Archpriest Theodore Gignadze

Because of your uniqueness, God comes to you in a unique way, which is why the institution of a spiritual guide is very important.

I don’t just mean a priest, but rather a spiritual guide, a spiritual father.

Having a spiritual father is a completely different phenomenon, if we can truly find one, as he can tell us what we can’t find in any of the books.

Books can tell us anything. So, what is the use of the institution of a spiritual father?!

The holy fathers write that in order for us to learn to pray, we need a spiritual father.

Huge volumes of books have been written on the topic of prayer, and these books were written by those who themselves were considered spiritual guides.

Since we can just read those books, why do we still need a living spiritual father?!

We need a spiritual father because when God comes to you in an absolutely unique way, this is something that can’t be found in a book.

This is something that needs to be more or less evaluated by the spiritual father, who himself knows God.

It’s true that God has come to you in a special way, and perhaps not in the same way as to your spiritual father.

However, because your spiritual father knows God, he will discern that it was God who came to you and that you are not in delusion.

He’ll make sure that this is not a mistake, which is extremely important.

Archpriest Theodore Gignadze