Spiritual Discipleship
Landmarks of the Spiritual Path
Spiritual Discipleship (1)
The importance of discipleship in the early Church…
The role of the family, the sponsor, and the Church in discipleship…
Each person’s effort to seek discipleship from all its sources…
Discipleship to truth rather than to a person…
Discipleship through teaching and through life…
The spiritual person learns from everything…
In the previous issue, we spoke about the beginning of the spiritual path being the fear of God. Fear is something within the heart, yet the beginning of the path also needs something from outside — guidance, which grants knowledge, wisdom, and discernment. All this leads us to speak about spiritual discipleship.
Faith is a life of discipleship in which the believer trains to live a new life that is steadfast in God.
When the Lord Jesus sent the eleven to preach, He did not send them only to evangelize but more so to make disciples of others in the life of faith. Thus He said to them: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19–20).
Thus, in the early Church, believers were called disciples. Those whom the Lord called, He named His disciples. Those who followed John the Baptist were called the disciples of John. The spread of preaching in the early apostolic age was expressed by the multiplication of disciples (Acts 6:1): “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem” (Acts 6:7).
Thus, all believers entered into a life of discipleship, receiving faith and spiritual knowledge from “faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2).
A child is first discipled by his parents, and an adult by his teachers. Saint Paul said to his disciple Timothy the bishop: “I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice” (2 Timothy 1:5).
Here we see the importance of the family, especially the parents, in the upbringing and discipleship of the child. Therefore, the parents must have deep spiritual knowledge and life in order to disciple their child.
When the spiritual weakness of parents became evident in some cases, the role of the sponsor (godparent) appeared — the one who receives the child on the day of baptism and vows before the Church to raise the child in the fear and love of God, spiritually nurtured. Often, the sponsor is one of the parents.
But we must frankly ask: what is the actual role of the sponsor in the child’s discipleship in our Church? Does he know his responsibilities and the importance of his spiritual duty before God and the holy Church? Is he now merely a formality or ritual, or does he truly bear a practical responsibility in raising our children?
On this occasion, I wish to send an educational note to our churches about the role of the sponsor and his responsibility from the day of baptism onward.
The duty of the parents is clear in the Scriptures, for the divine revelation says in Deuteronomy: “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house” (Deuteronomy 6:6–7).
When does the mother sit at home and tell her children stories from the Bible, teaching them the way of the Lord as the holy women did? And when does the father do likewise? Has the parents’ duty in their child’s spiritual discipleship vanished completely, replaced by total reliance on church education?
Whatever the case, the sponsor does not absolve the father or mother or himself from responsibility before God for their role in the child’s discipleship from the day of baptism.
And just as the family has responsibility, so too does the Church — an even greater one. This is what the Lord Jesus said: “Make disciples of them and teach them all that I have commanded you.”
This takes place through spiritual meetings, teachings, sermons, writings, and also through spiritual fatherhood and guidance in the sacrament of confession and all acts of pastoral care — not only for those who attend Church meetings but even more for those who do not. For the Scripture says: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Matthew 9:12).
Shall we then cast all responsibility on the Church? No, for there is also:
The responsibility of each individual for his own discipleship.
Anyone who begins to know God must seek a way of discipleship — seeking spiritual knowledge from every source and striving for it with all his strength, not content with a single source lest he become a mere copy of a certain person.
He is like the bee that roams over flowers wherever they are found, drawing nectar from each.
So did Saint Anthony at the beginning of his monastic life: he visited the hermits, learning meekness from one, prayer from another, silence from a third, and inner peace from a fourth.
The spiritual person always seeks to learn and does not stop at any stage as though his discipleship has ended or he has become above questioning. Discipleship is a lifelong path, not only for beginners.
It requires humility of heart — true humility — for some may claim to love learning and lifelong discipleship, but if corrected, they become angry, feeling insulted and eager to defend their pride.
The truly humble person loves discipleship, counsel, and correction. Those who have grown great in their own eyes or in others’ eyes reject discipleship, teaching, advice, and correction. They become stubborn and self-willed, refusing reproof, and thus their spiritual growth halts — or even declines.
The humble do not refuse discipleship, even if they are in leadership. Blessed is the one willing to learn even from those younger in age or position, if they possess mature understanding worth learning from.
Therefore, be broad-minded and eager to benefit, for discipleship is a lifelong journey — from cradle to grave, as they say.
Discipleship takes many forms:
- Discipleship through words Through guidance, advice, and teaching — like those travelers who journeyed far and crossed seas and lands to find a wise person or monk close to God to ask for a “word of benefit,” then trained themselves to live by it. They always remembered: “Listening is better than speaking.”
Among those who sought a word of benefit was Saint Theophilus the Patriarch, who once went to Saint Arsenius for a word, another time to Saint Pambo, and again to an elder on Mount Nitria. He never hesitated to learn from any monk, though he was the patriarch of the whole Church.
