What does it mean to have a spiritual mentor. Spiritual mentors from the subtle world. Obedience is the principle of godlikeness
Disturbing events in the world lead to the fact that more and more people begin to seek reassurance in the Church, protection from God, but many do not know how to do this, sometimes embarrassed by their Christian illiteracy and lack of faith. It is almost impossible to independently join the spiritual life or join the church, learn to read the Bible and understand it, and know the rules of conduct in the temple.
Many Christians baptized in infancy seek to approach the Sacraments of the Church and, as a rule, do this by consulting with people from their environment, not even realizing that a spiritual mentor in the Orthodox Church can help them.
Spiritual mentor - wise assistant
Christians who frequent temple services meet the same priests, and sometimes they are the same person. During sermons and Liturgies, Orthodox believers have questions that even close friends cannot answer.
Sometimes life situations develop in such a way that you can’t tell anyone about them at all, and the problem tears the heart, and then the person goes to the temple to the priest.
How to find a spiritual mentor
A huge gift was acquired by those Christians who for a long time have the opportunity to receive encouragement and guidance from a spiritual mentor at any time.
A spiritual mentor is a person who is well versed in Orthodoxy, constantly abides in reading spiritual literature, fasting, praying and fulfilling all the canons. The priest of the local church does not always become a spiritual guardian; it can be a Sunday school teacher or a church-goer, that is, a person living the life of the temple.
For Christians who rarely go to church, a close person who honors God with his whole life and serves as an example, a light for others can become a spiritual helper. “By their deeds you will know,” wrote the apostle Matthew (Matthew 7:16)
A spiritual mentor is a God-sent person who will help a soul seeking God:
- come to true repentance;
- to know the meaning of the Savior's Sacrifice;
- learn to fear God on the basis of trust in Him;
- "dress" in the faith of Christ, as in armor.
About the priesthood:
What is the role of a spiritual mentor
For Christian development, liberation from sins, vision of the goals of life, people constantly need outside help. Psychologists, psychoanalysts, healers and coaches have appeared in worldly life, who are ready to help solve any problem for a lot of money, but there is no money, no help.
In the Christian life, the spiritual mentor performs all the functions of the above assistants in solving all problems.
The Role of a Spiritual Guide
As a healer, a spiritual mentor is ready to listen to any problem, not to condemn, but to help find a way out, support a Christian, fill him with faith that Jesus went to the cross for him, his sins.
A Bible-savvy teacher will show you the passages in Holy Scripture that should be read in certain cases in order to find a way out of any impasse, whether it be:
- disease;
- business;
- debts;
- family relationships;
- children's disobedience.
Finding a real Orthodox teacher is like winning a big prize in the lottery. Having good friend who is always ready to help not only through the word of God, but also in deed, must be greatly appreciated and respected.
Spiritual issues of the Orthodox faith:
- Can a pet be buried in a human cemetery?
A spiritual mentor can have many wards, each of them needs attention, and a family also lives near the teacher, she also needs time to devote, therefore, treat the messenger of God with special warmth and care, respecting his time.
Important! Not a single psychologist or coach takes responsibility for the consultation, while an Orthodox counselor is responsible for every Christian before God, for he is entrusted with “sheep feeding”.
To achieve the goal and solve the problem by worldly specialists, a variety of methods are good, including hypnosis and manipulation. God's servant will walk along the path of Light, leading the people entrusted to him, guided by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the canons of Orthodoxy, and the experience of the Fathers of the Church.
bible reading
The ultimate goal of spiritual growth is to strengthen an unbelieving Christian on the path to eternal life, to help him truly become churched, to grow in faith so that he can soon become, albeit small, but a mentor.
What are the criteria for choosing a counselor?
When choosing a Christian counselor, it is better for a person to be guided by his own feelings, and not by the advice of friends.
To be honest, not all priests are an example of Christian life, it is not for us to judge them, for this there is the judgment of God, but it is also difficult to trust an unbeliever in a small servant of God.
- A spiritual mentor should set an example of Christian life, not only in ministry, but also in everyday affairs, family relationships. It is difficult to trust a person whose children have gone the wrong way, there is no harmony in relations between spouses.
- Behavior during fasting characterizes the clergyman. How to trust someone who, while preaching strict abstinence, is himself suffering from obesity, because fasting in Orthodoxy lasts more than 200 days.
