Что открывается в этой верности Сына Отцу, в таких взаимоотношениях? Открывается то, что тайна Бога, в неизреченной тайне Любви. Только безграничная Любовь умеет говорить так, как говорил Сын о Своем вечном Отце. Главный закон всякой настоящей любви, в самоотречении и возвеличивании возлюбленного. Такому сыновству неизвестна борьба за власть, за превосходство, потому что, одна власть Отца и Сына, и вся любовь Отца в Сыне, и весь Сын в Отце, от Отца и ради Отца. Любовь «не ищет своего,… не превозносится» (ср. 1 Кор. 13,5), ее сердцевина и суть, в неизреченном всеприношении себя Другому - Отцу и всему тому, что от Отца и для Отца. Мы, люди, привыкли мыслить себя, оценивать свое достоинство, категориями падшего человека, основанными на самоотчуждении, индивидуализме, расколе, самовлюбленности. В то время как Божественная Любовь, явленная в Сыне Единородном и Его сыновстве, находит свою полноту и совершенство в Другом, перерастает Им в бесконечность, будучи равнозначной, единой и единосущной с любовью Отца, от нее рожденная и через нее изливающаяся в мир.

5. В таких отцовстве и сыновстве, сокрыты радость и вечная тайна нашего, человеческого бытия. Отношения эти — часть тайны Божественного Бытия, и в них мы должны искать и находить естественный ритм нашей жизни, дарованной нам Отцом, через Сына, в Духе Святом. Отцовство и сыновство, как личные свойства Отца и Сына, как образ Божественного существования, открываются в воплощенном Сыне, как образе существования человека, созданного по образу и подобию Святой Троицы. И это совершенно естественно, потому что Святая Троица — Господь Бог наш, животворящий и жизнь подающий, а не какая–то абстрактная идея или философская конструкция: в Ней тайна и источник всего, что на земле, в Ней эта тайна человеческих отцовства и сыновства, тайна человеческих отношений вообще.

Очень ясно говорит об этом боговдохновенный апостол Павел: »Для сего преклоняю колена мои пред Отцем Господа нашего Иисуса Христа, От Которого именуется всякое отечество на небесах и на земле»(Эф. 3,15).

Земное отечество — отцовство - образ небесного, по нему и названное, и в этом таинственном союзе, нашедшее свое истинное раскрытие и воплощение. Как? — Единородный Сын, предвечно рождающийся от Отца, Которому» все предано Отцом» (Лк. 10,22), становится, по тому же неизреченному закону любви, «нашим общим Отцом» (Св. Григорий Палама), рождая нас «водою и Духом», и благодатным единением в тайне Своего сыновства — усыновляет нас Богу Отцу. Облекаясь в Него, мы становимся братьями Его и сыновьями Отца по благодати. Поэтому, Он не обращается к Отцу «Отче Мой», как бы подчеркивая единственность Своего сыновства, как вечного и личного Своего свойства, но обращается, уча и нас, «Отче наш», даруя нам усыновление, чтобы мы «были все едино», как едины Отец и Сын и Дух Святой (ср Ин. 17,11;21–22).

6. В единстве Отца и Сына, в призыве к человеку быть «все едино» в Них, силой Духа Святого, как и Они едины, открывается нам чудесная тайна Церкви как тела Христова и обиталища Святой Троицы.В Церкви это единство дано и задано. Дано, потому что вся она, уже пронизана Божественной любовью и Святотроичным единством; задано, потому что она таинственная «мастерская спасения», где в тайне усыновления (Гал. 4,5), люди рождаются и перерождаются духовно, становясь едины в Боге. И все это ни что иное, как исцеление и спасение от отцеубийственного инстинкта, отравившего сознание и подсознание человека, прародительским презрением отцовства, помрачившего их сыновство, как единственно возможный образ существования.

