Part We Can Also See

(continued part) 👆🏾 We can also see this father-son relationship of repentance in the relationship between King David and the prophet Nathan. When David was thinking about building a temple, it was the prophet Nathan who consulted him and told him to refer to God. Prophet Nathan was praying to God and telling David the answer he received from God. Later, when David was hindered by sin, God sent the same prophet, Nathan to wake David up from the sleep of sin and to repent. And Nathan went and told David his sin with wisdom and tact. At that time, David admitted his mistake, repented, and confessed. By this we understand that the father of repentance is needed not only for confession, but also to advise and bring to repentance. Our Lord and God Jesus Christ has shown us the actions and performance of the father of repentance. The Samaritan woman was heartbroken and hurt from the complex ups and downs of her life, so she came to draw water when no one was around so that no one would see her. When our Lord spoke to her, starting the conversation by taking about water, he gradually elevated the conversation from earthly to heavenly, from temporal matters to eternal matters. Then our Lord said to her, "Go, call your husband and come here." He was opening the door and showing her the way for her to confess her sin. She replied, "I don't have a husband." Then our Lord said, "You said well that I do not have a husband; For you have had five husbands, and the one who is with you now is not your husband; And in this you have spoken the truth" by saying what she was afraid to say, he made her understand that he is her God who knows all her life. (John 4:1-42) Our Lord showed us this in practice, to teach that the father of repentance should talk to each soul and find a way to heal it, not in a public sermon where many people have gathered, but in a private, slow, wise and careful manner. Therefore, the relationship between the penitent father and the repentant son is such a mysterious relationship that exists only between the two of whom only God is the witness. - Father of repentance means our confidant, our closest advisors in our spiritual and physical life. The wise man Sirach said, "Let many people be your friends, and let one of many be your counsel, and let your counsel be one with your heart." Sirac 6-6. This means that even though the faithful may have many priests to teach them about religion and morals, one of them should be the teacher to whom they confess their repentance. Father of repentance means confidant and counselor. - Therefore, we should not live without a penitent father or stay away from a penitent father. Because we need a priest who can stand as a witness for all the spiritual work we do before God. In subtle and mysterious ways the holy angels stand as our guardians; In this real world and in the life we live as a Christian, our priests and fathers have been appointed by God to be shepherds of our souls. Because the authority given to them by God to bind and loose sins is not in vain, we should respect and use the system of repentance that God has made for us. We must also understand that repentance is not a human command, but a Creator's directive. No Christian should spend a single day without a repentant father. Therefore, every member of the Orthodox Church, from the time he reaches the age of majority, has a Christian duty to have a penitent father and confess his sins to his penitent father for it is said “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16᎓19) (To be continued) 👇🏾