- One of the indicators of choosing a spiritual guide is trust. Some priests suffer, to put it mildly, from language incontinence, when what is said in confession becomes the property of the entire settlement, especially in villages and small towns.
Confession in sins
A person who comes for advice, revealing his soul, then burns with shame and resentment. From the help of such "advisers" there is only one harm. False, dishonest people cannot claim the role of a spiritual mentor, just like thieves and adulterers, even those who hide their vices very much. God will surely bring to light serious sins, especially for priests. For it is said that to whom God has entrusted much, from them He will ask much (Luke 12:48).
- A trustee from God is manifested in relation to the poor, the sick and the elderly. A true servant “will not take off his last shirt from his neighbor”, if necessary, will serve without pay, with a blessing.
- It is terrible to fall into the hands of a fanatical believer who, with his “righteousness”, will humiliate, fill the person who trusts him with a sense of self-humiliation and failure, as a Christian. A sensible teacher will spell out the Scriptures, teach how to understand Him, to accept them in the mind and heart, to live according to Him, walking the bright path to Christ.
- Unrighteous rage, anger during a consultation is unacceptable for a priest to whom a person of little faith or lost in passions has come.
A spiritual mentor will always find something to thank God for in any situation and will teach the ward how to trust the Creator and Savior according to the word of God.
Advice! Do not stop, it is better to make a mistake two or three times than to stand still. Each time, before going to a consultation or a conversation, you need to pray earnestly and ask the Creator to direct you to that mentor who will lead you on the right path.
If after a meeting alone with the chosen mentor there is a feeling of relief, joy, peace and tranquility sets in, when you want to plunge deeper and deeper into the word of God, there is an understanding of the Sacrifice of Christ and faith in strengthened prayer, then be sure that the spiritual God sent to you is in front of you. mentor.
If this is not a priest of your church, then ask for blessings in the temple to receive spiritual grace from another person.
The counselor becomes a teacher, adviser, friend who will show the way out in a difficult life situation. At the same time, he will understand and not condemn, he will act in love, which the Holy Trinity fills the heart of the mentor.
How to choose a spiritual father? Archpriest Vladimir Golovin
All over the world there are organizations, religions and cults teaching spirituality and all sorts of other metaphysical systems.
Updated 10. 11. 2019
Some are looking for the Mother or Father in the spiritual mentor, some position the spiritual mentor as a therapist. Other people are missing something in their lives, so they try to solve the problem through spiritual enlightenment. Unfortunately, there are many scammers and "spiritual" organizations in the world now that take advantage of people's gullibility.
Who is a Spirit Guide
How can a person who is looking for a spiritual mentor recognize a real teacher (or organization)? After all, many people claim that they are spiritual teachers, but not all are such in reality.
A spiritual mentor is a person who assists in development, spiritual enlightenment, solving problems and achieving life goals. It helps to find answers to many questions, primarily spiritual ones. A healer or a psychologist - as a rule, they help a person solve individual issues or problems and do not influence the fate of a person as completely as a Spiritual Mentor.
How to find a Spiritual Mentor? Who has the right to give spiritual advice
To find a good spiritual mentor, you need to know what qualifications are needed to be one? Most teachers are "self-assessed". There is no gender or tradition.
Good spiritual mentor- this is the one who distinguishes between Good and Evil, always follows the path of Light, does not pursue material values, is not selfish, is completely "enlightened" and understands the true nature of reality. This is a person who has achievements in spiritual development and helping people. He can teach others the different levels of consciousness because he has spent years on his own spiritual development and has great awareness.
Spiritual Counseling
There are many spiritual advisors around. Below are some clues regarding spiritual "advisers" that are not genuine:
They have an inflated sense of self-importance.
They or their followers ask you for money.
They like to be famous and actively seek out a lot of followers.
A guru who attracts people with his charisma rather than his teachings.
Predicts the future with vague statements like: "Something important will happen soon."
They pay a lot of attention to how they dress. Most are dressed in "mystic" style, implying that they have "Great Secrets of Revealing".
Unhealthy relationships with your followers.
They want to control their students in everything. A real teacher wants his student to feel in control of his life.
They claim to be a Powerful Magician or Prophet.