О том, как Церковь дарит это отцовство, воспитывает для такого отцовства, вновь утверждает, разрушенные человеческим эгоизмом святыни, чтобы человек мог духовно родиться, родиться в жизнь вечную, говорит все ее историческое существование и методология, ее богочеловечная позиция в мире. Церковное отцовство, каким бы оно ни было — отцовством Божиим, благодатным отцовством пророков, апостолов, святых, духовного отца, никогда не было тираническим господством над человеческими душами и совестью, но всегда отцовством в муках рождения, неизреченного смирения и человеколюбивого жертвования себя другому. (О тайне отцовства подробнее в «Apercus sur La Paternite` Spirituelle dans la tradition orthodoxe, Contact, XIX anne`e, No 58,1967, p.100–145). Рождение физическое лишь бледный символ рождения духовного, и если в физическом рождении образуется нерасторжимая связь между отцом, который рождает и сыном, который рождается, тем более, это происходит в рождении духовном. Для того, чтобы оно состоялось, необходима общность, единение, не только в славе Христовой, но, и преимущественно, в крестоношении, в распятии, в скорбном сошествии в ад. Только тот, кто станет причастником креста и славы Христовой, способен быть духовным отцом, причастником Божественного отцовства, и через это — единственным истинным родителем и переродителем человеческих душ. Адам и Ева, нарушив заповедь, попрали крест и его тайну, в стремлении к самообожествлению и власти над миром, толкнули мир и человека на путь безбожия и тиранического авторитета; Христос, новый Адам, целованием (почитанием) Креста, исполнил волю Отца Своего, стал Родителем и Переродителем, Воспитателем нового человечества, собранного и собираемого в единстве Отеческой «рожденной несотворенной» Жизни и Любви, т.е собираемого в Отце через Сына, Духом Святым. По Его примеру поступали и пророки и апостолы, и святые, понимавшие авторитет, власть, отцовство, руководство, воспитание человека, не как насилие и тиранию, но как крестную и воскрешающую любовь к нему; любовь, которая «не ищет своего, и не превозносится», но распинается и сораспинается с Христовым распятием. Поэтому, только воистину христоподобные духовные отцы, могут быть настоящими воспитателями и переродителями душ своих духовных детей.

Одним из таких духовных отцов, был Апостол Павел, во всем подражая Христу, переполненный материнской любовью, он говорит: »Дети мои, для которых я снова в муках рождения, доколе не изобразится в вас Христос!» (Гал. 4,19); и добавляет « Ибо, хотя у вас тысячи наставников во Христе, но не много отцов, я родил вас во Христе Иисусе благовествованием» (1 Кор. 4,15). Но Апостол Павел не стал неким новым «земным» отцом, земное отцовство Христос строго запретил «отцом не называйте никого на земле» (Мтф. 23,9). Апостол явил «образ» небесного отцовства, одного единственного, стал его благодатным носителем, в отличие от Сына Божия, Которому Бог Отец — Отец по природе. На эту разницу указывает Сам Христос, когда говорит -»Иду к Отцу Моему и Отцу вашему». Как «наследник Божий чрез Иисуса Христа»(Гал 4,7), этого небесного отцовства, как христоносец и сын по благодати, Апостол открывает собой Отца, чтобы и мы, приняв в сердце Духа Святого, воскликнули «Авва, отче» (Гал . 4,6). И поэтому звучит его смелый призыв ко всем христианам — «Будьте подражателями мне, как я Христу» (1 Кор. 11, 1).

7. In this grace-filled unity of divine Fatherhood and Sonship, lies the source of our human true knowledge of God, our education and life according to God, transmitted from the Father to the eternal Son, from the Son to His friends, apostles and saints, and through them to our fathers and to us. This mystery is expressed by Christ Himself in His Gospel words: "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and who the Son is, no one knows but the Father, and who the Father is, no one knows except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal" (Luke 10:22). To whom does the Son want to reveal His mystery and the mystery of His Father? Only to him who will become like Him, that is, who will live and act like Him, who will acquire the character of Christ and His way of being. Sacrificial love, as the search for one's fullness not in oneself, but in another, is the main condition for such a divine-human existence, received from Christ and given to the world through His Church. This is the essence of all true fatherhood and sonship and all true authority. A true authority can only be one who is ready at any moment to become a fragrant sacrifice "for the life of the world," the essence and content of which is self-sacrifice. An authority that sacrifices another to itself, or uses him, without his free consent, as a means to achieve even the holiest goal, will inevitably turn into a "sadistic father" who leaves fetid traces of inhumanity in souls.

