The disciple himself chooses the elder he wants. And it often happens that a person who wanted to talk to an elder about only one issue remains under his guidance for the rest of his life and even becomes a monk.

Sincerity and obedience, humility and readiness to fulfill the will of the father on the part of the spiritual son, cordiality and just severity on the part of the leading elder form the content of bilateral relations, illumined by the Divine love in which both live. Thus the searching soul attains the sweetness of inner prayer, the all-conquering power of love and the full grace of life in God, with the risen Christ. This, in short, is the essence of eldership. In the image of the elder Zosima in Dostoevsky's novel "The Brothers Karamazov" we find the first attempt to give the image of the elder in an artistic form.

"More important than any books and any kind of thinking," wrote the Russian thinker Ivan Kireevsky, who was himself under the guidance of Elder Macarius of the Optina Hermitage, "is to find a holy Orthodox elder who could be your guide, to whom you could communicate every thought and hear about it, not his opinion, more or less intelligent, but the judgment of the Holy Fathers. Such elders, thank God, still exist in Russia!";

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Spiritual Hand-Holding in the Old Asceticism

The institution of eldership is a very ancient phenomenon in the life of the Eastern Church. On the one hand, it depends on the history of confessional practice, on the other hand, on the development of monastic life in general. The Elder was a spiritual father who was next to the monk in his spiritual battle. The expression "pneumatikos patir" or "pater spiritualis" (spiritual father) is first encountered in the ascetic writings of the general Christian Fathers, i.e., approximately in the fourth century. This definition existed simultaneously among almost all hermits and ascetics in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, as well as among the Latin Fathers, as, for example, in John Cassian. At the same time, it was often not a priest who was meant, but simply an experienced old monk, often without a priestly rank, who lived in a monastery or in a skete on his own, so that even the abbot did not interfere in the activities of the elder, who guided the young monks on the path to perfection and was often elected by the newcomers themselves. The elder could hear confession, so the priest only had to give a prayer of absolution. At a later time, approximately from the eighth or ninth century, and even then rarely, a monk had, in addition to the elder, a special hieromonk who received confession.

Eldership is a phenomenon peculiar to the ascetic life. It developed its own Christian-ascetic views, paying special attention to certain aspects of asceticism, which it laid as the basis of the path of salvation of the soul; it rests mainly on the principles of obedience and prayer.

Eldership as a method of spiritual guidance is based primarily on the Holy Scriptures. The obedience and humility of the Son of God is inherent in the Divine Trinity Itself. Our Lord and God Jesus Christ said to His disciples, "I came down from heaven, not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me" (Jn. 6. 38); My teaching is not Mine, but Him who sent Me (Jn. 7. 16); I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true (John 7:28); I have kept My Father's commandments, and I abide in His love (Jn. 15. 10).

And the Holy Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians: He... humbled Himself, being obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2. 6, 8).

This spirit of obedience is also characteristic of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, that is, the Holy Spirit. The Saviour said of Him: "Whom the Father will send in My name" (John 14:26). And further: When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for He will not speak of Himself, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare things to you (Jn. 16. 13).

Thus, the two Persons of the Holy Trinity – the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, Who are one Being with the Father and have the same dignity and glory with Him – are nevertheless subordinate to the Father, the Almighty.

According to the religious views of the elders, who rely on the teaching of St. Dionysius the Areopagite ("On the Heavenly Hierarchy" and "On the Church Hierarchy"), the spirit of obedience is inherent in all creation. The Father is the only Creator of all things visible and invisible, forming a hierarchy of steps,

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As the Holy Apostle Paul said: "By Him were created all things, both in heaven and in the world, visible and invisible: whether thrones, lordships, principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him" (Col. 1. 16). And the earthly, "militant" Church is characterized, as a cornerstone, by the spirit of hierarchical order. Just as sheep cannot be without a shepherd, so everyone who wants to be saved must have a guide on the path of his salvation, whose constant help and constant presence will facilitate and ensure his correct ascent up the ladder to the Kingdom of Heaven.