On Obedience

We see how the Lord Jesus is obedient to God the Father, and John the Forerunner is obedient to Jesus. In the moment when the obedience of the servant meets the obedience of the Master, the mystery of the Holy, consubstantial, and indivisible Trinity is revealed. The humble and obedient Son is testified as the true Son of God the Father, and He is glorified by the manifestation of His divine nature and the revelation of the Holy Trinity. Thus, the Lord once again shows us that obedience and humility are the path to salvation. We, as humans and as monastics, often falter in our obedience. We hesitate to surrender ourselves completely. We fear that harm may come if we fully renounce our own will, our judgment of ourselves, or certain events in our lives and our monastic identity. Temptation comes and, in some way, whispers to us that what our Elder tells us does not lead to justice. However, if we overcome this temptation and do what Jesus and John the Forerunner did, we will find that this represents for us a theophany, a divine revelation. At the same time, it will be a glory achieved through humility, through the complete abandonment of our will, and through self-emptying. All of this, then, is "for us and for our salvation." May God grant all of us the necessary humility to understand these great mysteries.

+ Elder Georgios Kapsanis (Excerpt from a homily on the Baptism of the Savior Christ)