8. It is an indisputable fact that the tragic nightmare of the modern world, which fills the hearts of the most sensitive people of our time with gloomy premonitions about the future, has its roots, on the one hand, in objectified social structures, and on the other, in the revolt against them, expressed in the most radical way in the revolutionary upheavals of the past and this century. Beginning with the French Revolution, violence became morally justified and became the main method of achieving freedom, fraternity, and unity, i.e., a radical transformation of the world and human society. Explaining the inevitability of historical laws by natural determinism, necessity, substantiating freedom by the consciousness of this historical necessity, many modern revolutionaries have accepted the path of violence and tyranny as the only way to freedom and happiness. With religious fanaticism, these "conscious" lucky people of history tried to liken the "historical regularity" to their idea of it and of man as its main subject. Their methods are (in spirit) identical to those of the medieval Inquisition, but much more elaborate and effective. For the sake of future salvation, and the happiness of the unborn person, millions of concrete, already existing personalities are sacrificed. The absolute freedom of those who have proclaimed themselves the infallible conscience of history becomes an iron law for all who have not yet "realized" historical necessity. Therefore, very often the most zealous fighters against violence and lack of freedom become undertakers of freedom; authority, with all the features of a "sadistic father" who, for the sake of unborn children, devours those who already exist. And this is inevitable, because necessity (inevitability) and violence can only give rise to violence, which is very clearly seen in the new wave of modern organized terrorism. And its root: the thirst for liberation from total coercion, which exists in all structures of modern "bourgeois" society. Is there not a desperate cry of a new deceived generation behind this wave? But a generation that, in this desperate rebellion against the omnipotence of the state, the school system, and other inherently oppressive social structures, falls into the same mistake that has been committed so many times: it resorts to violence, remaining in the demonic vicious circle of "parricide" and sadistic fatherhood. And more and more generations will remain in this hopeless impasse, until they stop seeking their freedom with the help of violence, stepping over corpses.

It must be admitted that much of the blame for this hopeless nightmare of the modern world falls on Christians. Often in Christian practice, the idea of heavenly fatherhood was abused, disfigured. It was much easier to use God as an instrument of violence against others, to turn Him into an earthly authority, shrouded in a cloak of frightening mystery of metaphysical proportions, than, as it happened once in history, to bear witness to Him with martyrdom and sacrificial love, like the Lamb of God slain for the salvation of the world! Only the Lamb of God, the God-Man Christ, and those sanctified by His blood can and do bring true freedom to man and the world. Only one violence brings freedom: violence against one's false nature; And only one sacrifice turns human society into a union of love – sacrificing oneself for others (to others). This sacrifice is not self-destruction or the annihilation of others, but the "finding" of oneself and others, in the sacrilegious mystery of eternally bestowed fatherhood and sonship, as the mystery of mutual gift and eternal joyful unity, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, every time Christians left this narrow, joyful way of the Lamb, making an alliance with the "powerful" of this world, adopting their methods, authorities, and structures, they found themselves in danger of turning to the "broad path that leads to perdition," i.e., the path of coercive education and tyranny over others, slavery to themselves and their passions. In this way, not only one's neighbors, but also God Himself becomes a means of satisfying one's own selfishness (Vojin Matic, "Izmene dinamike odnosa prema autoritetu i njene posledice u okviru klinicke psihologije" Psihologija, God X, No 2, 1977, pp. 6-9.) Instead of being what it really is, God's crippled authority is transformed into a means of coercion and domination. Authority, deprived of its true content, is incapable of either regenerating or educating: it is only capable of creating blind, spiritually crippled dwarfs.

9. This acquires a special significance for the pre-eminent bearers of heavenly fatherhood in the Church: the bishop, the presbyter, the spiritual father. The Lord forsook them and appointed them to bear witness to His eternal fatherhood and sonship, to be their bearers, educators, for the mystery of God's life; as a criterion of our human existence. The glory which God the Father gave to the Son, the Only-begotten Son gave to them (cf. Jn 17:28). This is the very mystery of the Holy Spirit. Traditions: it is the succession in the Church of the eternal glory of God from father to son, just as it is transmitted by the eternal Father to His Only-begotten Son. Therefore, the Church, by its nature, is the Church of the Holy Fathers, prophets, apostles, bishops, monks and martyrs. The Holy Fathers themselves, with their own lives, bore witness to the Gospel of Christ and thereby acquired the ability to be the spiritual parents of many generations. By such a grace-filled witness and manifestation of the mystery of heavenly fatherhood and sonship on earth, they make the Church a living union in divine humility and love. They, spiritually born, do not rule over souls by force, but "give birth in pain" to Christ. Their will is one with the will of the Heavenly Father, their life with the life of His Only-begotten Son, therefore they, who have attained deification, deserve boundless love and trust in their holy thought, transformed into God-thought. Symeon the New Theologian calls us all to this: "Let us learn to have sincere faith in God, to our fathers and teachers in God, so that we may have contrition of heart, a humble mind and a soul cleansed of all sin by tearful repentance," only in this way can we acquire the blessings of Divine light and glory. (Symeon le Nouveau Theologien, Cathecheses II, Sources Chretiennes 104, Catech. XVI, 155–160, p. 250). The Holy Fathers testify by their example and experience to one truth: life in the Church, or rather, the very essence of the Church is faith and humility.

