​The true compass of the Christian life

A question from Iryna Tsvetkova: 

How can we learn the virtue of discernment?

Answered by Archpriest Vasyl Kucher:

That is a good question, and perhaps the best way to begin answering it is with a story.

St. John Cassian recounts how the elders once gathered in the desert and began discussing which virtue was the greatest. Some said fasting, others vigil, still others poverty, mercy, or silence. St. Anthony the Great listened to them all and then said that the greatest virtue was discernment. Without it, he explained, any virtue can veer either to the right or to the left, and in the end a person may arrive somewhere very different from where he intended to go.

To show what can happen when discernment is lacking, Abba Cassian gives the following example. A certain Abba Heron had lived as an ascetic in the desert for fifty years and fasted more strictly than anyone else. But he refused to seek anyone’s advice. In the end, a demon appeared to him in the form of an angel and told him to throw himself into a well, assuring him that nothing would happen to him because he was a holy man. So he jumped. He was pulled out barely alive, with his arms and legs broken, and died three days later.

Yes, Abba Heron spent fifty years in the desert – but, as we can see, without benefit to himself, because he lacked discernment.

So how do we learn this virtue? I will start with what most of us instinctively think: that discernment is mainly about intellect – reading more, learning more, becoming very clever. But the Fathers of the Church say something quite different.

St. John Climacus, for example, says that discernment is born of humility. Not of erudition, not of vast knowledge, but of humility. Why? Because a person who is convinced that he knows more than everyone else becomes self-confident and ends up seeing only what he wants to see.

But a humble person does not fully trust his own judgment and begins asking others. That brings us to the second condition – seeking counsel.

Abba Dorotheos insists on this and repeatedly cites the words of Scripture: “In the multitude of counselors there is safety.” Nothing is worse, he says, than being your own sole adviser.

There is also a third point the Fathers emphasize. When we are ruled by a passion, we are unable to see the world around us as it really is. As long as irritation, resentment, or envy is at work within us, sober judgment is simply impossible. Not because a person is stupid, but because passion distorts his vision like cloudy glass.

That is why the Fathers say: if you want discernment, struggle against the passions.

Let me remind you that in the Epistle to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul says that solid food belongs to the mature, “who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:14). Notice the emphasis: “by reason of use.” Their senses have been trained.

In other words, discernment is not simply a gift that drops from heaven. It is a skill that has to be developed.

So, speaking very practically, it is best to begin learning discernment in small things: should I speak or remain silent? Reply now or tomorrow? Step in or stay out of it?

And one rule is especially helpful: never make important decisions while irritated, agitated, or emotionally wound up.

It is also important to ask others for advice – not to shift responsibility onto someone else, but to hear your own thoughts from the outside.

And remember: discernment does not come to the cleverest person, but to the simplest – to the one who is capable of saying, “I don’t understand this.”