tendency toward greatness is not a sign of strength, but a war from the enemy of good. As for the strong one, he is the one who trains himself to be a servant.
Saint Anba Serapamon Abu Tarha, while he was a bishop, used to carry food to the homes of the poor at night in secret, knock on their doors, leave what he carried in front of the door, and depart, happy in his service. Saint Anba Moses the Black used to carry water to the cells of the monks. Saint Paphnutius used to train himself in the monastery to do the lowly services that many did not accept, such as cleaning toilets, sweeping the monastery, carrying out refuse, and all kinds of cleaning work.
The fathers used to perform these services with joy, without grumbling. Rather, they volunteered for this service without anyone asking them, and they did it with all humility of heart, happy to serve their brothers.
A saint sees a leprous man, carries him, serves him, and spends on him for three months in order to obtain the blessing of his service. Many fathers, with much patience, devoted themselves for long periods to serving the sick or serving the elderly, as Saint John the Short did with his spiritual father, the elder Anba Pambo, in amazing endurance, until he departed in peace and he obtained his blessing. And Anba Pambo said about him: “This is an angel, not a man.”
And when the fathers saw a brother in the monastery exhausted in work, they extended their hands in love to carry the burden from him, as the Lord said: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
There is another kind of service: correcting the faults of others. Many of us criticize others, and few are those who work to reform them with meekness and gentleness. Criticism is easy and anyone can do it, but correcting those who err is the spiritual work filled with practical love, beneficial for the Kingdom, because “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matthew 9:12; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:31).
It is easy for a servant in church education to expel a deviant student from his class, whereas what is required is to reform him. Undoubtedly, it is a deep and necessary service that some devote themselves to serving deviant children and students, and how profound it is that some serve the mentally and physically disabled. How great is the reward of such service before God because of its difficulty.
How beautiful it is to serve places where the name of Christ does not exist at all, as Saint Paul the Apostle said (Romans 15:20), or to serve those who mock religion and piety, or those who have never entered the church before and do not want to.
Most servants look for the easy, ready service, and to enter into what they have not labored in, and to build on a foundation laid by others. But the great strugglers are those who labor in establishing services that do not exist. There is no objection for other servants to enter into their labor, for thus the Lord Jesus Christ did, when He said to His disciples: “I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors” (John 4:38).
The Lord said: “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:37–38). In every place we touch this need. Yet the strange thing is that despite the need for service, we find servants quarreling and competing in one place of service, leaving many fields unserved.
In their quarreling and competition, they do not present an example of the spirituality of servants, but become a stumbling block, for they lose the spirit of love and self-denial. At the same time, there are many fields that can accommodate every energy ready for service. Nevertheless, they ignore those needy fields because of their love for a particular place or position, without love for the human soul wherever it may be.
If we loved needy souls everywhere, we would never compete over service. The fields are wide, and service is sacrifice, not competition. Whoever competes in service is concerned with himself, not with service. If service occupies his heart, he works for its success by any means and through any person other than himself—the important thing is the success of the service.
He who loves service does not complain if its burdens become heavy upon him. On the contrary, he rejoices in the growth of service and finds delight in carrying the burdens of people, as Christ carried the burdens of the whole world. Therefore, such a servant does not refuse any service offered to him, no matter how tiring, nor does he prefer one service over another, accepting this and rejecting that. For here personal mood appears, not concern for the needs of others.
Service is spacious enough for everyone. Everyone who wants finds a field.
We can find in service a field for virtuous people who have retired, benefiting from their free time, the dignity of age, life experience, and their many talents and abilities. Service also gives them vitality and activity and makes them feel that their mission in life has not ended, and that the Church and society do not dispense with them. Thus service benefits from them, and they also benefit from it.
Likewise, there are wide fields for the service of women in the Church, whether in Sunday School, the service of young women, social service, or supervising the cleanliness of the church and organizing women within it. A woman can consecrate herself to service and do the work of deaconesses. In this field, she can supervise certain services, such as nurseries, sewing workshops, arranging women during Communion and during baptism. She also serves in visiting families, visiting the sick, and supervising homes for female students living away from home.
Truly, as the Lord said: “In My Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2)—not only in eternity, but on earth as well. There is a house and there is a place for everyone in the house of God.
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