The eternal call of the Church, of her entire Tradition, to follow the example of the holy God-bearing Fathers in no way means the establishment of some kind of authority standing between God and man; This appeal does not contain a demand for a literal "quotation" of patristic thoughts or an external imitation of their deeds. Trusting them and following their example implies the belief that the Lord is really present and active in human souls, in all human history, that "He is wondrous in His saints," that He dwells in them. Hiding in their holy humility, they give a living "tangible" God, and a way of being according to God. In order for the love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be incarnated on earth, so that people can become one, just as God is one, there must be in the Church (and the whole cosmos is called to become the Church) there must be a relationship of humble offering of oneself as a gift to another, loving interpenetration and obedience, expressed in the words of Christ: "I seek not my will" (John 5:30). This is the deep meaning of following the Holy Fathers – following by humbly offering oneself as a gift, "ourselves... and all life to Christ God." Just as the Father does not exist and cannot exist without the Son and the Holy Spirit, so man cannot exist without another, without his neighbor, the living without the dead, sons without fathers, parents without children. The Holy Fathers, as God-bearers and Christ-bearers, discover and embody this conciliar "ontology" of the Church; awaken in every humble and faithful soul the living memory of the Church, help her to gather within herself all her historical and eternal Being, by the power of the life-giving Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the giver of spiritual power, which gives freedom in the Truth, and can in no way be the bearer of sadistic authority. The Holy Fathers reveal God by themselves, pointing to the worship of His Name, Which is above all names. The essence of their power and authority is that with all their being, with every step, they joyfully exclaim: "Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Thy Name!" Bearers of Divine beauty, with the beauty of God's face reflected in them, with the ineffable Divine goodness that permeates their every deed, imperceptibly and unobtrusively, they appear to every spiritually awakened person, the measure of his own perfection, as his own beauty, as yet unknown to himself. In this lies their parental transforming power, i.e. their grace-filled fatherhood, assimilation to heavenly fatherhood.

10. If it happens that a bishop, a presbyter, a spiritual father, an educator, ceases to be such truly holy and spiritual fathers, i.e. parents reborn in God, giving birth to their spiritual children in agony, then they can try to cover up their powerlessness and barrenness with the veil of the dignity entrusted to them, i.e. false authority, violence, coercion and other external effects. This happens with any other authority, parental, educational or social, then coercion and domination over souls and conscience become inevitable. Thus, heavenly fatherhood is replaced by false, earthly, violent by its very nature, the main property of which is the destruction of trust and love born of trust, as the only healthy educational climate, and human communication as a whole. The holy mystery of spiritual fatherhood and fatherhood is replaced by tyrannical guardianship, from which grow the poisonous flowers of slavery, rebellion and mutual destruction.

11. Salvation from false authorities, mutilated fatherhood, is possible only by returning to the true, forgotten fatherhood, which belongs to the divine nature and the nature of man, created in the image and likeness of God. If He had not existed, parricide, and the suicide that followed it, would have been the last word in life and history. Without an eternal Father, human eros, and himself in him, are consubstantial with time and, through this, with death: time makes death the content of lust (eros, and therefore of man, who feeds only on it). Only in the Jewish subconscious, formed on the idea of the terrible Yahweh, lust and the forbidden fruit (cf. Gen. 2:17; 3:6), which gives rise to death, could the myth of Oedipus acquire such a scale as in Freudianism. Freudianism, in its essence, is a new agreement with the diabolical lie about the heavenly Father, and submission to the incestuous embrace of death, the mother of the earth: everything here is woven from the lust of the flesh, the "lust of the eyes" (= eros) and the prideful rivalry with the so-called "sadistic father". Marxism is the same (with its amendments), it is a shoot from the same root. When Marx "throws down his gauntlet in the face of the whole world, wishing to overthrow this pygmy giant in order to walk through its ruins and feel himself equal to the Creator" (See Maurice Clavel, "The Greatness of Marx," Vestnik RKhD, No 122, Paris, 1977, p. 94), he is making nothing more than an attempt to carry out Satan's plan for the world and man in the same magically serpentine way. His secret, apparently most intimate desire is to "abolish God." "Seized with anger," Engels recalls his first meeting with him, "it is as if he wants to reach out to the heavenly tabernacle and smash it on the ground" (Ibid., p. 96). Obviously, both Freud and Marx know no other God than the terrible Jewish Yahweh, for whom man is always only a slave. Hence their rebellion against Him, and the creation of their "god" (libido, revolution) in His "image and likeness."