One Mind in Teaching
One Mind in Teaching
The Church is supposed to have one mind.
This mind represents the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, the sound Orthodox doctrine, and the teaching of the Fathers, the first teachers of the Church who are acknowledged and approved. It also includes the traditions of the Church and its rites. Thus, as we say in the Nicene Creed, “We believe in One Church,” part of this concept is that the Church is also one in its teaching. According to this understanding, the Church (the Catholic Church) gathered all people into one doctrine and one faith. Whoever departed from this teaching was judged by the Church to be a schismatic or a heretic and was therefore separated from her membership.
This unity in teaching must be observed by all the clergy, all preachers, and all Sunday School servants.
It is not permissible for anyone who teaches in the Church to spread his own personal understanding and his own private teaching, or to establish for himself a separate school with disciples who follow his teaching and become distinct from the teaching of the Church!
Private teaching indicates that the self has entered into the teaching, and that this self has become independent of the Church. Without doubt, behind this there is either hidden or evident pride, self-esteem, and the confidence of such a teacher that he understands what no one else understands, even the leaders of the Church themselves…
If this happens in Sunday School, it will be transformed into “schools”!
Schools of teaching… each school having its own thought, curriculum, spirit, and method, without being united by the one mind and the one teaching. They may agree in general teaching, yet differ completely in many details.
There are several reasons for differences in teaching.
One of them is the self, as we have said. Another is being influenced by unfamiliar writings, adopting them, spreading them, and teaching them. Another is the love of novelty, the love of unusual ideas, and the desire to present something that people are not accustomed to. Another is the domination of a Sunday School superintendent over his branch by preparing lessons according to his own preference and personal understanding.
Another reason for differences in teaching is the books found in the church library or the service library that contain unsound ideas. Servants read these books and spread their contents. This is further encouraged when the selection of servants is based only on their spiritual level and not on the soundness of their doctrine. Or when servant preparation classes focus only on educational and spiritual lessons without including a complete and sound doctrinal curriculum, resulting in servants who possess this deficiency. Or when their instructors themselves were not doctrinally reliable and there was no supervision over what they taught.
For this reason, the Higher Committee for Sunday Schools was established.
From it, the General Committee for each diocese was formed. However, because the service has grown tremendously, because of the large number of churches and branches, and because there are not enough consecrated servants and supervisors, the general committees have not carried out their work. Indeed, in many dioceses and major cities, no general Sunday School committees have existed at all.
We have begun preparing a general curriculum.
We have said that merely listing the names of the subjects is not enough.
A servant may adhere to the assigned subject, yet in the details teach his own personal understanding. Therefore, to accomplish the purpose, there must also be curriculum books explaining every detail and providing sound references from which the servant may obtain further information. These curriculum books help the servant prepare lessons. They provide the biblical verses that support the information presented in the lesson, verses suitable for memorization, and evidence that the teaching is biblical. There is no objection to including some sayings of the Fathers as well.
The curriculum will, God willing, be completed, as will the curriculum books, and all the branches will implement them.
Then the teaching will be one throughout the entire See. Everyone will share one mind in doctrine, spirituality, the understanding of the Scriptures, and the understanding of the rites. Through the one mind of the servants, disciples will be raised with that same one mind, and we will ensure the soundness of the new generation through what they have received from teachers who are united in doctrine and spirituality.
Here we remember the words of the holy Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy:
“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
Therefore, we advise you, beloved servant:
Beware of your own private thoughts whenever they do not agree with the general teaching of the Church. Do not allow yourself to teach your own ideas or your own understanding, and do not create for yourself disciples who become carbon copies of you.
If you read something unfamiliar in a book, do not adopt it, do not believe it, and do not try to spread it. Rather, be humble and ask…
For you are responsible before God and before the Church for every teaching that you impart.
Sometimes the doctrines of other denominations spread by influencing some servants within the Church, who in turn pass this influence on to their students in Sunday School classes or youth meetings. The circle of influence widens until it almost creates a non-Orthodox atmosphere within the Orthodox Church itself.
Sometimes this atmosphere begins through hymns before it enters the realm of teaching.
In the past, we could distinguish meetings by the style of hymns sung in them.
Many hymns also contain within them teaching and doctrine. Some people may not notice this, yet they leave an impression upon the soul.
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