We also remember Saint Anthony the Great, who took a lesson from a woman unashamedly bathing before him. When he reproved her modestly, she said: “If you are a monk, go into the desert — this place is not for monks.” Saint Anthony profited from her words and saw in them the voice of God.
Likewise, Saint Ephraim the Syrian benefited from a word spoken by a woman who looked at him, and Saint Macarius the Great learned from a boy named Zacharias. When the boy hesitated, saying, “You are the lamp of the desert — how can you ask me for a word?” the saint humbly replied, “I know from the Holy Spirit in you that you have something I lack.”
Therefore, benefit from the words of the wise. If you do not hear them, seek them in books. Whoever searches for words of wisdom with sincere intent will surely find them. But it is not enough merely to hear; the essential thing is to be discipled by what you hear.
Choose your readings wisely, select sound principles to plant in your memory and heart, and be discipled by the Scriptures themselves — by chosen verses that light your path.
- Discipleship through life That is, discipleship through examples of virtue wherever they are found.
Saint Arsenius was silent most of the time, and his silence itself was a lesson many learned from. You too can learn merely by looking at the gentle, peaceful face of a meek person — as one monk said to Saint Anthony: “It is enough for me just to look at your face, Father.”
Saint Athanasius the Apostolic said: “Who among men was sorrowful in soul and saw the face of Saint Anthony without his heart being filled with peace?”
Your ears are not your only means of learning — your eyes are also. Watch how the wise act and imitate them even without asking. Thus, imitation of the righteous is a form of discipleship.
The disciples of Saint Sisoes were not commanded much nor often instructed; rather, they learned from his life by observing how he acted.
Do likewise: learn virtue by imitating the virtuous.
But we do not mean blind imitation — as when some idolize a person and copy even his faults, sharing his anger or enmities without cause. Rather, we mean discipleship in virtues, wherever they are found.
Gather goodness from its sources: From one person, learn a sweet smile and gentle response; from another, meekness and peace; from a third, honesty in work; from a fourth, wisdom and discernment — and so on.
As the bee gathers nectar from many flowers, so roam seeking good examples in people’s lives and be discipled by them. You will surely find beautiful examples everywhere. And if living examples are scarce, take examples from history and the lives of the saints.
As Saint Paul said: “Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7). The lives of the fathers, prophets, martyrs, pastors, and monks are rich models of spiritual living. Take from each life what suits your own condition, age, and level — not leaping unprepared into heights beyond your measure (Romans 12:3).
Read deeply, meditate, and learn — imitate the good examples, and learn from the fallen ones by avoiding their causes of failure. Even from others’ mistakes you can learn, as the saying goes: “I learned silence from the parrot.”
As discipleship benefits you, remember also that you are accountable if you refuse to learn or if you imitate bad examples.
- Discipleship through nature Contemplate nature and learn from it.
Learn from the marvelous order of the universe — the obedience of the stars, planets, and heavenly bodies to their Creator’s laws without deviation. Learn from the precise coordination within the human body — unless disrupted by human interference.
As you learn from nature’s order, learn also from its selfless service. The sun, moon, and stars shine not for themselves but for others. The earth brings forth its fruits not for itself but for others. Everything in nature works for the good of others: the flower gives fragrance, the tree gives shade, the breeze refreshes, the rain falls, and the rivers flow — all for others’ benefit. Are you like nature, working for the sake of others?
Learn from nature also about teamwork: all organs in the body work together in harmony for the good of the whole. The same harmony exists among natural forces — heat, pressure, wind, and rain — each completing the work the other begins.
Learn from the root of the tree about self-denial: it carries and nourishes the tree while remaining hidden underground, unseen, unpraised, content that the tree above receives all admiration.
Learn diligence from the ant and order and prudence from the bee. Learn from the birds and lilies, as the Lord Jesus said: “Consider the lilies of the field… consider the birds of the air” (Matthew 6:28, 26). He also said: “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16).
The little bird passes by piles of grain, takes a few seeds, and flies away — storing nothing, trusting that God will feed her wherever she rests. She sings joyfully though she has no home and faces traps and hunters.
Who among us has the faith, contentment, or joy of the bird? Should we not be discipled by her example?
We need contemplation to learn from nature and all around us. You may enter the church and find the sermon unhelpful — but can you not learn from the candle melting to give light to others, or from the grain of incense that burns to release a sweet aroma, rising upward because it refuses to remain below?
- Discipleship through events This is a vast subject, but briefly: every event that happens to you can teach you something, adding to your knowledge and experience.
The sources of discipleship are many for those who truly desire to learn. Yet knowledge passes by many without them perceiving, understanding, or benefiting from it. The fault is within us if we fail to grasp the lessons surrounding us — whether from living beings, inanimate nature, or the unfolding of events.
¹ Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Watani newspaper, November 4, 1984.
