Training obedience

 Abba Agathon loved very much Abba Alexander, because he was very ascetic, humble, extremely gentle and of mild nature. One day all his disciples where working next to the river along with Abba Alexander who was also working peacefully. Then his disciples said to Abba Agathon: “You see Abba, Abba Alexander does nothing.”

CONSCIENCE AND OBEDIENCE Source: “Counsels from the Holy Mountain, ” selected from the Letters and Homilies of Elder Ephraim, St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, Florence, AZ (1999), pp. 130-136.

When a person remains completely obedient to his conscience and implements whatever it tells him, he is not reproved by it anymore— not that its voice has weakened, but rather because of his good obedience, his conscience has nothing to reprove. The Apostle John says that when a man’s conscience does not condemn him, he has confidence toward God. (cf. ijn3:2i).

It is impossible for a person to proceed without ever stumbling somewhere, because from all sides the devil, the world, and the flesh are continuously inserting obstacles into his life, and he stumbles in proportion to his carelessness. Therefore, when he falls, he should arise at once and seek forgiveness. When one repents in proportion to the gravity of his fall, his conscience, which used to bother him, stops reproving him.

We must guard our conscience on three points—with respect to God, with respect to our neighbor, and with respect to things. One guards his con-science with respect to God when he avoids the various sins. He guards his conscience with respect to his neighbor when he does not grieve him, judge him, slander him, scandalize him, or push him towards evil deeds. He guards his conscience with respect to things when he does not cause destruction or damage to material things through carelessness, negligence, or unscrupulousness.

When you see something burning or being damaged and you do not pick it up and protect it, this is unscrupulous-ness. When your clothes get torn and you neglect them, and then they get completely ruined, this is unscrupulousness. When you are able to work but instead of working you wander around here and there, this is also un-scrupulousness. When you leave your food out and it goes bad and you throw it away, this is unscrupulousness be-cause you should have taken care to eat it before it went bad. Therefore, unscrupulousness is when one errs in any way with respect to material things, and also when one offends God in any way.

Learning from St. Dositheos’ Example

 Perfect obedience is this:

 ( St. Dorotheos ) never allowed ( his disciple, Dositheos ) to become attached to any material objects. Dositheos took everything with joy and faith and obeyed willingly in everything. When he needed a cloack, Dorotheos provided him with the cloth and he would go away and sow it carefully with style. When he had finished, he would ask, “Dositheos, did you sow that cloak?”

Dositheos would reply in simplicity , “Yes, Father, I made it most beautifully and well.”

He would then say to him, “Go and give it to that brother or to that sick man.”