A real teacher wants to enlighten his student, to see him independent and able to manage his own life, and also to develop in a natural way.
A spiritual mentor will never promise super-fast development and, moreover, demand fabulous sums for training.
Methods for exposing charlatans
A real spiritual mentor does not set excessive demands on his student, he does not sell his knowledge, but shares it. So how do you identify a true spiritual mentor?
The following are the main signs according to which a charlatan can be exposed:
1. Money and material values.
When providing financial support to a new student, it is worth asking where the invested funds are spent. There is a big risk that the money invested for good can be spent for other purposes. This leads to the question: is this a real spiritual mentor?
Power can be both positive and negative. There is a big difference between when a person mindlessly submits to authority or consciously recognizes his spiritual master, who must be obeyed. Cult leaders do not like honest feedback, the person is not allowed to question their actions or decisions. The overbearing guru loves to dictate how to behave and control the lifestyle of his disciple. This is not spirituality, this is a spiritual dictatorship.
3. Alcohol and drugs.
Some spiritual teachers ask their students to drink alcohol or take drugs in order to achieve enlightenment! The maximum that can be achieved in this case is the acquisition of alcohol or drug addiction.
4. Sexy Guru.
Sexual relations between a person who is in power and a person who is dependent on a powerful person is a betrayal. Unfortunately for last years there have been many reports of sexual misconduct among spiritual teachers. Disciples are told that in order to achieve full enlightenment, they must have sex with their master. It is important to understand that this is just a brazen manipulation aimed at using people to satisfy their own sexual needs.
Reasons why many people trust charlatan prophets
Mistaken charisma and power for wisdom.There are many powerful people who are not necessarily wise. Wisdom is often associated with simplicity and humility. A good mentor is compassionate and does not position their spiritual enlightenment as a sign of achievement.
Guru worship. Some spiritual mentors, at every opportunity, focus on the fact that they supposedly have powerful spiritual energy. This forces the student to focus more on the person of the spiritual advisor than on his spiritual teachings. True spiritual mentors lead an ascetic lifestyle and do not strive for popularity and fame; they take a person for training in order to pass on the experience and knowledge gained, and not for material gain or other personal interests.
Effect . Just because a teacher has spirituality does not mean that he knows everything. The spiritual master also makes mistakes, and if he admits this, he is sincere with his disciple.
On the way to spiritual enlightenment, it is important not to engage in self-deception and remember that spiritual development is painstaking work on oneself, which requires a lot of time.
When looking for a spiritual mentor, one must be guided by facts indicating the presence or absence of sincerity, as well as a realistic look at assessing the abilities of one's teacher and remembering that teachers can also make mistakes. A spiritual mentor must be chosen not only with the mind, but also with the heart, and it will certainly help in the right choice.
You probably heard a lot that people have their own spiritual mentor, but you don’t know who he is and how to get your own spiritual mentor.
WHO IS A SPIRITUAL MENTOR - DEFINITION
Before we begin to understand what a spiritual guide is, let's ask ourselves a few questions! How religious are you? Do you often attend a church near your home or any other church? If you are not a believer and do not attend church, then it will be more difficult to spiritually understand who such a spiritual mentor is, but if you often attend church and are a fairly active Orthodox believer, then everything will be easier. We recommend that you read
Please note that in your church there is almost always the same priest who conducts various services and sacraments. Also pay attention to the person who helps you in the Orthodox faith, if you don’t have one, then stop at the priest in your church.
If you do not attend church and devote very little time to religion, but you have a very religious person who will always tell you about Orthodox holidays, give you some friendly recommendations on spiritual life, this person can be called your spiritual mentor.
WHAT SHOULD A SPIRITUAL GUEST BE
It cannot be said that your spiritual mentor never makes mistakes and is the ideal of the Orthodox faith, no, he is the same person as you, and also has the right to make mistakes, but he leads your soul along the true path, along the path of the Orthodox faith closer to God and eternal life. We recommend that you read
The main qualities that a spiritual mentor should have are:
It is good to be able to distinguish where is good and where is evil;
- Helps to follow the path of the Orthodox faith;
- Is an example for others in faith in God;
The above are the main qualities of a spiritual mentor, but if there are even more good qualities, the better.
