Apostolic Imitation: 1 Corinthians 4:9-16, especially vss. 15, 16: "For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me." Throughout her history, Orthodox Christianity has passed on the Faith under the guidance of elders or spiritual fathers. Transmitting the Faith has not been so much on the level of ideas, but by what Fr. Alexander Schmemann called "supra-individual...ecclesial and eschatological" experience. For example, from the desert Fathers we have this account: "A brother questioned an old man, saying, 'In my cell I do everything that is recommended, but I find no consolation from God....What do you order me to do, Father?' The old man replies, 'Go, join a God fearing man, humble yourself before him by surrendering your will to him, and then you will find consolation from God.'"
Today's reading is a glimpse into the Apostolic beginnings of this Tradition. The Apostle confronts his disciples in Corinth with the "spectacle" of his own life (vss. 9-13). Then he points to his unique relationship with them as a "father" rather than a mere "instructor" (vs. 15). Only when this basic context is established does he bid them, "imitate me" (vs. 16).
Rather than examine the dramatic example of the Apostle's life, let us begin with St. Paul's relationship as a "father" to the Christians at Corinth. He defines "fathering," first, by contrasting it with "teaching." In the Church there are tens of thousands of instructors in Christ, but St. Paul points to his unusual relationship them as a "father" (vs. 15). In chapter 18 of the Acts, there is a brief account of his founding work with the Corinthians (Acts 18:1-18), which illumines this distinction between "teachers" of the Faith and spiritual "fathers."
When the Apostle Paul first arrived in Corinth, he became acquainted with a couple, Aquila and Priscilla, fellow Jews and recent deportees from the city of Rome (Acts 18:2). The three of them, discovering they shared a common trade, established themselves as tentmakers (Acts 18:3). At the same time St. Paul 'established' himself at the local Synagogue, with both Jews and interested Greeks, as an expositor of the Scriptures. It is significant that he did not at first directly testify "that Jesus is the Christ," the Messiah (Acts 18:4,5), but by the time his Apostolic companions arrived, he was beginning to feel constrained to do so (Acts 18:5).
When he did witness to Jesus, opposition swiftly developed and he withdrew from the Synagogue to devote himself to the Gentiles (Acts 18:6). St. Paul then worked with an assorted group who "believed on the Lord," and many were baptized (Acts 18:7-8). In a vision, the Lord directly encouraged Paul to continue his witnessing (Acts 18:9-10). Do you see that he began by teaching and only later'"witnessed' to the living Lord Whom he knew?
In the Tradition, we have seen the requirement that one must "join a God fearing man," in order to receive consolation from the Lord. Teaching about the Faith is not the same as "discipling," a distinction the Lord Himself makes in His Great Commission: "Going, therefore, disciple all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [then] teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..." (Mt. 28:19,20).
Teaching is necessary, but discipling is essential. Ultimately one is "begotten...through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:15). Teaching surely needs to precede, accompany, and follow discipling, for fathering, which begets, must have greater weight in each disciple's life so that all rational learning about the Faith is moderated. In Orthodoxy "children" mature as they imitate the radical lives of their fathers in God, rather than as they learn many facts from their teachers.
O Lord, help me to imitate those who know Thee, that I may be made worthy of Thee.