One of the elements of Eastern Spirituality is obedience to the will of God. To obey, in the context of scripture, means to lend an ear to the expression of another’s will, and to respond to it. Obedience, then, is being subject to the will of another and acting in accord with the other’s will. In the context of spirituality this means being subject to the will of God.

This is quite frequently, I believe, misunderstood. People have the tendency to attribute all events of life that they consider difficult or bad as being the will of God. This is not what is meant by the will of God.      

The diligent search for the will of God is therefore the ground rule of spiritual practice in the Eastern Church. The ascetics took the love of God’s will so far that in the one area where they could have escaped it, that of personal initiative, they wanted to make sure that they would never deceive themselves. The great problem for them was, where is the will of God manifest?

Everywhere in the ancient Near East lived men judged to be capable of receiving a message from the divinity through direct inspiration. “As for prophecies, they will pass away,” St. Paul exclaimed. But this will be at the end of time. In the presence Church, Evergetinos believe, the “leaders among the Fathers had as their master not a man, but God and their conscience, and they became enlighteners of the world.” He could have mentioned here echoes of the struggle of Symeon the New Theologian in favor of the privileges of spiritual men: “They are rare, but they are found nevertheless, these men who were led by the Holy Spirit from the beginning, who personally did not need human guidance, and still became leaders of men later. Something to be admired but not imitated, considering our human weakness.

So true spirituality requires that we come to a clear understanding of the will of God. Think about it. What do you see as the will of God for you? Suffering and personal sickness are, in my estimation, not the will of God and not punishment for personal failings and mistakes. So then what is the will of God?