WHO CANNOT BE A SPIRITUAL MENTOR
If a person cannot distinguish good from evil, he cannot in any way be considered a spiritual mentor. A person cannot be a spiritual mentor if he is deceitful and dishonest, a person who does not follow the moral principles of the Orthodox faith. A spiritual mentor has no right to lie, steal, behave like the last animal, and also commit vile deeds.
You can not call a person a spiritual mentor if he is a fanatic who is not able to reason and accept other people's thoughts about other faiths. If a person is not able to reason and convince correctly, and any statement that contradicts the concept of this person infuriates him, then such a person is in no way a spiritual mentor, he is most likely a spiritually ill person.
A spiritual mentor is a real example for his students of how to live in the Orthodox faith, if a person is not able to show his worthy behavior an example to others, then he cannot be called a spiritual mentor. We recommend that you read
Modern people are exhausted, they have gone crazy and have come to complete darkness from their sins and selfishness. Therefore, now more than ever, good and experienced confessors are needed who will treat their children with unfeigned love and sincerity and guide them wisely so that their souls find peace. If there are no good spiritual mentors, then the churches will be empty, but hospitals, psychiatric institutions and prisons will overflow. People need to understand that the reason for their suffering is their separation from God. They must humbly repent and confess their sins. And the task of the spiritual father is to heal the human soul. There is no better doctor than a wise confessor, whose pure life is conducive to trust. He heals bodies and souls without any medicines - by the grace of God alone, expelling the thoughts inspired by the devil. Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the spiritual shepherd understands the state of a person and can guide him on the right path.
You can confess to any priest, because each of them has Divine grace, and when they read the permissive prayer, God covers everything. But if someone is looking for a spiritual mentor, he should not go blindly, because only those who, through asceticism, have gained experience and purified their souls, can nourish others.
You need to find an experienced confessor who will treat you with love and turn to him for advice. You can not cure at a distance - the doctor must be nearby. At a distance, you can only ask to pray.
Of course, a person must find a spiritual mentor for himself. No need to entrust your soul to just anyone. Wishing to be healed bodily, a person turns to a skilled doctor. In an effort to gain mental health, you need to find an experienced confessor and constantly open to this spiritual doctor the diseases of your soul.
It is better to find a spiritual leader nearby, where you live, because he, like a doctor, always needs to know the state of the “patient”, so that he can give the necessary “medicine” at any time. He can find a suitable remedy, but if after a few days something significant happens and your inner disposition changes, then it will become useless. Once, when I had a cold in my head, I applied a band-aid, and the pain subsided. Another, seeing this, did the same when his head ached, but the pain became worse, because it did not come from the cold, but from the heat. It is clear why the confessor needs to know your condition?
Now the most important thing is to have a spiritual leader whom you can trust to constantly go to him for confession and ask for advice. If people go to church, take communion, take nourishment from an experienced confessor, and find time to pray and read religious literature, then they can fear nothing in this life.
In order for the soul to move along the right path, it must be led by a spiritual guide. For example, reading religious literature greatly contributes to spiritual progress. However, a person who does not have a confessor can understand what he has read in his own way and be spiritually damaged from this. A believer must necessarily have a spiritual mentor who will constantly receive his confession and give advice. Without this, a person living spiritually cannot be convinced that he is on the right path.
An Orthodox Christian who does not have a spiritual leader goes astray, becomes exhausted and can hardly move his legs. It is very difficult for him to achieve his goal. The one who tries to solve his problems on his own, no matter how smart he is, is in darkness, because he behaves with pride and conceit. And a person who rejects himself, humbles himself and faithfully fulfills the will of his spiritual father, receives help, because in this case the Lord will certainly reveal to the confessor how to act correctly.
In order for a spiritual mentor to solve a problem involving two people, he needs to communicate with both. Listening to the disagreements of the two, the spiritual father must have an idea of the state of both, since each of them can cover events in his own way. The confessor can only intervene in this if they agree to resolve the matter in the gospel way, because all other options will be a complete headache, so you will have to swallow pills all the time. In addition, each of the arguing confessor should indicate his place, not justifying anyone, opening both eyes to their shortcomings. So he will cut all corners and lead people to mutual understanding and unanimity.
In order to create a strong Orthodox family, spouses need to find an experienced spiritual father who will mediate between them and will not allow quarrels. If the husband and wife do not find mutual understanding, then with hope in God they will ask the confessor for advice. Otherwise, the marriage may fall apart: the parents will intervene, each will pull in their own direction, and the family will be destroyed. If the spouses have a spiritual mentor, he will be able to help them in difficult circumstances.
In family life, it is very important that none of the spouses justify themselves. If both husband and wife believe that they are always right, then no matter how much they read spiritual literature, there will be no use. And if they have a good disposition and live in obedience to the confessor, they will not have difficulties. Without a spiritual "Judge of the World" a full-fledged family life. The best thing is for spouses to have one spiritual father. If different carpenters amuse the boards, each in his own way, then it will not be possible to fit them tightly one to the other. And if a husband and wife have the same confessor, he “cuts off” the “corners” - that is, flaws - of both. When he smooths out the imperfections of both one and the other, problems in their relationship disappear. But now even those married couples who are attentive to their spiritual life rarely have one confessor, so there is no one to help them. I know a couple who were very suitable for each other, but separated because there was no spiritual leader who could solve the problems of both. And in other families, the husband and wife, having one spiritual father, live in peace and harmony, although they are very little suited to each other.
Of course, it is even better if the whole family has one confessor. If difficulties arise, he can look at the issue from different angles by talking to all family members. In one case, he will give a strict order to the parents, in the other, he will call the children to him if he does not understand the situation from the words of the father or mother. Or, for example, if there are problems in the family, the cause of which is in the wife, the confessor can advise the husband on what to do. In the end, he may turn to one of his relatives or friends for help.
Elder Paisios always said that confessors and clergy should be very careful in matters of spiritual guidance, and he related the following incident:
- When in my youth I lived in the desert in Sinai, I fasted very strictly - I did not eat anything all week, and on Saturday I allowed myself a little bit of rice with olive oil. There we met with one problem: we often did not serve the liturgy. Suddenly, on Sunday, they told me that there would be a service. I wanted to take communion. An unfamiliar priest called me and asked what I had eaten the day before. When he learned that it was rice and butter, he said that he could not allow me to take communion, because I had not fasted yesterday. He didn't even ask why I ate - maybe because of illness - and after that I didn't tell him that I hadn't eaten all week.
One who is in a hurry to become a confessor, although he himself has not yet reached spiritual health, is like an unripe tart quince, from which it is impossible to boil delicious jam, no matter how much sugar is poured there, and if you make jam out of it, it will quickly turn sour. Penetrating words and great truths are of value only when they are spoken by worthy lips. And only people who have a good disposition and a pure mind can accommodate this.
There have already been several letters with requests and questions about Spiritual Guidance. Many who are looking for a path, purpose, themselves in this life need a Spiritual Mentor, and it is good when people understand this and strive to find such a person. But it’s bad that sometimes, those who initially have bright motives, impulses and aspirations, to know the truth and become better, come across “unfortunate mentors” who lead people into dead ends, knead the vinaigrette in their heads, which ultimately forms a negative for spiritual development and often ends very sadly. Therefore, it is very important to be able to distinguish people, to understand who can be considered a good Spiritual Mentor, and who is not. What we will try to analyze in this article.
Spiritual Guide and other types of help
A spiritual mentor is one of the important roles and types of assistance to a person in his development, solving problems and achieving his life goals. But the role of a Spiritual Guide is very different from other similar professionals and roles.
The role of the Spiritual Mentor is of course less significant than the role of the Spiritual Teacher in a person's life, but more significant than the role of the Healer, Family Psychologist or Coach.
A Spiritual Teacher is the maximum influence on a person, his development and destiny. But a Spiritual Teacher is a very high spiritual, energetic and intellectual status, it is, first of all, a high level of the Soul, and there are very few such people - real Spiritual Teachers - on Earth.
And there are many more of those who can be good Spiritual Guides, but they also do not lie on the road, and they also need to be looked for. And if the Spiritual Teacher, by his status, right and power of influence, can lead thousands and millions of people along the path of development at the same time, then the Spiritual Mentor can lead tens and hundreds of people.
The difference between a Spiritual Mentor and a healer, coach and psychologist (C.K.P.):
Spiritual Mentor - leads a person, his Soul along the path of development(helps her climb up with dignity) and helps to find answers to many questions, primarily spiritual ones. A healer, psychologist or coach (C.K.P.) - as a rule, they help a person solve individual issues or problems and do not influence the fate of a person as completely as a Spiritual Mentor.
The responsibility of the Spiritual Mentor is an order of magnitude higher than that of the C.K.P. The latter, very often, do not take any responsibility at all: what a person understood during a consultation is his, how he will apply it in life and what results he will get is completely his responsibility and problem. Although for the sake of fairness it must be said that there are exceptions, when, for example, the role of a coach, healer or psychologist is partially combined with the role of a Spiritual Mentor, then everything is different.
The priorities are also different. When, for example, a coach or a psychologist works, the end result is very important, it can be a solved problem or an achieved goal. And the purity of methods and motives may not be considered at all. That is, questions of moral and moral purity often fade into the background, and are not fundamental. A good Spiritual Mentor will always try to follow the Light Path himself and will strive to help others to become on the Light, that is, the moral, that is, the Spiritual Path. That's why he is a Spiritual Mentor.
The goals of the Spiritual Guide are much higher and more complex than in most cases the goals of the C.K.P. Ideally, the goals of the Spiritual Mentor are: the spiritual development of a person, the change and formation of his worldview based on spiritual Knowledge, teaching the distinction between Good and Evil, helping a person choose the Light Path, helping a person become Worthy and bring his Soul as close as possible to God. As you hopefully understand, such goals are not achieved in one or even ten sessions or consultations.
For deeper understanding read:
Who, in my opinion, should not be called Spiritual Guides
1. The one who himself does not distinguish between Good and Evil, therefore, obviously does not follow the Path of Light himself, and accordingly cannot lead other people along it. We do not consider mentorship in the gray and dark hierarchies. If we're talking about Spiritual Mentoring, then we assume precisely the Light Path, the Path of Good. Because the basis of Spirituality is the ability to clearly distinguish between Good and Evil, although many do not think so.
To understand these questions, read:
Continuing the topic, I can say that I will never consider a Spiritual Mentor a person who does not follow moral principles, that is, who is dishonest, can lie, cheat, betray, steal, act and behave irresponsibly, unworthily and meanly.
2. The one who himself did not become a Worthy Person due to spiritual work on himself cannot be called a good Mentor. If a psychologist or a coach can be anyone in life, that is, their personal life does not concern you, then the Spiritual Mentor should always strive to be a worthy example for his students.
3. What also follows from point 2 is that there cannot be a Spiritual Mentor without significant practical results in life. If a person has read a lot of literature and knows and understands a lot, this does not make him a Spiritual Mentor. As Gennady Khazanov said - “Theory differs from practice in that it has nothing in common with it :)”.
4. A fanatic and an absolutely categorical person, who is not able to calmly, without hysteria and negativity, accept someone else's point of view that does not coincide with his views, cannot be a good Spiritual Mentor. Still, the Spiritual Mentor is already a certain and not small degree wisdom, which means the absence of fanaticism, pride and radical condemnation of dissent.
A good Spiritual Guide is (criteria):
- A deep distinction between Good and Evil, and in everything the choice of the Light Path (a choice confirmed by the dignity of one's own life).
- The Spiritual Mentor - first of all helps to go along, and therefore everything else: personal life, self-realization, money, health, etc.
- This is a person who can be good example for others (not a shameful example).
- A person who has significant practical achievements in life, in spiritual development and helping people. And this means that he not only absorbed spiritual Knowledge, but also mastered development techniques, applied them to his life and achieved success.
- A person who is head and shoulders above most other people goes a few steps ahead on the path of development, and this is always felt by how open his soul is, how interesting and rich his inner world is.
- Also important are the universal qualities: Calmness and the absence of negative reactions are an indicator of Wisdom, Joy in the heart and a smile on the face are an indicator of Light, the strength of the Spirit is an indicator of experience and worthily passed tests in the past.
The Spiritual Mentor is not the ideal of perfection in everything, and he does not have to be perfect or holy, he makes mistakes, like other people. But it can be a conductor of necessary pure Knowledge for you and a good assistant in solving many life problems!
If you decide for yourself that you need a Spiritual Mentor for the development and achievement of your goals - about it.
You can learn more about the topics and rules for working with a Spiritual Mentor on the page -.
